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It’s ‘Community-Education’ and not ‘Free-Education’!
Harin Corea, contemporary at Peradeniya University, has opined that the ‘free’ in ‘free education’ is a misnomer and moreover dangerously misleading in terms of the mindset it creates, nurtures and...
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The making of a chess icon in Sri Lanka
This was first published in the Daily News on June 13, 2011, exactly 5 years ago. Since then Sri Lanka has produced an International Master in Romesh Weerawardena. Chatura Rajapaksha did play...
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A journey on a paper boat to childhood and beyond
Time has a way of whittling away the discomforting slices of the past. It erases completely things that made one sad as well as things one regrets. It offers in sharper focus things that made us...
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Fathers and Sons: Rajapaksas, Jayaratnes and others
On the 14th of May, 2016 in the dying moments of a rugby encounter when Ovin Askey sent the oval shaped ball floating over the crossbar to secure a tie for his school in an all important inter-school...
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Alavi Mowlana’s other ‘departure’ in 2001
Ramzeen Azeez remembers Alavi Mowlana thus: “He came for my daughter's wedding and for once, sat down to dinner. So I said to him ‘so good to see you at the table Sir’. He replied ‘yes, I normally...
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Cometh the hour, where’s this man Ranil Wickremesinghe?
There’s a term that even those who use it at every turn these days hadn’t heard or understood not too long ago. Yahapalanaya (Good Governance). There’s another word that is now being used a lot which...
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අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්රන්ගේ ප්රශ්නය: රනිල්ගේ සුපිළිපන්භාවය පරදුවට
මේ දිනවල හැමෝම පාහේ පාවිච්චි කරන මුත් ඔවුන් පවා මීට කලකට ඉහත අසා නොතිබුණු සහ අවබෝධ කරගෙන නොතිබුණු එක් යෙදුමක් තිබේ. ඒ, යහපාලනය යන්නයි. මේ දිනවල බහුලව පාවිච්චි වෙන මුත් මීට පෙර අසා නොතිබුණු සහ හරි...
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Saji Cumaraswamy was a small but powerful generator of love
I remember one evening about two years ago. I was leaving my office, carrying a bouquet of flowers. A young girl asked me, “for whom are those floweres?” I said, “for my girl friend – it’s her...
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Somawansa Amarasinghe left a mark
Somawansa Amarasinghe returned to Sri Lanka late in the year 2001. He was returning after more than a dozen years in exile and did so in the thick of an election campaign. The JVP, which had returned...
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Stop and say hello to an angel
One of the greatest delights in my brief career as a journalist was writing for the kids' section of 'The Nation'. I wrote over fifty articles in my last year at that newspaper. I have resumed the...
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Sequence matters, dear rebel
When I was working at 'The Nation' I wrote a column for the FREE section of the paper which was dedicated to youth. The title of the column was 'Notes for a Rebel'. I wrote a total of 52 articles in...
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A double-crossing regime arrests a double-crosser
Udaya Gammanpila is a politician. That’s as bad a character certificate that one can get. He is a pompous, self-righteous politician whose principal edge is the ability to justify any position (even...
View ArticleI was birthed by a bullet on July 21, 1983*
I can’t remember what the paper was. Perhaps Economics. Maybe Political Science. This was the final term exam before the A/Ls. The year was 1984. June 21, 1984. Exactly 26 years ago (when this...
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The approvers are leaving the Yahapalana building
A few days ago a diehard UNP loyalist shared a story on Facebook. The claim was that First Phase of the Colombo-Kandy Expressway will be completed in 36 month. There was a comment along with the post:...
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There are mirrors that stop us
Did the night notice how the mirror looked at you while you were asleep?There are times I feel that there is nothing more fascinating than a mirror. No, I am not talking about the vanity-element...
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A note on doggerel and nonsense inspired by Charles Wesley
Responding to a recent article in which I mentioned that my late mother used to sing hymns, a friend of mine very kindly wrote a note about hymns. I am a Buddhist and not at all conversant with things...
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I do not understand image but I am glad others do
I have never really understood ‘visuals’. I realized this most acutely when I started working as a part time copywriter at Phoenix Ogilvy. I could put word to image but could never imagine...
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The UN ‘Family’, its business and surname
Neil Buhne, the UN resident coordinator, we are told, has conveyed a message from UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon to the Government of Sri Lanka. Ki-moon apparently has, ‘strong expectations for...
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Spare your kisses Ki-moon!
It's 2016 and not 2010. Things are different here in Sri Lanka. Out there, it's same-old, same-old. Today it's the time for the resurrections of ghosts and myth-models, the re-run of the Eelam...
View ArticleNo island is an island and ours is no exception
No man is an island, they say. No island is an island either in these globalized times. Indeed, it can be argued that islands never existed and if they did their numbers were very small. The...
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