The former strongman the other day attended a religious ceremony at a Buddhist temple in a remote corner of the country and a few days after his return to Colombo he received a telephone call from the chief incumbent of that temple.

The monk first thanked the former strongman profusely for being so kind enough to attend the religious ceremony at his temple as the chief guest adding that he had some important thing to confide in him, but was feeling a little hesitant about telling it to him.

“Don’t hesitate, ape hamuduruwane. Tell me whatever you want to come out with. You have my assurance that I will not either misunderstand you or get mad about it, ape hamuduruwane!”, the former strongman told the monk. 

Then the monk had opened. “This is something strange that happened the day you, Sir, visited our temple… You may remember, Sir, that you had tea at our temple. Later I was surprised to hear that the cup you drank tea from, the plate which was used to serve you the short-eats and the bottle you drank water from had gone missing. I had a greater surprise when I heard that a certain person had quietly taken them away and locked them up in a showcase as valuable souvenirs!”

The former had greeted this revelation with a loud guffaw.

A report later said that the former strongman had sent an expensive set of chinaware to the temple to serve as a memento of his visit there.