Super Heroes in the Ordinary World - #4 Iron Lady aka Ninja Tigress

It's not easy to write about someone when you have a lot of information about that person, which you know should be captured but you also know that you have to pick and choose thus making it rather incomplete. Well, sadly this is one of those attempts, as this post might not do justice to the person at all.

Well this post is about, Thevuni aka Ninja Tigress, I met her long time ago - definitely feels a million years ago, when she was just a girl and I was just a boy. Now she's a young woman and I'm still a boy! - (at least that's what I'd like to think of myself).  Anyway the reason I decided to write a post about her is - simply because - She's super awesome. Of course, she's awesome for many reasons, I'd like to capture the top 7 things out of many I know of, as she attains her rightful place at the hall of fame of Super Heroes.

Reason #1 - Being True to Yourself

She's one of the few people I know who actually walks the talk and doesn't want to talk the walks. She always questions integrity and honesty within herself first, more than focusing on shortcomings of others. She believes in inside out approach that would constantly improve yourself as it keeps you in check. She firmly believes that 'world you create around you is a reflection of your own self'.

Reason # 2 - She has a big heart

Thevuni weighs about 45kg or probably less but everyone who knows her, knows that her heart weighs way more than that. Not in a literal sense but in a more emotional sense of course. She will fight with you, argue with you, get mad at you, but will be the first one to forgive and forget and then fight for you. Her ability to absorb people's grief is quite remarkable, sometimes she goes to the extent of destroying her own well-being just to be there for her friends and family.

Reason # 3 - She's a Huge Animal lover

People in this world can be ignorant or can easily be distracted by their own lack of understanding of compassion. But I learnt a lot about compassion by simply observing Thevuni's love towards animals. She often say that 'Animals have bigger hearts than people'. But then she counter argues by her own convictions, by being compassionate towards all humans. I don't know about animals or humans but I can definitely vouch for her.

Reason # 4 - Her Strong sense of Loyalty

She's one of the most loyal people you can find in this screwed up world. I've seen her do crazy things over this few years compromising her studies, her health, her safety and her life to be with the people that mattered to her the most. She traveled all by herself in a night bus for 10 hrs to be at an event in Ampara (East of Sri Lanka) just because she wanted to contribute, to do her job but most importantly to share the grief of her team mates as she knew work that needed to be done was challenging and absurdly hard. Well she didn't stop doing it once but continued to do it several times, almost jeopardizing her exams multiple times.

Reason # 5 - Not afraid to do the right thing

She's a genuine role model for ordinary women and men, as she's proven to the world that ordinary-average people can do exceptional things in life by simply being ordinary. But being ordinary is not easy, you need to learn to do the right thing. Of course right and wrong can be very subjective in the real world, but at least you need to learn to be 'fair in life'. 'Not Equality but equity' - that's her mantra.

Reason # 6 - Simplicity

'It's simple - Be simple. Be grounded, be humble. - that's the Bottom line' she says.

Reason # 7 - Girl power

She's a firm believer on girl power, and she resonates her beliefs through action. Simply put, she's not afraid to be a woman and to challenge all odds. Lets face it, we live in a world dominated by men, ruled by men, controlled by men and there's very little space for women to take lead, or even participate. So it is inspiring to see a young woman challenging the status-quo of the world, even by a small thing. And she does that - and that's it.

In conclusion, I'd like to state again that this post might be incomplete as it doesn't capture everything about Thevuni but it surely gives a damn good reason to be a Super Hero. I'm truly honored and inspired by Thevuni for her well deserved achievements, her loyalty and most importantly for being herself - Iron Lady.

Super Heroes in the Ordinary World - #3 Ultimate Lazman

So finally decided that I had some time to write about something, in this case somebody. Its not just somebody - the one and only Ultimate Lazman. His mother called him Larry and don't be fooled by his colour- he's a 100% Sri Lankan. This guy is quite instrumental in shaping my ideology to be a genuine human being. 

Some people are only good at inspiring through words not by action and some are good in coaching people but not being role models. This guy - Lazman - is an all rounder of all rounders, he walks the talk and a great life coach too. His positive vibes are the best vibes you can ask for on a rough day, not forgetting the Baileys. I've never met a person who can only talk about positive things - except Lazman. 

We often have deep conversation over a cup of tea or 'milk', almost every time it starts with a simple question - For an example,

Quite recently he asked me - 'So Ramzi How does it feel to be fasting - spiritually?' - There's no simple answer for that question because no one really have asked me that before. Generally people ask 'Are you hungry?' or they would say ' you must be thirsty' or they would simply assume that we cant even swallow saliva!

The first phase of our friendship was based on an introduction made to help him to conduct a mini conference. I met him several times since the introduction and one particular occasion was really stuck in my memory, where once we were having a conversation about the Future leaders conference that concluded in Ampara and I was explaining it to him that it was one of the roughest experiences I ever had in a while and I told him during this rough patch someone managed to steal 30,000 rupees from me. At that moment of time he slowly reached his pocket took a 20,000 rupee note collection and forces into my pocket. My reflexes are very slow so he managed to win. I know Lazman is not a Rich guy but He's definitely Rich at heart, What he told me that day was that 'Ramzi, Universe has a special way of giving back to me when I need money, So it is not a problem - you keep it. You need it more than I do.' I hope one day I could be generous as he is. - I wish.

He's inspiring in many ways, he in fact watched movies for his Masters degree. That, I think super cool thing to do. 

His wisdom through experience and coaching can be considered invaluable, Thank God I'm his friend, I get it for free!!
You are a true inspiration LAZMAN, only if you had a drive to run for President, - you will definitely be Mr.President. 

Love you to Melbourne and Back. <3 Be awesome as you are. 

I'm honoured to be your friend. But, For me, you are family.

Super Heroes in the Ordinary World - #2 Crazy Platty

This blog post is about Manesh Jerome Christhumani.
He likes to be known as a Professional Trainer. But to be honest he can be many things - a singer, musician, Preacher, Batsman, keeper, bowler, social worker you name it. For me he's a really good friend, in fact he is one of my best friends.

Our history goes back to the school days when we used to be in the same class. We both did science subjects for our A/L's without a clue on what's going on. That's why we used to hangout with several other friends at Manesh's place - Studying ofcourse ;) We were very focused on passing the exam therefore we visited his place on a regular basis. Anyhow conveniently ignoring the outcome I’d like to mention that none of us were really worried about it.

Even though our lives had different pathways leading to different directions after leaving school, almost all the time you'd find him being very active and very busy. I've never seen him say 'no' to people unless it's food. Despite this hectic lifestyle , Platty (that's what I call him now) and I always managed to find time to hangout.

Platty has many significant qualities, he is genuine, honest, loyal etc. But most of all you cannot ignore his Big Heart. He's one of the most generous people I've ever met. Its sometimes overwhelming to comprehend. When we were in Australia, We did a lot of shopping in K-Mart, I managed to keep my luggage down to 1kg less than the quota but he - had 25kg extra luggage buying gifts for people, over using his credit card. He only bought himself a bag for 2 dollars to take those gifts.

Anyway for me his best quality is his optimism. At one point in my life due to several twists and turns I had very little self esteem, I never believed in myself to do anything. But he saved my life by bringing in some positivity. His simple encouragements inspired me and made me realize I can be at a better place than where I was at that time.  Now, I've become somebody with those humble beginnings.

You may question me, Why is he a super hero? Its simple really, because he has the power to inspire people including myself. Now that is something hard to do.

Super Heroes in the Ordinary World - #1 Super Dad and Super mom

I'd like to indicate that this blog post and the series that falls under this tagline "Super Heroes in the Ordinary world" would be a celebration of the people who've inspired to be a better person in life. So to start up, If I have any innate good quality that I can be proud of, is simply because of my Mom and Dad. They would always be my #1 Heroes.  I'm always thankful for everything that they've done so far and what they continuously do for me.

I can still remember, back in the day when the world produced great music, back in the 80's when my sister was a new born baby, how Dad would wake up everyday for every cry that she would make in the middle of the night. Most of the time, when she was hungry - believe me she cried alot! He would respond to her with a kind gesture. Tirelessly he would go to the pantry to make some milk at this God forsaken time. Back then, even though I couldn't read or write I realized how awesome my Dad was.

My Dad is a rare breed he could sing beautifully complimenting every song he sings. Apparently he used to be a great party animal singing to every neighborhood he would move into. This happened before he met my Mom ofcourse. Now he only gets to sing to my mom. Mom believes its his privilege. ;)

Did I tell you that my dad is a rare breed? Well he is! he could just look into any electronic machine and diagnose what wrong with it just by observing the noise. He has trained so many people to find employment opportunities and to earn a good living including his brother. Unfortunately I have very little knowledge of what he knows best. So its true - "Farmer's son wont always end up being a Farmer" in this case a Technician's son have absolutely no idea about lengthy wires and circuits.

My dad is a very straight forward guy that gets him into trouble all the time, his Kryptonite is his own aggressiveness but all in all he is delicate like a flower. He wont hesitate to help the needy. He would even go to extent of giving his own meal away if required. I've seen that happen plenty of times. I'm different - if I have a tasty meal I wont be as graceful as him, but I’ll try to share.

Super Dad

Now being grand parents, My Mom and Dad still continue to be awesome by giving it all to Rocky. My Dad has become a walking laundry because Rocky poops alot. on the other hand when everyone is dead asleep my mom becomes a walking a jukebox singing to Rocky who wakes up at odd hrs. The commitment of both my Mom and Dad has always overwhelmed me. They'd always be my Super Dad and Super mom.

Super Mom