New Year at My Mother's Office

Today I went to my mother's office (Coordinating Secretariat for Science Technology and Innovation - COSTI) with her, as it is still school holidays for me.

At 10.00 a.m., my mother, other officers and I sat down in a room where a table stood, flourishing with food. Milk rice, Pani Walalu, Kavum, and many more. Two cakes, one strawberry the other chocolate. An oil lamp was set at the edge of the table, decorated with betel leaves and a wax candle kept on the side. Once every single seat was occupied, Professor Ajith de Alwis, Project Director of COSTI, stood up to convey a message to the others about their procedure. Then he asked Professor Sirimali Fernando, CEO of COSTI,  also to encourage the others by a few words. After that, he invited some of the officers and me to light the oil lamp. After it was lit, he asked us to help ourselves with the food. 

So, everyone helped themselves as he asked to. Some, including me, went for a second helping, until we were stuffed. And later we did help ourselves to orange juice and iced coffee.

After our appetite was fulfilled, Professor Ajith de Alwis stood up once more for the rest of the speech, and what a speech it was!

Well, he droned on and on about their progress being successful and that a few years ago, people had been laughing at them. The other officers commented, asked questions, gave away new ideas and made it more interesting. To me, it was more like a meeting, not a feast as they said. (Well, it did look like as if food was prepared to motivate people to go in and then, like mice caught in a trap, they started discussing).

Then he winded up the whole meeting after mentioning some important points and letting them have a second feast, in which all of them started to wrap the food saying "for my child", or "for my husband", or "for my parents", etc.

What a period between 10 O'clock in the morning and 12 O'clock in the noon!