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 ...
BIRD OF PASSAGE As March dawns again, conspiracies abound in the island where every prospect pleases but only man is… It appears that the circus is once again coming to Geneva town. From the Sri Lankan government side there are the worthy diplomats who apparently are “in charge” this time to lie for their country, although an erstwhile Minister who ...
GAYA FERNANDO There are millions of people who write stuff and say stuff. People shudder, wince and move on. Today, it’s the speech that moves on in tweet and share, snowballing it’s way over the social media. However, somewhere it first appeared in Print; that’s real bad. Print counted for something once, was seriously reviewed, edited material at some ...
BIRD OF PASSAGE I was pondering over Gaya’s piece on what one may write about if one were a Sri Lankan without being labeled racist, reductionist, fascist, sexist, speciesist, androgynous and so on, and thought, well, food is one topic, that should be unifying and uncontroversial. We are known the world over for our love of good Sri Lankan food. ...
I wouldn’t dare introduce Renu. She is a poet who doesn’t give a damn whether you read her poetry or not, a creator of food fusion that follows mood and emotion as one who is in a continuous sensual dance of life, which you may only sense by her writings, not imitate or follow. That is, until she decided to host a blog: Fenugreek from ...
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 ...
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 ...
It’s Monday and we cannot digest long theoretical writings on things that we have lived with for ages. Sayys’s 365 coughed up a real good simple plain tea kathawa on the Halal controversy, which is a “stirred not organic” controversy as far as the eye can see and good sense can reach. SAYY’s 365 on Halal Controversy Today when we ...
Rasika Jayakody This poem was first published in June 2012. A comment by a reader urged me to post it again. I read it this morning… Today you asked too many questions, on ailment of love and unguent, on lingering and moving away, on promises, broken and to be made. for which I did not have many answers. I forgot, ...
HIRANYA MALWATTE Image of the Week Mannar See more of Hiranya Malwatte’s captures of what is quintessentially Sri Lankan from her travels to all corners of her island home.
DAVID BLACKER I think every generation faces its own particular challenges; but the greatest and most defining ones are those of morality and courage. That moment, if missed, condemns that generation — and often many that follow — to a world far more unpleasant and evil than we would wish it to be. For many in the free world ...
UDAN FERNANDO 20th August at 7 p.m. at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Go get yourself and a friend a ticket. Details here ! Seeing Chamila Priyanka’s Meya Thuwakkuwak Nove left me with a flurry of thoughts, moved by the gust of politics created by the play. I still have not fully recovered. It was such a powerful play. I am ...
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 ...
Economist Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, parents and two young sons in the terrifying Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. They had been vacationing on the southern coast of her home country Sri Lanka when the wave struck.Wave is her brutal but lyrically written account of the awful moment and the grief-crazed months after, as she learned to live with her ...
No one is asking you to die for the Muslims, wear a head-dress or behave like a clown. The serious thrust of the BBS is to destroy the livelihoods of Muslims by targeting their goods and services. Do something, buy SOMETHING, (not everything, no?), from a Muslim shop this Avurudu ! Don’t deprive the Sinhalese vendor or the Thamil shopkeeper ...
In 1998 I was visiting a friend who lived off Hill Street one sunday afternoon and was driving off home around 5pm. A stupid tryshaw driver overtaking on the left made contact with my car with a shriek, squeak and left a nice little dent in the car and much more damage to his. I had no qualms at ...
THARINDU AMUNUGAMA Waves of sea, Break one upon the other, Rise again without a break. It opens the mind to Sansara,where birth is followed by death, In a continuous chain… May your mind in meditation, Seek to break this painful chain, Attaining Nibbana. Shanthini Amunugama Tharindu Amunugama captured this at panchakapa duwa,a monastery on a rocky islet off bentota river mouth. ...
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 ...
It is the 10th Regrettable Anniversary of the Iraq War. The above image is credited to Gio McCluskey Reading this amazing BBC piece Marwa’s Story, many sentences stood out and among them: “There are no official figures for the civilian casualties of the war because the Americans and the British didn’t collate them and the Iraqi authorities couldn’t. But one ...
Elton John and Kikidee are singing ‘don’t go breaking my heart’ on BBC Radio Two. I remember sun-filled Saturday mornings with Bevil Palihawadana (bless him) and kikidee’s dungarees and shiny bob – another world protected from the war, protected from political shit and reality, in an old homestead nestling by the coast. It’s my close friend’s bday today. Her desk ...
