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Mahinda Rajapaksa's most formidable enemy
This was written when Mahinda Rajapaksa was considered invincible. The article was titled 'Thanks and good luck Mr President'. Certain things were flagged. Maybe he didn't read. Maybe he knew it all...
View ArticleWhere does ‘South’ end and ‘North’ begin?
Years ago, just after the 13th Amendment to the Constitution first found on-the-ground expression in the form of provincial councils, the EPRLF-led North-Eastern Provincial Council called itself ‘The...
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Perpetrators and victims of suicide attacks
There was a time when one of the last things this country wanted to hear was news of a suicide attack. That time is over now, thankfully. However, I have been thinking lately that the terms ‘suicide...
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The ‘undersiding’ of an embroidery
A telephone conversation floats down from the year 1990. I can’t remember whether I made the call or if Kanishka Goonewardena did. He was in Los Angeles and I in Boston. We were both students and...
View ArticleThings smell nice in high places
Do skyscrapers exchange knowing glances or raise eyebrows about rats and embezzlement that live and die in their stomachs?Skyscrapers are inanimate things, yes. They don’t have eyes, noses, ears,...
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Velupillai Prabhakaran and birthdays that are missed
This was first published 5 years ago and refers to remembering and forgetting LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's birthday. Early last Friday morning I hopped a bus and came to Kandy. Peradeniya,...
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'ගුණරත්නම් ඇන්ටි'ගේ නො සිඳෙන කඳුළු උල්පත෴
ඇය 'ගුණරත්නම් ඇන්ටි'වුයේත් ඇගේ ලොකු පුතා 'පෙරියා'වූයේත් පොඩි පුතා 'බබා'වුයේත් ඥාතිත්වයක් පදනම් ව නොවේ. නමුත් එහි ඥාතිත්වයක් නොතිබුණා ද නොවේ. එකී ‘ඥාතිත්වය 'ලෙයින්, ජාතියෙන්, කුලයෙන් හෝ ආගමින් පෙරී ආවක්...
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Vivimarie's 'Nothing prepares you': readable and ‘rememberable’
‘Nothing prepares you’, by Vivimarie Vanderpoorten, Zeus Paperbacks, 2007. Rs. 295.00. Vivimarie won the Gratiaen Prize (2007) for this collection. There are two kinds of writers. Some describe what...
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Today is a good day to stand before the mirror
Today (December 3) is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. December 3 has been set apart by the United Nations to bring attention to the entire gamut of issues pertaining to disabled...
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The Most-Improved Student Prize
The then Ladies' College Principal, Nirmali Wickramasinghe with a very special studentIt was at the end of the school year. Grade 7 was done and Grade 8 beckoned. Back then everyone passed, except...
View ArticleOn mirrors that show blemish and absences
Lanil Kalubowila, school mate, President’s Scout, rowing coloursman and a colourful individual for many other reasons, had figured out many things at the age of 20 that most of us are still struggling...
View ArticleOn being sucked into authoritarianism
Dileepa Lawrence-Hewa, someone who occasionally sends me comments on articles and directs me to interesting articles and ideas, wrote to me this morning. He recommended a book, Wayne Dyer’s ‘The sky’s...
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Meditation on patriotism and internationalism
Jayantha Dhanapala, speaking at the launch of the first volume of Judge G.C. Weeramantry’s biography, ‘Towards one world’, describe this exceptional human being as a patriot and an internationalist....
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Even the Global Umpire needs protection (oh dear!)
This was an article written for the Daily News and published 5 years ago. Considering everything that the Washington-run media mafia is dishing out about Syria (for example), things don't seem to have...
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Transparency blurred in ‘Integrity’ Awards
Victor played a brilliant role in this caseThose who do not know Victor Ivan, former Editor of the ‘Ravaya’ newspaper would learn from Prasanna Vithanage’s documentary ‘Silence in the Courts’ that Ivan...
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You won't find 'sarafino' in the Random House dictionary
“There’s a word that the boss is using that we have never heard. He uses it often. What does ‘Sarafino’ mean?” The question was asked by a fellow researcher working on a project to assess the...
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The dignified rebel of Oruthota
On the banks of the Hulu Ganga, a river that flows through what is known as ‘Meda Dumbara’ or ‘Middle Dumbara’ there is a village called Oruthota. The name refers to a point of departure for rafts...
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Royal College (Colombo) can be replicated
It all began about 12 years ago. The impetus was the simple reality that a concerted effort was needed to keep clean a school with a student population of around 8000. That simple exercise initiated...
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Marxism and Maskism, Marxists and Maskists, and unbecoming skins
‘Is it preordained, is it sacred or tragic, that moment when your mask replaces you forever?’Some posters have a way of standing out and not just because of colour or absence of interfering...
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Is 'nation' resident in flag and anthem?
There’s been a lot of back and forth on the matter of the national anthem in recent days. Some argue that a country should have one national anthem, i.e. in one language instead of various versions in...
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