“Healing is a message that resonates. Those who have faced the brunt of the war are open to it because they know the cost of a war," Brigadier (Retd.) L.C. Perera, founder of the Heal Lanka forum, is thoughtful as he speaks to the Sunday Times about the forum's cause. “Heal Lanka is a gathering of like-minded people who want to see Sri Lanka move on from a divided past into a united future. For that, we must heal. Not just the victims of the war. All of us must heal. We must accept, acknowledge, feel and own the collective pain of our people.”

No matter how little his name is heard these days, even a tiny inclination to western music will have you “knowing” at the mention of Lylie Godridge. Back before choirs and musical ensembles blossomed like mushrooms and a-capella was the fashionable kind of singing to do, he was making musical history in our little island.