24 June 2013

The sparkling champagne


The sparkling champagne

Saw this remarkable phenomena at last. About eight gangster types walk into the club. Only the trained bouncer eye sees the unfit fat amongst the swagger. Still young men, but the nights of booze, staying up, eating unhealthy food has made them but shadows of their former real selves. The young men know the bouncers, giving them the rap of authority amongst the ladies, although sadly none seem to accompany them.
The club unwittingly comes to a standstill to allow that much of testosterone through. Mangers, Assistant Managers, Head Waiter, Waiters hustle around the young men guiding, no floating them towards the VIP tables. High fives and all that and they prepare for the nights drinking. Colombo’s whisky of the rich and famous, Johnnie Walker Black Label is served in a full bottle, no two for effect.
Almost floating on its own a bright white light winds it way from the bar, through the dance floor to the VIP table. It’s a bottle of champagne in a big glass ice bucket, with champagne glasses, ice, and a luminous light from its bottom. Attached on top is a sparkler – an actual firework, and its lit! The testosterone level becomes almost unbearable. The waiters make several trips to and from the bar with these missiles of bubbliness.
The level on the black labels drop alarmingly, even for eight young men. They are replenished not soon after. The night is pumping. The lone young girl completely transfixed by whatever club drug she took dances entrancingly by the DJ booth. One look at the two DJ’s and you know they’re flying high too. Everyone in the club’s rocking and you think the Ministry of Sound ecstasy era never died.
Suddenly there seems to be a fight by the VIP table. The house lights for that section come on. You stomach clenches and bile rises to your throat as you see that one of the young men have vomited all over the black VIP leather couch. What strikes you the most is that the young men standing there seem unrepentant about it.
Only then do you realise that era’s have passed. You’re not in your twenties, or even thirties no more.
Sparkling champagne for sparkling nights.
I actually got one of the bouncers to stand in front of me while I chilled out leaning on the big club air conditioner next to the DJ booth to keep myself cool.  The bouncers presence helped me observe all this closely. Especially as the night soured for the young lads and fights broke out amongst them. With those testosterone levels I wasn’t surprised. The amount of alcohol that was consumed by these young men unfortunately added a bit of hilarity to the events.
I finished my partying at about 6am the next day with a hearty breakfast of three egg roti’s, half a roast chicken and onion sambol from Pila. All washed down with fresh lime juice. Took a hot bath when home, drank a litre of water, switched A/C on high and got some rest to wake up nice in time for lunch. Rice and curry, of course.
Even the thoughts of the young men still vomiting their nights debauchery out did not manage to break me good cheer.

22 June 2013

Hema in my heart

 Hema in my heart

Ammi, yesterday was midsummers day
The red rose bush bloomed
One magnificent red rose
My first red rose this summer
The small orange roses bloomed after
Intricately beautiful as I intended
The pink rose bush is bigger
The entire pink rose buds ready to bloom
The burst of colours
Memories of Bambalapitiya, all the flowers you grew
The bougainvillea, the careful budding of bushes, the interchanges of colour
Your green thumb, now mine
Your love for roses, with me
You are no more Ammi, but forever with me
Like the roses, forever yours.
Bloom in happiness Hema
Dhammika.





Festival Today! Omkaaraaya Namaha! Jayashri! Poorani Viratham. Nayinai Nagapoosani Amman/Urumpirai Katpaka Vinayakar Chariot Day. Amman and Vinayakar Procession. Durga Temple, Ealing, London.