In this week’s Ravaya column, in Sinhala, I further explore the origins and evolution of Sri Lanka Eye Donation movement, with emphasis on its founder and leader for 40 years, Dr Hudson Silva (1929-1999). I have covered the same grounds in English at: When Worlds Collide #108: Eye Donation at 50 – Promoting Lanka’s Soft Power […]
The first eyes donated from Sri Lanka were dispatched overseas, to Singapore, on 25 May 1964. In the half century that followed, over 66,500 eye corneas have been donated from Sri Lanka to a total of 117 cities in 54 countries worldwide (by end April 2014). This is one of the greatest humanitarian gifts in […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 23 May 2014 Human Eye Corneas, ready for dispatch at International Eye Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 27 March 2013 – Photo by Janaka Sri Jayalath A piece of air cargo, compact…
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I introduce a recent anthology of rationalist essays compiled and edited by leading Sinhala language writer Ajith Thilakasena. I was asked to talk about the book at a recent meeting of the Sri Lanka Rationalists’ Association. Since I too have contributed a chapter, I cannot review the book; […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today ay newspaper on 16 May 2014 Cartoon by Greg Perry Can journalists save the planet? I posed this question in a column nearly two years ago, in June 2012. During the early years of my…
The world’s fastest growing vector-borne disease is dengue, which has recorded a 30-fold increase over the last 50 years. Dengue is mostly transmitted by a mosquito species named Aedes aegypti, which breeds in water containers in and around homes. It is thus closely linked to environmental factors and human behavior. In this week’s Ravaya column […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 9 May 2014 Knotted gun sculpture at UN Headquarters in New York, made by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd – Photo by Dhara Gunawardene, 2011 “Then to the rolling Heav’n itself I cried,…
When I was invited to speak at World Conference of Youth 2014, being held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, this week, I accepted on one condition: that I don’t have to ‘clear’ my remarks with anyone before delivering. (This precaution was necessary as the host government of Sri Lanka is not known for its capacity to […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I write about public perception of risk in Japan and Sri Lanka — and how alarmist exaggerations distort society’s reactions and affect policy responses. I quote from the writing and presentations of Japanese science journalist Hajime Hikino, who has long studied this phenomenon in Japan. To this, I […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 2 May 2014 Time travel is not a technological possibility – at least not yet. Right now, we can travel back and forth in time only in our imagination – often with some…
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I return to discuss social media in Sri Lanka, with focus on safe practices. I covered similar ground in English in this column: 30 March 2014: When Worlds Collide #101: Safely Riding the Social Media Dragon ‘සමාජ මාධ්යවලට ඇයි මේ තරම් බය’ මැයෙන් 2014 මාර්තු 23 වනදා මා කළ […] ...
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 25 April 2014 Dengue-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti Last week, discussing dengue fever as a silent disaster, I wrote: “For now, there is no specific antiviral drug or effective vaccine against dengue. Control and…
In his last published short story, written only a few months before his death, Sir Arthur C Clarke envisioned a world without religions by the year 2500. Yes, all religions (i.e. those with holy scripture, priests and places of worship) will go into oblivion! No exceptions. He offered this in a futuristic story titled The […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 18 April 2014 The theme for World Health Day, observed on April 7, was vector-borne diseases – a major public health challenge in the tropics. It was packaged under the slogan: Small Bite,…
This week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala) is about the Meena Communication Initiative, which used animations and popular culture to discuss serious messages related to the girl child in South Asia. I covered the same ground in an English column some weeks ago: January 2014: When Worlds Collide 96: Before Malala Came Meena… මීනා කෙලිලොල් හා […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I pay tribute to Khushwant Singh (1915-2014), writer and journalist who died on 20 March 2014 aged 99. He is best remembered for his satire, humour and trenchant secularism. I make special mention of his defiance of death threats from Sikh fundamentalists in the 1980s, and his vocal […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 4 April 2014 A bird’s eye view offers a unique perspective. Yet no humans had that vantage point until two and half centuries ago. That changed when two Frenchmen — brothers Joseph-Michel and…
Feature published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper, 30 March 2014 To Go Where No Lankan Movie has Gone Before… By Nalaka Gunawardene Photos courtesy Dreams & Magic Entertainment A young Lankan computer animation specialist and film professional is to direct an ambitious new feature film which is all about space travel. Thilanka Perera is teaming […]
Originally posted on When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene:Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 29 March 2014 “We have to start asking not what is wrong with Facebook but what is wrong with our society?” Those words, by Dr Harini Amarasuriya, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the…
In an op-ed written in 2008, titled Mobile Phones – Everyman’s New Trousers?, I said: “The mobile phone is the biggest social leveller in Sri Lankan society since the trouser became ubiquitous (initially for men, and belatedly for women). Our elders can probably recall various arguments heard 30 or 40 years ago on who should […]