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He sang a few songs fought the good fight
He was quiet, most times. Courteous but quiet. The only time he was not quiet was when he sang. The man could sing. And sing and sing. He could not be stopped and he would not stop. He sang long...
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Farbrace’s crossover does not diminish but empowers
The resignation of Paul Farbrace, some say, has plunged Sri Lanka Cricket into crisis. That’s interesting. First of all there’s this question: when was Sri Lanka Cricket ever not in crisis? Sri...
View ArticleWhen the law is ‘plaything’…
The gains made by the Democratic Party (DP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) at the recently concluded elections for the Southern and Western Provincial Councils, along with modest performances...
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Shakespeare's ageless age
How old is William Shakespeare, do you know? You could frame that question another way: how young is he? Do we know? Will we ever know? How does one gauge age of an author with the kind of ability...
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Let's give all of them toy guns and other tidbits
Let's give all of them toy gunsIt is clear that Eraj Fernando, the Mayor of Hambantota, is a 'peaceful' man. He's so peaceful that he doesn't own a gun. He doesn't need one. He believes that a toy...
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They polished the pearl with every push on the pedal
Ajith Fernando knew that he would turn 50 within a few months. He wanted to do something different. He thought of raising money for a charity.Sarinda Unamboowe was thinking about cycling around the...
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Barack Obama’s amazing Márquez moment
Gabrial García Márquez lived a life. He wrote of lives and relationships, continents and histories, insults and humiliation. He unwrapped structures, teased apart production relations, laid out...
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Sajith speaks about his dilemma*
To be frank I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I could laugh for many reasons. I could cry too. Let me explain why. Recently some of my colleagues in the United National Party visited Hambantota....
View ArticleCitizenship that cannot be robbed
A string of pearls does not always refer to a necklace adorning a woman’s neck. These days it refers to a network of Chinese facilities/relationships along its sea lines of communication from China to...
View ArticleThe timeless May Day and flowers that refuse to die
The powerful have neat ways of dealing with issues and groups. Some are bought over, the promise of material wealth and/or position being alluring enough to attract quite a few over to the "other...
View ArticleVigilantism and the Rule of Law
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), according to some, is a terrorist organization. They call for proscription. The word ‘terrorist’ begs comparison with the greatest terrorist the world has know outside those...
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The use and abuse of NGOsBritish Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire is reported to have held 'useful' discussions with representatives of several NGOs to discuss the...
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The unrecognized and unrecognizable worker
There was a line from an epic prose poem by Carl Sandburg that inspired what became a signature slogan of anti-war agitation in the USA in the sixties, ‘Suppose they gave a war and nobody came’. The...
View ArticleWhat must be said will be said
The third day of May is World Press Freedom Day. It is a time for reflection about the status of these freedoms or their absence in Sri Lanka. In this Age of Information, Sri Lankan journalists do not...
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Rishad Bathiudeen shows political ‘maturity’*
I am a seasoned politician. I can hunt with the horse and run with the hare. I know that at the end of the day the most important thing for a politician is getting elected and re-elected. I know...
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The UNP can take a page from Mahinda Chinthana
The Government, as usual, put its own spin on what happened in Hambantota when some UNP parliamentarians decided to check out the airport and harbor. Mayor Eraj Fernando’s antics, however, were caught...
View ArticleBonsa's incredible run in '88 and MY most memorable 'Bradby Moment'
I was a few minutes late for the first leg of the Bradby in 1988. I was with my classmate Kanishka Goonewardena. As we got off the bus at the Sugathadasa Stadium we heard a roar. ‘Royal must have...
View ArticleIn search of the kurahan saatakaya
[This was written in December 2005 for the Daily Mirror, a few weeks after Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected President. It outlines what I considered to be his principal challenges. I believe it is a good...
View ArticleThe apparent opposition and the real opposition
President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows better than most how to make the best out of a bad situation. He showed once again what an astute politician he is on May Day when he turned things around after key...
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The true location of Kala Wewa
It was Avurudutime. In this supremely stay-home time for reasons that are not important I wanted to go away. Far away. There was only one person I could think of who would, in this stay-home...
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