'Supiri Mal Dekma, the popular plant exhibition will be held at the Vihara Maha Devi park on October 2 and 3 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Lectures on orchid and rose growing will also be held: On Friday, October 1, 2 at 3 p.m. the talk will be on orchids for cut flower industry by Sushila Gunasekara, President of the Orchid Circle of Ceylon and on Saturday, October 2 at 3 p.m. on how to grow roses by M.M.G. Bandara.
The plant exhibition is organized by Punya Kathriarachchi.
Lecture on the revival of Buddhists
Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam will deliver a lecture titled "Rev. D. J. Gogerly, RAS (CB) and the Revival of Buddhists" as part of the Royal Asiatic Society Special Series on Buddhist Studies for 2600 Years of the Sambudhdhatva Jayanthi.
The lecture will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 27 at the Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium of the Mahaweli Centre, No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07.
The lecture is open to the public.
ACWBC holds Elders’ Week
The All Ceylon Women's Buddhist Congress Sandhya Elders' Home will hold its Elders' Week from October 1 -7. The programme is as follows:
October 1 at 8 a.m-- Elders' Walk organized by Helpage - from ACWBC Headquarters to Sri Lanka Foundation Institute; October 2 from 4 - 5 p.m.-- Buddhist sermon by Ven. Thalangama Sugatananda Thera of Kolonnawa Rajamaha Vihara; October 3 from 9 a.m. - 3.p.m.-- Health Clinic; October 4 and 5--Pilgrimage to Somawathi Chaitya; October 6 at 3 p.m.--Sports Meet and October 7 at 3 p.m-- Concert and prizegiving
A book on Hindustani music
'Elements of Hindustani Music' a book by Shastrapathi Anil Mihiripenna will be launched on September 30 at the Indian Cultural Centre.
The book is aimed as an aid to students of Northern Indian classical music to learn the theory involved for all Bhatkande exams from details of ragas to a comparative study of thalas and melas used in Hindustani and Karnatak thala systems. This is Mr. Mihiripenna's fifth book.
A walk around the Book Fair
By D.C. Ranatunga
It's Book Fair time. I walk into the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Exhibition hall. I see a gathering on the left.
A young girl and two young men are seated keeping a fair distance between them. Three young painters are doing their portraits. The charcoal drawings are coming out pretty well. Among the onlookers are several waiting to get their portraits done.
It's a new feature at the Book Fair. Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts (VAFA) had negotiated with the Book Fair organizers to let their students do the portraits. The organisers had agreed and the experiment has proved to be highly successful. The portrait is done in half an hour. The charge is Rs 300. The demand is encouraging. They have been doing a mimimum thirty portraits a day.
As I move on, an elegant display board featuring the five finalists selected for the 2010 Swarna Pusthaka Award presented by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers' Association to the best Sinhala fiction done during the year greets me.
The book covers and their authors - 'Bhavataranaya' by Tenyson Perera (Godage Publishers), 'Buddhadasi' by Sunethra Rajakarunanayake (Sarasavi), 'Kalu' by Taraka Wasalamudaliarachchi (Sarasavi), 'Kalu Dognkaraya' by Karunadasa Sooriyaarachchi (Dayawansa Jayakody) and 'Kandak Sema' by Sumitra Rahubaddha (Platignum Publishers) - are neatly presented. (The winner of the Rs 500,000 prize was Sumitra Rahubadda).
I turn around and there he is - Siri Almeida, the veteran who can never be missed at the Book Fair having been a live wire since inception. He gives me a Directory detailing the stall layout making it convenient to pick up the locations of the ones I want to visit.
With the main BMICH hall under repairs (it will not be ready until next May) it was a challenge for both the BMICH Secretariat and the Book Fair organizers to find adequate space for the ever increasing demand by publishers. Yet they have done an excellent job. I found this year's arrangements, in fact, to be more disciplined. Every available space has been utilized while leaving ample space for the pathways. Once inside a hall, of course, the rush is there particularly in the ones selling exercise books and other stationery. Parents know they can save a little money buying these at discounts before the new school year starts.
I thought of doing a 'selective round'. I dropped in at the Central Bank stall and found several interesting publications. As expected, these are somewhat heavy economic and monetary stuff which may not interest everyone. Central Bank journal 'Satahana', the annual reports and other Bank publications can be bought at reduced prices. I picked up 'Kâsiye Asiriya' - a handbook for those interested in coin collecting. An impressive display board announcing the Bank's lavish publication 'Retrospect' to mark the 60th anniversary is at the entrance. The special price at the Fair is Rs 7,500 as against the normal price of Rs 10,000.
The Martin Wickramasinghe Trust has gone in for a big stall this year. Apart from the Wickramasinghe publications, the stall is well done up with photographs making it a valuable learning experience for students.
The Cultural Ministry stall displays a collection of their publications which only a very few of us are aware of. They are apparently not distributed to the bookshops and can be obtained only from the Ministry office at Battaramulla and the John de Silva Theatre bookshop at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha (Green Path). What a lot readers are missing by limiting the sales to just two outlets both of which are not in easily reachable locations. Any student of theatre would love to collect the 'Abhinaya' felicitation volumes devoted to local dramatists. The Sinhala Encyclopedia volumes published so far are available. So are several interesting booklets on places in Sri Lanka. And many more. My pick there was 'Ape Sittaru' with biographical notes of our artists along with some of their work in colour.
The Cultural Triangle stall is next to it but I had no time to drop in. I kept it for another day.
To see so many people - school children in their uniforms, parents with little ones, young couples, adults - people from all walks of life being so interested in books is most encouraging. The discounts are attractive no doubt. But even those like me, who prefer to avoid exhibitions because of the large crowds will not miss the Book Fair.
(The Book Fair ends today, Sept. 26) |
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