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The Bala Tampoe story
Veteran trade union leader and General Secretary of Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union Bala Tampoe passed away in Colombo at the age of 92 today. I interviewed 'Comrade Bala' for...
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Buckets strike back!
Enough is enough. Ever since some idiot decided to invent me, I’ve never had it easy. I never got to choose what goes in me. I’ve been used, sure, in civilized societies, to draw water. That’s an...
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Who’s afraid of Mahinda Rajapaksa?
There’s going to be an election in a few weeks time. On the face of it yet another provincial council election in the now to-be-expected staggered format that gives the ruling party an inside edge...
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The UNP must bridge the democracy-deficit
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in his celebrated novel ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ describes the signing of an agreement between two warring parties, the liberals and conservatives. Colonel Aureliano...
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Can you take Shamila to see Rukshan?
She looked lovely that night as she smiled when receiving an award. She is seldom without a smile, and her friends know this. An ‘award-smile’ one expects to be slightly more radiant. That...
View ArticleOf days gone by and days yet to arrive
There are many ways to trace one’s journey from the point of birth to the point of deliberation, i.e. the ‘now’ of reflection. You can count your blessings. You can count the times you tripped. You...
View ArticleThe Food Act has gone stale
Thanks to social media and the widespread use of mobile devices which can take pictures we’ve seen quick dissemination of horror stories in various eateries. In time, hopefully, those who operate and...
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The TNA's honesty and other tidbits
Wariyapola 'Slapper' now an NGO 'project'?The (justifiably) irate woman who slapped a man who is alleged to have taunted her in a lewd manner was arrested after the taunter complained to the police....
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When will the cartographically-challenged go home?
It’s good when people exchange barbs on twitter as opposed to bullets, bombs and missiles. It is of course even better if that’s all there is to it. We don’t live in happy times. Then again, a good...
View ArticleThilini versus Selva and the justice-deficit
Nimalka Fernando asked an interesting question when Thilini was arrested by the Police. Thilini is the woman who responded to alleged lewd remarks by a person called Selva by slapping him repeatedly...
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Some days are not made for writing
There are days when nothing gets written. Not for lack of subject or absence of urge. Circumstances. Like today, Monday the 27th of September, 2010. I sat down to write but was not allowed to. I...
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Jehan Perera and the agonies of ‘Pamperditis’
I believe that there are things in this world that warrant the registration of strong objection. And I believe there are things which, although arguably irritating, are too trivial to tear one’s hair...
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On ‘monarchizing' mechanism and afterlife blues*
The 18th Amendment is in the news again, this time sadly as a straw-clutching move by an Opposition which appears to consider any match up with Mahinda Rajapaksa an exercise doomed to fail. The legal...
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The UNP gets ready to drop 'united'
Ranil's handsA single individual does not a front make. Politics is about people. And leaders. And lieutenants. 'Right-hand men and women', as they say. In Passara, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe...
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Brands (a)part
‘Some are the melody, some are the beat, youth is like a diamond in the sun and we all know that diamonds are forever. So many dreams swinging out of the blue and I decided to let them come true. I...
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David Cameron wrecks the Union
In a few days time Scotland will vote on whether or not to remain in the union. That’s the ‘United Kingdom’. Put another way, Scots will be asked whether they want to separate. It is predicted that...
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Laura Davis’ Shame
We live in a world of blurred boundaries and deliberate misnaming. We expect words to mean something but in their activation we discover that they are taken to be something quite different. The much...
View ArticleAcademics pawns in political chess games
Elections bring out the worst in people, we are compelled to conclude. Perhaps, following from that oft-quoted quotable-quote ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’, both power-aspirant...
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The unity-deficit in the United National Party
Photo-op 'unity' is easy-peasy [Pic courtesy Sunday Times]Two major factors wreck unity. Ambition is one and the other is ideological differences. The latte could include disagreements over strategy....
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When foreign correspondents had a ‘bad-sole’ day
Facts are sacred, comment free. That’s the line. In the year 2014, however, it seems that nothing, not even the most tragic of stories or the dullest of dull reports of dead markets, can escape capture...
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