Cheeseburgers and just desserts for customs officers

The new import restrictions announced on Wednesday--including a virtual ban on apples, grapes, beer, wines and chocolates--reminds us of an anecdote going back to the late 1960s when the then government imposed similar curbs due a foreign exchange crisis. At that a time we saw an exodus of people from the Burgher community leaving for a restrictions-free Australia.

A visiting Sri Lankan expatriate from the United Kingdom (UK) was reportedly having lunch in a restaurant at Chatham Street in Fort and ordered a cheeseburger he was familiar with in the fast-food outlets in London.

"Sorry", said the waiter, "We don't have any cheese in this country and very soon we will not have any burgers either."

And then there was a group of high school students from the UK on a holiday in Sri Lanka--with apples in their hand-carrying baggage. The Customs officers wanted to confiscate the apples. But the students circumvented the law by eating all the apples before they went through the customs and immigration lines.

The moral of the story: The Customs officers were deprived of their apples for dessert. They had to do with their just desserts.