Spare the rod and spoil the child is a famous adage appearing in the Bible and made its way into practically every proverb collection. It initially alluded to beating and is cited often but does not necessarily mean for beating in today's usage.We who went to school before the 1980s were never spared for mischief and misconduct. Mischief and misconduct ...

Barn Swallows Roosting in Ratnapura Town A roost is a place where a bird rests or sleeps. These would generally, be a perch on a tree or even on buildings in the case of urban habitats. Cliffs or rock faces and other habitats are used as roosts by some birds who have special adaptations. Birds roost when humans retire indoors ...

This happened in April 2011. In Denawaka; a village off Malwala on the Ratnapura Palabaddala Road to Adams Peak. I was assigned to the construction of a mini-hydro project across Denawaka Ganga the main tributary of Kalu Ganga. My living quarters were beside the road from Malwala to Balangoda via Rassagala.It had a small garden that the owners living in ...

Pic Curtsy EnageBang Lakegala - MeemureMeemure having come into the limelight after the parliamentary elections in 2001 caused me to return to this old Kandyan village to perceive what progress it made since my last visit 20 years back. My first visit to Meemure was in 1975, in my university days and then it was another remote location that we ...

Dalada Perahera at the Temple of the ToothThe Dalada-Perahera in Kandy Sri Lanka in the month of Esela or July as in the Gregorian calendar is when the animal welfare activists and elephant lovers are actively lobbying for the elephants in chains in the colorful nightly parades on the streets of Kandy. An annual Cultural and Religious festival that was ...

Harvesting tobacco in lowland MahiyanganeWith the new changes taking place with regard to our environment, it seems like the time has come to look back into our past and heed the lessons learnt 'once upon a time’.Even though Ceylon was granted a Dominion Status (semi-independent polities under the British Crown) in 1948, the economies of Tea, Rubber, and Coconut our ...

HIGH PERFORMANCE: THE MAGIC YEARS A. C. M. Laffir wins Ceylon Schools Hockey Umpires Colors With WW II coming to an end in 1945, S Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia recommences with all the temporary units coming back to Mt Lavinia, but for the one at Gurutalawa.Dr. R. L. Hayman and Rev. Fr. A. J. Foster is permitted to run a ...

Leonard Sidney Woolf (Barrister and Queen's Counsel) moved to then Ceylon; Sri Lanka today in October 1904 to join the Ceylon Civil Service [CCS] as a cadet. After a brief period in Colombo, he is posted to Jaffna in January 1905. Two years and seven months in Jaffna, Woolf is transferred to Kandy as an apprentice to the Ceylon Civil ...

This is a true story that took place way back in the year 1981. We were newly married with our baby son Naveen just a few months after his first birthday. Employed as a technocrat in the Irrigation Department took me into remote wilderness locations on duty. My narration of these wild locations enthused the in-laws that we make a ...

Bird watching in the 21th century took a different turn with many taking to digital bird photography. The old school birder who preferred to identify birds in the conventional way is now bypassed with photo identification. The advantage of having a picture for future reference is very much convenient to a hastily done field sketch. Bird photography today has ...

Greater Flamingo in Bundala Year 1986                                                        Uditha Wijesena Sri Lanka is unique in its geographic location with regard to World Bird Migration. Breeding birds from the Northern hemisphere migrate to the equatorial ...

A severe drought which continued for almost three years in the North Central Province has come to an end with the monsoon rains this year - 2018. A land that flourishes a unique hydraulic civilization and a network of water storing tanks or ponds called “Wewa” in native Sinhala are full to capacity. The paddies below the tanks are tilled ...

It is generally taken for granted that a bottle is a narrow necked container turned out of glass …. But this is not to be so? There are bottles made of clay, plastic, metal etc. However out of all material it is glass that has been associated very much in bottle making ever since its invention. Glass is preferred for ...

Mahayana style Buddha / BuduruwagalaThe Buddha, or the "enlightened one," was born Siddhartha Gautama to Princess Mahamaya and King Sudhodhana in the 6th century B.C. in Lumbini, modern-day Nepal. Although born a prince, he realized that conditioned experiences could not provide lasting happiness or protection from suffering. After almost thirty years of spiritual search he went into deep meditation, where ...

The topography of Sri Lanka is unique of its central massif that radiate perineal waterways to the flat low lying lands beyond. The landmass from the North-West to the South–East via the North of the country is named as the dry zone. The precipitation from the North-East monsoon is inadequate for agricultural needs in this area and is supplemented with ...

The topography of Sri Lanka is unique of its central massif that radiate perineal waterways to the flat low lying lands beyond. The landmass from the North-West to the South–East via the North of the country is named as the dry zone. The precipitation from the North-East monsoon is inadequate for agricultural needs in this area and is supplemented with ...

Train travel has always fascinated me from childhood and I was very fortunate in having had the opportunity to travel in luxury comfort on the California Zephyr; the Amtrak’s train from Chicago to San Francisco. A journey that takes 51 hours and 20 minutes. The California Zephyr is said to be one of the most scenic travels in North America ...

Train travel has always fascinated me from childhood and I was very fortunate in having had the opportunity to travel in luxury comfort on the California Zephyr. The Amtrak’s train from Chicago to San Francisco. A journey scheduled for 51 hours and 20 minutes. The California Zephyr is said to be one of the most scenic travels in North America ...

The Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka [FOGSL] the leading organization for the scientific study of avian fauna in Sri Lanka has taken the leadership in the conservation of birds during the last 40 years. Initiated in 1976, its 40 years of untiring effort in conservation and research has been recognized and honored both locally and internationally.FOGSL has continuously been ...

The Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka [FOGSL] the leading organization for the scientific study of avian fauna in Sri Lanka has taken the leadership in the conservation of birds during the last 40 years. Initiated in 1976, its 40 years of untiring effort in conservation and research has been recognized and honored both locally and internationally.FOGSL has continuously been ...