In Sri Lanka, there is an ancient folk tale call four laughs. One of those laughs is, how the land laugh at people who fight for the land. There's a short story call "How much land does a man require" by Leo Tolstoy. It beautifully elaborates about a man , in his lust for land, forfeits everything. Love for the ...

Many Sri Lankans always like to help, those who are in need. But its always not easy to find information about who actually need help. There are many fraudsters. Being an auditor who audited number of such NGOs in Sri Lanka, needless to say I always have a very suspicious eye on where I recommend my friends to donate. Here's a quick note on a very good organization. We came across this 

Montessori pre schools  in Sri Lanka What's happening currently with pre schools in Sri Lanka? Recently some of our friends had a discussion regarding Montessori activities in Sri Lanka. All of them are mothers of toddlers and we had very insightful thoughts sharing on the activities of different preschools. Then we realise that most of the activities taken place in the name of Montessori

A relative of mine living in another country sent me an email last week. He has two children aged 5 and 8. He was going to Sri Lanka for a short trip and he asked me what could be good Sinhala books  for his children. His email had quite descriptive requirements as to what he needs. "Everyone these days write childrens books to find ...

Last week I met a long lost friend of mine. Currently he is working at the Human Resources department of one of the biggest business groups in Sri Lanka. So what are you up to now? I asked. He is a social media analytic. He apparently handles social media research and analysis of the candidates and potential candidates. What the hell is that now? Well its the next level of human resource

Last week I met three science graduates. One person was talking about the issue where even the science graduates do not have proper jobs. Second person told me that now she regret for selecting science as her field. She said, “If I manage to do a MSc, maybe I will get a university lecturer job. Third person was talking about a different issue on our mothers and sisters moving to Middle

When I meet educated Sri Lankans working abroad , they always ask this question. How we should help our fellow Sri Lankans back home. They have the expertise and the resources, yet have no information as to how or where there help should go. Therefore I decided to start a series of articles to show them where we need help. Problem   The most critical problem at the country right now seem

I was on a short stay in Europe and  was much impressed with some of the things I experienced.  Therefore I thought may be I should share some of it. One of it is the bus system in Oslo. It is one of the best transportation systems in the world and managed by the company "Ruter AS". Ruter offers transport by ...

What is the main challenge a small or medium business faces these days? Could it be competition?  Could it be loosing customers? Could it be employee frustration, or could it be the downfall of profits? I've met quite a lot of small to medium businessmen in Sri Lanka. They actually knew how to handle the core of the business and earn revenue. But their biggest challenge was to cope up with the

Apply for a Chevening Scholarship <!-- AddThis Button END -->   Applications for 2014/15 Chevening Scholarships are now open. http://www.chevening.org/apply/  

I happened to read some hilarious comments in a gossip web site where men in Sri Lanka expressed their sadness over their wives getting  fat and not paying any attention to keeping up the body shape after a baby is born. Then I thought this is a timely article to write. Running is of course a good way to keep up not only the body ...

I came  across this awesome speech called the "Danger of a Single Story”, by Chimamanda Adichie, a young Nigerian author. While explaining the single stories she went through in life, she points that "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only ...

Bring up a girl child is one of the most challenging yet very satisfactory experience in life. A girl's life or mostly depend on how the parents brings her up. Having the opportunity to be open up with many girls and many elderly women, I thought I should summarize this article in to what are the mistakes we do with brining up a girl and how to address and overcome those. (photo credit -

Ever heard of reverse engineering? This too is an article like that. If anyone needs to understand how to save a marriage, they should know how a marriage could be broken. Of course there are many challenges a family faces. But this is one ugly truth a women would have to face. So how to save your family? Just know what would come across your path. Then you may guess when the bull turns (if you

How to cook Sri Lankan food easily? I have some of the friends who usually works nearly 12-16 hours a day either from office or remotely logged from home. In some families, both husband and wife work such long hours due to the nature of their jobs. By the time they come home, they are too tired to cook a meal. Therefore they either settle for a short eat or take away food from a restaurant.

Once a friend of mine teased that "you should never encourage a foreign investor to invest in Sri Lanka". Well if you exclude the legal and political frame work, there are many benefits of investing in Sri Lanka. I've worked with investors from all continents except Africa. I can assure that compared to many countries, Sri Lanka is not as bad as ...

Recently one of my truly Sri Lankan aunts asked me how to help her niece with her baby. After listening to her long explanation on how the niece refuses her help and how she think the niece should have listen to her advice, and how she thinks that niece is not a good mother, I told her "may be the best ...

Why on the earth I'm writing on debit and credit? :D   There were couple of requests from my friends to write a summarized  article on this topic. Most of the accounting job interviews contains at least few questions on debit and credit. There are thousands of articles in internet on debit and credit. But I thought I should write a summary version customized to Sri Lankan interviews, so

Men on women ! Recently I happened to read some of the comments made by male readers regarding a lady in one of the gossip web sites . I was quite shocked to read those. For a moment I thought what sort of an animal society we are living in. Men in this country are sick.  But then again I remembered that, these are the people we try so hard to help. These are the men we try to develop and

What are the things donors should take in to account when giving funds to organizations in Sri Lanka?   A small scale foreign donor asked me the above question and I actually Googled to find a proper answer. But failing which, I realize I can answer this question to a reasonable extent. I have come across many NGOs in various stages in different contexts. This article contain some information