SLPL Banner I was optimistic when Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) was announced last year and was disappointed when it was postponed mainly due to India not cooperating by refusing to allow Indian players playing in the league. This year, too India did not change her stance and Sri Lanka Cricket decided to go ahead with the much hyped tournament ...
Finished reading Homer’s Illiad today. What a story! I read the prose translation by Martin Hammond. I started reading it few times and gave up due to its complexity. Remembering names and places was the most difficult part. The author sometimes uses ‘son of Peleus’ for Achilles. I can remember Achilles but not Peleus. Imagine that technique used throughout the ...
Sevilla Cover Page Sevilla Backcover Page I received two volumes of Sevilla magazines bound in two books when I was a schoolboy from my eldest brother. I was fascinated by the colorful magazines filled with new knowledge. Ever since I saw those copies, I am looking for more copies of the magazines and now they are not found anywhere. The ...
It was after a few months that I got back to English teaching. On a request of a friend, I started an English tuition class for primary kids in Colombo. The last time I did a tuition class was last year in Anuradhapura for three OL students and 2 of them got A passes while the other who did less ...
FacebookShop in Colombo The cutest girl at Horizon Lanka, Mahawilachchiya, now a young woman, married a guy whom she befriended through Facebook. Never knew that Facebook is this effective. I did not take Facebook seriously earlier. This is something to explore. At the right time, I received the book “The Facebook Effect” from a friend. I cannot comment about it ...
The Merchant of Venice I studied “The Merchant of Venice” from Mr. Mahendra Illangasinghe of Mihintale early this year. This is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare. The play is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. The play is remembered for Shylock’s famous speech, “Hath not Jew eyes” and Portia’s speech on “quality of mercy” at the ...
In Good Company movie poster In Good Company is a 2004 American comedy movie written and directed by Paul Weitz. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Scarlett Johansson. Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is an experienced advertisement sales executive at Sports America, a famous sports magazine. Another company takes over the magazine and many in the staff face ...
Jaywalkers in Delhi, India Few weeks ago there was a big showdown of arresting jaywalkers in Colombo and producing them before courts and imposing fines. That was a good movie and I thought within the subsequent week we won’t be able to see a single jaywalker in the streets in Colombo. Alas! The following day onwards jaywalkers were seen crossing ...
Prasad Perera doing the workshop Last Monday I attended a social media workshop at the American Center. The instructor was a guy called Prasad Perera. He covered Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and digital storytelling. It was a very effective workshop. I learnt a lot there. Usually majority of the social media users use only the very basic features of the ...
The Weather Man poster I am not a big fan of Nicolas cage. But he is brilliant in this move, The Weather Man. The Weather Man is a 2005 American comedy-drama film, directed by Gore Verbinski. Written by Steve Conrad, it stars Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis and tells the story of a weatherman in a local TV ...
With the Dialog team My six month contract as a consultant to Dialog’s Nenasa TV www.nenasa.lk ends today. It was an exciting experience to work with Dialog as I could work with a young and energetic team. I had a nice team who were caring and supportive. Most of my time was spent at the Ministry of Education though I ...
Delhi Recently I had the chance of Kushwant Singh’s novel, ‘Delhi.’ It was an interesting read. It looks like autobiographical but I don’t think Singh did those horrible things mentioned in the novel in real. Right from the first page Singh starts his trademark humor. I wouldn’t have continued the novel if not for his humor because the novel is ...
Udith Narayan Poster Of late, more and more international stars are seen in concerts in Colombo. This could be one of the peace dividends after the end of the 30-year-old war. Shaggy (twice), Shah Rukh Khan, Arash, Sonu Nigam are but a few names to mention. There was news about A. R. Rahaman coming to Colombo but he might ...
Indian intervention in Sri Lanka: The role of India’s intelligence agencies Much has been written by many Indian and Sri Lankan writers about the Sri Lankan civil war and India’s role in it. But Professor Rohan Gunaratna’s book, “Indian intervention in Sri Lanka: The role of India’s intelligence agencies” stands out among them as it provides a good account of ...
Obviously the younger generation gets changed every day and the older generation looks at the changes skeptically. My idea here is not to look at the new generation in an indifferent perspective. My findings in the post are not the conclusions I came after a scientific survey but what I feel by looking at the youth today. The biggest difference ...
Chitrakathawe Wanshakathawa I had the pleasure of reading Sunil Ariyarathna’s “Chithrakathawe Wanshakathawa” book recently. My friend Wasantha Samarakkody, who is a comic lover, had bought the book. He has a collection of old comics as well and he agreed to scan and send me those to be uploaded in to http://chithrakatha.wordpress.com/ which is done by a friend of mine in ...
I spent last year and a month without a job and all what I could do during this period was reading some interesting books, surfing the net and tweeting. It wasn’t at all easy to be without an income. I just managed to do some small time assignments and earn few bucks too. I stayed in Anuradhapura during all this ...
Not many of us have pleasant memories of government hospitals in Sri Lanka. The congestion, uncleanliness, impolite staff, minor staff asking bribes are some of the menaces to mention that prevail in the government hospital system. But of late, there are some improvements in the public hospitals. Cleanliness comes first to my notice. Though the cleanliness level is bit to ...
The Way of the Lotus “Viragaya” is one of the most discussed Sinhala novels by veteran writer Martin Wickramasinghe. But I never got a chance of reading the original Sinhala novel. Instead, I had access to an English translation of Viragaya named “The Way of the Lotus” translated by Professor Ashley Halpe. The protagonist, Aravinda Jayasena is a self-effacing, unassuming, ...
Daruwane After watching Professor Sunil Ariyarathna’s Kusa Paba I was so disappointed that I had decided not to watch Sinhala movies again. But I had to go to see “Daruwane” by the director V. Sivadasan to make my little son and wife happy. But I was reluctant to go as the film was produced by Sunil T films studio which ...
