A walk through Athula’s homegrown Madame Tussauds
The Colombo Wax Museum is a truly surreal experience: you walk into and meet a pantheon of stars of our time – standing, sitting, or even cocktail in hand, lounging! Wandering around, it takes time for you to not jump at every corner, so life-like are the wax figures. Within the glitzy premises, you find [...]
Ceylon Sanitary Corps : Fighting an unseen battle for the Empire
The Great War, as it was known then, lasted from 1914 to 1918 when Ceylon was a British colony. As already recounted in these columns, there was a surge of patriotism to the Empire among Ceylon’s youth. Contemporary accounts, mainly from the Times of Ceylon and the Ceylon Independent, estimate that in excess of 1,200 [...]
Appreciations
A guiding light in radiology and literature Dr. Premini Amerasinghe With hearts heavy with grief yet filled with gratitude, we, the radiology fraternity of Sri Lanka, pay tribute to Dr. Premini Amerasinghe – a mentor, leader and inspiration whose wisdom, kindness and brilliance shaped generations of doctors and touched countless lives. Born in 1933, the [...]
Inspired by Bawa: From lawyers’ office to elegant studio loft
Ever since I was a child growing up in Sri Lanka in the Seventies and Eighties, I loved visiting the heritage city of Galle. I would go there on my summer holidays with my cousins, spending the days playing cricket on the ramparts. My father, Shibly Aziz, grew up in Galle and it was from [...]
When the love of a Saint draws devotees from here and across the Straits
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) will premiere its latest documentary, ‘The Saint of the Islands’ on Saturday, March 28 at 4 p.m. The 72-minute documentary, directed by Anomaa Rajakaruna, will be screened at the Tharangani Theatre of the National Film Corporation, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7. The film explores the shared devotional traditions surrounding [...]
Exploring the deeper, plural story of Sri Lanka
A few weeks ago, on a long journey from Colombo to Toronto, I carried with me the second edition of Shared Sanctities by Hasini Haputhanthri and Sujeewa de Silva. Among the many books I have read on shared heritage and conservation, this work stands out as a moving and creative achievement that merits close attention. [...]
Remembering CHA de Soysa
At the 190th birth anniversary commemoration ceremony of Charles Henry de Soysa and the 150th anniversary of Prince and Princess of Wales Colleges, two descendants of the late philanthropist – Ilika Karunaratne and Sunimal Fernando were presented with plaques by the Past Pupils Associations of the two schools, for being the driving force behind this [...]
A Women’s Day special
‘She Radiates’- a special International Women’s Day 2026 event was held on March 12 at the Galle Face Hotel. A panel discussion with Rajitha Jayasuriya, Farzana Jameel, Anitra Perera, and Sheanna Gardiner, moderated by Chethana Liyanage, sessions with Dilanjan Seneviratne, Ramani Fernando, and psychologist Rasini Bandara was followed by a fashion show ‘Radiating Elegance’ presented [...]