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On prisons (hellish and heavenly) and death-escape
Between February 27, 1992 and March 17, 1992, I lived in two separate heavens. One was in Wadduwa and the other in Longdon Place. I was not only served heavenly meals but my parents were allowed to...
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While we plot SLexit…
In November 1917, as the Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Republic, Leon Trotsky was tasked to negotiate the nature of the peace with the German Imperial High Command. The delegation led by...
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Freedom of information a must in a democratizing process
The Right to Information Act (RTI) was passed recently. Late, but better late than never, as they say. So kudos to the Government. In June 2011 I wrote about the relevant issues in an article...
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The voice of sanity is often drowned*
The next time you are on a crowded street at the busiest time of the day, close your eyes and listen. What do you hear? A lot. You hear so much that it’s like you are not hearing anything....
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Bismillah-ar-rahmanar-raheem…
There are some sorrows that are quickly forgotten. Some sorrows have high life expectancy than others. Some go away but return without warning. Some sorrows leave us but we don’t leave them, we don’t...
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The beginning and end of exploration
Not all great quotes have known authors. Some great lines and thoughts are quoted so often that one or another of the 'echoers' gets credited. If you google the following, ‘Ask not what your country...
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To all my brothers and sisters in whose arms I reside
I would never have known of a man called Mark Knopfler had it not been for my musically inclined brother, Arjuna. He was so talented and so dedicated to whatever he set him mind to accomplish that he...
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And Amjad Sabri came to stay
During the tense days of the Russian Revolution when victory and control were not assured, Leon Trotsky purchased some defeat-insurance in the form of an emphatic statement: “We will leave, but we will...
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Ambushed at the intersection of word and silence!
This article was first published on July 5, 2010 in the 'Daily News' under the title 'On getting ambushed at the intersection of word and silence'Some stories get written, others are still-born. We...
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Local government elections and the widening democracy deficit
The controversy over the appointment of the Central Bank Governor was almost like an exercise to obtain the answer to the question ‘who’s the boss?’ The then incumbent, whose tenure was marked by...
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Care to walk along the highway of death?
It is known locally as El Camino de la Muerte, that’s Spanish for ‘Road of Death’. It is a 43 mile road from La Paz to Coroico, 35 miles northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia. It is also...
View ArticleWhen you want to run away, just fly!
DISCLAIMER: This is for kids. Adults be warned: you may rediscover a child within you. There comes a time when everything goes wrong, when everyone seems to treat you badly, when even your friends,...
View ArticleTake rock and shatter the mirror we are both resident in
It is said that the poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi mirrors back to us an ocean of woven speech too intricate and dynamic for any grammarian to untangle. Reading this observation by Coleman Barks in a...
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Whatever happens, hold on to your heart*
Tough fights, the really tough ones, can cost you. If you take on the beast, comrades, then you’ve got to run the risk of being bitten or worse. Take it as a given – when the enemy is desperate, the...
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Nisha Biswal shoots from a no-fire zone
Exactly one month ago, i.e. on the 16thof June 2016, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein offering a global update at the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council made a dire...
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Hasalaka Gamini stood up for me 25 years ago and so I stand up for him today
Had he lived, this man would be approaching his fiftieth birthday. Ordained at an early age, he took the name "Mahiyangane Dhammajothi Thero". He was not yet 21 when he survived a brutal terrorist...
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Amid the carnage there will always be those who keep life alive
The late eighties was a terrible time. It was a time of death, of monumental loss, tragedy beyond description and helplessness that was not considered newsworthy by the bleeding heart champions of...
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The unsung and un-honoured also make history
‘No man is a front,’ they say. There are rare instances when the action of a single individual has changed the course of history, but typically there is a long ‘before’ and a considerable ‘after’ that...
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Jeerers and applauders are also part-players in spectacle-politics
This article was published on July 17, 2010 in the 'Daily Mirror'. A different time, different players but perhaps it is about a drama that is often played out and not entirely unknown in these...
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Jayasena Jayakoday: an architect of our today
Six years ago, Prasanna Jayakody, film-maker, came to see me. This was a couple of months after his father, the renowned writer Jayasena Jayakody had passed away. He spoke of his father and about the...
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