They gave way to his sense of self-importance!

The main character of this story is a national list Diyawanna member from the North. A new laboratory was set up at an institute of higher studies in Jaffna recently with the funding by an international cooperation agency of a foreign country.

The academics who took the initiative to set up this laboratory as part of a Research and Training complex set a date for its ceremonial opening. The only outsider due to attend this opening as a distinguished guest was the envoy from the country of the agency that funded the project.

After finalizing all matters connected with the opening of the laboratory, they got hundreds of invitation cards printed to be sent to the prospective attendees. 

Meanwhile, the national list Diyawanna member from the North had got riled up when he learnt from the media that the important event was to take place without his participation. He had immediately spoken to the governing body of the Institutes of higher education and asked them to include his name as a distinguished guest on the occasion. 

The academics had tried to convince the Diyawanna member that the event was purely an apolitical one, but without avail.

So, they had to discard the invitation cards already printed and print a new set of cards including the Diyawanna member’s name as one of the distinguished guests on the occasion at some additional cost, they say.