Trains and train journeys have fascinated both children and adults ever since they were invented. Likewise railway lines on which they run have posed challenges to engineers and surveyors when laying them on difficult terrain. Railways are far more different to highways; they cannot negotiate sharp bends and inclines, and the specified gradients for railway lines have not changed much ...
The bill or beak for a bird is the most versatile anatomical component adopted for its survival. Apart from the common physical features of a feather covered body and egg-laying for breeding; it is the bill and the feet of a bird that vary according to the food and the habitat they dwell upon.A stout and strong bill of ...
Of all Sri Lanka's development projects considered…. it was the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project (UKHP) in Talawakele that had to face so much dissidence. The project had to be shelved at least on three occasions due to relocation factors, environmental factors and political factors.However the euphoria that was to stay with the ending of the 30 year conflict in ...
If there is anything that I like of the American,,,,, it is their liking for outdoors. This said…… it’s not that the Europeans and the British do not like outdoors, but the American is more adventurous. They hike and camp in the rough rugged terrain of America in groups or as loners frequently and document their personnel experiences.Camping in the ...
The area named Everglades National Park of the Everglades wetland landmass situated towards the south of Florida is different to the Big Cypress National Park which is situated more centrally in the glades. It’s a total preservation unlike the Big Cypress while no ownership of property is entertained and the only overnight stayers are the recreational campers.The flora is of ...
My visit to the USA in 2009 was never a dream come true. It was only because Naveen our son, having won a scholarship to read a PhD at Miami in 2006 and us qualifying for a Visa being able to meet the minimum financial requisites.Camping in the Everglades of Florida, the worlds largest mangrove ecosystem was such a memorable ...
Love and affection keep us united and attached to one another. Culture and society have dedicated days, norms, means and ways of communicating love and affection. The beginning of the Gregorian Calender is one such day. Twenty years ago our neighbours migrated to the UK, Sankalpa their daughter who was my daughter's play kid is now a lady of 25 ...
E 01 – Sri Lanka’s first ever express way from Kottawa in Colombo to Matara in the southern province was partially commissioned up to Galle, a main city in the south of Sri Lanka on 27th November 2011.To me and many other Galle wallahs employed in Colombo, home is now an hours drive away. This is the most welcome happening ...
Sri Lanka is home for 10 native bamboo species and 7 introduced bamboo species. This is as per a research done by Soderstrom and Ellis 1998. The chart below gives the science of them.Native and Introduced Bamboo Species in Sri LankaSource: Soderstrom and Ellis 1998 Species Local Name Native * Arundinaria densifolia1 Bata * A. debilis Bata * A. scandens ...
Recently it was reported, of a leopard cub being run over by a speeding jeep within the Yala National Park. Many were the criticism on the social net working groups that spelt high adrenal language on the new digital photo maniacs of Colombo chasing leopards in Yala, who are more in the liking to make shots similar to those ...
Not many of us living in the tropics get to experience the four climatic seasons of the temperate zone. We are more familiar to the monsoon effected wet and dry climatic seasons in the tropics. I was at the right place at the right time in October 2011 as a member of our family visiting the Great Smokey Mountains in ...
Did the social structure prevent our ancestors from building to last, or were they more environment concern?Ancient man needed to build to protect him from the elements and the wild. The habit of living in naturally formed caverns changed with the increase in population. Abodes were needed; and these he built. These primitive constructions were of basic woody forest material ...
I am in Badulla waiting for a call from my daughter to pick her at the University. I get the call but she says her submissions are getting extended and we will need to stay overnight instead; I have a day to spend in Badulla. I need to find a way to kill time. I have already visited Diyaluma Falls, ...
Nilaveli; A beach front with its wide and tranquil sands; "Pigeon Islands" a kilometer away, was a secret locality in Pura-male, Trincomalee in the sixties and even early seventies. The tourism that was to exploit Trinco and other locates in the east coast then, did not exploit Nilaveli until now. It still has only one hotel that exist to this ...
Man’s primitive means of communication was the human voice. Various sounds at various intensity levels may have been adopted to communicate, depending on the distance of the receiver. Beyond the distance of hearing; a symbolic note on leaf or papyrus hand delivered, would have fulfilled the need…. This is thought to be the inception of language. When the distance ...
Heather Martin and Angela Savage both academics at the National University of Ireland, Galway were visiting Sri Lanka in July 1994 . They were, living with friends and were guests of my friend Prabath Senaratne. We were all in the Irrigation Department [ID] then, Prabath in Colombo and Wilson Kulasooriya and I were stationed at Hambantota. On Prabath's request we ...
This is Alagan Subramaniam [Subra]; descendents of South Indians brought to work in the Tea Gardens by the Colonial British. He is from the seventh generation and is now a Sri Lankan. Subra lives in a state owned estate in Walahanduwa Galle, where his parents, grandparents his siblings all worked, tending the tea and rubber ...
Like so many seemingly impossible shots you see these days…. this shot is not a digital creation. That’s because I was not alone when it was taken at Great Western Talawakele. Photography today is a new turn altogether with digital technology overriding light exposed on celluloid. “No I did not just lift the camera and shoot this”……..but was following the ...
I’m generally lucky for I always get to do what I like. I love my profession; the challenges in engineering and to get involved with birds and nature.It was some years back that I was offered to be a bird guide to a British team of Bird Watchers. I was to assist the professional tour guide ...
