If the baby is 3 yrs. old, in which grade is he?

- Oct 04, 2016

This incident took place some time ago. That is at the time when Hon. Field Marshal Sarath Chandralal Fonseka entered politics. 

His political advisers advised the field marshal to, wherever he goes, to pat the heads of children, take children into his arms and to ask them about anything.

Fonseka prompted replied, “Aney, I cannot do what those clumsy things being done by Mahinda. I have not at least taken my own two children into my arms.” Then, advisers told him, “Politics is not an honest thing. It is something that should be done with ingenuity.”

After being thus advised, the field marshal went for a function at a temple at some village. He remembered the advice given by his advisers and took a small child in the crowds into his arms. He did that like a customer who had gone to a farm house to inquire about the prices of broiler chicken. Fonseka then asked the child, “Oh, Baby, how old are you?” Since the baby did not understand what that meant, his mother said, “Baby is three years old, sir.” Fonseka next asked, “In which grade is the baby studying?” The mother was dumbfounded and looked everywhere for help. Fonseka’s bodyguards, acting as if they did’t hear anything, told him, “Let’s go, sir. It’s getting late,” and took him away in a hurry. They later told his advisers and Anoma Fonseka  about what had happened, and they let him be as he is. 

That is why Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne said publicly, “After retiring from military service honourably, I cannot enter politics and become an infant.”