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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in DHRUHINI's LiveJournal:

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    Friday, April 9th, 2004
    12:14 am
    The Fate of Lanka...
    It's been almost a week since the General Election and I'm still recovering from all the excitement and exhaustion of it!

    Election day was mostly quiet except for a few reported incidents in the North and the Vanni area. I managed to stay awake through the entire Colombo East count and the UNF preferrential count at the center that I was at and came home around seven in the morning. Needless to say I went right to bed, and woke up to not so good news. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had a significant lead over the United National Front (UNF) who had been in government over the last two years and who had brokered a cease fire with the LTTE.

    I didn't even bother to keep track of how many electorates the UPFA won over the UNF in- it started getting rather depressing after a while. The only good thing was that Milinda Moragoda got the second highest number of preferrential votes on the UNF, coming second to the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

    So the UNF ended up with 80 seats in parliament while the UPFA got 105 which was still not enough to form a government without forming a coalition with another political party or two. But the UPFA managed to gather some support from elsewhere and they did form a government. It was a good thing that the UNF didn't try to form a government - if they had, they would have been inconsiderate of the mandate of the people and this would have made the people even more upset at them. Secondly, if they had formed a coalition government, the public sector would have gone on strike on the orders of the JVP and other groups, and this could have caused the UNF government to collapse. Thirdly, accepting the mandate of the people is the most democratic thing that the UNF could do.

    The new Prime Minister was sworne in a couple of days ago, and apparently the cabinet is going to be appointed after the Singhalese and Tamil New Year (which will be mid next week).

    I don't really know what all the PA + JVP alliance which formed the UPFA plans to do as far as the peace process is concernd, and this is what worries me the most. I have heard reports of the JVP claiming that they will not honour the MOU signed between the former UNF Government and the LTTE. This scares me, and makes me wonder if they will put us back on a war footing. The UPFA politicians won't care - after all it's not their brothers and sons who come back in body bags.

    We'll just have to wait and see what they plan on doing with my little country. I just hope things go well. We can't afford to go to war again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
    Saturday, April 3rd, 2004
    3:06 am
    Election Update
    Warning: If your not interested in the Sri Lankan political scene, please don't feel compelled to read.

    Today our little country is facing a sad state of affairs. The UNF has done far more poorly than we expected, although it's not as though the UFPA (United Freedom Peoples Alliance) and the JHU (Janatha Hela Urumaya) have done so well either. The result is still going to be very close. The only thing that's going to save us is the preferrential system - even if we loose a majority of electorates, if the losses aren't by large margins the UNF and UPFA will end up with a similar number of seats even in our loosing areas. And in the areas that we're winning, lets just hope that we win with large margin so we can still hold a simple majority in parliament. But ofcourse in order to form a government we are going to have to form alliances with the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) and/or the JHU.

    I myself am exhausted. The month of the election was hectic with *rest* being a luxury rather than a norm. Yesterday I went and cast my vote and watched the PM cast his vote right after me. The atmosphere at the polling booths was quiet and non-violent, and if anything I believe we managed to have the most clean and fair election that the Colombo District has seen in a long time. I tried to get a few hours of sleep in the afternoon yesterday since I was going to be an election counting monitor in the evening. Went to the counting center at 6.30 in the evening and the count started at 8. The main part of the count was over soon after midnight, but I opted to stay for the preferrential count as well and that we on till about 6.30 in the morning. The UNP won the part of the Colombo District that I was monitoring, and the Prime Minister as expected got the highest number of preferrences and Milinda Moragoda got the second highest number. Now we just have to wait and see if Milinda manages to retain the same number of preferrential votes he got last time. I really hope he does - if anyone deserves it, he does.

    Well needless to say, I'm exhausted and am going to try and get some rest today. But before that I think I'm going to head over to the Campaign Office to see what the mood is like over there.

    I hope this wasn't too boring an entry - I jus really needed to get all of this off of my chest.
    Hope all of you are keeping well!
    Sunday, March 7th, 2004
    11:41 pm
    Short update
    I'm sorry I've not updated my lj in a while, and I'm also sorry about not reading people's entries and commenting on them. I'm going to appologize ahead of time for not being attentive to lj till April 2nd or even after that - that's when the general elections are.

    I do hope everyone is keeping well. Take care!
    Wednesday, February 25th, 2004
    10:13 pm
    Samanala Wewa, Sri Lanka
    Pictures from my trip to Samanala Wewa last week. Samanala Wewa is a reservoir which provides hydropower to about 1/8th of the island. It's an amazing place, and I think I can honsetly say that it's the most beautiful spot in Sri Lanka! It has the mountains one one side and borders a national park on another side, and the view from the reservoir is absolutely breathtaking!

    http://samanalawewa.mypicgallery.com/
    10:04 pm
    Sights of Lanka
    These are similar to the pictures I posted of the ocean before. I took these last week on my way to Kataragama which is in the very heart of the south of the country. I'm sorry if the pictures are similar and seem to repeat themselves - I'm just mezmerized by the blues of the water. Hope you enjoy these!

    http://srilankanbeaches.mypicgallery.com/
    9:41 pm
    Independence Day, Sri Lanka
    These are some pictures from Independence Day which was on February 4th. There were all sorts of parades in the morning. The Independence Square was built shortly after Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gained independece from the British in 1948. The whole square was decorated and lit up to mark the occasion this year.

    http://independencecelebra.mypicgallery.com/
    9:35 pm
    Sights of Lanka
    A few random images of Sri Lanka.

    http://srilankansceneries.mypicgallery.com/
    Sunday, February 22nd, 2004
    11:12 pm
    And the Lions Roared with Pride!!!!
    Sri Lanka won the second one day international match against the Australian cricket team today! It was a marvelous match, with Sri Lanka winning by just one run! Quite a nail biting experience really!
    No offense to the Australians out there, but it was really good to watch the Sri Lankans equal out the score - they are now 1 all on the tally, and have just one more ODI left to play. I would really like to go to the third match, but ofcourse that all depends on work.

    I don't like cricket. I love it!
    10:53 pm
    The next six weeks
    Nominations for the General Election close tomorrow evening. This means that the campaign gets into full gear tomorrow and I'm going to be working around the clock essentially. I don't mind - am actually very excited about the campaign and the election.
    I'm just worried that my mother isn't going to be too pleased that I'm neglecting my wedding tasks just a tad bit! oops!
    Oh well, I guess I'll be writing out the wedding invitations when I get back home at midnight! Eeek!

    Current Mood: excited
    Saturday, February 21st, 2004
    2:21 pm
    Temples and Coast off Southern Sri Lanka
    Last month I visited some temples in the South of Sri Lanka which are well over 1500 years old. I especially like the dome shaped structures called 'Dagabos' - some of them are so big and tall that you can see them from any place in those particular towns. The murals at the temples are also quite colourful and interesting.
    There are also a few pictures off the Southern coast of the island.
    Enjoy!

    Read more... )
    2:03 am
    Me
    For those of you who have been wondering what in the world I look like, here are some pictures of me.

    Read more... )
    12:58 am
    Sri Lanka
    Pictures from my trip to some wildlife parks in Sri Lanka.

    Read more... )
    Sunday, February 15th, 2004
    12:09 am
    A Clean Election Campaign
    Today I was sitting at our first official campaign meeting with the former Minister, and I realized exactly why I'm volunteering my brains and my time for this particular individual. He's just so unlike any other politician I've met - he doesn't have that disgusting politician look to him. And I realized that this is because he really isn't that *disgusting politician* at all. He's there to actually help the country, and he's not there to fill his own pockets with stash.

    He wants a *completely clean* campaign. And I have a good feeling about the whole thing, and think he's actually going to do his best to keep this whole election campaign as clean as possible. This is rather difficult to do in Sri Lanka where we've had a record of election violence - last elections were apparently rather ugly in certain parts of the country.

    I'm exhausted, but I'm so excited that I'm even a small bolt in the machine which is his election campaign.

    I've made the decission to volunteer my brains and time for his campaign for a year if he ever decides to run for President. I don't want anything out of it for myself. But I want everything out of it for my fellow citizens of Sri Lanka - they deserve better than what they have had thus far, and I think that he'd do a darned good job as President someday.

    Current Mood: optimistic
    Thursday, February 12th, 2004
    9:46 pm
    I'm not and actor......I'm not a star....
    ......but I was on national TV today - lol. There was a tiny little shot of me speaking on the news. *ah my fifteen seconds of fame*!!! lol
    Wednesday, February 11th, 2004
    10:42 pm
    I'm off on another three day vacation!
    I love Sri Lanka! I absolutely do!
    Despite being in somewhat the thick of campaign work (since the election are only eight weeks away), I'm running off to Kataragama and then to the beautiful mountains of Samanalawewa, and we're going via Bandarawela. We're leaving early on Sunday which means I don't work on Monday and Tuesday - but I'm sure I won't have missed too much since nominations are due on the 24th, and the real campaigning only starts after that.

    I'm going with my parents and my mother's best friend is coming along with us. I don't mind too much since I get to spend time with my Dad, and I'm also probarbly going to be camera happy once again!

    Oh and I got my last role of film from Yala and Udawalawe developed, and I was thrilled with one of the pictures - I think it was from our last day at Udawalawe, and there is a herd of about seven elephants in it, and you can see a perfect reflection of them in the water as well. This I might actually scan and try and show you guys. But I'm definitely going to enlarge it.

    I was checking out Samanala Wewa just now, and I found these pictures on line. I'm hoping that there'll be a nice sunset for me to capture when we're up there! *keeps fingers crossed*

    http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/Veranda/3314/my_photos_samanala_index.html

    I'm sooo excited!
    9:42 pm
    Okay - she's gone way overboard this time!
    39 Sri Lankan ministers dismissed!!!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3478603.stm

    And here are the effects of her apparently wonderful presidency!

    Sri Lankan shares plunge by 10%
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3472289.stm
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3243497.stm
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3472797.stm
    Monday, February 9th, 2004
    8:39 pm
    Today
    My day was uneventfully eventful - if that makes any sense. I spoke with Gemunu briefly on the phone, and we're going to lunch tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also a little nervous. We haven't seen each other since 1999, and he might look at me and wonder what kind of *fat cow* he's having lunch with (okay so I've lost some weight this year, but I'm not quite the 80 pounds I was in 1999)

    Then there was the staff meeting at the MMIPE - we discussed the desolution of parliament, and the upcoming elections. Landmine work only restarts at the end of March or the beginning of April, so I'm going to be working with the campaign until April 2nd, and only doing their landmine work part time. I've never really worked on a campaign before, and I've always wanted to. So all in all I'm looking forward to these next few weeks, and I'm overjoyed at the fact that I'm part of the Moragoda campaign - I don't think I could quite have stood working for any other politician in this country.

    There wasn't much to do at the office this afternoon (the real work is scheduled to start tomorrow), and so I went and had my hair straightened. I'm amazed at how long it is - an inch more and it would be down to mu hips! I loved all the pampering my hair got, but after a few hours of sitting in that chair my back started to hurt. I don't quite think I'm going to be rushing back and getting it straightened again any time in the near future - thank goodness this straightening thing is supposed to last almost a year!

    So all in all it's been a rather pleasant day! I hope your day turns out to be as pleasant or nicer than mine!
    12:05 am
    I'm *Green*

    Green



    You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.




    Find out your color at Quiz Me!


    Sunday, February 8th, 2004
    3:40 pm
    Decissions Decissions Decission........
    I mentioned in August that my bags were ransacked on my way back from the US to Sri Lanka, and that my camera along with her lenses were the only item stolen. (I couldn't carry it as hand luggage because I was carrying my laptop with me)

    I did buy another Canon (Rebel 2000) in October before I went to India and Nepal, but I only got myself a 35-80 lens. At the time I didn't quite realize how much I was going to miss my 80-300 lens. Well now I know, but I've got to decide between getting the 80-300 and getting a digital camera with lens options. I'm sorta leaning towards the 80-300 just because I used to own it, and I know how to use it. I also want the lens just in case I go back to the jungle (Yala and Wilpattu) - my pictures from last month would have been so much better with a more powerful lens. I've also sorta been anti digital for a while, but I'm really starting to feel the benefits of having a digital camera. I have to admit I don't know much about digital cameras and digital photography, and that might be one of the reasons I don't quite want to go with it. But I'm open to suggestions.

    I want to try and get either one of these in the next few weeks. So if anyone has any advice, please feel free to make a comment and let me know which one you think I should go with.
    12:51 pm
    What next?????
    I'm so angry I can't even make a proper journal entry - see for yourself what our wonderful President has done to the country this time around! Nuts! absolutely nuts! absolutely nuts!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3469261.stm
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Sri-Lanka-Politics.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-srilanka-election.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Sri-Lanka-Crisis.html

    Why could she just not have been happy watching Sri Lanka prosper in this cease fire - she couldn't achieve peace herself, so she doesn't let someone else try for it either!
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