Bringing Sri Lanka to the world
Nineteen-year-old Anna Westlin from Sweden is one of the 20 global beauties who is currently in Sri Lanka attending the first ever Ms. Tourism Sri Lanka International Pageant. Since her arrival last Sunday Anna has shared pictures and posts about Sri Lanka on her social media pages –Instagram and Facebook, and the response was tremendous, [...]
Pitching a harmonious note
On a Friday in late January, one hundred children, armed with instrument cases of various shapes and sizes walked proudly into the British School in Colombo. A few years ago, these children from Kurunegala and Mullaitivu would never have had the chance to meet, let alone play in the same orchestra as their peers in [...]
College of Ophthalmologists inducts new president
Dr. Pradeepa K. Siriwardena, an old girl of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, was inducted as the President of the 25th year of the College of Ophthalmologists of Sri Lanka on January 23. Professor Rohan W. Jayasekera (Former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Founder Director of the Human Genetics Unit University of Colombo) was the [...]
Dilmah searches for ‘ecovation’
Some time ago Dilhan Fernando was at a university, hoping to find a bright young graduate with an idea for an automated tea plucking machine for his family business, Dilmah. The professor he was talking to rummaged in a metal cupboard behind him — there was indeed a thesis written on an automated tea machine. [...]
A partnership in foodie heaven: Knorr and Jehan Aloysius
Shakespeare once wrote “If music be the food of love, play on” and since February is the month of love, well known thespian Jehan Aloysius will be celebrating his love affair with food and music in an exclusive culinary experience called ‘Gastronomic Symphony’. ‘Gastronomic Symphony’ is a culinary voyage which aims to enhance delicious gourmet [...]
A helping hand from the Global Fund for Children
Her travel plans include a trip to Trincomalee but Kulsoom Khan is not here on vacation. As Programme Officer-South Asia, for the US based non-profit organisation called The Global Fund for Children (GFC), flying in from Washington DC, her week-long stay in Sri Lanka is packed with visits to three local non-profit entities currently receiving [...]
Looking to history for a timely message
Young film-maker Daevinda Kongahage tasted international success with his debut film Bhavatharna (Crossing Sansara), when the film won the Award for the Best Film at the 2015 Delhi International Film Festival in December. On Wednesday, the grand premiere of Bhavatharna was held at the National Film Corporation Cinema Theatre in Colombo, attended by a gathering [...]
Letters
Let us make this Bhikkhu Act a blessing As a whole, lay Buddhists do not like to see their revered monks involved in activities that breach the 227 disciplinary rules they vowed to abide by at their higher ordination ceremony. But unfortunately during the past few decades beginning from September 26, 1959, they happened to [...]
A love for history takes him in search of a language legacy
It was a long-lost love that he has been able to rekindle, which has now taken the form of a book…and it is no ordinary book but one that has dived deep into the past to place under scrutiny numerous words that are very much a part of daily use in Sri Lanka. For Sujeeva [...]
Book launch: Medical negligence claims from a socio political lens
In her book ‘Medical Negligence Claims in Sri Lanka’, based on a socio-legal qualitative study set in Sri Lanka, Dr. Avanti Perera asks the question: what are medical negligence claims really about? Although the legal definition of “medical negligence” involves the failure of healthcare service providers to exercise a standard of due care, empirical findings [...]
One Festival to rule them all
However cerebral Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) seems on paper, it requires the ability to juggle learning with merrymaking. After basking in the darling milieu of the Galle Literary Festival before, Jaipur was everything India promises to be: frenzied and overwhelming, yet enlightening in the way a whirling dervish goes about it. Jaipur Lit Fest is [...]
Stepping out with imaginative flair
A surge of new talent courses through each edition of HSBC Colombo Fashion Week. This year 10 Emerging Designers have made the cut to have their work on the ramps in CFW’s Bright Spark segment on February 23. Tensions are electric as the promising young designers are competing for the CFW Fund award which comprises [...]
Launching on a classical journey together
‘Classically French’ featuring opera singer Kishani Jayasinghe and pianist Soundarie David Rodrigo, will mark the beginning of a concert series by the two of them. Here Kishani talks to Duvindi Illankoon For Kishani Jayasinghe, these are interesting times. The soprano is one of Sri Lanka’s most successful opera singers, with a host of acclaimed roles [...]
Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Beethoven under the baton of Keiko Kobayashi
The very first Guest Conductor Concert by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka for 2016 will see renowned Japanese conductor Keiko Kobayashi taking on a complex yet popular repertoire comprising works by Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Beethoven. The concert, on Saturday, February 20, at the Ladies’ College Hall will have the added musical delight of Shanthi [...]
Beethoven’s majestic Mass to sing God’s praises
A solemn Choral Holy Mass will be celebrated at St. Lucia’s Cathedral today, Sunday, February 14 at 6 p.m., presided over by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. Over 100 professional singers supported by 30 musicians will be in attendance at this musical cum liturgical event, known as Musica Sacra (Sacred Music). They will render ‘Beethoven’s majestic Mass [...]
Two women; two lives
Reading Parallel Lives, the story of two women from contrasting social backgrounds I kept wondering if it was possible for two such women, Namali from the caste-ridden Kandyan aristocracy, and Podi Menika from the village below the walawwa, born to the padu caste, to achieve the kind of relationship that the writer has us believe. [...]
Around the city on an open-deck bus
On a breezy Sunday morning, we hopped on to a Colombo City Tour bus close to the Old Dutch Hospital in Colombo. A venture by Sri Lanka Tourism and Ebert Silva Holidays, these guided open deck sightseeing tours are once a day on weekdays and twice a day during the weekend. Our tour started at [...]
A lament for Lhasa
The Tibetan character of this capital, once described as one of the most fascinating cities in the world has almost disappeared, writes Ven. Bhante S. Dhammika In the 19th and early 20th century Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was often dubbed The Forbidden City, The Vatican of Lamaism or The Abode of the God King [...]
Appreciations
Anil Moonesinghe Nationalist-Internationalist who was a man of the people My father, the late Anil Moonesinghe, was born 89 years ago on February 15, 1927. Receiving his names, “Anil Kumar” from his great-uncle Anagarika Dharmapala, he was brought up in the nationalist tradition. The Ceylon he was brought up in was very different from today’s [...]