Making life whole again
The whining sound of a tree trunk being sawed greets us long before we see Samantha Rohana, 37, in Gallewa, off the dry and dusty beaten track from the town of Maho in the Kurunegala district. Samantha who has returned home to his wife and four children for a few days from his ‘job’ as [...]
Rituals connected with the Maligawa on Duruthu Poya day
Every year, four main ‘Mangalya’(festivals) are celebrated in the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, beginning with the Aluthsahal Mangalya on Duruthu Poya. According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddhist chronicle, the Buddha visited Lanka on three occasions. The first visit was on a Duruthu Full Moon Poya day to the Mahanaga Grove in Mahiyangana in the [...]
Duruthu Perahera and a temple’s restoration
“In the eighth year after he had attained to buddhahood, when the Vanquisher was dwelling in Jetavana, the Master, set forth surrounded by five hundred bhikkhus, on the second day of the beautiful month of Vesäkha, at the full moon, and when the hour of the meal was announced the Vanquisher, prince of the wise, [...]
Blast into 2017
The music, the dancing and a New Year. It was celebration time for New Year party folk with Platinum, the Live Abba Tribute Band and Beatlemania – The Ultimate Beatles Act performing at the Cinnamon Grand, high voltage bands and dancers and fireworks spectacular at other five-star hotels –the Hilton Colombo, the Kingsbury, the Galle [...]
Prof. Weerakoon; a tale waiting to be told
Sometimes you watch a person and think – in the words of Arundati Roy – there is a story here. This had occurred to me a couple of times as I had glanced at Professor Sunethra Weerakoon in and around the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Faculty [...]
Busting crimes the way she knows best
Anita Nair remembers showing her mother and brother her first poem – they demanded she write another one at once, because they refused to believe she had written it. “We didn’t do words,” Nair said of her family, explaining that at that point she became a closet writer, writing always in secret.” I read voraciously [...]
Two friends on a literary labour of love
Gracious butterfly, Were you born a human You would be arrogant and vain Flaunting your beauty in my face …. It is sheer spontaneity which gives life to Chitra Premaratne Stuiver’s poetry. Armed with nearly 30 years of experience as the one-time Visual Arts Librarian of the Hawaiian State Library and the Contemporary (Art) Museum [...]
A lively violin performance to begin the new year
Getting the New Year off to an impressive start for music fans, Madeleine Mitchell in Recital, will be presented by the Chamber Music Society of Colombo on January 22 at 5 p.m. at the Russian Cultural Centre, Colombo. Described by The Times, UK, as ‘one of Britain’s liveliest musical forces (and) foremost violinists’, Mitchell has [...]
This and that at FGLF
Exciting additions to programme With the Fairway Galle Literary Festival ready to open on January 11, there are exciting last minute additions to its programme: N. Ram, Chairman and Publisher of The Hindu group of newspapers will be giving a talk titled Free Speech Deficits which will be a reflection on the fraught state of [...]
Gehan to give us ‘Music from the Heart’
Well known baritone Gehan Cooray will perform once again at the “Music from the Heart” concert to be held at the Bishop’s College Auditorium on January 20. All proceeds from the show will go towards the Ostomy Association of Sri Lanka, which works tirelessly towards addressing the needs of patients who are living with stoma [...]
Appreciations
Alec Robertson A true man of the Dhamma he imparted his knowledge in many ways It is 15 years since Deshabandu Alec Robertson – preacher, writer and broadcaster of the Dhamma and one-time Member of Parliament – passed away. Alec Robertson was born in Gampola on October 30, 1928, and died on the last day [...]
Letters
Constitutional protection for animals – only on paper? The six sub committees appointed by the Constitutional Assembly to propose a new Constitution for Sri Lanka, have presented their reports to that Assembly. Animal welfare organisations who submitted proposals to the Lal Wijenayake Committee (appointed to receive public representations for constitutional reform) commended the Committee for [...]