Wesak Festival

New Year celebrations are almost over. I was not really ready for it being busy and as my grandmother was in hospital. And in the end of April there was a funeral of one of my uncles. Month of May is important for Buddhists all over the world.  And I was born in May too.  Wesak commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Gautama Buddha. Pandals තොරණ are erected around major cities mostly from 550 Jathaka Kathas. There are poetic elaborations describing each part of the Pandal. Lanterns will be hung in almost every Buddhist Household and colourful bulbs are lit. Yesterday on the Wesak Full Moon Poya Day I went to a Dansala of Sweetmeats. Of course they were tasty and really liked them. I don’t think it would be necessary to talk about whether these days’ dansalas are actually intended for needy. I really like the concept of Dansalas and almsgiving. There were certain times when people came to Dansala and stayed in the town for days until the Dansala was over.  Dansala is usually a food stall in which foods are given for free.  With the time Dansalas have evolved and there are of course Dansalas with exclusion of Food items. Do whatever you can for the needy whenever you are capable of. 

FATE

Fate it is one of first poems I've written. It was based on some of experiences as well. So. I thought it would be good to share it with you. It was roughly written 8 or 9 years ago.

FATE

I saw a girl in the class
and was attracted by her features
not only beautiful
but also graceful
followed her
Unable to express
Or to even encode
went for classes not to study
with the attitude of seeing her
Further and further
said to a friend
What I think about
He promised
That he will support
Wrote letters to her
didn’t get any reply
Went after her
the result was the same
So I decided
That it’s time
After rehearsals
I asked from her
she said only
“I want more time”
That made me positive
Nurtured my hopes
Spent time in days and weeks
But didn’t get any reply
Then I asked again
And she said “I have a boy friend”
My dream was broken
Heart was stopped
She was still in my mind
In the bed and school and everywhere I was living
Cried and cried
Only tears flowed
But tears did nothing
The wound only spread
It’s only my fate
Time passed
One day I saw her in the bus
With my friend who
Promised to give his support
I saw that there was something
Much over the friendship
I thought is my destiny
Then I climbed down
I lost the match
How can I understand the others?
If I’m unable to understand my closest friend

Be Good To Be Praised

I thought of starting a blog with initial objective of sharing some of my poems. Somehow it didn't happen and thought of blogging again. This poem was written about 7 years back. I sent the poem to Vibes Vessel of Sunday Observer. One day I thought of googling my name to find out to see what third party will find by searching my name. Strangely I saw the poem that was published on 8th June 2008.

Be good to be praised

Some are praised
Due to their good conduct
Although some have to earn.
And others will praise you
If you possess a good reputation
But they will insult you
If your conduct is not so good
But you can be praised
By spending your wealth
You have to earn good
And bury bad to be praised
But remember to do the right thing
Regardless of praise

Dinesh Kahatapitiya

Reviving Your Hobby Reviving Yourself

Recently postcrossing had been rusty for me. I had 14 postcards which had already been expired. 13 out 14 though I requested addresses I couldn't send the cards. Actually my postcard collection to be written had been almost dried up and on 4th February 2014 I was on a holiday.  Luckily after a long quest I could find a bookshop with postcards and bought all the cards that the shop had. In Sri Lanka easiest place you could find postcards is a bookshop. But 19 out of 20 you would not be able to find postcards. When I first asked whether they have postcards they were not sure and finally one said that they have picture postcards. Anyway they could not find the cards at once but when found and after a brief look I ordered all the postcards. Owner seems to be surprised and asked why I need all the postcards. I tried to explain to him about postcrossing but he seems to be not so interested and as there was queue to the cashier as well. I thought of sending those bought cards to the intended receivers of expired cards and then wrote all the cards with the hope that I would be able request 21 addresses more. But when I click the send a postcard tab message is

"Currently, your account has 14 expired postcards...

Before you can request more addresses, you need to send postcards to all the addresses you already have. Those members are waiting for your postcards".

I honestly believe that is a good step by poscrossing to discourage expired cards and to promote genuine postcrossers ( May be it was already in place, but I was unaware about it). Last week had been awesome, since the Cricket World Cup had started though we lost the opening game against New Zealand a co-host of this time world cup. Though I sent many postcards and since the gap between  my sent and received was high I didn't receive postcard. At the moment my sent cards stands at 635 and received and 641 and I'm hopeful that I will received a card at the end of this month or the beginning of next month as the gap had been narrowed. Out of 13 I've sent I will attach a photo here that I've sent to two poscrossers. That's Galle Fort a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Galle Fort – Galle Fort in the bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka was first built in 1588 by the Portuguese, and then fortified by the Dutch during the 17^th Century.  It is historical, archaeological and architectural heritage moment.

Poscrossing Rankings as at 1st January 2015

Happy New Year 2015 Dear Postcrossers!

I had something in my mind about postcrossing country rankings. The notion is older than 4 or 5 years. One more thing, this year postcrossing marks its 10th Birthday. Isn't it so wonderful ? Privately my postcrossing journey started 5 years ago. Have you ever wondered how postcrossing rankings changed over past few years? Oldest data I found is data obtained from poscrossing site on  11th November 2011.

On that day poscrossing had 261 097 postcrossers and they altogether sent just more than 9 million postcards. Today as at 1st of January 2015 Postcrossers have more than doubled and and postcards sent have been tripled. To be exact there is 525 833 poscrossers and poscards sent figure is  27 363 879.

On 11th November Germany stood on 3rd place and it is the leading postcrossing country now. Greatest achiever to make top 10 is Ukraine who stood on 19th place has achieved 9th place. Good news for me is Sri Lanka which stood on 74th at that time had gained 9 places. To make it easy for you make comparisons I will post  the full table.

1/1/2015
Code	Country name	Members	Postcards Sent	Rank as at today	Earlier Rank	Rank Change
DE	GermanyGermany	40,048	3,500,761	1	3	2
US	United States of AmericaUnited States of America	51,096	2,818,733	2	1	-1
RU	RussiaRussia	61,091	2,778,835	3	5	2
NL	NetherlandsNetherlands	33,683	2,608,584	4	4	0
FI	FinlandFinland	17,034	2,140,400	5	2	-3
BY	BelarusBelarus	21,612	1,308,089	6	10	4
CN	ChinaChina	49,367	1,226,726	7	6	-1
TW	TaiwanTaiwan (*)	51,301	1,213,195	8	7	-1
UA	UkraineUkraine	22,301	1,029,033	9	19	10
PL	PolandPoland	25,762	828,336	10	8	-2
JP	JapanJapan	6,839	568,382	11	11	0
GB	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	10,804	551,886	12	9	-3
CZ	Czech RepublicCzech Republic	11,075	505,295	13	20	7
CA	CanadaCanada	7,673	445,722	14	12	-2
FR	FranceFrance	7,386	416,270	15	14	-1
LT	LithuaniaLithuania	6,785	362,987	16	18	2
AU	AustraliaAustralia	5,372	362,296	17	15	-2
PT	PortugalPortugal	5,925	343,520	18	13	-5
BE	BelgiumBelgium	3,749	307,057	19	22	3
ES	SpainSpain	4,599	296,729	20	21	1
BR	BrazilBrazil	7,166	276,894	21	17	-4
IT	ItalyItaly	2,712	273,304	22	16	-6
HK	Hong KongHong Kong (*)	6,873	259,962	23	34	11
MY	MalaysiaMalaysia	3,801	209,853	24	27	3
CH	SwitzerlandSwitzerland	2,167	206,976	25	24	-1
AT	AustriaAustria	2,172	188,112	26	25	-1
EE	EstoniaEstonia	2,182	176,923	27	23	-4
LV	LatviaLatvia	2,719	153,909	28	33	5
TR	TurkeyTurkey	6,660	153,125	29	28	-1
TH	ThailandThailand	5,211	147,749	30	26	-4
SG	SingaporeSingapore	2,603	146,611	31	32	1
NZ	New ZealandNew Zealand	1,602	104,968	32	29	-3
IN	IndiaIndia	6,838	100,020	33	42	9
NO	NorwayNorway	1,097	96,559	34	30	-4
SI	SloveniaSlovenia	870	96,144	35	31	-4
KR	Korea (South)Korea (South)	3,536	89,102	36	43	7
ID	IndonesiaIndonesia	5,086	88,961	37	48	11
RO	RomaniaRomania	1,119	86,095	38	36	-2
IE	IrelandIreland	809	78,249	39	39	0
HU	HungaryHungary	1,551	72,702	40	35	-5
SE	SwedenSweden	1,131	70,943	41	37	-4
PH	PhilippinesPhilippines	1,539	61,162	42	38	-4
ZA	South AfricaSouth Africa	1,565	53,703	43	44	1
HR	CroatiaCroatia	571	51,291	44	40	-4
BG	BulgariaBulgaria	978	44,694	45	53	8
SK	SlovakiaSlovakia	967	39,943	46	46	0
GR	GreeceGreece	429	39,094	47	41	-6
DK	DenmarkDenmark	429	35,588	48	45	-3
IL	IsraelIsrael	430	35,198	49	47	-2
MD	MoldovaMoldova	506	34,584	50	55	5
MX	MexicoMexico	825	24,103	51	51	0
LU	LuxembourgLuxembourg	184	23,044	52	50	-2
RS	SerbiaSerbia	275	19,256	53	52	-1
IS	IcelandIceland	193	18,790	54	49	-5
MO	MacaoMacao (*)	583	16,294	55	56	1
AR	ArgentinaArgentina	537	14,422	56	54	-2
KZ	KazakhstanKazakhstan	461	13,283	57	63	6
CL	ChileChile	235	9,680	58	57	-1
AE	United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates	183	8,863	59	60	1
DZ	AlgeriaAlgeria	152	5,588	60	71	11
UZ	UzbekistanUzbekistan	99	5,547	61	64	3
MT	MaltaMalta	79	5,527	62	59	-3
PR	Puerto RicoPuerto Rico (*)	158	5,527	62	61	-1
BA	Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina	111	5,526	64	62	-2
LK	Sri LankaSri Lanka	210	4,997	65	74	9
MK	MacedoniaMacedonia	58	4,667	66	75	9
IR	IranIran	130	4,490	67	58	-9
CY	CyprusCyprus	61	4,205	68	72	4
CR	Costa RicaCosta Rica	74	3,977	69	68	-1
VN	VietnamVietnam	95	3,940	70	66	-4
PK	PakistanPakistan	63	2,968	71	76	5
GG	GuernseyGuernsey (*)	50	2,930	72	77	5
MU	MauritiusMauritius	39	2,782	73	70	-3
AZ	AzerbaijanAzerbaijan	56	2,548	74	128	54
EC	EcuadorEcuador	35	2,381	75	81	6
EG	EgyptEgypt	73	2,282	76	69	-7
BN	BruneiBrunei	46	2,237	77	67	-10
QA	QatarQatar	46	2,084	78	65	-13
AM	ArmeniaArmenia	45	2,045	79	78	-1
KE	KenyaKenya	34	1,871	80	108	28
TN	TunisiaTunisia	63	1,861	81	118	37
TT	Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago	44	1,851	82	83	1
CU	CubaCuba	29	1,626	83	87	4
KG	KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan	64	1,594	84	93	9
MA	MoroccoMorocco	118	1,587	85	84	-1
ME	MontenegroMontenegro	45	1,542	86	80	-6
BS	BahamasBahamas	15	1,479	87	95	8
PE	PeruPeru	85	1,413	88	101	13
GT	GuatemalaGuatemala	27	1,408	89	79	-10
UY	UruguayUruguay	31	1,377	90	85	-5
JE	JerseyJersey (*)	22	1,224	91	81	-10
ET	EthiopiaEthiopia	21	1,180	92	94	2
PF	French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia (*)	11	1,163	93	100	7
VE	VenezuelaVenezuela	48	1,119	94	91	-3
BH	BahrainBahrain	23	1,065	95	102	7
SA	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	37	1,051	96	108	12
PA	PanamaPanama	24	1,030	97	90	-7
AX	Åland IslandsÅland Islands (*)	17	1,015	98	73	-25
GH	GhanaGhana	79	1,010	99	111	12
DO	Dominican RepublicDominican Republic	53	998	100	123	23
LI	LiechtensteinLiechtenstein	10	978	101	151	50
BD	BangladeshBangladesh	39	939	102	114	12
TV	TuvaluTuvalu	4	898	103	88	-15
KH	CambodiaCambodia	13	797	104	86	-18
JM	JamaicaJamaica	20	745	105	89	-16
NP	NepalNepal	27	739	106	136	30
GP	GuadeloupeGuadeloupe (*)	13	701	107	98	-9
SV	El SalvadorEl Salvador	25	699	108	106	-2
CO	ColombiaColombia	51	671	109	107	-2
IM	Isle of ManIsle of Man (*)	12	638	110	96	-14
GI	GibraltarGibraltar (*)	6	610	111	143	32
LB	LebanonLebanon	24	592	112	104	-8
NA	NamibiaNamibia	32	584	113	152	39
GE	GeorgiaGeorgia	22	549	114	176	62
GY	GuyanaGuyana	15	539	115	112	-3
RE	RéunionRéunion (*)	22	538	116	152	36
NF	Norfolk IslandNorfolk Island (*)	2	521	117	99	-18
SR	SurinameSuriname	5	520	118	92	-26
TM	TurkmenistanTurkmenistan	13	504	119	138	19
LA	LaosLaos	4	475	120	97	-23
PM	Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Pierre and Miquelon (*)	8	446	121	113	-8
BM	BermudaBermuda (*)	12	438	122	121	-1
JO	JordanJordan	21	424	123	105	-18
MW	MalawiMalawi	3	399	124	163	39
IQ	IraqIraq	9	392	125	116	-9
OM	OmanOman	6	382	126	122	-4
NC	New CaledoniaNew Caledonia (*)	13	381	127	131	4
GN	GuineaGuinea	1	373	128	156	28
TZ	TanzaniaTanzania	14	371	129	117	-12
FJ	FijiFiji	11	369	130	177	47
AL	AlbaniaAlbania	7	342	131	144	13
UG	UgandaUganda	35	329	132	115	-17
GU	GuamGuam (*)	23	317	133	145	12
KW	KuwaitKuwait	10	316	134	141	7
BB	BarbadosBarbados	11	290	135	135	0
AW	ArubaAruba (*)	10	281	136	154	18
BO	BoliviaBolivia	20	276	137	118	-19
FO	Faroe IslandsFaroe Islands	12	271	138	125	-13
AF	AfghanistanAfghanistan	7	262	139	170	31
MP	Northern Mariana IslandsNorthern Mariana Islands (*)	4	250	140	110	-30
BZ	BelizeBelize	6	246	141	150	9
BQ	Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (*)	4	223	142	165	23
MV	MaldivesMaldives	9	216	143	120	-23
NI	NicaraguaNicaragua	8	199	144	124	-20
CV	Cape VerdeCape Verde	7	197	145	133	-12
MQ	MartiniqueMartinique (*)	4	191	146	130	-16
KP	Korea (North)Korea (North)	3	167	147	192	45
MM	MyanmarMyanmar	13	166	148	156	8
PG	Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea	2	154	149	103	-46
ST	Sao Tome and PrincipeSao Tome and Principe	1	152	150	203	53
GD	GrenadaGrenada	3	150	151	132	-19
HT	HaitiHaiti	3	147	152	129	-23
HN	HondurasHonduras	13	146	153	192	39
MN	MongoliaMongolia	16	136	154	149	-5
NG	NigeriaNigeria	9	133	155	167	12
MG	MadagascarMadagascar	11	129	156	165	9
PY	ParaguayParaguay	10	128	157	139	-18
PS	Palestine (state of)Palestine (state of) (*)	7	126	158	189	31
SC	SeychellesSeychelles	9	124	159	133	-26
GL	GreenlandGreenland (*)	2	123	160	126	-34
SJ	Svalbard and Jan MayenSvalbard and Jan Mayen (*)	4	123	160	203	43
KY	Cayman IslandsCayman Islands (*)	2	120	162	127	-35
MZ	MozambiqueMozambique	7	109	163	137	-26
GF	French GuianaFrench Guiana (*)	3	108	164	160	-4
MF	Saint Martin (French part)Saint Martin (French part) (*)	3	103	165	216	51
SX	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)Sint Maarten (Dutch part) (*)	1	99	166	203	37
TJ	TajikistanTajikistan	8	94	167	167	0
VI	Virgin Islands of the USAVirgin Islands of the USA (*)	5	92	168	167	-1
CW	CuraçaoCuraçao (*)	8	91	169	159	-10
LS	LesothoLesotho	4	91	169	142	-27
ZM	ZambiaZambia	7	89	171	147	-24
YT	MayotteMayotte (*)	3	88	172	216	44
MH	Marshall IslandsMarshall Islands	0	84	173	139	-34
GM	GambiaGambia	7	80	174	199	25
MC	MonacoMonaco	5	74	175	183	8
AG	Antigua and BarbudaAntigua and Barbuda	8	68	176	171	-5
VA	VaticanVatican	2	65	177	203	26
ZW	ZimbabweZimbabwe	10	64	178	181	3
SY	SyriaSyria	3	63	179	146	-33
YE	YemenYemen	3	63	179	148	-31
AD	AndorraAndorra	6	62	181	188	7
BW	BotswanaBotswana	8	61	182	154	-28
TL	Timor-LesteTimor-Leste	1	57	183	192	9
CI	Côte d'IvoireCôte d'Ivoire	12	52	184	181	-3
LY	LibyaLibya	4	48	185	158	-27
RW	RwandaRwanda	7	48	185	203	18
VG	British Virgin IslandsBritish Virgin Islands (*)	2	46	187	216	29
LC	Saint LuciaSaint Lucia	3	45	188	161	-27
SN	SenegalSenegal	16	42	189	171	-18
BI	BurundiBurundi	1	38	190	216	26
TG	TogoTogo	18	37	191	216	25
CM	CameroonCameroon	3	37	191	192	1
DM	DominicaDominica	1	37	191	192	1
SB	Solomon IslandsSolomon Islands	2	37	191	162	-29
ER	EritreaEritrea	8	32	195	163	-32
SZ	SwazilandSwaziland	4	30	196	183	-13
CX	Christmas IslandChristmas Island (*)	1	28	197	216	19
VU	VanuatuVanuatu	2	26	198	216	18
AO	AngolaAngola	1	23	199	175	-24
SH	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (*)	2	21	200	171	-29
VC	Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent and the Grenadines	3	20	201	174	-27
CD	Congo (Dem. Rep.)Congo (Dem. Rep.)	0	17	202	216	14
AQ	AntarcticaAntarctica (*)	0	16	203	179	-24
CG	CongoCongo	0	14	204	203	-1
BJ	BeninBenin	11	13	205	185	-20
BT	BhutanBhutan	5	13	205	185	-20
CK	Cook IslandsCook Islands	1	12	207	177	-30
FK	Falkland Islands (Malvinas)Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (*)	1	12	207	216	9
XK	KosovoKosovo (*)	4	12	207	#N/A	#N/A
GA	GabonGabon	1	7	210	216	6
LR	LiberiaLiberia	0	7	210	185	-25
KN	Saint Kitts and NevisSaint Kitts and Nevis	0	7	210	189	-21
TF	French Southern TerritoriesFrench Southern Territories (*)	0	6	213	203	-10
GQ	Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea	0	5	214	189	-25
KI	KiribatiKiribati	0	5	214	216	2
SD	SudanSudan	0	5	214	179	-35
BF	Burkina FasoBurkina Faso	1	4	217	192	-25
MR	MauritaniaMauritania	0	4	217	216	-1
WF	Wallis and FutunaWallis and Futuna	0	4	217	192	-25
AS	American SamoaAmerican Samoa (*)	1	3	220	216	-4
FM	MicronesiaMicronesia	1	3	220	203	-17
MS	MontserratMontserrat (*)	0	3	220	199	-21
BL	Saint BarthélemySaint Barthélemy (*)	1	3	220	216	-4
TD	ChadChad	0	2	224	216	-8
WS	SamoaSamoa (*)	2	2	224	201	-23
CF	Central African RepublicCentral African Republic	1	1	226	203	-23
KM	ComorosComoros	0	1	226	203	-23
DJ	DjiboutiDjibouti	0	1	226	203	-23
NU	NiueNiue (*)	0	1	226	203	-23
SM	San MarinoSan Marino	0	1	226	203	-23
AI	AnguillaAnguilla (*)	0	0	231	201	-30
IO	British Indian Ocean TerritoryBritish Indian Ocean Territory (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
CC	Cocos (Keeling) IslandsCocos (Keeling) Islands (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
GW	Guinea-BissauGuinea-Bissau	0	0	231	216	-15
ML	MaliMali	1	0	231	216	-15
NR	NauruNauru	0	0	231	216	-15
NE	NigerNiger	0	0	231	216	-15
PW	PalauPalau	0	0	231	216	-15
PN	PitcairnPitcairn (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
SL	Sierra LeoneSierra Leone	1	0	231	216	-15
SO	SomaliaSomalia	0	0	231	216	-15
GS	South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
SS	South SudanSouth Sudan	0	0	231	#N/A	#N/A
TK	TokelauTokelau (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
TO	TongaTonga	0	0	231	216	-15
TC	Turks and Caicos IslandsTurks and Caicos Islands (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
UM	U.S. Minor Outlying IslandsU.S. Minor Outlying Islands (*)	0	0	231	216	-15
EH	Western SaharaWestern Sahara (*)	0	0	231	#N/A	#N/A