Cameraderie

The apparent rift between Gota and MR.

Presently the drama being unfolded to the masses is the cranky rift between Gota and MR, the two most powerful brothers on the Sri Lankan Political arena.

Those who supported Gota, the pro faction, at the last Presidential elections are awed and wonderstruck by this situation and are in a dilemma doubting this rift would blast their hard earned government into smithereens.

Those who voted against Gota, the anti faction, are having a frolicking time with mockery targetting the Gota supporters branding them as the most foolish voters on this planet.

This histrionic theatrical drama in my opinion is an agreement to disagree which during my almost fifty years of career had proven extremely fruitful.

Taking my memory back to the tsunami year of 2004, I could try to explain how this cameraderie between the two brothers would be finally used to their own lucrative and remunerative outcome.

During this year working as the second in command at a worksite in Bahrain under a Cypriot Project Manager, we were engaged in heavy construction works for a world famous company ALBA. We were the contractors and the preparation of monthly bills was a major task to be achieved through negotiation with the client especially on the extra and additional works which were rampant and proved to be a gold mine.

The clients representative always gave me a hard time pruning the rates using his authority as the consultant. As a plausible remedy, the two of us agreed to disagree, which ultimately took us through turbulent waters with no casualties. At every weekly meeting, I would violently disagree with the axing of my claims which are obviously highly bloated with massive profit margins forcing the meeting to end with no agreement.

The next day my Project Manager calls for a meeting with the Consultant in my absence and agree to a price that is less than what I demanded but, with much higher profits than what it would have been, had I been reasonable in pricing. We always won.

This camaraderie of disputes between the two brothers is a matter to be studied very carefully by the innocent public, who are at this moment branded as one of the most foolish voters on this globe.