#WhyILoveLanka

Short post here.
I was spending my valentines day like any other valentines day, in Twitter. And I stumbled across this hashtag #WhyILoveLanka where tweeps were sharing their love towards Sri Lanka. My friends and I were talking about this incident that happened to my friends, And that's the first thing that came to my mind.

Two of my school friends (one of them is my university mate too) were going to my university in a motorcycle. And the friend who was driving it forgot to take his Licence with him. One day you don't bring it with you and that is the day Police stops your vehicle. They can sense it, no body knows how but they can.

That policeman asks for 500 Rs to let them go free. These two had only 300 Rs with them. So they said they have only 300 with them, can he manage with that. That police guy sensed these 2 are going to the campus.

First thing he said was

 Have you both had your lunch? .

 And he continued if they need that money for their lunch they can go free without giving it.

If not for the Sri Lankan police who'd have uttered those words. Here he was on the cusp of receiving bribe, even then he cares about these 2. And he doesn't want these 2 starve because of him. I don't think any other country policemen would show some kindness before getting a bribe. #WhyILoveLanka

These 2 have said no we have already eaten you can take the money.  Even then he didn't want to take it. In the end he reluctantly took it.
#WhyILoveLanka

8 Years and Counting....

How I Met Your Mother is closer to the end than the beginning, 7 more episodes and Bam, 9 year old Dramatic Comedy will come to an end. Although towards the end it had more of Drama and Less of comedy, it will always be one of my all time favourite sitcoms. 

Come to think of it HIMYM is a TV series with a very simple plot, Ted trying his luck with girls to find his "The One" . The same story went for 8 and still going on. Who on their right mind would watch this for 8 years one guy failing again and again on his pursuit for "The One". Yes, It's fun to watch and all, yet. 8 years and nothing to show, he came close with Stella but was left in the altar for another who had prior relationship with her. Almost all the characters lost hope on him but Ted, he kept on trying. Who'd watch this for 8 years? And why does this summary seem so familiar to me? Where have I experienced it before? Ah, The Arsenal. One Arsene Wenger. 

8 Years waiting for that elusive trophy, all the others taunting the club and the fans and yet that one club and the fans didn't lose hope. It's all very scarily similar to Ted. Since 2005 FA cup final when Patrick Vieira put that penalty in that left side top corner Arsenal is yet to win a trophy of any importance. Being a Gooner it's almost impossible to forget that trophy barren, whenever you post something about Arsenal in any public forum the very first comment you get is "No Trophy for 8 Years". How Original and Creative of them! Yet it's a fact Arsenal didn't win anything. Through all this Gooners stood still and didn't lose hope. After all we didn't have trophies to show but we had hope. Again it's Ted written all over it. Everyone were taunting Ted for being single, from Farthampton inn receptionist to Barney everyone kept it as their second job to reminding it to Ted. Ted waited with Hope for 8 years. Arsenal waited for 8 years. At least for Arsenal we had 13 trophies prior to that 8 years. 

We were left in the altar by Barcelona in the Champions League finals. Yet we waited with Hope. HIMYM started with Ted meeting Robin in a bar and she coming into Ted's group. For 8 years Ted believed Robin is the one, even when she was dating Barney he wanted to get her back. He lost his Robin (Whom he thought his love of the life) to Barney Stinson. Even after losing Robin to Barney he maintained that he's over Robin and he has moved on. Eventhough his actions suggested something else.Again, I can't be the only one to see the Arsenal resemblance. Robin, Robin, Robin Van Persie?? We Arsenal took Robin van Persie from Netherlands and made him into the player he is now, only for him to break our hearts and go to "The Dark Side". When RVP won the golden boot in 2011/12 season, we Gooners hoped we could dare do That with some more recruitments. We hoped. Only for him to find his love somewhere else. And he had to go to Manchester United (Like Barney, It's all plastic you get on the surface, but deep down underneath all those plastic you get the real one too). For the whole next season we maintained that we are over RVP, our Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud would do the same job and we don't need RVP. Although deep down we would've given our right leg to have him in the club. Ted will eventually get over Robin, when he met "The Mother". Bubbly eyes which are too big for the face mother. When he met her in the 9th season. We Arsenal met our Bubbly eyes Mother too in the 9th season, A German mother. OZIL. In the Ted's case we know for sure that the mother would help him get over Robin and reach that thing Ted was looking for. And in Arsenal's case, well again we can only hope. Ted, even during his lowest hour wanted to achieve his target the right way. He wanted to meet The One, but he wanted to do it the right way. No Play Book, No tricks or getting girls by money or fame. And his persistence of doing it the correct way didn't do him any good in the short run. He failed again and again, got Krav Mega kicks from girls and even got a tramp stamp on his back, but he tried. Come on, now this is obvious, Arsene Wenger.

Our stubbornness on not spending the money we don't have maybe one of the reasons for this trophy drought. When Chelsea and City came in with their no limit budget and inflated the market, We just couldn't cope up with it. But Arsenal wanted to wait and do it the right way, We waited with hope. We Gooners wanted to win and we wanted to do it with style. We wanted to win it playing the Wenger's way. We wanted to win it playing WengerBall. At least for Ted, he's sure to meet "The One" in the 9th season. Not so certainty for Arsenal. But we have no choice but to wait with Hope. After all it worked out well for Ted. So here's to the hope that OZIL could be our Bubbly eyed Mother. 


After all, We need Teds and Arsenals to win to have that Hope in this world.

Not "Yet another Clash in UOM" !!

January 16th of 2013....
  It is definitely a black day in the history of UOM. Hundreds of NDT hooligans attacked the campus hostels (Girls hostel and Boys hostel). Most probably you all would've heard about the attack on UOM (It was not a fight, it was an attack) . You can read the full account of the attack here.Go here to see the photos of the attack.
University was out of bounds on January 16th for most of the engineering students and the first year NDT students. It was closed earlier regarding a small clash between NDT and BSc Engineering faculty students and was expected to open within a week's time.

And all changed on January 16.
         NDT vs BSc Engineering clash is nothing new to Moratuwa. It has been going on for at least 30 years now. Annual clashes between these two normally just before their Final exams are not a well kept secret. But this attack is not just another clash between these two. Reports say this attack is even worse than the one in 1999 .

Profile Picture protest against the attack!!

3 of our engineering students were injured in this attack and one of the three is severely injured with a broken spine (May god be with him). And from the link given above you could understand this attack was not a moment of madness but rather an organized crime.


I talked with a NDT friend of mine who is still doing the first year in NDT course (I have loads of NDT friends thanks to the Leadership Camp). And he also shared the same ideology like ours, and said that NDT is largely at mistake and said he wasn't part of the attackers. He further added that only a handful of NDT students are behind the violence and rest of them just went behind them. And said it all started with NDT passed out students attacking the final year students of BSc sometime back and BSc engineering students hitting back some NDT final year students (Which is why university was closed for the first time). And this was NDT's way of revenge. He said that some of the thugs used on the attack was brought to the campus on 2 buses.
He is also like us very much disappointed with the attack and the closing of the campus.
 This is why I want to press the issue that "Do not Generalize when posting about NDT on Social networks".


To be honest NDT were the first ones to call Moratuwa their home. The building was donated to Technical Diploma students by UNESCO in the early 1950s. And the Engineering faculty was only included in the campus much later. So, true they have a good claim to the university premises. But this is not a Grade 3 classroom Desk to say "Hey, I came early to the school so this desk is mine, no matter what I do with it". If the first to come can rule the place forever rule is applicable in all places, Muslims have no claim in Israel and Vijayan had no claim in Sri lanka.
 I talked with  an old NDT graduate and he told me about the hardships the NDT diplomats face in the work place. How Engineering Degree holders undermine the Technical Diploma holders and how they stop the Diploma holders getting promotions. And he further said this problem is more severe on State Sector than the private sector. He further said a fresh degree holder is more valued than a diploma holder with 30 years of experiences.
 Even some of the engineers I knew accepted this kind of step motherly attitude towards the diploma students. I'm not saying that vandalism in the university could be justified by this explanation. Vandalism cant be and shouldn't be tolerated under any condition. All the super hero movies show that Super Villains are mostly created by the injustice they faced (Eg: Bane in The Dark Knight rises , The Lizard in Amazing Spider man).

One of the Hostel rooms that came under the attack.

But some of their unacceptable demands such as wanting to be recognized as same as the Engineering degree holders are also unacceptable. Engineering students are selected from the cream of the country (Though only AL exams are used to judge what that cream is. Yet that is the accepted way in our country, So cant complain about that.) Any one would say NDT students who went through a 2 year diploma course shouldn't be equal to the BSc engineering students.


Campus is now closed and out of bounds for BSc Engineering students and NDT students. We just had a six month break because of all these strikes and only had one and a half month campus activities only to be closed again because of this attack. And rumours say that this will also be a big leave for us BSc students. So I guess everyone would agree that we must once and for all put an end to these clashes and attacks in the future.
 This problem is going on for a very long time and to solve the problem overnight is not practical.
 We could drop our step motherly attitude towards the Diploma holders and give more recognition to them. And NDT people also should come to peace with the fact that a Diploma course is never going to be good enough as a Degree. But changing the attitude of the people is never easy and nearly impossible. It's not an old Tamil movie for people to become good at the climax. Though it's not bad to try...
Moving NDT or Engineering faculty out of Moratuwa is the more apt and practical solution for this problem. We don't see NDT people and Peradeniya BSc people fighting, because they are far and apart. So moving NDT or BSc out of the Campus could bring an end to these fights, at least it will happen less frequently. As for what I heard they are already planning to build a separate building for NDT students outside UOM.
    I'm going to guess that some of our engineering people have already started to make plans for our revenge. Maybe hitting some NDT under grads outside the campus and continuing the cycle of clashes that has been going on for the last 30 years. BSc Engineering students should understand that they have more to lose in this scenario than NDT students. If we don't take our revenge in a physical manner this time, we might be able to stop this cycle of clashes. As Gandhi said once "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind", Revenge is not the solution here. We engineers are the future professionals, and it's about time for us to behave like one.
Our educational system is so much low and down with all the other problems, It's time for us to lift this one weight off our Educational system's back.

What We Learnt About Hinduism?

 Hinduism is one of the hardest subjects (Or Is it Saivism? ) to hate during Ordinary Level as for most people Its a hard subject to fail. You memorize some Thevarams, Thirukkuravar stories and they dont even bother to change the first question of the paper (It's the same question over and over again.). It's a boring subject to study but is easy to score off (Its like Anti English Literature in that aspect). But how many of us got a better understanding about Hinduism after studying it for the exam.

 I memorized all those Thevaarams for the exam and after 5 years of the examination, no of Thevarams I remember has a grand total of 3! This is not only me, This could be applicable to my friends too. You don't copy and paste when you're writing for an exam, it's always Cut and Paste. This is not only isolated to Religion subject though, but unlike other subjects we don't get to study Hinduism in our higher studies!

What do we study in our subject Hinduism? 

  Things what we study in our Primary school is the foundation of your higher studies and the building is only as strong as your foundation. They teach us about all these supposed miracles that god and his devotees have done. Thiru Gnana Sambanthar story and all the other stories that I learned in my primary is still fresh in my mind (Had I remembered those stories in my grade 3 Hinduism exam, I would've scored better than 33). When I look back at those stories they sound stupid, but those stories could leave a large imprint on young impressionable infants. These stories are used so that the kids would learn the moral of the story in an easier manner.

But the problem is when those kids grow up into young adults, most of them gather enough common sense to know that most of those stories are untrue! But when they realize the truth, their thought process is that they believe even those Morals of the stories are untrue! Those stories made them believe Hiduism is all about those miracles and superstitions! In an age when being an atheist is a fashionable thing, Its hard to explain the bigger picture of Hinduism to them. 

Lot of them might not question the religion and will continue to believe in what they were told. Or worse, they might go behind those so called "Human Gods" ! But the truth is that the religion will only be carried forward by those who question not by those who follow!

Anbe Sivam is the best Tamil movie I have ever watched, and it is a must watch movie for everyone who have eyes! That movie is the creation of a Popular atheist Kamal Hasan! But he captured the essence of Religion in that movie! Name says it all "Love is God" ! Its the essence of our Religion, which has been gift wrapped by those miracle stories and superstitions! And we are ogling around the Gift Wrap rather than the Gift itself.

Once I posted in Twitter

Hinduism has lot to offer than these stupid Superstitions! But sadly even some of these hardcore Hindus are unaware of that!! 

A Pakistani friend of mine replied me saying " Can you explain me how is it so? I am from Pakistan and I still believe Hinduism is all about superstitions" ! Cant blame him for thinking about Hinduism like that when we have loads of Hindus who believe in the gift wrapping rather than the gift.

And How many of us know the history of ourselves? 

Do you know that Hinduism and Judaism are the oldest religions to be practiced even today!! We are not taught to be proud of ourselves. They just mention about Harappa and Mohanjadaro in passing for like one page of our text book. History books of other nations might have a better description of it. 

We prefer to see things under a sentimental point of view rather than a historical perspective. We are not striving hard to do excavations in our historic areas to validate our historical importance. They say that there are lot of yet to be found historically important sculptures around Thiru Koneswaram area. But yet they aren't interested about the excavations but instead they are trying to build one more Shiva statue.

All the other contemporary religions of Hinduism are extinct now with the exception of Judaism (Even after the best efforts from Hitler). Greek and Egyptian Mythologies are just "Mythologies" now. If you take a close look into those religions you could find a lot of similarities between them and Hinduism. The hierarchy of gods, The way they built their temple and lot of other things are very much similar to Hinduism. Yet only one of those religion is still being practiced now. 

Why is that? Because Hinduism is flexible, not like other religions Hinduism can adapt and live. We dont have lot of rigid laws in our religion, The guy who doesn't eat meat at all is also a hindu and a guy who eats meat all 7 days of the week is also a Hindu (Me) ! 

 But the concern with teaching our historical values to our future generation is we may create more Religious extremists like BJP ! And if we teach the future generation our historical and philosophical values (In the right way) we might carry our religion forward!

PS : I am the exception, I hated the subject Hinduism. The Editor of this souvenir used to be neck to neck with me in other subject marks but will pip me out with the Religion marks (He is so good in memorizing things) Maybe thats why he is studying medicine now!! learnt 

The Worst and the Best XI of T20 World Cup

Another Final, Another heart break for Sri Lankan fans. This has become the norm these days! John F Kennedy once said that "World never remembers the person who came 2nd" ! If someone is going to look back at this World cup after 25 years, they wouldnt remember Sri Lanka's flair and how they became second, Only thing they are going to remember is West Indies!

Ga(ngnam)yle

But true, this loss didn't hurt like that 2011 world cup loss! I can still remember people crying over that 2011 loss to India, whole country was in despair. Losing out to a team which we passionately hate does leave an imprint on you! On the other hand West Indies is the second favorite team for many people, its really hard to hate that team. The way they celebrated every wicket and the victory, I dont mind losing again to see that celebration!!
Moving on from the final, this World cup could be called a success! Even though it started with some boring matches in the group stage, Tournament kicked off during the super 8 stage. All semifinal teams got into Semi Final in the very last day of the super 8 stages! There were 2 super overs, We had the individual record for best figures in T20 and record for highest runs in a match!

 " WI - Triumph SL - Choke Aus - Fail, Pak - Derail, Ind - Exit, SA - MisHit, Eng - KPless, NZ - Super over team (Bad Super over team) Ban - Flop, Zim - Mismatch, Ire - No match and Afghans in the hatch"

This tweet sums it all about this WT20!!

Selecting the best XI of a tournament after a World cup is a must these days, But I am also going to select a Worst XI for this tournament too! Selecting the Worst XI is always more fun than selecting best XI !

Worst XI of WT20

1) William Porterfield (Ireland)

0 runs in 2 innings

Could someone could fare any worse than this performance in a tournament? The way he performed in this tournament would make Rohit Sharma feel proud about himself! He lost his wicket in the very first ball he faced in both the innings he played! Incidentally it is also the first ball for Ireland in those 2 matches.And apparently in that both matches Ireland could never get out from that shocking start! And to boot that he is also the captain of Ireland! 

2) Richard Levi (South Africa)

62 runs in 4 innings's

Levi is not the first ugly (shot making wise) leg side dominant opener to emerge from South Africa. But at least Graeme Smith is effective and also a great captain. 62 in 4 innings's doesn't look that bad, but keep in mind 50 of those runs came against a paltry Zimbabwe attack in a single innings! Yes, Zimbabwe was that bad, that even Levi scored a 50 against them.

3) Craig Kieswetter (England)

39 runs in 4 innings with 2 ducks

England preferred Kieswetter over Prior to do the wicket keeping duties in this WT20! And he struggled to make contact with the ball with his bat. They even dropped him to accomodate Bopara into the team. If you are going to be dropped from the team for Bopara, you know you are a shitty player! 

4) Dilshan Munaweera (Sri Lanka)

30 runs in 2 innings 

Maybe it's little harsh to include him in this XI, this being his debut tournament. But thats not an valid excuse in the international arena! He came into the squad backed by some spectacular performance in the SLPL, And even Mahela let his favored opening position to Munaweera! Even though that he started WT20 with a boundary in the very first ball, it was all downfall for him after that! He couldn't even edge those Steyn and Morkel deliveries! Real World is much tougher than the SLPL lad!! 

5) Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe)

4 runs in 2 innings's 

Another captain and another Wicket Keeper makes the list. He is supposed to be the best T20 player in the Zimbabwe line up (Not as hard as it sounds)! But he struggled, struggled a lot even for Zimbawbwean standards! 

6) Jonny Bairstow (England)

37 in 5 innings's 

Jonny Bairstow, the batsman who is replacing Mighty Kevin Pieterson! How can one not succumb to that kinda pressure. And he succumbed! 37 in 5 innings's and 18 of those runs came in 30 deliveries when his team is chasing 180 runs target! Even a Morgan blasting couldn't take England home in that match. And to make things worse he kept wickets in their last match and there are reports saying that even Kamran Akmal laughed at Bairstow's wicket keeping! 

7) Jos Buttler (England)

40 runs in 5 innings's

He was coming back into the squad after scoring 32 runs off a single Wayne Parnell over, Whole world was expecting a Lance Klusner like tournament for him this time around. But it wasn't meant to be! He couldnt replicate that form in this WT20 at all! 

8) Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) 

Well, he has to do something, so he did press conferences!
Playing Cricket is too mainstream!

30 runs and 4 wickets in 6 matches

 When Afridi came in, DJs choice of song was "Boom Boom".And he forgot to turn it off for like 2 seconds, and he is now walking away from that same song!! #GoldenDuck

This status describes what kind of tournament Afridi had. He along with Porterfield is one of the original choices for the Worst XI ! He just has to be there, No questions!

9) Zaheer Khan (India)

3 wickets in 4 matches econ: 7.23
His stats may not sound that bad, but those three wickets came in that last match vs SA! And he is their strike bowler and he didnt strike for them! He even got dropped for one match! Zaheer is the most important cog in the Indian team and when he is off color team doesnt do well! He isn't that bad but he didnt perform upto the standards he set for himself!

10) Shafiul Islam

0 wickets in 2 matches Econ : 12.14
Statistics are never necessarily the best indicator for one's performance! But Stats aren't lying in Shafiul's performance, he was really that awful!!

11) Jade Dernbach

4 wickets in 4 matches Econ: 9.83

4 th English player in the Worst XI, speaks volumes about how Luke Wright, Morgan, Hales and Broad carried their team in this WT20 ! He didnt play well for his England team neither for my Fantasy team!! He was leaking runs as fast as it would rain in SL during a cricket day! 

12 th man : Virendar Sehwag

Honorary mentions should go to, Hafeez, Charles, Gambhir and Ramdin!
 My worst XI : Porterfield, Levi, Kieswetter, Munaweera, B.Taylor, Bairstow, Buttler, Afridi, Zaheer, Shafiul and Dernbach.

My Best XI (Do not want to make it any longer by giving descriptions)

1) Chris Gangnam Gayle

2) Shane Watson

3) Mahela Jayawardane (Captain)

4) Marlon Samuels

5) Nasir Jamshed

6) Luke (Not Fluke) Wright

7) Brendon Mccullum 

8) Dale Steyn

9) Mitchell Starc

10) Saeed Ajmal 

11) Ajantha Mendis

12th man: Virat Kohli

Best Reads: Mist Born

Yes, I sometimes read books too, So dont look too bemused by the title! This blogpost here wont be a review about a book I just read, I am apparently not qualified enough for it! It will just be my experience with Fantasy books and the MistBorn series!
 As said earlier Mist Born series is a fantasy novel series written by Brandon Sanderson, dont feel bad if you didnt know it before. I wouldn't have known about it before if not for that guy! I will come back later about that guy. I used to be a good enough reader during my childhood. Even then Fantasy books have never been my choice, except for maybe some books!
 Mist Born is my fourth fantasy series, If you exclude the 30 pages of Twilight I read! I know, I am not proud of it, at least I had enough sense to stop reading after 30 pages. So it doesn't count, again IT DOESN'T COUNT!!
I started my Fantasy novel reading life with the most famous Fantasy series of all time. HARRY POTTER! When my sister narrated the story of Harry Potter "Little did I know"(Dramatic Irony) that HP is going to be one of my all time favorite books!!
The best thing about Harry Potter is that the series matured with every book. In the first book you get three headed dogs, life size chess board and even a small fire spitting dragon. In the second book you get Basilsk the snake. Earlier books were written like it should amuse an early teenager more, even though others could enjoy the book. And as the series matured in book 5 (Order of the Phoenix) story was told from an annoying middle teenager's point of view and the latter books were pretty much matured books. Harry Potter is the kind of a book which you could say that you grew up with that book.
And it can be easily related with us normal readers. Unlike Lord of the Rings or the other books where the story will happen in a world which is completely alien to us. But Harry Potter was different, even though it was a fantasy book we can actually relate Harry, Ron and Hermione with our lives. There wouldn't be a single HP reader who didn't fantacize about Hogwarts or getting the letter from an Owl.
I started to write about Mist Born and here I am writing about Harry Potter, but seriously I dont think anyone could write about a Fantasy novel without talking about HP.
My second fantasy book was Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I have always loved Greek and Roman mythologies and history from my childhood. If someone is writing about those gods in a fantasy series, it is a sin if I didnt read that series. Percy Jackson series is about What if Greek Gods are still living and living in the Empire States of America. It is kind of childish like the "first part of HP series - JK Rowling" ! It is very much similar to HP in characterizations too, Chosen one, one girl and a funny boy will go on adventures! Only differnce is here the girl will fall for the chosen one not to the funny guy. (Which is kind of close to reality) . Nevertheless Percy Jackson is a good fantasy series.
Third series is Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan (yes, that same Percy Jackson Rick). I had just returned from my Egypt trip then, and If Rick has written another book on Egyptian gods, Why miss it? But just read only the first book of that series.
And again THAT BOOK DOESN'T COUNT!!
Which brings us to Mist Born series!
It was a dark time in my reading career, Movies and TV series's have consumed me fully. Well Even now 9 out of 10 times I would choose "How I Met Your Mother" over Mist Born without thinking, 10 th time I would think for a while and will choose How I met Your Mother!!
  And Kantheepan my friend came as the chosen one to save me from that darkness. He is like the biggest Fantasy nut you could ever meet, and he didnt have anyone to talk about the books he read, he didnt have anyone to listen his blabbering about those books. And I was the easy target. He literally forced me to read some of the fantasy novels he read. He started with the Wheel Of Time series (Which contains 14 books). And then he tried to make me read the Mist Born series, But I was strong! I just said only way I am going to know those stories is if they make a movie out of it.
Then he did a shrewd thing and bought the Mist Born book and gifted it to my sister for her graduation. And I didnt have any choice but to read it.

When he gave me the book he said that this book is very similar to Ocean's 11 movie, though I couldnt find any similarities between Ocean's 11 and Mist Born.
Synopsis of the book : A famous thief is recruiting some other thieves to his crew to pull off the biggest heist of all time. He wants to avenge for his wife, He wants to rob the Dark Lord and topple his government.(Come to think of it, it is similar to Ocean's 11) He joins hand with a 16 year old girl Powerful thief to pull off his heist.

You might think the protagonist of the book is that famous thief, but it is that 16 year old girl. Whole story revolves around her. As you all know in all of my previous books had Heroes not Heroines! Not that it is bothering me, but it was different for me. (Believe me, I am no Sexist)
KELSIER, he is that aforementioned famous thief. He is one of the very few light hearted characters of Mist Born. He is a Mist Born (People who have some special powers, read and find out).
VIN, She is the heroine of the book. For the first few hundred pages my take on her was "BITCH". Remember how Harry used to be in The Order of the Phoenix, she was even worse than that. I am not calling her Bitch have nothing to do with me being a sexist (Which I am not). But author himself wanted to make that kind of impression about her early. She never trusts other people, to the extent she will not even drink the drinks mixed by others. One of the main point of the novel is Trust. So her characterization was important to the novel. (See, I am not a sexist) But in the latter part of the novel she was more tolerable.
LORD RULER, he is the villain of the story! Supposedly immortal and the king and the god of Final Empire. There are 2 kinds of people under his reign, Noble men and Skaa. Simply saying Skaa are the slaves of Noble men. Vin and Kelsier are from Skaa and they wanted to topple Lord Ruler and wanted to bring balance between Skaa and Noble Men.
Elend : Noble man, Vin's romantic interest.
So Now that you have basic outline about the story and characters, let me discuss it in detail.
Unlike other fantasy books which target teenagers where you get minimum twists in the tale, in this book Mist Born, you get more than enough twists. Which is what I expect in books (Hey, I am not a teenager anymore!!).
If you are that person who posts those philosophies and life quotes on FB, this novel is for you! Whole novel is full of lovely quotes and phiolsophies. It is a common occurence in all fantasy books and Super Hero movies, you will get life quotes on every other page. But even I would say most of the quotes are actually quotable. Writing is witty and funny on occasions, but it could've been more funnier though.
One thing I dont want is our leadership reading this book, I dont want them to get ideas from Lord Ruler on Skaa oppressions!
Magic system in the Mist Born world is bit complicated compared to the Harry Potters magic system (Where you take a stick and shout some funny words for magic). It was detailed but alien to me. And unlike Harry Potter it doesnt mature with the books, Vin is already 16 and she is matured, which is cool for me.
When I started reading I was skeptical about the book and that might have played a part in me not liking the writing in the first part of the book.But writing drastically improved (or rather I got accustomed to it).
All in all, as I said earlier I was bit skeptical and slow at the beginning of the book, but went through the book real fast at the latter stages. If you can get through the first 50 pages you are in for a treat.

Note to Self : Do not get fooled by Kantheepan again and make a pact to yourself that you will never read Wheel of Time! And Go watch How I Met Your Mother, new season is starting today!!

#London2012

London 2012 Olympics came and went in 19 days. Whole world stopped for 19 days and turned its attention to London. For 19 days Social networks were filled with Olympics updates. Even though the whole country knew that Sri Lanka wont give any hardship to those who maintain the medal tally, we Sri Lankans followed the Olympics. Every one became an expert in a sport they have never seen before 5 minutes.
As I said earlier Twitter went berserk over London 2012!! 
Here are the tweets I chose as the best about London 2012 tweeted by those who I am following!! 

Opening Ceremony 

Opening Ceremony directed by Danny Boyle, Only way to that was getting James Cameron to direct it! This year Olympics had it all, James Bond parachuting with the Queen, Mr Bean , Voldermort and everything else!!


Tweet from the parody account of Prince Charles!
@Charles_HRH

You'd have to be stupid to think that Mother actually jumped out of the helicopter. She was pushed.

Only part the public didnt like about that awesome opening ceremony was its lengthy parade of countries.
@Lord_Voldermort7

They should just start making up fake countries to see if anybody is even paying attention. #OlympicCeremony

Bolt was the captain and the flag bearer for Jamaican Contingent!
@BluesChron
Oi! Usain! SLOW DOWN! The rest of your team is about 200yards behind you!

@sidvee

We're still in E! I could have run around the world by now- Usain Bolt

@shockerhess
You know what really lengthened Olympic Opening Ceremonies? When the Soviet Union broke up... jirre, al daai countries my bru.

@ShitOlympics
Pretty sure Central African Republic is a made up country. #OlympicCeremony

@laurenbrookes92
Oh god how long is this going to take?? The countries I've never heard of are only funny for the first hour..

Even Lord Voldermort himself made an appearence in this Opening Ceremony!! And the announcers had enough nerve to call him by the name!!
@Lord_Voldermort7
You'd think the announcers would know by now to say "you-know-who". The Dark Mark will be appearing any moment now. #Voldermort #Olympics

All in all the Opening ceremony was an out of the world experience and had exceeded imagination!!

@innobystander

This is Rio calling......no Opening Ceremony in 2016, we surrender!!!#london2012

Swimming and Phelps

@SimplySean_

"Michael Phelps is going for only 7 events this time". Lazy bastard.

And for the record Phelps took 9 golds in the last Olympics!!

Phelps have 15 golds and 2 in sliver and Bronze (In all Olympics)!!
@ImSutha

I seriously think Phelps would forget all those gold medals. But those silver and bronze moments will be there for his lifetime. #rare

@ImSutha

3 Golds and 2 Silver for Phelps in this Olympics!! This is by far the worst performance in an Olympics from Phelps!! #WhatALoser

@ImSutha

15 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze for #Phelps in Olympic History! 9 Gold 4 Silver 8 Bronze for India in Olympic History! India arent that Bad!

Next one is specially for "Percy Jackson" fans, others disregard it!!

@camphalfblood

Michael Phelps is ADHD? Guess that settles it. #sonofposeidon

And this one is for Harry Potter fans, others go and read the book!!
@Lord_Voldemort7

Michael Phelps definitely would've won the second task in the Triwizard Tournament.

@rameshsrivats

#IfMichaelPhelpsWereIndian, he'd never have won a medal. Why? He'd have found it impossible to stay in one lane.

And the funniest one came from the father of Le Clos (South African gold medal winning swimmer) 

@bigbertleclos 

My swimmers created this swimmer - @LeClos_Swim. Where is my bloody medal?

Shooting 

@rameshsrivats

I think, in #Shooting, if a participant smiles between shots, he or she is instantly disqualified.

If you cant understand the next tweet, you can proudly say that you are a good guy!!
And others can you please explain me that tweet, dont understand it!! :D

@rameshsrivats

Standing and shooting. Kneeling and shooting. Lying down and shooting. Is this Olympics, or the making of a Sunny Leone movie?

It would have came in as really shocking for Somalian Pirates!!

@ShitOlympics

Head of the Somali Olympic squad has apologized on behalf of their team, after realising that shooting and sailing are two separate events.

Beach Volleyball

It was a shocking revelation for me also!!
@biobot

Shocked to discover that beach volleyball is also a game played by men.

What's the point in playing Beach Volleyball if you are going to cover your body with thermal clothing!!
 ‏@Lishanw

beach volleyball isnt the same with thermal clothing :(

Badminton 

Niluka of Sri Lanka went down to Indian shuttler Kashyap in the round of 16 !!

 ‏@ImSutha

Last time Kashyap fought against Indians who came to fight for his brother Mugalan!! This time he comes to fight Against SL for Indians!

@_fakeiplplayer

Excessive celebration warning for the Sri Lankan. He did what Virat Kohli does when he makes a regulation stop at Covers.

If not for Saina women's badminton would have looked like a Chinese national badminton trials!
 ‏@rameshsrivats

OLympics Badminton Semis - China, China, China and Saina.

Sania Mirza couldnt get into the Tennis quarter finalsl!!
@BoredCricket

How to tell Saina from Sania - Saina's the one in the quarter finals

Synchronized Swimming 

Synchronized swimming is obviously the most hated sport in Olympics. It is just dancing, only you are doing it in water!!
@ShitOlympics

Synchronized swimming is how to look like you're drowning in the most elegant way.

@ShitOlympics

How on earth is synchronized swimming an Olympic event? Might as well get air guitar in while you're at it...

Obviously North Koreans can do something other than Nuclear bombs too!!

@Sachin94

North Korea has synchronized swimmers..Thought they were all brainwashed fucks #dafaq

Soccer 

Brazil lost to Mexico in an upset Gold medal match. And their Gold less streak continues in Soccer!!

@GayanMW

'BRA' couldn't 'Triumph'. #London2012 #BRAvMEX Football

@Me_ArunR

He who bet for this scoreline at a pub yesterday night will be a billionaire by tomorrow! #London2012

SoccerFinal

Diving

One for Chelsea haters!
@CoyleIan
So Drogba leaves and moves to China. A few weeks later China clean up in the Olympic diving medals. Coincidence?

Hockey

Kudos to New Zeland for doing it with out any help from Sharukh Khan!!
@bowldoubt

Women's Hockey: NZL beat AUS 1-0. Now that's a winning feeling even we have experienced...in Chak de India.

Usain Bolt (Athletics)

@Trendulkar

Usain Bolt runs tomorrow. Do take out 9 secs from your schedule.

Scary and interesting fact next!
@JoshPageee

Usain Bolt runs at 31mph which sounds good, but if he hits a child there's a 40% chance they'll die.

 ‏@ImSutha

Blake is officially the fastest human on earth! Bolt is too fast to be a human, ALIEN!!

He slowed down at the end of all his individual races!
@ImSutha

Why did he slow down, because he can!! You dumbasses #BOLT

Bolt didnt stop with 100 and 200 m races, took a world record gold in relay too. And did some Mo Farah (British athelte who won 2 golds in long distance running) impressions after the victory!!

@Me_ArunR

Perfect to see Bolt doing a Mo there, after finishes his relay finals. I was expecting some pushups too! #London2012

Bolt also got into a quarrel over Baton, he wanted it and officials threatened him if he dont give the baton back his team will get disqualified!
@ImSutha

What officials would've done had BOLT ran away with the baton?? Try and catch him!! good luck with that!! 

Because of this relay race Blake finally got a gold in Olympics. 

@ImSutha

Who thought that Yohan Blake could win an Olympic gold before BOLT's retirement! #London2012

Oscar Pistorius and Natalia Partyka are the most loved athletes of this olympics (barring Phelp, Le Clos and Bolt).
 ‏@AltCricket

Oscar Pistorius has no legs, and he still runs faster than Munaf Patel.

@ShitOlympics

The fast walking competition looks like a race to go to the nearest toilet.

Triathlon

@ShitOlympics

TRIATHLON: Any event that involves taking shoes off quickly deserves to be treated with fear and respect.

Olympics in common

Australians weren't as good as what they used to be.
@BBCSporf

BREAKING: Olympic officials are warning all visitors today about an unknown sound that may be played, the Australian National Anthem. 

@WhatTheFFacts

Olympics committee provide 100,000 condoms to every Olympic village. In Vancouver 2010, 7000 athletes finished them within twelve days.

Ladies excuse me, this is not my tweet!!

@ShitOlympics

Parallel Parking for Women. #RejectedOlympicEvents

 ‏@InnoBystander

lots of the seats empty at the Olympics are journalist seats....must be empty cos they are too busy writing stories about empty seats...

 ‏@ShitOlympics

If only there were gold medals for solving humanitarian crises and banking screw-ups, we might all live in a much happier world.

And China would stop all those interfering and ruining other country affairs!! (I am bit against China, excuse me for that)

I wont say these are the best tweets I saw, but these are the ones I liked!! 


In most people's view London 2012 is the best Olympics so far. Phelps and Bolt had more compettition in their races this time around. Lochte and Le Clos gave some tough fight to Phelps and Blake the beast gave some tough fight to Bolt. Opening ceremony of London 2012 was also better than the China's one (Again the popular view) . Medal tally was more closely fought this time around.


But personally speaking I had more memorable moments in Beijing 2008 Olympics. Bolt celebrating and waving to the audience even before finishing his 100 and 200 m races and finishing with a world record will always be there in mind. And he was a unknown name for all of us before that race and him winning like that was fairy tale-ish. London 2012 also had its moments, but not as good as that Bolt moment. But apart from that London 2012 was also good with closely fought battles. And USA leading the medal tally gave me some extra push in liking this Olympics!