Mud Ghecko

This little brown cow was given in fulfillment of a vow to a local Hindu soothsayer, protected by Buddhists, rescued by Muslims and saved this Christmas. On 20 th December a social media SOS went out through the Animal SOS Facebook page about a little skinny brown cow running loose in Salawatte, a marshy area in Wellampitiya, who had a terrible wound in its face from a rope having been tied too tight . The SOS was shared by more than 200 concerned animal lovers and no one seemed to know what to do. I did not see this post till much later. On 21st December as I was just leaving for work one of my neighbours squirmed apologetically up to me and said there was a cow in trouble down in the Wela ( marsh) at the bottom of my road.  And that he had once seen me rescuing a puppy with a broken leg. Possibly since regular Salawatte people are beyond such eccentricities I'd been noted by my neighbours as one of those crazy animal supporting busybodies and possibly classed with...

​Cats have been with us for thousands of years and ever since the Ancient Egyptians actually started worshipping them they've developed major attitudes as well! No wonder then that Hollywood (and Disneyworld of course) find them movie star material and feature full length flicks on the exploits of these suave, svelte and saucy supurr-stars… Puss in Boots: has been a source of wonder for practically hundreds of years, from his humble beginnings during the Brothers Grimm era of fairy tales and gaslit graveyards, right down to the more recent swashbuckling daredevilry of Shrek's side kick and then a film star in his own right, in his own film-named Puss In Boots, of course (2011). A nimble quick thinking sharp witted orange cat of real finesse with sword fighting skills to boot. Tom from Tom & Jerry for an eighty year old celebrity who has survived from 1940 to the current day, perhaps its simply all that running that has kept Tom (and Jerry) healthy and fit to date! Tom who ...

- those horrible family activities you thought you had seen the end of… Photo from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/445786063088678182/ My darling daughter, in answer to that email of yours… Im 36 years old. that means Im 21 years older than you,. Admittedly its not much but theres a whole two decade of experience that you can draw on from me that you don't have to go through experiencing your self. this means that you don't have to make the same gruesome mistakes I did. you don't have to get hurt the same ways I did (I mean you can get hurt in new and different ways , I can hardly help you there - but two people in the same family falling in the same pits would be quite disappointing, don't you think?. ) That's why I like to Talk to you at dinner time, at least twice a week and Communicate. See this thing called Communication is important, or so Ive been led to beleive. It began when apes decided that by making certain patterns of noises they could actually share fe...

THE DAILY MEWS 2009 January 1st Had a terrible night with all the explosions. I saw Shabby, the mad pooch next door, trying to get inside the filing cabinet -he was practically gibbering with terror at the cracker sounds. Apparently its human people who actually do this and they consider it fun. Can you beat this.. January 3rd Such violent times! I got smacked today for jumping on the Hewmie Feeding Platform. They gather together there and eat their meals from separate plates most of the time without fighting. But they don't let us onto it. Considering the bosh they write in the animal welfare websites about how they love us and treat us like family members and stuff, this is NOT FAIR, I tell you. January 5th Patchy tried to take my eye out for coming within swipe distance of her. Old bat does not realize that her biological batteries are almost dead. She should be grateful that such a svelte young tom as myself even allows himself ...

My Ideal Tropical Non Agenda… I have always wanted to spend a day on an island, in the sun, with nothing, absolutely nothing to do, but laze..No deadlines at all… by Chandrika6 And so it was last month that one simple happiness I have dreamt of for perhaps years now, came true, for me. Perhaps I'm a person of simple dreams but what I had actually wanted was to take a holiday on an island in the sun, a day, a whole day and a day like none other…. Heck, it was about time! This rat race, I noted with regret, has captured me. I remember way back when I was a teenager, I had all that time on my hands, wrote stories, painted pictures, thought poetry and sat meditating under trees…. What happened? Why don't I get this time anymore? Where did it go? I find myself so exhausted that I fall asleep on the sofa when I find fifteen minutes to spare, or I'm cleaning out my phone inbox when I'm in a queue and taking calls when I'm in ...

Marina* is our 'Cleaning lady,' an attractive, dark, late thirtyish Muslim woman, with a sweet and humble smile,   who glides around the place keeping things clean and silently goes away dressed in black. She is the only person in office who doesn't have her clique, dosnt eat with us at the lunch table, the usual office rules don't apply perhaps since she is considered  a 'menial', or uneducated...but she's used to that. She never fails to make a delicious wattalappan on Ramzan day, for the whole staff. ​ She is in her late thirties I imagine, and has a son ​, who is the most important person in her life​ . The main people in her life are her son and her sister, who is the only sibling. This sister has a son, and this tiny family have only each other.  14 years ago, her husband and her sister's husband were caught in a train accident, while going in her husbands three-wheeler, to distribute wattalapan on Ramzan day, I assume. Since ...