Which Is blacker? Dulanjalee’s Kettle Or Mahinda’s Pot?

By Sarath De Alwis –February 3, 2016

Sarath de Alwis

These are days when the Russian novel is compulsory reading. The three principal works that come to mind are War & Peace followed by Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment.

This essay is about a ‘Cherry Orchard’ where many trees were felled and no one talks about it even in these enlightened days of good governance.

To begin with I must inform the readers something immensely important and rivetingly relevant to our current concerns on reforms in public life and governance. ‘The greatest trick the Devil pulled was convincing the world there was only one of him.’ Mahinda Rajapaksa is not the only villain in town.

The aphorism “the pot calling the kettle black” is found in many languages and many cultures. It targets those who accuse others of a failing that they themselves are also guilty of. The Chinese use a different idiom to stress the same truism – A chicken can’t see its own back.

I crave the indulgence of the readers. Gallantry compels me to assign the kettle to the lady and the pot to the gentleman. However the Chicken in the Chinese equivalent pauses no such problem.

The daughter of President Premadasa Ms. Dulanjalee Jayakody addressing her latest missive under her maiden name informs former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that she and her brother never even imagined of abusing their positions when their father was the executive president. With remarkable self-possession she informs the former President and the general public how the two siblings conducted themselves when their father was the supreme law giver of our then dysfunctional democracy.
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