The encounter I am about to describe happened long before the Dambulla mosque incident in 2012. Years later it still sits on me. The weight growing with the current decent of Sri Lankan politics. I began writing this as a way of dealing with it. It led me to realise a few things about my […]
Organisers of a book burning protesting the Galle Literary Festival have highlighted environmental credentials to gain demonstration permits. The spokesperson for the book burning denied their environmentalism is a tactic to get media attention. In a media release the organisers said : “We genuinely care about the ecological impact of free speech, democracy and politics. [...]
Its a question that the 2015 presidential election talk seems to avoid. Sri Lanka’s feudal politics is exciting. Economics is dull and dismal. In the minds of many economics has little to do with politics. The king always has money. We have all enjoyed his gifts. Come on, admit it. Even you, who grumble about […]
Sri Lankan New Year traditions are about renewal and continuity. But I feel an undertow of something cracking that illusion. It hard to notice or realise initially. There are children of cousins gleefully tearing through the house. A happy shrieking gaggle of British, American, Australian and Sri Lankan accents. Elders too senile or physically delicate […]
The definitive Sri Lankan road film (“movie” for American speakers) has finally arrived. “Yamu!” is a critical and box office success because it manages the impossible. It lets the viewer experience the layered contradictions of being Sri Lankan in a very entertaining way. The “local” audience, irrespective of their language will “get it”. So will […] ...
Publication of the long awaited “How to have sex in a Trishaw” book is on indefinite hold. Its publisher, the Vātsyāyana press, refuses to explain. It merely issued a tweet stating that “no date for future publication is planned”. The exploding speculation of the causes has focused on a falling out with extreme faction of […]
The Sri Lanka stories blog is turning out to be a dangerously compulsive online project. The premise is simple. Write a 55-word story based on a word announced via a twitter account. I find this to be brutally hard. It also forces you to notice themes and ideas lurking in the dimly lit parts of [...]
Photographed this abandoned MG convertible in the Kia Motors garage near Hyde Park (Colombo) a few years ago. Her roof was down. Every inch under a layer of dust. She had been abandoned in the grim cavern of the work shops for a while. Yet she defied her neglect with wordless dignity. Which amplified an…
This speech by the Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thero gives hope to even a cynic like me. The hope that there are actual Buddhists among Sri Lanka’s monks. Who put their eloquence and the symbolic power of the saffron robe in the defence of human values. Most of the speech is in Sinhala with a short summery in English at the…
This photo is a close up of Sri Lanka’s indigenous answer to “hard” drugs. Yet it’s completely legal. There are no withdrawal symptoms. The high lasts for quite a while. Cravings will not make you want to kill anyone. Taken in small doses over a long period, it is sure to kill you. So will…
Thought provoking insightful comments are one of blogging’s few real rewards. Chamira’s comment on my post about film photos is the most recent. I realised the response I was typing as practically a blog post. His points are worth while enough to put this in a post. So here it is. This post is a…
We put small white flowers into the coffin. I feel the room darken. Stoic aunties start sobbing. Two men in sarongs and high collared shirts appear and lift up the side flaps. The lid is shuffled out from near the toilet. Its ornamental screws are quickly tightened to soft crying in the background. Final punctuations […]
Centuries ago I set up a Twitter account linked to this blog. Through the wizardry of wordpress.com and twitter, a tweet is generated when ever I defecate a blog post. I don’t ever recall login to tweet outside this blog. Recently using borrowed time that I will never repay, I logged into my twitter account [...]
Lanka Transport Technology Emporium: ltte.lk t56.lk terranvista.lk (groundviews.lk forwards to rentacar.lk) xxx.lk and obviously, sex.lk Foundation for Analytical Research and Teaching (just use the first letters of the main words and add .lk. They keep a low profile after a brawl but still provide funding under the Foundation for Analytical Research and Teaching Scholars program.) [...]
Few foresaw the overthrow of Sri Lanka’s seemingly omnipotent Rajapaksa government. Its popularity had won it a resounding victory in the last election without depending on traditional Sri Lankan election fraud. Such factors compounded the shock and disbelief over the events of “Red Thursday”. Never before has regime change in Sri Lanka been so unexpected, […]
Clearing out boxes of old photos is an odd business. It unearths reminders of identity that were self amputated with rusted can opener (metaphorically of course). In this case it is the sculpture in this photo. The black and white is an indicator of age but of a time when I was being unfortunately arty. [...]
Cheers around the table lifts him to his feet. Years later I will remember the moments that followed. First for what happened. Later for what it symbolised about Sri Lankan history. About what that history did to a certain generation. To all of us. Time will blur some details. Yet the symbolism will gel into […]
The irrelevance to the Sri Lankan blogsphere gets highlighted every time things get political. It used to be that way during the war. Then as it is now, the drama swirls around the public words among private individuals. These days the foreign media might dip in for a sip of social media. In the plume [...]
The only evidence of my clandestine visit to Geofry Bawa’s Colombo house at No 11, 33rd lane is the panorama embedded below. Its made up of photos I quickly shot from the upper level of the roof top terrace – “The Tower” as its called. An interactive version is on my profile at dermandar.com – [...]