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Stop Press!
I wanted to write about two terms that are of particular political interest to me in these terrible days of absolutely barbaric assaults on civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and the shocking silence...
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Writers’ Blocs and Dead Lines
Protestors outside the New York Times office demanded fair and accurate coverage of Israel's attacks on Palestinians. No, not a typo. I meant “Writers’” with the apostrophe after the ’s’ and I meant...
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Seasons bookended by leaves on park benches
Pic by Rasmi SpornyWhen you are just 27 or thereabouts, being 70 years old is understandably something that can be described as ‘terribly strange.’ A few weeks ago I asked a group of undergraduates,...
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Gauze, blood-stained and torn
Gauze. The word came to me a few hours ago. It stayed with me. It remained with me as I was reading an essay titled ‘My Personal Hemingway’ written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez describes the...
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Magic carpet to Dutuwewa
‘Whoever sitteth on this carpet and willeth in thought to be taken up will, in the twinkling of an eye, be borne thither, be that place nearhand or distant many a day's journey and difficult to...
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The unbearable lightness of pause
Pause. It is a word that has lost its weight. It is not subject to the laws of gravity. It is supposed to be time-bound but it is in fact shackled to deceit and brutality. A word that implies...
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Hunters and 'victims' of immemorial light
‘Let’s leave something beautiful for others,’ suggested my friend Tharindu Amunugama. What that would be, we didn’t discuss. He was explaining to me a photograph he had sent me; a view from a high...
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Merit, integrity and seniority in superior courts
I do not know whether there’s as much drama in our courts as is portrayed in the 1979 US film ‘…And Justice for All’ directed by Norman Jewison for which Al Pacino, playing Baltimore defense attorney...
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Residents and residency of heart and mind
Liyanage Amarakeerthi in Nava Kavi Salakuna, a theoretical survey of contemporary poetry, mentions that the poem is not anyone’s birthright but a territory visited by all kinds of people, some of whom...
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The word as a sword held to the throat of truth
Kaduwa. That’s the Sinhala word for sword. Kaduwa in certain contexts is a reference to English. Whoever came up with the idea was truly inspired. English is a weapon. Cuts. Divides. Puts down....
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Dung-lies and flower-truths
Witness stands are court-appendages. That’s where we are questioned about whether or not we witnessed and, if we did, we are called upon to describe what we saw. Not all witnesses have to testify in...
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The poetry of resistance
The tenses are inhabited by one and all, one way or another. There are things in the past that we visit and which visit us. We travel to futures with hope and trepidation. We inhabit a present that is...
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The naked truth
Whenever I visit the Aukana Buddha Statue, look at a photograph of what an exceptional sculptor extracted from a rock face or even think about it I remember Mr Ilyas.Mr Ilyas was my scout master. Years...
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Texts are ancient, transcription error-ridden
About fifteen years ago, when I was a visiting lecturer at the Mass Communication Department, Kelaniya University, I gave the students a simple exercise. They were required to write down all the...
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Autumn days and nights thirteen centuries apart
Somewhere, on a day like today or maybe even a morning, afternoon or night that is decked in very different colours, someone must have coined a name for that threshold, neither-here-nor-there moment,...
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Rukshan does not age
The 30th of November, 2014 was a Sunday I wish never came. The 29th of November, Saturday, was a long day but not atypical as those who work for Sunday newspaper know. Sunday was therefore a day to...
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Reflections on things left unfinished
[pic by Ruwan Balasooriya]My sweetest childhood memories are of Kurunegala. ‘Kurunegala’ was not the capital of Wayamba for me. It was not a bustling township, not for me. Kurunegala, to me, was the...
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The virtues of an empty canvas
What are the essential ‘carry-ons’ when it comes to traveling? Many answers to that question. ‘Nothing,’ is one. ‘The bare minimum’ is another. It could be responded to with demand for a qualifier:...
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Love-residue on benches that have disappeared
I am fascinated by seats of any kind including parapet walls and steps on which you can sit and watch the world age and regenerate. It’s the same with roads, especially byroads, un-tarred and uneven...
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No shortcuts to direct hits
Kusal Janith Perera was right-handed. Is right-handed could also be correct. I have not read anything that indicates he is ambidextrous. And yet, he bats left-handed. Most cricket fans would know why....
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