A peaceful new year!
With 2018 less than a week old, I would like to wish all my readers a peaceful and safe new year. How time flies! Just three years ago, the new year of 2015 dawned with us all waiting to cast our votes in a presidential election, just as we are now waiting to cast our [...]
China’s soft and sharp power
CAMBRIDGE – China has invested billions of dollars to increase its soft power, but it has recently suffered a backlash in democratic countries. A new report by the National Endowment for Democracy argues that we need to re-think soft power, because “the conceptual vocabulary that has been used since the Cold War’s end no longer [...]
What should be the minimum grades to study medicine?
We often hear nostalgic reminiscences about great doctors from yesteryear, who managed to enter the medical school with A Level results of just four simple (S) passes. There is no doubt that many doctors who entered medical school with just four S passes 50 years ago had performed exceptionally well. What is erroneous is trying [...]
Cultural heritage, peace and reconciliation
Keynote speech delivered by Gamini Wijesuriya a renowned heritage expert from Asia at the Scientific Symposium, “Heritage and Democracy” of the International Council of Monuments and Sites from December 8-15 in Delhi Like the trouble you have taken, we undertook to host the 10th General Assembly of International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in [...]
Pre-school concert at Narahenpita
The Gautama pre-school affiliated to the Freedom Friends Society of Dabare Mawatha, Narahenpita held its annual concert at the Sri Parakramabahu Maha Vidyalaya in Narahenpita. Chief guest and Pragna Pradeepa concept initiator Jayantha de Silva is seen here presenting prizes to a student.
Sikaram wins bronze at Chamber awards
Koodeswaran Rushangan, Managing Director of the Sikaram Academy in Jaffna, was awarded the Bronze Award for the Northern Province at the Sri Lanka Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 awards ceremony held recently. The award is given by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka. The Sikaram Academy (School of Hospitality) prepares [...]
Kumar and Yehali launch a rich dessert like no other
To the sounds of Scottish bagpipes, a procession of chefs bore in their precious masterpiece in a palanquin to the front lawn of the Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya on the morning of January 3 as a select crowd of invitees including Tourism Minister John Amaratunga looked on. “Marry Me”, the US $ 25,000 dessert, crafted [...]
Watercolour exhibition in Kandy
Veteran watercolour artist M.D.S. Gunatilaka will hold his 8th solo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise de Kandy on January 11 giving art lovers in the hills an opportunity to see his works. An award-winning artist, Mr. Gunatilaka holds the English Teachers Art Certificate and the Advanced Certificate of the Government College of Fine Arts. He [...]
18th Ludowyk Memorial lecture
The 18th E.F.C. Ludowyk Memorial Lecture, organised by the Department of English, University of Peradeniya, will be delivered by Tissa Jayatilaka, Executive Director, US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission, on the topic “The Legacy of Professor E.F.C. Ludowyk and an Overview of the Promise and Performance of the University of Ceylon.” The lecture will be held on [...]
Fairway Galle Literary Festival – North South University collaboration 2018
As part of its community outreach, the Fairway Galle Literary Festival is conducting the North-South University Collaboration as a platform for reconciliation and bridge building. Now in its fifth year, the programme will host students and academics from the English Language departments of the Universities of Sri Jayewardanepura, Southeastern University, Sabaragamuwa, Ruhuna, Peradeniya, Jaffna, Colombo [...]
Justice Weeramantry: Muslims owe a huge debt of gratitude to this Prince of Peace
Justice Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, former judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon and Vice President of the International Court of Justice, eminent jurist and tireless promoter of world peace passed away a year ago, on 5 January 2017, leaving a void in many spheres, not least in the Islamic world. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for [...]
A. Sivanandan A ‘Black intellectual’ from Sri Lanka passes away
A writer who focussed on ‘racism that kills’ as opposed to ‘racism that discriminates’Sri Lanka-born British writer Ambalavaner Sivanandan, theorist of state racism and Black liberation politics and founding editor of Race & Class journal, passed away in London on Wednesday. He was 94. Best known for his political essays and his novel When Memory [...]
Jane Eyre, social media and the philosophy of mindfulness
While a cursory glance of the stifling social fabric of nineteenth century England may reveal an era practically alien to our technologised world of today, Victorian writer Charlotte Bronte’s gothic romance Jane Eyre dispels insights surprisingly relevant to the twenty-first century social scene. Through its depiction of a socially marginal titular character’s search for meaning, [...]