Sri Lanka is on the brink of a debt crisis. We owe the rest of the world an unprecedented Rs. 9.5 trillion. And we have to pay it all back ‒ or at least a significant portion of it ‒ with money we don’t really have. There is no way around it. (Unless, of course, Sri Lanka defaults on these ...
On Saturday, the day after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Dayani sat huddled at the threshold of a temple, in Vihara Mawatha, Meethotamulla. Her agonised shrieks, calling for a dead husband and three sons, penetrated the surrounding chaos and stench. Dayani was one among several whose families were trapped in debris caused by the collapse of part of the ...
The 2017 theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) is “Be Bold for Change” – and with good reason. Although many may argue that Sri Lanka is far ahead of its regional counterparts and close to achieving gender parity, there is proof to the contrary. According to World Bank statistics, by 2015, Sri Lanka’s population had grown to be 20.96 million, of ...
Renowned naturalist Gehan de Silva Wijeratne makes a rather bold claim: Sri Lanka, he contends, is the best all-round wildlife destination in the world. Better, even, than such sought after hotspots as the Serengeti plain and the Amazon rainforest. Sceptical? So were we. Until we heard what he had to say. To illustrate, say you’re a tourist travelling through Sri ...
We have an advantage over the West in many ways. For instance, our parents may be overbearing most of the time, but at least we know they won’t kick us out once we’re 18 and old enough to get a job and fend for ourselves. They – bless them – put up with us, for unfathomable reasons, even if we ...
For the past couple of years, and as Mirissa prepared to enter the competitive sphere of tourism, rumours spread around Colombo that Sri Lankan tourists are not welcome at this beach town. The city dwellers, who came to the quieter south with an air of superiority, as claimed by the locals, were surprised to read signs saying “No Locals Allowed” and ...
To celebrate World Design Day we’ve decided to do a series on Sri Lanka’s Young Illustrators. We started with Rommel Arumugam followed by Irushi Tennekoon and now we present Asad Farook. Introducing Manga to the local media Exaggerated facial features, even sexualised characters at times, manga is a Japanese style of comic book illustrations aimed at teenagers and adults; though manga comics ...
Sri Lanka’s Muslim Personal Law is making headlines, and not for the first time. Just last week, the Government announced the appointment of a new Cabinet Sub-committee to look into revising the controversial 1951 Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). This isn’t the first committee appointed to look into the matter; a previous committee was appointed in 2009 to discuss ...
Local government elections have been overdue for about two years now, and there is still no sign of them being held anytime soon. The reason: electioneering types splitting hairs over demarcations. Fingers have been pointed at different quarters. According to media reports, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) has gone on record holding the Provincial Councils and ...
Coca-Cola is in the local news again, although thankfully this hasn’t meant another river’s been polluted. This time around, the multinational has expressed an interest in taking their presence in Sri Lanka to a whole new level ‒ but is this necessarily good news? According to recent reports, the company wants to develop Sri Lanka as a regional production hub ...
In 711, a force of 7,000 Berber horsemen, commanded by Tariq Ibn Ziyad, crossed the narrow strait (“of Gibraltar”, named after him) that divides the Iberian peninsula from Africa. Within a few years he had conquered Spain. The Berber tide seemed unstoppable, until it came upon the shield-wall of the Frankish infantry at the Battle Tours in 732, causing it ...
Rock & Roll was here to stay long before electronic music started to grab on its coattails a decade ago. Back in the ‘70s the Arts Centre Club, and Rock Company that followed on its heels, collectively created a healthy atmosphere for budding rock musicians to jam and learn from each other. This created brilliant new bands, adding a much ...
There’s a huge buzz around Drones these days. It seems to be a relatively simple concept although its possibilities for everyday use are immense and still being explored. Perhaps one of the most interesting ways to utilize Drone technology is for photography. Aerial Drone photography has emerged as a new kind of visual language and given us a new perspective of the world. Given ...
GoPros are everywhere. Even if you’re not a “travel enthusiast,” chances are, if you’re on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve already seen a few dozen pictures and/or videos taken with them. That weird fish-eye effect is hard to miss. Oh, and the user will almost always tell you. (#gopro #wanderlust #journeyofselfdiscovery #etc. #etc.). These miniature adventure cams allow ordinary people to ...
At a time the country is still battling COVID-19, another threat has emerged: and not in the form of a virus or disease but in the form of an insect that could seriously affect the food security of the country.
The world is a much smaller place now than it was ten years ago, or even five years ago for that matter. Better communications systems and the widespread adoption of the internet means that we are regularly in touch with and connected to people and places geographically quite far from us. We can exchange information, learn new skills, and ...
Put yourself in the shoes of a little girl being denied a bus ride because the driver claims she looks ‘evil’, or a little boy left alone in the playground because the other mothers won’t allow their children to play with him. Imagine what it must be like to hear derogatory terms like muusala (loosely translated as ‘cursed’ or ‘bad luck’) ...
If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic at the Dickman’s Road/Havelock Road intersection in Thimbirigasyaya (and let’s face it; who hasn’t?), you’ve seen the statue of a man whose death ‒ more so than his life, as illustrious as it was ‒ over a century ago profoundly changed the course of this country in a way that few others have. ...
