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Sweeping the clutter away
It is just after midnight and so, technically, it’s the 6th of March, Medin Poya. Coincidentally, a few hours ago, I chanced upon a photo that I have seen many times: that of a hamuduruwo sweeping,...
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The slowest road to Kumarigama, Ampara
It’s almost 400 kilometres from Kudamaduwa, Kottawa to Kumarigama, a village close to Uhana, Ampara. That’s if you take the Southern Highway. It’s shorter if you go through Kandy, but quicker. It’s...
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Colombo, Colombo, Colombo and so forth...
Back when we should have been dating or did date but didn’t know what it was called, all that mattered was to breathe the same air. Where we were at, what we did, what we talked about must have counted...
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White Elephants in Kanchana’s room
Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of Power and Energy, was all but salivating in a tweet following trade union action launched by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) employees. Pointing out that despite the...
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A cockroach named “Don’t”
There was always an unwritten rule in our household about books. My brother being just a year older and sister two years younger it was natural that we would share an interest in the same kinds of...
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Yet another mother’s day
Days. Dedicated days. Scam written all over them. One out of 365 days or 366 in a leap year designated to celebrate one category of people or one phenomenon. Just expresses something like this:...
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Matters of honour and dignity
There are times when struggles against injustice end in defeat. The resistance fails. Real estate is conceded or terms of exploitation are established or enhanced and even legalised. Diehard...
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Teachers and students sometimes reverse roles
I remember Muditha Hettigama when he was around 9 or 10 years old. Grade 4 at the time, if I remember correctly. A frail-looking asthmatic kid. I was his teacher by default. It so happened that I was...
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Awaiting arrivals unlike any other
Families have routines. Family members have routines. Children: they outgrow these things. Parents: might notice but will move on as they must. Memories are made though and they remain. I know a young...
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Jekhan Aruliah has set a ball rolling in Jaffna
Glorious. Splendid. Excellent. Resplendent. Salubrious. Resilient. Wonderful words, all. And yet, they hide as much as they describe. Everywhere on this planet. From century to century. Across...
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Pure-Rathna, a class act!
In the Advanced Level classes I encountered four mathematics teachers. Mrs Shanthi Herath (best known as ‘Faluda’) and Mr Dayaratne (‘Daya’ or ‘Pure-Ratna’) taught Pure Mathematics. Mr Samarasekera...
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The songs we could sing in lifeboats when we are shipwrecked
Voltaire’s oft-quoted recommendation, ‘Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats,’ does offer hope for those who find themselves in hopeless situations, for those who have...
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Teams, team-thinking, team-spirit and leadership
During the second day of the three-day encounter between Royal and St Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, a question was put to Kumar Sangakkara during a brief stint as a guest commentator. He was asked...
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An Irish and Sri Lankan Hello
James Martin. James is a common name and Martin is common too, both as first and last name. I don’t know anyone by that name. I hadn’t heard of the short film ‘An Irish Goodbye’ and if someone told me...
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Buddhangala Kamatahan
Buddhannehela, situated around 10 kilometres from Padaviya on the Kebithigollewa Road, also referred to as Buddhanehela and Buddhanhela, is now known as Buddhangala. It is an ancient rock temple...
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The sweetest three-letter poem
‘Whenever I think of the innocent ways of my mother, it is a tear that flows to my eye.’ Sunil Sarath Perera wrote this in an essay titled ‘Samadhura akuru thuna maha kava ammaa ya (mother, the epic...
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The CPC: 'oil' leaks and greasy palms?
If the head of any organisation is a crook, it amounts to a licence for theft down the line, all the way to the bottom. If there’s a crook at any level of an organisation, it implies that the head of...
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Palmam qui meruit ferat
Byzantine general Flavius Belisarius refusing the crown of Italy offered by the Goths in 540 CE. A few years ago a politician invited much ridicule over mispronouncing the motto of a school. It was in...
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The most beautiful father
Uma Shiny Fernando. She is no more. Years ago she lived with her father, Pradeep, in Roxywatte. She was, for many reasons, the most beautiful child. I wrote about her more than ten years ago. Uma Shiny...
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So how are things in Sri Lanka?
‘How are things in Sri Lanka?’ The question was put to me by a former political associate with whom I was arrested more than thirty years ago. He now lives in Chicago, USA and keeps himself abreast of...
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