BY SHARNI JAYAWARDENA & MALATHI DE ALWIS “In a context where Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from three decades of civil war, and attempting to stitch together a social fabric tragically bifurcated into triumphant Sinhalese and defeated Tamils, it seems timely to reflect on the shared history and traditions of Sinhalese and Tamils, Buddhists and Hindus. As a sorrowing yet ...

The deadline for applications  is now extended to February 15,  2014 and this year as well I repeat the special call-out for a Masters in Development Practice due to its uniqueness: An opportunity for those who do not hold a Bachelor’s degree to offer their valuable experience in development work as a requirement to qualify in a program designed to ...

BY MAHINDA JEEVANANDA Gunabandiyale Aththo is the brother of the present chieftain Uruwarige Wanniyale Attho of the Indigenous (Veddah) community of Sri Lanka – 300 km from Colombo at the remote jungle village of Dambana. Being descendants with a history dating back to 16000 BC and the ‘Vedda’ community presently comprises of around 350 families and was originally hunter-gatherers using ...

TELLIPPALAI TRAIL CONCER HOSPITAL IS OPEN! They did it. And if you know how these things are done, it was not easy to give wing to a dream in Sri Lanka with all the political ramifications, the naysayers, the sceptics, those who wanted spanners thrown into the works. But this was different cos it had the inimitable Sarinda-Nathan combo ...

Photo by Thisara Nishad Kegalle (Galigamuwa) Thamil community celebrating Thai Pongal Day January 14, 2014.   Gaya: I love this image captured casually by Thisara in Kegalle as the posture and gait of the different participants young and old somehow give it a movement very natural and captivating. The colour, detail and the aura of peaceful purpose and carefree composure ...

BY IMTIYAZ RAZAK January 14, 2014 marks 70th birthday of my beloved late mom–Sithy Fowzia Razak, simple woman who was born in Sri Lanka and gave her best to her kids after her husband [my beloved dad, Razak] passed away at Mecca while he was performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia. Generally speaking, studies on parenthood suggest some interesting links between ...

The deadline for applications  is January 31, 2014 and this year as well I repeat the special call-out for a Masters in Development Practice due to its uniqueness: An opportunity for those who do not hold a Bachelor’s degree to offer their valuable experience in development work as a requirement to qualify in a program designed to deliver, creating an ...

GAYA FERNANDO Some people get into development work without a clue as to what it’s all about. They joined up to a corps of people who wanna make the world a better place. That’s fine. Then there are professionals who slog away at commercial jobs and half-way take a break, unwind in the mountains or beaches of Sri Lanka and ...

iSrilankan Podcast: Conversations with Sri Lanka this week calls for a podcast shout-out to the determined people in Sri Lanka who are launching diverse initiatives that get them in the guts. Lovely, effective and fun people who know the meaning of “determination” as I call this podcast. Good for you !! LISTEN: Disclaimer: None of the people and initiatives I ...

MARYANNE KOODA “If you are Muslim you are free to leave” they shouted. Gun toting and masked, they separated their targets for easy pickings. One of the hostages, an Indian man, tried to leave when they asked him; “what is the name of Prophet Muhammad’s mother?” He didn’t know, so they shot him down. Dead! This is an eye witness ...

HELLO  to all my friends made on this website and on FB during the past year or so.  It’s my birthday week and this day is dedicated to kick starting a lapsed engagement: my website has been simmering on the backburner too long and am back stirring the Sri Lankan cauldron and give thanks for a patient readership and friendships ...

Thirty Year Remembrance July 23,1983 I was only 11. I didn’t know much about that day or how it began. The sun shone I am sure cos it wasn’t raining. My school shoes were not wet or soaking. I guess I was being told that morning that they hoped that I would have done well at the Shishyathwaya or ...

GAYA World Outside Your Window: An entry in the diary of an iSrilankan. It’s Sunday and my German husband needs one or two hours on his mountain bike before the day fully begins. I need one hour with my New Yorker and cuppa tea, which routine break of day activity has kept me sane and energised to face the world, for months ...

  Best Books for May 13 On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman | Graywolf Press On a single street in Sri Lanka, the rumblings of far-off civil war grow louder while a group of childern–an ethnic mix that mirrors the region’s straining cultural diversiy–play cricket, fly kites and otherwise sparke with innocence. This is a brilliant, beautiful and crushing ...

MARYANNE KOODA Along a narrow trail that wound a short distance from the Puttalam /Anuradhapura road, lay the quiet village we were searching for.  We reach Sirambiandiya after a four hour trip by bus from Colombo.  We are unsure of what type of reception we will get, as the research we had done on them, told of a people who were fed up ...

IMAGE OF THE WEEK Keep it Clean and Cycle On | Son of the Morning Light.: Conservation art on Leyn Baan Streer in the Galle Fort, shot with a Canon EOS 600D and EF-S 18-200mm lens at 18mm, 1/8, f/3.5, and ISO 100. The above mural is by Simon Blackfoot and  one of a series with Rah Akaishi. Read more ...

GAYA FERNANDO Far away from Sri Lanka I gaze at the swallows with underbellies golden-glazed in the evening sun dip and swirl in abandon. I watch a white giant magnolia unfold. And then I think of all that is grief, all that is not now anymore but has gone before and wonder how in a hundred years someone will say ...

TULIE MUTTULINGAM “If the stacking of the bookshelves are anything to go by, we have a lot of under-confident people in Colombo city, searching for a better way / better meaning in their lives. Nothing wrong with that of course. As a devourer of several self-help books in the past I know where they are coming from.” Tulie Gaya’s Intro: ...

GAYA FERNANDO Today was such a special day when I was a child. Weeks ahead, the front room of my neighbours,’ the Wijesuriyas’ home, would be gradually filled with Vesak stuff. No last-minute rush or mess was allowed, for Uncle (as we used to call him) did things at a ritualistic pace repeating the activity in precisely the same way down ...

Natalie Soysa: A Mother’s tribute to her CMB Community from iSrilankan on Vimeo NATALIE SOYSA I’ve often complained about everybody knowing everybody’s business in too-small Colombo. Today, I’m ready to eat my words. I am bringing up my son in what you would call a single-parent household. But there’s never really been just a single parent in my home. ...