Moving On ....

Well, after 5 years the time has finally come to move on from my job at Imperial. I knew this was likely to happen ever since I finished my PhD last year, but thought it might take a while longer to find a new job. However, the Open University decided to appoint me a lecturer so I am going to start my new job there on Oct 2nd.

Leaving Imperial after so long - I have spent a total of 9 years on this campus if you count my time as an undergraduate - is a bit of a wrench. I will definitely miss the people and even to some extent the familiarity of the labyrinthine corridors of the Department of Computing here. However, it is not so bad because I am involved in a couple of collabarative projects which will give me ample opportunity to visit regularly.

The job at the Open University is exciting in many ways. First it is a lectureship, which promises a whole new range of tasks and responsibilities. Second, it involves moving to Milton Keynes which means a new house and new neighbourhood to get used to. Both Uthpala and I are really looking forward to settling in our new place.

I have a week off in between jobs at the moment and the majority of the free time is likely to be spent on packing up our flat. This is a little tricky to do beacuse we don't have a firm moving date yet. I am hoping the last of the legal paperwork is completed early next week and we can make more definite plans. Keeping all fingers crossed! ....

Personal webpages from Google ...

Came across this handy little project by GoogleLabs (check out pages.google.com) which allows people to set up and host some basic web pages (upto 100MB of content). The online editor is quite good and allowed me to set up this basic home page with less than 1 hour of effort. Looking forward to Google making this a permanent offerring :-)

Laugh of the week ...

An old university buddy sent me a link to a webpage containing the text of a commencement address given to Yale students by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison:

Although the story is a satirical spoof and it is pretty old, I hadn't come across it before and it definitely makes for some hilarious reading. Especially the bit where Ellison 'tells' the new graduates:

"Now, consider this: five years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 thirty years from now, odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loserhood. Loser Cum Laude.

In fact, as I look out before me today, I don't see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don't see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers."

LoL - The full article is definitely worth a read :-)

Buddhist Rap !??!

Imagine my surprise this morning the discover an article in "Metro" (a free newspaper distributed to commuters) suggesting the rap artist Eminem's lyrics have a Buddhist theme. I couldn't find a weblink to the article but to give a brief run down, it reports on a book written by someone who claims to have analysed Eminem's lyrics and found indications of Buddhist teachings. I have to admit this is somewhat far-fetched, not only because much of the lyrics are obscence and are abusive to various members of society, but also because the writer claims the lyrics "lose yourself in the music" allude to the Buddhist teaching of living in the present moment and finding oneself through meditation. I can't see the connection myself :-)

I wonder if anyone else has come across other weird connections between popular culture and the Buddha's teaching? ....

Planting a seedling ....

This past weekend was a busy one because Uthpala and I organised an alms giving at our home, inviting Ven. Pesala Bhikkhu (www.aimwell.org) and a number of our friends. It was a very pleasing occassion to get together with friends and share in this act of generosity (called 'Dana' in pali) which is a key aspect of Buddhist practice. Organising an alms giving helped remind us of the importance of spiritual development in our daily lives since without this, life is just an endless stream of striving to keep the senses satisfied - a futile endeavour. This simple act of generosity, providing a meal to a monk, is an action that reduces our attachment to material wealth, allows us to share the companionship of good friends and have an oppportunity to develop our spiritual faculties. Personally it also reminded me of the importance of the other aspects of the Buddhist path - moral conduct (sila) and mental training (bhavana).

The spiritual refresher of the weekend activity has taken me back to redoubling my efforts to establish a regular meditation practice. I was reading a simile of Achaan Chah on my way into work this morning which summed up my current situation quite well:

"In meditation, you must continously be attentive, just like when planting a seedling. If you plant a seedling in one place, the after three days you pull it up and plant it in another place, and after three more days, pull it up again and plant it somewhere else, it will just die and not grow up to bear fruit.
Meditation is just the same. If you do a seven-day meditation retreat and after leaving it, for seven months you go around 'soiling' the mind, and then come back and do another seven-day retreat where you don't speak and keep to yourself, it is like replanting the seedling over and over again. Your meditation practice won't be able to grow and it will die without producing any real results"

So this week I have made a new determination, to plant my 'seedling' of bhavana and strive to nuture it to maturity. Of course the best of intentions can often end up by the wayside, but hopefully writing this down will strengthen my resolve to follow through on this one!

Migrant Workers: Living the Dream or Nightmare ?

When things in the middle-east have erupted in the past, it never occurred to me that this could affect my countrymen (well, in this case mostly women) from Sri Lanka. Yet, the escalation in violence in Lebanon with the Israelis conducting daily bombings has also caused a huge amount of difficulties to Sri Lankan migrant workers in the region. The problems faced by these workers are compounded by their working conditions, with employers often refusing to release their salaries and/or withholding their passports and other travel documents. This means that the Sri Lankan migrant workers (mostly domestic servants) are left without the financial and legal means to get away from the bombing. Even those who are able to leave must still run the gauntlet of roads subjected to aerial bombardment and even the Sri Lankan Embassy in Beirut is warning workers to avoid traveling by lorry since these have been targeted by the Israelis.

One significant result of this situation (which has the potential to have a positive long-term impact) is the media attention given to plight of migrant workers - particularly the sometimes harsh working conditions they have to endure and the seeming indifference of the officials supposed to watch out for their welfare. An article by Monica Smith brings these issues to light in a very clear manner.

Hopefully this situation will create enough pressure on government officials in both Sri Lanka (and the countries importing the workers) to put in place measure to protect the rights and welfare of the young men and women who travel overseas to work. As a group these people are a significant economic force, earning valuable foreign currency that is sent back to Sri Lanka to support their families. However, whilst the majority of workers are able to 'live the dream' of using their foreign earnings to raise their families out of poverty, there is a significant minority who end up in a nightmare of verbal/physical abuse and financial misery. It is high time those responsible for creating the nightmare situations - the abusive employers and uncaring government officials - are brought to account.

Tina - Good Girl!

Tina - Good Girl!
Originally uploaded by akbandara.

This is the dog that has been adopted by my in-laws in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Her name is Tina and I guess 'random breed' would be the only way to describe her parentage!

She arrived at the house after Uthpala and I left Sri Lanka and despite many attempts to get pictures of her, nobody had a chance to take them and e-mail them to us until today. Luckily my parents are visiting Sri Lanka at the moment, so taking a couple of digital snaps and sending them over was no problem.

Tina has just had an operation, hence the homemade cardboard collar. However, Uthpala's mother tells us that Tina is too mischievous and has already got around the collar and messed up her stiches!

Uthpala and I are both looking forward to seeing Tina in person when we go to Sri Lanka in December :-)

Lazing in the Park

Lazing in the Park
Originally uploaded by akbandara.

London is enjoying another mini-heatwave at the moment, so I took advantage and decided to walk from work to Paddington Station through Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens. As the sun comes out, so do Londoners, and the park was full of people taking some time out and catching some sun.

Took a whole bunch of random pictures on the way (just click the pciture to see the others in the set).

The journey to Paddington was in order to take the train to the airport so that I could say goodbye to my parents who are taking advantage of their retirement to take a long break in Sri Lanka. Lucky them! Uthpala and I are hoping to spend some time there in December, but until then, have to make do with the British Summer :-)

Sporting and Parlimentary Antics

What an up and down weekend on the sporting scene. Football was an absolute disaster for England who were unable to score against Portugal in the 120 mins of normal (and extra time) play in their World Cup quarter final. The penalty shoot out looked like it was going to be close until England missed a couple in a row. Final score, Portugal wins 3-1 on penalties and a nation retires to the pub to drown its collective sorrow. Cricket was just as dismal for England, but an excellent result for Sri Lanka who sealed a 5-0 series whitewash with some excellent batting from Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga. Set a challenging total of 322 to win by England, with Marcus Trescothick returning to form by contributing a century to this total, Sanath and Upul set off with gusto. Within 10 overs Sri Lanka had surpassed 130 runs and from there it became a simple stroll to victory, which was achieved despite losing both openers around the 280 mark. English cricketers and fans will be asking a lot of questions about their ability to rebuild before meeting Pakistan next week, and more crucially before defending the Ashes against the Aussies and taking part in the World Cup next year. The only silver lining in British sport this weekend was Andy Murray's straight sets victory over Andy Roddick. An excellent performance but it remains to be seen if the young Scotsman will be able to progress to the final stages of the tournament.

I came across a very entertaining and informative article about the state of Sri Lankan politics by Namini Wijedasa today. Apparently MPs in Sri Lanka are about to vote themselves a pay hike, which in itself is pretty normal procedure in any parlimentary democracy. However, what is unusual in Sri Lanka is the higher than normal level of ineptitude our parlimentarians display at running the country. A recent call to observe a minute of silence in the house to remember those who died in a bus bombing in the north of the island descended into an all-out brawl that resulted in the session being suspended because one group of MPs felt that similar respect should be paid to all those who have died in Sri Lanka's ongoing troubles. Thankfully the MPs cooled off enough to change the motion to be one that observed a minute of silence to all the dead and things could move on. This is just one example of the type of behaviour that Sri Lankan tax payers are subsidising, and will be asked to pay even more towards in the near future. You can read Namini Wijedasa's full article at www.theacademic.org.

Enjoying the British Lake District ...

Ullswater, Lake District, Cumbria

Our trip to the Lake District was very pleasant, although some cold and rainy weather meant that we got trapped indoors for some of the afternoon. Our friends Kalani and Kevin got married at the Inn on the Lake on the banks of Ullswater, which was a stunning location. After the ceremony and lunch, some guests braved the wet weather to take a ride on one of the lake steamers (Uthpala and I were not among this group because we didn't have any change of clothes). A wonderful day was capped by a evening of Dixie/Jazz music in the hotel bar. All in all an excellent weekend! 

Supporters Equation ...

With the number of international sporting events going on at the moment, it is hard to know who to supoprt in what. Tennis at Wimbledon, England vs. Sri Lanka in Cricket and the hard to miss Football World Cup. Here is my equation :-)

- sport(cricket) and playing(srilanka) -> support(srilanka)
- sport(football) and playing(england) -> support(england)
- sport(tennis) -> support(??)

Notice that these formlae assume that there will be no occassion when Sri Lanka will play England at football :-) ... Between watching the tennis / cricket and football this weekend, I am not sure that any other work is going to get done. Will have to generate some herculean will power to overcome the urge to stay glued to the TV and finish writing the research paper I am working on at the moment. Have been fiddling around with this for too long now.

Back to work for now .... must try and post some pictures from our Lake District trip at some point.

A triumphant return ?! .....

As the Sri Lankan cricket team are experiencing a triumphant return to form on English soil at the present, I figured this would be as good a time as any to make a return to this blog. Posting here has been on my list of things to do for a long time but the usual excuses excuses about work, travel etc. etc., apply.

On the work front, things have been busy with the end of term looming and student project assessments in full swing. Have been sitting in on a number of interesting demonstrations over the past couple of days, the most entertaining of which was a project to build a 'Magic Wand', ala Harry Potter. Essentially this is a gesture/voice activated input device that allows the holder to interact with his computer (and any devices connected to the computer) through magical gestures and incantations. So a circular swish and the utterance of 'Wingardium LeviOsa", and an animated feather flies around your screen :-) See the type of useful stuff we teach students here!

On the personal front, Uthpala and I are gearing up for a major change in circumstances because I have a new job starting in October and we are going to be leaving London for the suburban charms of Milton Keynes (My new job is as a lecturer in the Department of Computing at the Open University). We are both looking forward to the move, although there is the process of selling our current place and then buying a new one, together with all the fun and games involved in the process to get through first. Can't wait!

The coming weekend promises to be fun as we are going to a wedding in the Lake District (see picture) which will take place on Saturday evening. Old friend (and my best man) from Boston is going to be coming over for this as well, so am really looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Will post more once we get back .... promise ;-) ....

Happy Vesak

Coming Home ...

Arosha and Uthpala, seated
Originally uploaded by akbandara.

Here are some pictures of our homecoming. As with the wedding pictures you will need to be a member on my flickr.com 'Friends and Family' list to see all the pictures. Send me an e-mail if you want to get added :-)

Enjoy !

Wedded Bliss ...

Uthpala & Arosha - 19 Jan 2006
Originally uploaded by akbandara.

Finally got around to posting some pictures from our wedding ceremony here for everyone to have a look. Here you see us with the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa), which is the most recognised landmark in Kandy, in the background. The rather unusual outfit you see me wearing is the traditional dress of men from the hill country of Sri Lanka. Uthpala is also wearing a traditional Kandyan saree.

You can view the complete album by clicking here. However, you will need a flickr account and be added to my friend/family list in order to see all the pictures. Send me an e-mail if you have any problems.

Homeward bound ...

Heading back to Sri Lanka today, which is doubly exciting since this also being reunited with Uthpala! Can't wait ... by this time tomorrow I should be relaxing at my parent's house in Kegalle. OK, so I won't have the ocean view shown in the picture, but it is still going to be really great to be back :-)
Writing this while waiting for my friend to arrive to take me to the airport. So, can't go on for too long. In fact .. gotta stop right now ...