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| Wednesday, 12 March 2003 |
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The purported order made by a school principal to turn away mothers not dressed in saree from a school function, has raised a hornets nest. While agreeing that such an order is in violation of Human Rights and sexist as well, I like to add a new dimension to this issue. Condemnation of housewives wearing Western style clothes is made by professional armchair critics and others living a life out of touch with reality. Strangely they make no comment on similarly clad men! The main reasons the average housewife favours the Western style over the saree is because of the financial constraints they face and the convenience in bus travel, the only transport available to them. Why is only the Western styles condemned? Are not the popular Lungis, Shalwar Kameez, Gagra Cholis and the SAREE, all foreign costumes? If we need to stick to tradition let us wear the Osariya and the Redda and Hettey. For those who find the slit skirt indecent, immodest, I pose this pertinent question - "what would you call a diaphanous saree draped hipster-style and exposing the navel worn with a see-thru minicholi with cut-away sleeves and deep-cut neckline?" As for uniforms at workplaces, that is the prerogative of the Directors. Nobody objects to uniforms being worn by children to school. And why all this fuss only over women's clothes? What about that public eye-sore - those ridiculous shorts worn by men? Come, come, let us be reasonable and not act like Baron Manchausen, who looked at a herd of elephants through the wrong end of a telescope and picked them up with a pair of tweezers to drop them into a matchbox! Ramya Kulasekera, I would tend to agree with the letter in the Daily News of February 24, regarding the above. Especially in the light of the current peace process, it would be a good idea if the matters mentioned in his letter are taken into consideration. There has been very little attempt to have Tamil cricket commentaries on the radio, with Tamil listeners having to be satisfied with summaries at the drinks break and at the end of the session, or at the fall of a wicket. There have been very rare attempts at ball-by-ball commentaries in recent times, one occasion being the World Cup final in 1996, and another more recently where there were parallel Tamil and English commentaries on one wave band. However, these have been rare exceptions. On TV, no attempt has been made at all even to provide summaries in Tamil for even five minutes, which is a sad state of affairs. Regarding the availability of those well-versed in the game, it must be pointed out that those who provide the commentaries in Sinhala are those who have not played cricket at national level - usually announcers of the stations concerned. I am sure their equivalent can be found in the Tamil medium (spare us the verbosity, though!). I trust that this will catch the eye of the powers that be in the radio and TV stations, and help to provide commentaries to those viewers who would not understand the English and Sinhala commentaries too well. F. N. SAMUEL, It is hoped that the final outcome of the peace talks between the Government and the LTTE is a peaceful one. Autonomous bodies adjudging the authority of the Central Government whilst administering them towards solving their problems under a federal state is acceptable and welcome. Hence it is satisfying to note that all parties representing the people are in agreement with devolution of power through a federal state. KINGSLEY W. DIAS, Urban development ideal situation Urban development is a much talked about subject. How do we get about this, what is the ideal situation. Development has to take place considering the environment and echo balance. The easiest way to plan Colombo is to travel in a helicopter, observe how well not planned we are or get on top of one of the few high rise buildings in Colombo. Before doing this, do so from a high rise in a developed city in the West or our neighbours - Singapore/Hong Kong. Observe closely how intelligently the city is planned to consider being a developed city, garden city etc. Does Colombo boast of a park other than Victoria Park (renamed Viharamahadevi Park) left to us by the British and an empty space donated to the residents of Colombo by the British called Galle Face. Think of Colombo 50 years ago, there were many small parks. All of them lost due to bad planning and politics. It is the state that encroached on park space. Echelon Square was one such place and another between Naval HQ behind Queens House. Those of us who are over 50 and resident in Colombo would remember the beautiful parks in the city planned by the British. Good urban planning is to concentrate a large number of households close to the work place to avoid congestion on road and encourage walking to work, which is healthy and good exercise before work. How do we do that? Issue state land in the heart of the city to development projects on lease for office, restaurant, recreation and apartments in the same building. Minimum number of floors to be 30. Create multi level large car parks. Pay each time on entry but parking to be free to encourage non-movement of vehicle. Have electrically driven circular route shuttle bus service from building to building. Two buses between every three stops during rush hour and balance the rest of the timetable depending on demand. If a vehicle other than a shuttle bus has to use the street charge a heavy toll no exception for state vehicles. Absolutely no parking should be allowed on the street at any time. All buildings to have a driveway. No need of a harassed Police officer at every corner. Monitor traffic movement through surveillance systems and send the fine by mail or through the Motor Traffic Dept. Modern cities use this system. Even tollgates are operated on E-toll card. Every 10,000 sq mts of built space have 500 sq mts of park space for those within this 100 m x 100 m square to relax / walk or exercise. Whole of Colombo can boast of only two intelligent high rise buildings both owned and operated by overseas companies. The World Trade Centre and Hilton JAIC Tower. All the others are illplanned, as a result traffic jams, which cause loss of manpower and foreign exchange. RDA/CMC have to make over size roads at the cost to the tax payer to allow a minority to use the roads as parking slots. Three to four lanes of vehicles or minimum two lanes of vehicles can move on city roads if no parking is allowed on the side. Intelligent urban planning will have a good train service to the city. A single train can carry 1,500 persons at a time. 150 per carriage on a 20/80 sitting/standing ratio as in the developed countries which will reduce 20 monster buses off the road, reducing sound, emission, pollution, accidents and space. Singapore Housing Development Authority started their development program based on Bambalapitiya flats. Four Storey walk up apartments. Then came Narahenipitya, Maligawatte, Elvitiagala etc. Private housing projects are coming up in the city. Are they affordable? A square meter of land costing a hundred thousand rupees. Building cost anywhere in the country is the same add +/- for transport. Cost of land is the stumbling block. In Singapore land belongs to state, building belongs to the private developer encouraging private sector participation. Over here it is "dog in the manger" situation. State land reserved for political squatters. Then the state spends millions of tax money demolishing and relocating. In most countries the Petroleum companies, banks boast of the best buildings in the city. Over here the Petroleum Company is in a rented building. Bank buildings, many of them, customers' park on the road. Rules of the Urban Development Authority to be modified to encourage condominiums in the heart of the city. Bring in people living outside Colombo but working in Colombo to walking distance of the work place. Encourage train travel. In Japan, England even India, Chairmen/Presidents of Companies travel by train. Wife of Prime Minister of England travels to work by train. Here the servants of Members of Parliament travel by car at citizen's expense. UDA/ RDA/ MC get together and make the world URBAN a reality. TISSA JAYAWEERA, I refer to the letter written by Deshapriya Rajapaksha (DN Mar. 1). The writer is applauding the Principal of the Moratuwa School for banning ladies who are not properly dressed from entering the school. What exactly does he mean by "properly dressed"? Is there a dress code mentioned in the constitution of Sri Lanka for ladies? This is a free country and anybody could dress the way he / she wants. Styles change very often and those who could afford or would like to dress accordingly are free to do so. The writer further states that our society has become vulgar. I do not know how he has come to this conclusion. It is mentioned that the slit skirt has become our women's national dress. The slit skirt is the latest fashion and I do not see anything wrong in wearing this. The saree covers all except the midriff but reveals many things. It shows a woman's alluring figure more than a dress. Trying to impose conditions of dress is an infringement of human rights. This happened when the Taliban came into power and imposed many restrictions on women. But we in Sri Lanka are free to wear what we like. Business organizations and advertising companies use a woman to advertise their merchandise. This is done worldwide and is not something new. Mr. Deshapriya should get used to the modern way of life. All men's minds do not work in evil ways when they see a woman's anatomy. We should learn to accept changes. This is a changing and a modern world. SHIROMI GOONERATNE, |
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