Hope springs eternal in the human breast!

When plans were underway to replace several provincial governors with new appointees, hopefuls had appeared on the scene by the dozen. And there had been some strange characters among them, they say.

One of such characters was a certain ‘…lingam’ from the North, a wealthy businessman.

He had called on a very high political authority who was staying in his official residence Kandy, worshipped the latter on bended knees and begged that he be appointed the governor of the North. He had also buttressed his appeal by informing the high authority that even the former strongman was in favour of offering the post to him.

Another worthy, already functioning as a diplomat abroad, expecting to be sworn in as a governor had run full-page adverts in national newspapers extending well wishes to Number One. But his high expectations too had come to nought.

Yet another hopeful had been a ‘kapuwa’ supposed to be dealing with powerful deities and closely moving with big names in the country. He was another disappointed one.  However, he had been consoled with the promise of an equally high position in the near future, they say.