Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Nanda Wanninayaka nanda.wanninayaka@gmail.com The controversial former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, considered a moron by the West and the rest of the sensible world died a few weeks ago. Had Mugabe stepped down after two or three maximum presidential terms gracefully, he would have gone down in the history as a legendary leader who saved Zimbabwe from the ...
The Godfather Cover I read Italian – American author Mario Puzo’s The Godfather within few days as it was an extremely interesting novel. I had watched the movie based on the book earlier and never expected the book to be this exciting. The book was published in 1969. It is based on a fictitious Mafia family that dominates New York ...
Leaders Book Cover World-renowned leadership guru Warren Bennis and his co-author Burt Nanus talk about four key principals every manager should know: Attention Through Vision, Meaning Through Communication, Trust Through Positioning and The Deployment of Self in the book Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge. In corporate America downsizing and restructuring is done in most organizations but lack of communication and ...
Nanda Wanninayaka nanda.wanninayaka@gmail.com Jokers (and jerks – including Mr. Anura Dissanayaka) apart, there are two mainstream candidates in the run-up to the presidential election on November 16, 2019. Well, whether you like it or not, it is Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) and Mr. Sajith Premadasa (SP) who are the front-runners for the contest and the others are just vote ...
I am not trying to explain how the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka happened and the different perspectives to its root causes. I am only going to talk only about how I perceive it. I was born in 1972 in the village of Mahawilachchiya (in Anuradhapura District of Sri Lanka) bordering the Wilpattu National Park. Velupillai Prabhakaran, who went on to create and ...
Ms. Indira Gandhi used its southern powerhouse (Tamil Nadu) lead by M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) an actor-turned stupid politician who did not know much about politics than being the emblematic knife-wielding movie hero he was cracked up to be on the silver screen. He knew pretty well that it was easy to change the mindset of the Tamils in Tamil Nadu ...
In fact, the 3-decade-long rancorous war was never Tamils’ war or Sri Lanka’s war. It was by no doubt India’s war. The hitherto peaceful, studious, hardworking Tamil boys and girls were dragged into a bloody terrorist war by India the former’s own fellow citizens in Sri Lanka. It was India’s disastrous foreign policy against her neighbors that created a terrorist ...
Losing My Virginity I had the pleasure of reading Richard Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity last year. It is a thick book but you won’t feel like keeping it aside even for a cup of tea or a meal as the book is written in such a way that uninterrupted reading is needed. I had already heard about this genius ...
Achilles vs Hector fight Trojan Horse I am in love with Homer’s Illiad ever since I read it in Sinhala in Sevilla magazine. Magazine was published even before I was born (published in 1963) and I had the pleasure of reading it in late 1980s as a schoolboy. The story was so beautiful and so were the drawings. I have ...
My existing bike, the Bajaj Pulsar 150 I am an avid bike hiker. Astride my bike, I have been to all the cities in all districts in Sri Lanka except Jaffna. The planned Jaffna trip had to be postponed after the freak bike accident I met with last September. But that accident won’t dampen my spirits and I will go ...
The new extension of the Teaching Hospital in Jaffna Experiencing a stay in a Sri Lankan hospital cannot be a pleasant experience to any patient, especially if it is in a state hospital. I have been unfortunate to have such bitter experiences in a few state hospitals. I won’t name them here as I don’t want to be at the ...
Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage – Richard Stengel Mandela’s Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage – Richard Stengel is an inspiring book written by Richard Stengel with a forward by Nelson Mandela himself. This book explains 15 important life lessons of Mandela. After Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela was the ideal leader, ...
Nanda Wanninayaka nanda.wanninayaka@gmail.com Sri Lankan Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa (C) rides in a jeep with three forces commanders during a Victory Day parade rehearsal in Colombo on May 17, 2013. Jokers (and jerks – including Mr. Anura Dissanayaka) apart, there are two mainstream candidates in the run-up to the presidential election on November 16, 2019. Well, whether you like ...
Ms Indira Gandhi’s assassination should have reduced the calamities in Sri Lanka if a smart and visionary leader succeeded her. Unfortunately, it was her own son, Rajiv Gandhi who had nothing but the being the son of the slain Ms Gandhi and the grandson of late. Mr Jawaharlal Nehru as the only qualifications to rise to the thrown – ...
Charlie Wilson’s War Poster I watched Charlie Wilson’s War several times and would certainly watch it again due to its historical importance and cinematic success. This is an American comedy-drama film, based on the story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrakotos, whose efforts led to Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahedeen during the Soviet–Afghan War. For some reason, (maybe due ...
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Even though the president earned a lot of appreciation by appointing a smaller interim cabinet soon after taking oath, within a few days he lost the very admiration by appointing a large number of state ministers, obviously the almost the whole lot of rogues. I understand that it is very difficult to keep the MPs happy but ...
Nanda Wanninayaka nanda.wanninayaka@gmail.com Jokers (and jerks – including Mr. Anura Dissanayaka) apart, there are two mainstream candidates in the run-up to the presidential election on November 16, 2019. Well, whether you like it or not, it is Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) and Mr. Sajith Premadasa (SP) who are the frontrunners for the contest and the others are just vote ...
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Earlier, I strongly believed that Sri Lanka had to elect a benevolent dictator who uses extreme powers to take Sri Lanka to the right track out of the present quagmire it is in but now I feel that Sri Lanka has to run like how a modern private corporation is run by a capable Chief Executive Officer. ...
