Desperately seeking Hiruni, 16 years later
Hope springs eternal and a daughter and a mother in a home down Somadevi Place in Kirullapone have not allowed despair to replace hope for 16 long years, as they continue their heartrending search. Pride of place right beside the main door, as one enters their beautiful home, has been assigned to a lovely photograph [...]
Through the mist of time and hills of tea country
Gilbert Theophilus David Navamanie is a child of camellia sinensis. Almost unwittingly, he was to spend most of his 100 years in upcountry tea estates, first as the progeny of a chief clerk, and then as a chief clerk himself. It was in the golden valleys of Bogawantalawa, Bandarawela and Agrapatna- classic tea country that [...]
England was home but Sri Lanka was his joy
Raconteur, actor, announcer, missionary, musician, father, grandfather and other rather more dubious credentials, Dad ended his days, still singing, still laughing, loud and ludicrous. He went quickly and was in no pain. A blessing. We last saw him on Christmas Eve. We met through a glass door, the COVID way, to sing carols and say [...]
Letters to the Editor
A land like no other for noise pollution In Sri Lanka, noise pollution is abundant in our day-to-day life. Whether we like it or not, noise is forced on to our lives in various ways. A few common instances are listed here: 1) The incessant horning on our roads, especially by bus drivers, but not [...]
Appreciations
You leave behind an irreplaceable vacuum, dear friend DION JAYASURIYA I was overcome with grief when the news of the passing away of my dear friend Dion was conveyed to me by phone on the morning of December 18. Death is inevitable. It comes to all, but when it comes to one who is so [...]
History and design: Making the connection
Knowing the history of one’s country is perhaps the key to understanding our own position with regards to different fields of enterprise, according to architect and chairperson of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts, Channa Daswatte. “It gives one confidence and pride in what we are today.” Rather than simply knowing dates in the historical [...]
A documentary on musician and singer Gration Ananda
Mario Ananda and Dulanjali Ananda Abeykoon, children of veteran musician and singer Gration Ananda launched a documentary film on December 30, their father’s 10th death anniversary. The documentary narrates the story of his life through the memories of those who were associated with him as they felt it was the most meaningful way to commemorate [...]
Battuta in Lanka: Not just the past but a contemporary narrative too
In a casual conversation in 2019, Ameena Hussein told me that she was writing a book on Ibn Battuta, the well-known Moroccan traveller and scholar of Islam who lived between 1304 and 1369. I was intrigued by how Hussein, a formally trained sociologist and one of the best-known English language writers of fiction in Sri [...]