The area around the Borella Kanatte turned into a battlefield one late afternoon in late April, 1993. Crowds attending the funeral of the assassinated Lalith Athulathmudali turned violent. The Police responded with tear gas. There was a pitched battle with enterprising individuals tossing half empty teargas canisters back at the Police. At one point an Army truck arrived. The crowds ...
Collette is not a common name in Sri Lanka and it became even less common post 1956 for historical reasons many have written about. There’s one Collette who was so in-your-face that it is hard to forget, at least in the case of Sri Lankans interested in politics, journalism and art. Aubrey. This is why there’s a ‘market’, still, ...
A form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development. That’s the description of a particular form of drama called ‘Theater of the Absurd’. In the 21st Century where confusion has been globalized courtesy finely orchestrated media campaigns whose ...
The self-immolation of Ven Bowatte Indraratnana Thero raised many questions. Whatever the late Thero’s intentions may have been, it is unlikely that ‘media ethics’ or lack thereof was something that prompted the horrifying act. That, however, is what we are left with. The action or rather inaction of those who may have been able to prevent the tragedy, especially ...
Ven. Bowatte Indrarathana Thero’s act of self-immolation has generated much debate. The act has been condemned as being ‘un-Buddhistic’. The bikkhu’s past was commented on. This included his political affiliations. Theories about his ‘state of mind’ were floated on the internet. The stated precipitating factor, objection to cattle-slaughter, was taken up, taken apart. Some asked ‘Why only cattle?’ Some ...
‘Metta’ or compassion is one of the four divine abodes (Sathara Brahma Viharana) recommended by the Buddha for the cultivation of harmony and meditative focus. It is also one of the ten perfections (Paramita) facilitating the attainment of enlightenment. The commentaries on the Sutta Nipata tell us that the Buddha expounded on this element (Metta) by way of a ...
K.A. Dharmadasa the Vegetable VendorK.A. Dharmadasa the ModelIt is my contention that a sizable proportion of the most creative writers (and artists of course) in the country are in the advertising industry. Makes sense. There’s more money in that business. This doesn’t mean however that writers in advertising have compromised their art. They do their own writing and the smarter ...
Before July 1987, few Sri Lankans had heard the term bhoo-deshapaalana yathaarthaya(geo-political reality). It was tossed around liberally by those who sought to give legitimacy to the infamous Indo-Lanka Accord and the 13th Amendment of the Constitution consequent to it. Strangely (and tellingly), the term is not used to describe post-LTTE Sri Lanka and the equally ‘legitimate’ argument for the ...
As a Buddhist growing up in Sri Lanka in a household where there was a time and place for religious activity (limited to Poya Day visits to the temple and nocturnal recitation of gathas), the story of Prince Siddhartha was obtained mostly from the Sadaham Maga, the school text book on Buddhism. That made for early and even definitive ...
The University of Sri Jayawardenapura has decided to terminate the services of Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasooriya , Lecturer (Probationary). This decision was taken, based on a stipulation that a probationary lecturer should obtain a Masters degree within 8 years after joining the particular university. The D-Day for Karnasooriya was March 9, 2013. A media release on the issue by the ...
We live in an era of ‘flexible capital’. Money moves, industries move, people move. Things are supposed to move around and fit together in locations that make for best returns. Theoretically. Typically of course capital moves to resource rich places where resource-extraction is cost-effective and where no-sweat of less-sweat extraction of labor power is possible. Companies are like that. ...
On May 22, 2013, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was entered between the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) and the Trincomalee Urban Council (UC) at the Public Library of Trincomalee for the use of the UC premises for a period of five years. The facility, named ‘American Corner’ is purportedly for public ...
SUBTERRANEAN TRANSCRIPTS[This article was first published in the Daily Mirror, April 30, 2010]Jehan Perera is not talking about the LTTE. He’s not even talking about the Tamil National Alliance. No, not even about Douglas Devananda. He’s talking about a man called Tissa Vitharana. That’s how much federal-hope has shrunk these days. It is even evident in Dayan Jayatilleka. His ...
Not all diseases are known. Not all known diseases have cures. Then there are ailments of the body and ailments of the mind, cures for the latter being more elusive than those for the former. Both body and mind are vulnerable. The environment is full of disease causing matter, which become potent when the elements conspire to generate certain configurations. ...
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is alleged to have warned that those who do not adhere to the BBS’s preference with respect to how Vesak should be commemorated will be caned. The BBS finds the festivities associated with Vesak, especially the frills, the color, the play of puppeteers and other kolam objectionable. Instead, the BBS advocates a deeper engagement with ...
The President of the Private Bus Owner’s Association, Gemunu Wijeratne, has demanded that the Ministry of Private Transport Services be taken off C.B. Ratnayake. He wants President Rajapaksa to handle it himself. Wijeratne, moreover, has opined that only the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urband Development, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has the backbone to resist political interference and vanquish what ...
A leaked draft MoU between the governments of the USA and the Maldives indicates that plans are afoot to set up a US military base in the Indian Ocean. While the US Embassy in Colombo has pooh-poohed the said document as a ‘Status of Forces Agreement’ (SOFA) of the kind that exists with respect to some 100 other countries, ...
Canada, it is reported, has joined the United States in calling for the removal of Richard Falk, a UN human rights rapporteur who opined that American policies were the impetus of the Boston Marathon bombings. Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird officially called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to remove Falk from his position, arguing ‘Falk’s consistently mean-spirited ...
Way back in the year 2004, when the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) was formed to contest the April elections, I objected on grounds that the political/historical role of the Bikkhuwas advisory. The mayor, I wrote to the Sunday Island (February 15, 2004) has to get the drains cleaned, but is not required to cover himself in muck. For all ...
This refers to Dayan Jayatilleka’s response (Anti-BBS Vigil: A critique of the critique) to something I wrote on the subject of a candle light vigil organized by a group that named the event ‘Buddhists Question Bodu Bala Sena’. I called my comment ‘The “Vigil” I saw’. Colombo Telegraph re-posted with what I consider to be a mischievous re-titling, “The BBS ...
