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The Mangala Sabhava
There have always been, it seems to me, proposed marriages and love marriages. Formal ceremonies are common to both. The ‘Mangala Sabhava’ is associated with formal ceremonies. ‘Wedding Council,’...
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Those fascinating ‘chitra katha’
The amazing ‘Mihira’ was a package of sweetness that came every Monday. The country and the world in a nutshell, that’s what it seemed to be. So much knowledge conveyed in simple language decorated...
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Who the heck do you think I am?
‘Who the heck do you think I am?’ It’s an irate question. It is asked in verbal form by those who feel insulted, typically those who have a self-image that is of an elevated nature. I can also be...
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The exotic lunacy of parting gifts
A call came around 11 pm on a Friday with an apology, ‘I’m sorry, I just got your message on the answering machine.’ This was long before WhatsApp and Viber. The caller and receiver were not really...
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Architectures of the demolished
There’s always a ‘house next door,’ even in rural areas with a population density considerably lower than in cities. Often there are two. If you live down a narrow lane even the house or houses on the...
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Pathways missed
‘Magaerunu maga,’ or ‘A road missed,’ is the title of Lakshman Piyasena’s book onDon Baron Jayatilleka. The contention is that D B Jayatilleka embodied an option which the nation failed to embrace or,...
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Hemantha Gunawardena’s signature
Almost twelve years ago, I wrote, ‘Stamps do not carry the name and signature of artists.' It was a piece about three exceptional teachers, including one artist, Pulasthi Ediriweera, who had by then...
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Kumkum Fernando installs Sri Lanka in Coachella, California
The cover designed by Kumkum for the Cannes 2014 issue of Ad Age Kumkum. Kumkum Fernando. What a name! ‘He’s the only Kumkum Fernando in the entire universe,’ his father, Ajith ‘Ajja’ Fernando,...
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Gunadasa Kapuge is calling…
I am not someone who listens to the radio. I was never fascinated with music or songs in that I didn’t look for them, collect, reflect and discuss. What songs I know and have come to love have for the...
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Kanchana Wijesekera and necessary restructuring
A few weeks ago, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) posted a ‘wanted’ advertisement for a Financial Consultant ‘to provide guidance on investment decisions, cash management and dy-to-day organisational...
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There's a one in a million and a one in ten
There was once a child who was left-handed. She was a one-in-ten. A minority. When she had first shown a preference for writing with her left hand, her father, with all good intentions no doubt, got...
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Saturday slides in after Monday and Sunday somersaults into Friday
I am not sure which came first, cars, jeeps, motorbikes or push bicycles, but it’s safe to say that there must have been a time where police constables had to get by on foot. When the first machines...
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It is good to be conscious of nudities
I’ve heard people give crisp, clear instructions or orders. Commands which are delivered with a tone so insistent that the threatening words ‘or else…’ need not be uttered. These are common in...
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When you turn 80…
Eighty, as in ’80 years old’? Yes. The response to any suggestion of turning 80 varies depending on the age of the respondent. Someone who is 75, it’s not too far away. Someone who is sixty might...
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Authors are assassinated, reader are immortal
[This series, 'The Morning Inspection,' published in the Daily News began on December 9, 2022. This is the 100th article. Anusha Palpita, Chairman, ANCL, offered the space and Jayantha Sri Nissanka,...
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On loving, always
Whitney Houston’s 'I will always love you,' is a classic letting-go song. No in-denial in it. No anger or thoughts of revenge. No bargaining, no if-thens or if-not-why-nots. No talk of starting over, a...
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Remembering to forget and forgetting to remember
’14 players were always ready to help the 15th score a try' -- Sampath AgalawattaMy friend Suranjan Kodituwakku once said that during long journeys he would play Milton Perera's songs. ‘It’s all boot...
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Heart-dances that cannot be choreographed
‘Dancing with daughters’ is the title of an article I wrote a few years ago. It was inspired by a a school friend dancing with his younger daughter at her wedding to the song ‘I loved you first,’ a...
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A melody faint and yet not beyond hearing
Among writer there those who see what everyone else sees and yet can describe it all so beautifully that the reader is compelled to ask the question, ‘damn, how was it that I didn’t notice all this...
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The immovable feast cooked in Easter fires
Over the last 24 years, Easter Sunday has been celebrated on various days, from the 23rd of March to the 5th of May. It is then a movable holiday or, if one wants to be overly technical about it, a...
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