Today at the barbershop i had an epiphany about films. An old Sinhalese film, must have been from the forties, was playing on the small TV. The barber told me that those actors are all probably dead now. The move is called ‘Geetha’, the full credits roll by in the beginning, but there’s a short intro into the whole ...
A while ago I went to Thailand. I pretended it was for work, but really it was a paid holiday. Wrote these for the Leader. Now I’ll reproduce this in the blog to fill space/ keep a record/ get hits,but not to be a general prick about getting a free holiday to Thailand. 1. Experiencing [...]
It was late, the roads were empty, and I was cruising with my arm on the window sill. I’m approaching the Dehiwala flyover when I see him. A pair of headlights, their proximity indicating that they belonged to a car of Indian make, appears behind me and to the left. I am now really close to the flyover and ...
Markets showed mixed sentiments despite a late rally sparked by optimistic statements from European leaders. Underlying issues such as drought, inflation and economic growth are becoming more of a concern for emerging economies. (Frontier Research does this nifty summary as a part of its overall range of news products, usually for private clients. They scour through the myriad goings on in ...
image from JDS Lanka The Pax Rajapakse is almost four years old. In that time I’ve gone from being a relative tortoise in my own country to having a degree of freedom that I never imagined possible. I’ve traveled now to virtually every place formerly torn up by the war. And can travel anywhere else I please should I wish to do ...
What Growth is Good Growth? Standard Chartered’s 2010 report titled ‘The 7% Club’, examined how merging nations can achieve sustained 7% growth levels. Any economy growing at 7% a year on average stands to double its economy in roughly ten years. And if your domestic economic mix is good enough to hit 7% on a sustained basis, you’re on the path ...
Today, there is a broad tendency to connect a Muslim, any Muslim’s actions when suited, to Islam. And these days, violent actions by Muslims are always given this treatment, good actions? not so much. But how about the actions of people that claim to have no religion? Or people that are probably Christian? Or secularist? Somehow, like in the case ...
This post was originally published in The Platform I dislike the label ‘activist’, armchair or otherwise. To be defined as an activist is to be defined by the inactivity of others. Armchair activism, as I see it, is a constant struggle against (to paraphrase Milton Freidman) ‘the tyranny of the status quo’; that dread inertia that prevents people at ...
(Frontier Research does this nifty summary as a part of its overall range of news products, usually for private clients. They scour through the myriad goings on in the global economy so you don’t have to, and bring out what’s relevant from a Sri Lankan non-expert’s perspective. Pretty useful if you’re generally into economics, or just want to get a feel ...
Shamrock, Nawalapitiya. Nawalapitiya came up in colonial times as a town built around a British railway hub, as far as I can tell. My grandmother grew up in tough times. She was born in 1926, whence ignorance was rife and widespread. Women died of childbirth because their families did not want them exposed to doctors who were invariably ‘strange men’. ...
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas G. Carr My rating: 4 of 5 stars The phrase ‘…the internet has on our brains’ reminds me of zombies. In The Shallows Nicholas Carr discusses the affect the Internet has on our brains. And ...
Adams Peak can be a grueling trek but ultimately extremely rewarding. The cultural aspect especially, which makes it stand to reason to attempt it in the pilgrimage season. This was from last year. We trekked up half the distance through a jungle path* that only opens up when the villagers of Udamaliboda begin to use it for their own pilgrimage. ...
Photo of ‘World Trade Centre’ by Anuradha Henakaarachchi at the Colombo Art Biennale 2009. Originally published in Groundviews I was sitting in my garden, gazing at the stars listening to my Walkman, which was the only thing to do back then as you ticked off the minutes until the regulated power cuts that cursed Sri Lanka at the time ...
Frederica Janz was a controversial figure in the local media, and working with her as my editor was an educational experience. Here she is talking to Al-Jazeera on what is probably her first media appearance after being fired from The Sunday Leader and leaving the country. The Sunday Leader may not have been perfect, I only joined after the ...
Adams Peak can be a grueling trek but ultimately extremely rewarding. The cultural aspect especially, which makes it stand to reason to attempt it in the pilgrimage season. This was from last year. We trekked up half the distance through a jungle path* that only opens up when the villagers of Udamaliboda begin to use it for their own pilgrimage. ...
Are a thorny topic. officially the unemployment rate is pretty low. But unofficially people are just not happy with their jobs, or employers are not really happy with the type of people who work for them. This is underemployment, or mal-employment and im not sure the latter qualifies as a proper economic term. Add to this, there are the ...
Delegates at Hambantota trying to pose for the massive group picture with the president. I know a lot of people here are idealistic, I am too. I’m just a little cynical about the mechanisms we usually use in order to get what we want. Getting what we want (‘we’ being ‘the youth’, an over-homogenized entity that sometimes does not make ...
Dayan Jayatilleka spoke at a recent event organized by the Sri Lankan Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, to commemorate the UN Day for Solidarity with Palestine . The Sri Lankan government has made it a general point to sympathize with the Palestinian cause, though in recent years it has also become increasingly pally with Israel, with an envoy in the country ...
Me. late teenybopper stage, i think 2002-3 With all the discussion on teenyboppers i cannot simply stand by and see our next generation flayed to pieces. Especially by the likes of Himal, whom i actually knew when we were both teenyboppers and let me just say that he wasn’t exactly Sir. Ian McKellen then, and he isn’t now either. But neither ...
With the perceived failure of its leadership to appropriately address its problems, there is an increasing vacuum for a movement that truly incorporates the Muslim community from the grassroots-up into collective decision making, the recently established Interim Shura Council is attempting to do just that. Pic: Puttlam Grand Mosque Sri Lanka’s Muslim community suffers from both internal and external issues. ...
