I painted endless variations of the same sunset at school. The powers that be approved. I was capturing the offical ideology in pretty pictures. Celebrating beliefs we kids were expected to swallow without question. The pictures themselves looked harmless. The sky was always a lush water colour gradient. Descending from a fringe of deep evening […]
Social media like buttons are conversation killers. They reduce engagement to a lazy gesture. Just grunt your approval and shuffle on. Each passing month reinforces that “feeling”. It is satisfying to see a few stars pop up after a post. Yet it indicates a barrier to conversation. These days it seems to take more effort […]
These days I drop the offspring units at their schools. It’s a consequence of my new schedule. Though I would rather like to brag that my secret short cut skills had something to do with it. To keep the critters quiet, I’ve devised a play list that’s off the main stream road. Here’s a sample: […]
I scrawled some thoughts on writing on paper. Don’t know when or why. It took some scratching around. But here it is. I think it sums up what I feel about “writing” after banging out a blog since 2007. It also epitomises what I feel about Nibble Writing.
“You dress like a P.O.W” (Prisoner of War) sighs my father. A sweeping generalisation of course. But he’s right. The accurate version is “you wear the tatters of a German P.O.W after a decade of Soviet hospitality in Siberia”. Yet this parental grumble marks an interesting experience. Which has taught me about the unspoken social […]
I avoid the sounds of the Mridangam and the Ghatam. I am helpless to their pull. My lapses happen when stumbling on a clip on YouTube. I’m mesmerised. Time freezes. I gape slack jawed at the screen. As the demands and schedules of the day shatter around me. I lack words to describe the overpowering … Continue reading Mridangam Ghatam super powers →
There is a way out from the current chaos of feudal thuggery. It leads to a stable society. With the balance to allow for the organic mess of human life. This exit requires two understandings inside the brains of millions. 1. There never was a democracy in Sri Lanka The island is a feudal monarchy. … Continue reading Way out and what you can do : #ConstitutionalCrisisSriLanka →
There are people who drive cars for pleasure. In the good old days, one got carried around in a palanquin. Or rode a suitably caparisoned elephant before one’s grovelling subjects. At the very least, took a helicopter. As with the impermanence of all things, those refined days are gone. We live in the barbarity of … Continue reading Driven Pleasures →
Trying to give up painting is one of my many failures. Writing this is the formal admission of defeat – my signature on the unconditional surrender document. Renouncing painting meant avoiding seeing other works of art and thoughts about it. Doing something else. Take a stab at spectating. Then, I see a slab of morning … Continue reading Giving in to painting →
I hit publish on my first blog post twelve years ago today. It’s a blog anniversary bringing up the usual question: why blog ‘in this day and age’? The answer remains ‘because I have to’. This post attempts to explain why.
Tourist arrivals, legalising sex tourism, dollar casinos or beating up minorities will not save the Sri Lankan economy. However, the nation’s secret offshore foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves will. Built-up over five decades (possibly older), these untouched reserves amount to billions of dollars. Guesstimates have it at least over 20 billion. Optimists think it could allow … Continue reading Sri Lanka’s ...
Sri Lanka’s alcohol restrictions during the COVID-19 lockdown is a summarises the island’s free market socialism. It has 3 core rules: Restrict open economic activity through rigid, complex/obscure/inconsistent regulation/enforcement mechanisms which makes compliance time consuming/costly in the language of a socialist state Sell protection to a connected few who can operate outside regulations A facade … Continue reading Sri Lanka’s ...
After nearly nine years of blogging I updated the “about” page of this blog. There never was a hurry. The updated page is about this blog and the experience of writing. Not about me. Or may be it is. You decide and let me know.
July is a miserable month. It continues to be in new, unexpected ways. I’ve given up processing Sri Lanka’s history or the current historical. Eight years ago, my father called Sri Lanka a “god forsaken country“. I’m glad he’s not alive to see his prophesies become historical face. Generations of privilege insulates most people I know … Continue reading Processing July ...
Traveling for its own sake is an education. Making both the luxuries of privilege. Road trips in a time of a plague is madness. Besides getting sick, there are mountains of logistical barriers. Curfew passes, securing lodging, fuel, scared locals. The list goes on if you spend time worrying about it. If you have the … Continue reading Road trips during a plague →
Good weather reminds me of the fragility of life. It’s not a pessimistic attitude. The fragility emphasises the privilege I have to relish such moments. Somewhere people freezing through blizzards. Trying to survive floods or walking endless drought-stricken kilometres for muddy drinking water. Weather changes suddenly, no matter what the meteorological soothsayers promise. It’s easy … Continue reading Good Weather ...
Handwriting made up of scratchy lines pop into crisp shapes. It doesn’t matter that years of keyboarding has rendered penmanship to scrawl. Reading text on paper has stopped being a strain. The annoyance of frozen text size is gone. The relief has a feel of a long drink of water on a hot day. By … Continue reading Seeing clearly →
I got too many unfinished posts lounging around the drafts folder. It’s the nature of Nibble Writing. Easier to start and keep tinkering than to finish. An example : the “story” of a train delay and its possible political fall out. It has sprouted too many versions. Needing much delayed hard fisted editorial focus. On […]