Clashes in Bahrain

Anti government protests which started on last 14th, have affected the whole country. We were warned by many parties about the potential issues prior to the starting date. 24 hour petrol by air and land gave the yellow lights of the upcoming incident. The protests were started on 14th ,the day which marks the anniversary of the Nation Action Charter of the Kingdom. So there was a big rally organized to support the government while there were anti-government protests as well. Finally, 14th February, Valentine’s Day was very warm with full of actions. 

15th was an Islamic holiday. The whole day was very boring since I couldn’t go anywhere due to the protests. After spending the morning and afternoon inside the room, I went to the Andalus Garden for a walk. There were quite a lot people in the garden, doing their regular exercises and sports but the roads were not that busy. Gudeibia police station was crowded. I came back home soon, after getting messages about the problems. Roads in Manama was closed and also all the shopping malls.

Heard about the death of two Bahrainis on 14th and the there was a rumor about the death of the third person on 15th. We don’t have a way of getting proper news as we don’t have cable television as home. Only available one for us at the moment is Channel 55, which shows only the development projects and the government news, again in Arabic. Tried listening to radio, but didn’t work. Only source which I knew was internet. So I started watching and reading Al Jazeera and BBC but I doubt about the accuracy as I know how they acted during the war in Sri Lanka. While GDN and Daily Tribune (Local Papers) were mainly talking about the pro-government rally while the foreign media focus on anti-government activities.

16th was a working day. I went to Sitra in the morning. The roads were peaceful and calm. The centre point of the anti government activities was the Pearl round about. Heard about the peaceful protests at the centre point and in other areas. The environment was warm as there were two deaths. Many people I met were talking about the circumstances which might arise due to these deaths. The helicopters are in 24 hour duty still and the police cars can be seen everywhere.

17th is a shocking day. Heard about the clashes at the Peal round about early in the morning. Almost all the offices and the shopping malls are closed. My meetings got cancelled, and we closed the office at around 12.30pm. Finished the work in the morning while watching Al Jazeera for the updates. According to them, two more are dead due to the army attacks and many people are admitted to Salmania Hospital. But the rumors were saying that it’s more than eight.

The anti-government protests are organized by Shia, the majority with 70% of the total population. They are demanding the Prime minister who is holding the tile for 40 years to resign, Housing and Jobs for all the people and many more. I do not know how far these demands are fair.

The life is becoming very different after the arising of these issues. Internet is extremely slow. Have to go through hell to log in to fb or Google. Last weekend was full of fun and never thought that I will be stuck at home this weekend. Though the protests were expected, honestly I though it won’t drag for days. 

Find Al Jazeera Bahrain blog here

Everything happens for the good

I found this nice story from Harshaa’s facebook profile. This anonymous story tells us the value of positive thinking and one of the great success principals on earth.

There was once a King who had a wise advisor. The advisor followed the King everywhere, and his favorite advice was, "Everything happens for the good". One day the King went hunting and had a little accident. He shot an arrow at his own foot and was injured. He asked the advisor what he thought about the accident, to which the advisor replied, "Everything happens for the good". This time the King was really upset and ordered for his advisor to be put in prison. The King asked his advisor, "Now, what do you think?" The advisor again replied, "Everything happens for the good". So the advisor remained in prison. 

The King later went on a hunting trip, this time without the advisor. The King was then captured by some cannibals. He was taken to the cannibals' camp where he was to be the evening meal for the cannibals. Before putting him into the cooking pot he was thoroughly inspected. The cannibals saw the wound on the King's foot and decided to throw him back into the jungle. According to the cannibals' tradition, they would not eat anything that was imperfect. As a result the King was spared. The King suddenly realized what his advisor said was true. The advisor also escaped death because had he not been in prison, he would have followed the King on the hunting trip, and would have ended up in the cooking pot. 

Success Principle 

It is true that everything in life happens for a purpose, and always for our own good. If you think about it, all our past experiences actually happened to bring us to where we are today, and it is always for the good. All the past experiences make us a better person. So, whatever challenges that we may face today, consider it happening to bring us to the next level.

Find the story here

TGIF Again!

Friday is always a relaxing day for me. Sleeping for a long time, exploring the city, Chatting to friends, Reading something, tiring something new and experiencing the local life are the parts of my Friday schedule. Unfortunately I could not attend to the AIESEC conference as I have to engage with some work this weekend.

I woke up around 11.45 a.m. as every Friday, after a very good sleep. We had lunch at home as Aunty offered us some nice Sri Lankan food made with Sri Lankan curry powder. After few hours spending online and for office work, Sachi, Akila, Jeewani and I got ready to go to City Centre. Harshani, who lives close by offered us a life to the place. It was around 5 p.m. when we left home.

The whole time was full of fun, laughing, playing games and shopping. The game zone at City centre was awesome. Well initially we were lost without knowing what to do, but then started having fun. Had KFC at the food court and then went shopping. It was raining outside when we started walking back home, but not for a long time. We walked back home while listening to Sachi’s horror stories and Jeewani’s ghost stories. Then again few hours at home having an awesome dinner secretly coz we did not want aunty and uncle to wake up in the midnight and scream for us getting late. Lol. Anyway the plan got caught as aunty woke up suddenly but after we finished having a superb dinner time. Anyway last night was full of fun with Sachi, Akila and Jeewani.

I bought a Sony Cyber-shot digi cam from City Centre. Always wanted to buy a small cam, as I need it badly. Well hope that this will be enough to take capture some nice moments, till I buy my professional camera soon. 

The Garbageman

The night was very cold and windy. Azhar and I were sitting at the mosque and he suddenly spoke to a laborer who came that way. That was an old man with an uniform going to clean the garbage bins along the roads. His duty starts at late night and goes till the morning. He didn’t look very fit to work. He was supposed to be at home pampering his grand children and having great days his life, if his life was fair. But unfortunately, it was not.

 Azhar spoke to him in Hindi and asked “Keise ho Bhai Sahab?”  The man was very happy to hear that and he came to us, wished us and said that he was on the way to work.  I saw his innocent eyes were brightened with happiness of two strangers asking him how he is doing. Nobody notices him cleaning the bins at night which allow us to fill them back in the morning with our garbage. Nobody notices him working at night in his old age but only the clean roads in the morning. Nobody wants to ask how he is doing as he is just another garbage man.  He gave his hand to us, waved it softly and wished us the blessing of Allah. I’m sure neither Azhar knew him nor the old man knew Azhar. But, once small question made a normal garbage man feeling so special at that night. I saw it in his eyes.

“We have to go to the level of the people who are lower than us, to see what we have in our lives” 

were Azhar’s words to me. We will realize how lucky we are to have what we have right now when you look at the needy people. We will stop complaining and be glad to our lives instead.

How difficult is your life?

Life is very strange indeed. It is always with ups and downs. Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not. When you get things easily in life, definitely you will lose a lot too. If you have money, you don’t have happiness. If you have happiness, you don’t have money. If you have love, you may not see that. If you are good in your job, may be you are alone in life.

That is life and we have to accept it as it is. We might complain about what we don’t have in our lives as we can’t see what exactly we have. I used to do that a lot but not anymore. I’m glad that what I have got in my life. I have lost so many things may be because I deserve better in future.

I read this quote once but I don’t remember who has said it.

 “We always say that the life is very difficult. But, Compared to what?”

Nothing is easy in this world. Do you think living the day today life is easy? Leaving the loved once is easy? Studding is easy? Earning and spending is easy? Having a child or becoming a parent is easy? Being happy is easy? Nothing is easy. Everything has its own difficulties and problems. So we cannot find anything easy to compare our lives with and say that this is very difficult that the other. We just have to accept the life as it is and look in to the ways of achieving the best out of what we have.
Picture Source

Celebrating the 63rd Independence Day

Sri Lankan Society of Bahrain has organized an event to celebrate the 63^rd Independence Day of Sri Lanka yesterday. It was very nice to witness the presence of around 1000 Sri Lankans at the event. As what I heard, there are three Sri Lankan societies in Bahrain which are based on Gudeibiya, Budeiya and Rifa.

One thing I noticed was that most of the Sri Lankans who are in Bahrain, have lived here for a long time. If you hear someone says “this is my 7^th year, 10^th year or the 20^th year in Bahrain” well, that is very normal. Don’t know how long am I going to stay in this small country….will see how it comes…

Sachi and I went along with our house owners to this event. The place was at 10 minute walk from home. Aunty, Uncle, Akila and Jeewani joined with us. 

Home Away Home

We moved to our new place on 1^st of February. The earlier place was alright but the new place is better. Sachi and I went shopping to buy the necessities to the new place. We went to “Last Chance” and bought pillows, comforters, two small cupboards, a cloth rack, hangers and many more. We both finished work very late that night but we managed to shift all our stuff to the new place. We couldn’t find a vehicle to shift the bags so had to carry the bags and move them. Three rounds, its Kalas (Finish in Arabic).  After arranging the room till the down, I went to bed abound 3.30 am and got up at 6.30 am.

The new place belongs to a Sri Lankan family and located very close to the office. It’s in the top floor of a 3 story building with an attached bath room. A very cozy and lovely place which makes me feel like home.