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Republicanism and its discontents
There are words that seem to be very popular among politicians and political groups when it comes to naming a new part or coalition. ‘Jathika’ or ‘National’ would top the list. We have the Eksath...
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The gold medals of being
A few months ago, Indian wrestlers launched a protested demanding investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP member of parliament, during the time he...
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The soft rain of neighbourliness
May. It’s the month of the themagula. Hard to miss. Vesak is also the name of the month. In English, ‘May.’ It is the name of a month, a tree and its flowers: maei gas, maei mal. Brings to mind Milton...
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A forgotten dawn song from Embilipitiya
Pic by Tharindu AmunugamaI’ve read many Russian short stories that end with a short description of the landscapes in which the storied lives intersect. To me the authors are just taking the sentiments...
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Blue-blueness
Some words just cannot be translated. Not in a word-to-word sense anyway. Like ‘vakkada.’ It’s that place somewhere along the ridge separating one liyadda (again hard to translate) from the next in...
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Vanished and vanishing trails
‘Vanished Trails’ is the title of a novel by R L Spittal woven around the lives of three generations of Veddas, their engagement with changing circumstances and the consequent transformations. The...
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Letters that cut and heal the heart
Dineth Mallikaarachchi once related a fascinating story about a book of poetry. Mine, actually. He had visited a used books store and, having come across the only book of poetry that I had published,...
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Beyond praise and blame
The first time I encountered the word ‘ruffled’ was in the main hall of my school. The walls were lined with adorned with photographs of distinguished alumni and under each set there was an...
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Encounters with Liyanage Amarakeerthi
‘Kaelaelikaarayo,’ translatable as ‘The Scarred’ is an excellent title for a book; a novel, in this instance, written by Liyanage Amarakeerthi. I didn’t know about it until yesterday (Monday)....
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The greatest fallacy
During the third session of the first day of a test match in Melbourne between Australia and the West Indies, history was made. It was the 6th Test (which Australia would go on to win and complete a...
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Sorrowing and delighting the world
‘The Road’ is not Cormac McCarthy’s best known novel even though it was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Although not talked of much initially, it is his ‘Blood Meridian’ that has come to...
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Exits and the dilemmas they spawn
In the second week of June, the Yahapalana Government dispatched several high ranking loyalists to the UK or else instructed those who happened to be in that country or were planning to visit for other...
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What makes oxygen breathable?
A young girl, interviewing me for some program at her school, asked if my poetry has had an impact. I said I didn’t know. I know that Cesare Pavese (1908-1950), one of the most influential Italian...
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Reunion Peradeniya (1980-1990)
The names, for the most part and for most people, would be unknown. Faces: easier but not by much. The hearts were eminently recognisable though. It was not an official gathering and not one planned by...
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Sunny Dayananda
I don’t know if he wrote his name as ‘Sunny’ or ‘Sani.’ It was straightforward in Sinhala because the spelling did not matter. සනි අයියා. That’s how people of my generation referred to hm. His...
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Poetry and poets will not be buried
Years ago, my friend W G Premasiri offered the following by way of explaining the human resource crisis in the country: ‘We lost 20,000 in 1971, 60,000 in 88-89 and several hundred thousand during...
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Sarinda’s eyes
Sarinda Unamboowe, it can be argued, always had his eyes on the ball. He kept wickets for his school and that should say it all. He was also the wing three-quarter of the rugby team. He had to know...
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Feet that walk
Adam Gilchrist 'walking' during the World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka in 2003‘Aevidda paya dahas vatee’ is a Sinhala saying that refers to the value of walking. Literally, it means, ‘feet that...
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The relative values of life and death
At around 11.30 pm, Sri Lanka time, on Monday the 19th of June, a submersible vessel, the Titan, at the other end of the world, set off with five persons on board and a 96-hour oxygen supply to explore...
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In praise of courage, determination and insanity
Human beings are curious. Their curiosity prompts them to explore the unknown, venture into unmapped territory and test their own capacities to endure. They climb, they sail and they dive to depths...
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