Hope flows forth from Marawila’s ‘Kurusa Palliya’
Silent but intent are the men, women and children who raise their eyes in prayer and pleading, to the life-size statue of Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross, looking down on them benevolently. While some sit cross-legged or kneel with arms outstretched on the sandy-floor in this simple and spartan shrine, others drag themselves on [...]
Thoughts on paradise from a near distance
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. But not from a near distance like this, and not on such a short stint away from home. Instead, the desert time – on a sojourn in an island emirate which your columnist has embraced for this holiday season – has compelled him to ask the customary, traditional, searching [...]
Tranquil lakeside for adventure or weddings
Only a few miles away from Colombo, sitting on the banks of a tranquil Bolgoda Lake, the Thotupola Lake Resort is for those dreaming of some summer-loving over a stiflingly hot and dusty Colombo weekend. When we visited Thotupola a few weeks ago all was calm and quiet. There is very little of the man-made [...]
NCC carves a future for them
Sri Lanka is famous for many traditional crafts and among the most striking one of them is the traditional mask craft (Ves muhunu). Many crafts have been practised by certain families and the skills have been handed down from generation to generation. Mask-making too was a tradition among some families but there are also those [...]
A glorious vision all but forgotten
“Ah, chaste permitted wilderness below our house complete with winding walks and warbling stream designed to breed debate and poetry nursery of our love … You will remain, symbol, monument, and not you alone but all this involuted dream, apt replacement for the finest bit of tea land in the Midcountry. Symbol, monument, not, please, [...]
April styles
Come April, as Colombo wilts under the scorching heat, the annual migration to the cool hill station of Nuwara Eliya begins and the events unfold. The long weekend saw the much awaited Ceylon Turf Club’s signature event ‘The Governor’s Cup’ horse races being worked off and with the added attraction of action on the ramp [...]
Appreciations
Dr. Wilfred J. Perera You filled our lives with love and joy It’s been a year, and I still fail to find the words to describe the irreplaceable void you have left in our lives. I’m not exactly sure how to even begin to write an appreciation for someone as extraordinary as you, someone who [...]
Journey’s end
After gruelling days at sea, when Jeremy Bolling completed his six-week yacht voyage around Sri Lanka with sponsorship and logistical support on land from Land Rover, there was a reason to celebrate. The party at Cantaloupe Aqua, Talpe featured music and water sports and some fashion courtesy Arugam Bay against the sunset as family, friends [...]
Letters
Maru Sira’s last days at Bogambara This is in reference to Kumudini Hettiarachchi’s article ‘Storming Bogambara’ in the Sunday Times Plus of March 23, 2014. I had the opportunity to meet Siripala ( Maru Sira) and the two sentenced in the Thismada murder and a few other notorious prisoners when I was Acting Prison MO [...]
Why Sri Lanka is super-rich for wildlife
This is the story of how ice and ancient civilisations with evolutionary forces have made a tropical island super-rich for wildlife on a scale that is not seen anywhere on moderately or large islands. Sri Lanka’s super-richness on a proportionate scale eclipses large islands such a Madagascar, Borneo and New Guinea. Alfred Russell Wallace the [...]
events
National Trust lecture: ‘Cultural Mathematics’ Prof. J.B. Disanayaka will talk on ‘Cultural mathematics’ when he delivers the 61st monthly lecture of the National Trust – Sri Lanka at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. In Mathematics all numbers have numerical value. [...]
