Bow and arrows slung over the shoulder, time itself seems to standstill……….as if Sri Lanka's primitive man has jumped out of the pages of the Mahavamsa and is walking along the pristine Vakarai beach. They had come in knots of men, women and children, these descendants of Jeevahaththa and Disala, the son and daughter of Yaksha Queen Kuveni's alliance with Prince Vijaya, the first Aryan King of ancient Ceylon.

It has always been politically expedient in our country to demand the rights and privileges which accrue from membership of a democratic society; but I have seldom, or only too infrequently, heard our political leaders emphasize the unpalatable truth that every adult citizen owes a duty to the State and his fellowmen to share the onerous burdens and responsibilities of involvement in the democratic process.