Independence….My Foot!!!

Now I know it may seem strange to people as to why I would be writing something about the Independence Day after a week has passed. Simple reason, I hadn’t access to a machine for the past week.

Having put that behind me, let me get on to the subject at hand, independence. Last Monday, while enjoying the extra holiday (which gave me independence and freedom from work…yay!!!) I was quite surprised to note that my mobile, which constantly spouts unwanted updates from a certain news source, was strangely silent. It was then brought to my notice that all SMS capabilities had been blocked from morning till 12 noon.

So basically, I was given to understand that on the Independence Day of Sri Lanka, I was not allowed the freedom of communicating with others in a manner I chose! Now isn’t that sort of defeating the entire process of Independence and freedom that Mr.Chinthanaya was crowing about on stage from the wee hours of the morning?

Having grumped about that for a while I was delegated to run to the supermarket for some much needed groceries. Little did I know I was in for yet another shock to my very naive impression of independence and freedom.

Having picked up a few things, I ambled along to the meat counter and was greeted with a vast array of emptiness! That’s right, absolutely no fresh meat on offer. Plenty of fish and other roasted, stewed, pickled and devilled concoctions, but no beef or chicken in sight!

So once again on a day when I’m supposed to be joyfully celebrating my independence and true freedom, it was rudely snatched away by some higher power who deemed it incorrect for me to be free to eat beef or chicken!

So, sixty years on from when our national heroes shed their life blood to gain independence and freedom for our country, I’m faced with a choice. Either celebrate the day half heartedly or change into a non-mobile phone user who’s vegetarian! I don’t know whether bars were also closed, but if they were, it means I’ll have to be a teetotaler too.

So Vive La Independence to those of you had the privilege of celebrating it!!

P.S. I didn’t even bother to touch on the days and days of road closures that prevented me from driving where I wanted to.