Sri Lanka’s Halal controversy has claimed another victim. This time it’s the permanent closure of a club that was a part of the country’s early anti colonial era resistance. How this came about is a complicated story. The details are easily lost amidst charges of islamophobia, cultural exploitation and the manic news cycle. It also [...]
December dinner parties are a time for meeting recent migrants. On their first “homeland” visits after “settling” in a new first world. This year I began to notice a different type of migrant at these events. They scare me. More I think about who they are and what they left behind, the fear tightens. They […]
Lady Divine’s blog has passed the 5 year mark which is a longer time in blog years. I was going to fire a quick “congrats” comment with exclamation marks or something to that effect. But I thought she deserved something longer. Without realising it I have become a long time reader of her blog. Its [...]
A 5 minute video has fundamentally changed Sri Lanka’s post war political landscape. It shows a successful nuclear test in the southern indian ocean by the Peoples’ Republic of Dehilwala Navy (PRDN). Independent satellite data confirmed the blast within hours of the video’s release. However it is the statement at the end of the video [...]
The Sri Lankan New Year is a time of renewal. A good time to look your extended network and ensure its links are strong. In a feudal society like ours, formal laws and norms are merely barriers of entry. To survive, let alone thrive, we need the right network of relationships. Even lesser beings like […]
Until this book came out, Sri Lanka’s spy services were vague words in defence communiques. Specifics didn’t go beyond convoluted speculations of columnists on slow news days. That era is over. All due to this book. Which flings the unseen world of Sri Lanka’s spies into the hard glare of the public stage. Confronts unhealed…
Its been a while. Which in itself, justifies the change. Nearly 5 years since I last did it. Perhaps I should have waited another month. But I’m tired of anniversaries and impatient. As you can see, the progression to the minimal continues. The emphasis is now squarely on what is written. Though the “meta” stuff […]
One is a photographer. The other is a poet. Each I feel has a rare mastery of her medium. Your attention to their work will be well rewarded. The photographer is Aamina Nizar. I blogged about her years ago. She sort of “went” off line for a while. She’s back with a new WordPress.com blog.…
These are two ancient postcards from the Colombo Museum. Classy aren’t they? No tourist board earnestness about Sri Lanka and paradise. Just a photo of the object. Followed by a minimal caption. The sepia photos and the ageing of the cards makes both timeless. They become artefacts of a different time. Yet there is nothing…
Political tremors over a controversial colonel from the last Sri Lankan war (see earlier post) is masking tectonic shifts in the island’s political future. Those who notice the details cannot ignore that there is a build up to a Vesuvius like eruption of war. Yet like the citizens of Pompeii, the rumblings are ignored, denied [...]
The end of the year is upon us so it’s time a good time to shed some inhibitions. With this mind I thought I should unleash some nudity at the flesh starved masses of the Sri Lankan blogosphere. The prudish among you can click away though I KNOW you won’t. The show starts with the [...]
He’s from somewhere small, obscure and violent in the wilds of Uttar Pradesh. So nasty that he had to flee to Dehli as a child. This is the first time he’s ever left India. You wouldn’t know that if you talked to him. Far removed from the “loud Indian” I’ve seen many Sri Lankans roll [...]
Avoid going insane. Everything else is detail. Naturally there are challenges and such things create rules. It helps to pay attention to them. For most, the first hundred years is an orgy. It is downhill from there. By your first millennium you better get used to the fact that civilisations rise and fall faster than [...]
I have been a fan of Charles Bukowski’s poetry for years. He’s one of the few poets I read voluntarily. Bukowski stands out because I have a stockpile of his books collected over the eons. The photo in this post is my evidence. I naturally prefer his poetry over prose. The later poems over the [...]
Mission critical processes of large Sri Lankan organisations are often dependent on invisible people. Invisible to the planners, HR managers, executives and common sense. Yet they are essential for getting things done in the complicated chaos of daily Sri Lankan life. The seemingly unrelated support services of Undetected Mission Critical Personnel (UMCP) are often the […]
Social media fasting, is basically some form of abstinence from social media. For me it means avoiding interacting on twitter – which I’ve done for the past few days. The tweeple I follow are too informed and interesting to drop it completely. Another hurdle is the dangerously addictive 55 word Sri Lankan Stories project. The […]
Happy blog birthday to Jack Point, “The Court Jester” of the Sri Lankan blogosphere. His blog jestforkicks is 9 years young today. Making it one of the few still active “war era” (pre 2009) Sri Lankan blogs. Both facts earn Jack Point a place among the gnarled elders of Sri Lankan blogging. Yet I find […]
Sri Lanka’s pornography (Kama Kala) industry has held Colombo’s largest ever rally to demand increased government funding. The event was organised by the Kama Kala Shilpi Peramuna – an umbrella organisation representing Sinhala, Tamil and Dutch language sectors of the industry. The KKSP threatened to support the opposition at the upcoming election if its demands [...]
Reorganising the living room bookshelf gave me a panoramic wide angle view of my relationship with books and reading. At one level, I regretted my love of books. Alcoholics among you know will know the sensation of hitting rock bottom intimately. It also felt like meeting long lost friends. The pleasant surprises leading newer, better [...]
Sri Lanka’s easternmost point, Sangamankanda (also referred to a Sangaman Kanda), sits on a wide, isolated beach with an abandoned light house. Good for an opening shot of an arty independent film. Inevitably about some sort of inner turmoil. I’ve never “heard” of this place and only came across it by a very round about [...]