A Moving Life

Sunil Perera, a musician and the leader of the popular musical group Gypsies with  some other politicians have been accused of engaging in activities that have defamed ex president during TV talk shows.Former President already sent letter of demand and Sunil Perera has been charged  for one billion rupees.Even we have really low rate for Sri Lankan Rupees for US dollars,One billion  is a quiet a lot ....
Today Sunil Perera may not face difficulty of finding this amount,the  Gypsies  musical band did so well in past decades .
Actually once Sunil Perera told the name Gypsies he used purposely because at the time he started the group all the group members were like Gypsies ,they were not stable both financially and professionally.
I don't really believe what he is saying,though Sunil Perera claims  that he did not get through Ordinary level  Examination his ideas seems to be very broad and far sighted.I have a thought long time ago before I even  heard of Gypsy king Sunil Perera might have been a good fan of them...

All this came to my mind was seeing  the real gypsies on my way to office.The
We don' t have large gypsy culture like in Europe.They never had caravans, these people actually originally came from India most of them talking Theligu or Tamil,majority of them settled in Easten Province but still there are some living as an isolated groups in some parts of the  country.

Traditionally donkeys  or mules to carry their  belongings .Except the movie which Malani Fonseka acted as a Gypsy girl I haven't seen it in reality.Of course that movie is very elaborated and exaggerated.
One thing is quiet true those days they did not  stay over a week in a same place.
Actually they were moving from place to place.Also there were many bare lands and people did not mind  coming them even  to a private land.
They do snake charming,fortune telling and showing monkey dancing so and so...
Still they do the same thing, but what they really don t do is now they don t move.They are perfectly staying at one place over six months funniest thing is they are fighting to stay forever.
Of course we should all aware everything around us have changed.This Gypsy community can't move around  like old days,lands are being divided in to smallest as possible.
We may easily say they can join with the normal society,but these people they don t have any identification,no birth certificate,no school actually no name so they don t get permanent job.
They only surviving what they can do but staying in one place.Some of them do labor jobs on daily basis.
Now they don t have traditional  materials for their shelter,such as Palmaira leaves ,now they use
every syntactic materials which they can get free.
Actually I spoke with some of this modern Gypsies.The most shocking thing I heard was it is very difficult to find some one to marry them and they are getting married in to their first cousins  and more worst scenarios than that.
So ended up in disable children more frequently and most of the government hospitals also refusing them even for child birth.
Quoting from  Lord Buddha  even a birth has a human is great thing we have to do so much good work to be born as humans from the previous birth.
All Buddhist believe life is a cyclic and rebirth.
But Imaging born into such life?

Sunil Perera, the Sri lankan Gypsy King

The Popular Actress,Ex-parliamentarian Malani Fonseka in her Gypsy costumes.












Some Gypsy people  with their snakes...
Snake charming is a very popular thing among most of them.
Actually snake is like their  most valuable thing.All grown up male gypsies are keeping snakes or a monkey .This still has not changed much.

Old picture of snake charmers.

Old Group of Gypsies with their traditional shelters.
Not anymore...

Newly wed Gypsy couple

Modern Gypsy shelters, where they live longer period than they used to be.Diff rent materials for shelters.

have been accused of engaging in activities that have defamed ex-President Mahinda Rajapakse during various TV talk shows. As a result of these practices, MR had sent letters of demand to these five individuals. Moreover, they have been charged one billion rupees each except for Minister Mangala Samaraweera who has been charged Rs.500 million - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/81131/replies-to-mr-s-letters-of-demand#sthash.TNkYTTBh.dpuf

The Tower Crane Trap

With large projects Colombo city has become one construction site.Even though  that Fort city project holding at the moment,but there are considerable amount of really large construction works are happening.
Of course we are growing vertically.
Passing through these construction sites if I had to park my car ;  unconsciously I m looking up searching  are there any tower crane being operated.I have very insecure feeling parking close by a tower crane.Kind of forbia.
I don't know  the others but for me  looking at the tower crane  from distance  the whole thing seems to be  outrageous.....
Since they have no support wires of any kind why don't this structure fall over?It has often rise over hundred feet into the air also it can reach out just as far.......
All the heavy building materials lift by tower crane...
But surprisingly I haven't heard  any accident of falling of a tower crane here while Sri lanka rest of other things falling apart but tower cranes seems to be very stable.........
The tower crane what it can do seems nearly impossible.It also grow taller as the building grows taller and lifts tons of heavy building materials to make our lives more easier.
All these things came to my mind because I had no any experience working in a site with tower cranes.There is a first time for everything....
Sometimes life gives very thrilling experiences suddenly,same has happened to me... Right now I got eight tower cranes  one is already growing right in front of me.
The first element of the is stability.Every construction company do hard working to build the large concrete pad which poured weeks before the cranes arrive.
This massive concrete pad  most cases over 150,000kg being supported by friction piles.Some times those piles has gone to the bedrock. Large anchor bolts embedded deep into the pad to support the base  of the crane.
when it explain it very simple way the base of the crane very strongly bolted to the ground ensuring it s stability.
Then  top of the  tower which known as slewing unit , the gear and motor.On top of the slewing unit there are working arm ,the long horizontal Jib that is the portion which carries the load,
Then the operators cab,I think it has AC,I never get any chance to climb up to operator's cab.
 I don t think I will.
In Sri lanka operating a  tower crane consider as very masculine work.I also agreed.I haven t seen any tower crane operating female figure here, but in South Korea apparently there is a one female tower crane operator.This was told by our  deputy design manager Mr.Chun Sung Tae.Hope that she will come to our site.That 's something called gender equity.
It s hard work.There is no toilet or such utility facilities.The poor fellow have to  all the down to for those things...Imagine that climbing 100-150 feet in the burning sun through cat ladder in three four times a day.Cant believe they do it really?I have no idea.Only what I have seen is climbing it in the   morning.
But still their may be accidents occur unless we did not follow the safety precautions.I know there is no any way of climbing a tower crane, because it s   restricted only allows skilled operators...

Here are some picture which I got  today from the adjoin building terrace.

Base of a tower crane

  Operator's cabin

 Tower cranes at neighboring site.

Who want  to be a tower crane operator?