Hope rises in the East
Vembu: Battered and bruised by a double whammy earlier – man-made and natural – this week, there is an air of expectancy and hope in this little village in Kalkudah on the eastern coast. It is not a blast from the past which has seen the area succumb to the vicissitudes of the 30-year war [...]
Michelle happy to win award for novel on burning issues
Sri Lankan- born Australian author Michelle de Kretser has won her second Miles Franklin Literary Award this year for her novel The Life to Come, presented at the Melbourne Writers Festival last Sunday. Established in 1957, through the will and bequest of My Brilliant Career author Stella Maria Miles Franklin, the award highlights a novel [...]
Letters to the Editor
Not quite a tsunami but certainly a swell The not so recent local government elections led to much hype and ‘hoopla’ from some sections of the media. What appeared to be a united Joint Opposition (JO) at the time clamoured for the results to be translocated into the central Parliamentary complex and for the previous [...]
Appreciations
The Baron of aquatic and ad arenas bids farewell Baron de Livera With the death of Baron de Livera last week the realm of local marketing and print advertising mourned one of its most illustrious personages. Indeed, no one in the fraternity had been able to match the eminence of this trailblazing icon [...]
A haven that shapes young lives
The Peter Weerasekera home is a beautiful oasis nestled amongst massive fruit trees and flowering plants in Dambuwa, Buthpitiya, providing shelter and care to around 80 children. Twenty one miles away from Colombo located in the Gampaha district, the ancestral home of Sinha Weerasekera, the children’s home is named after his father. The house was [...]
Mastering grammar, mastering a language
Parvathi Nagasundaram, I have observed first hand, is someone for whom, very simply, life is service. Her work has been in the field of English language teaching and her impact has been far reaching. She retired from the state university system in 2006, and continued her work as a writer of text books, the first [...]
An insider goes to the heart of a kingdom
The Kandyan kingdom has always intrigued; from Robert Knox of the 17th Century down to this day when you cross the ancient boundaries of the Uda-rata or amble around the shady lake, with regal buildings rising from the green hills forming an amphitheatre. Kandy is an enigma with its lofty aristocratic traditions and culture. Only [...]
Sigala’s story: Lessons not just for children
Sigala was a wealthy youth who lived in the time of Lord Buddha. To fulfil a promise given to his father, Sigala worshipped the six directions- East, West, North, South, Up (sky) Down (earth) every morning. The Buddha, witnessing Sigala’s ritual preached the Sigalovada Sutta to him, interpreting the true meaning of the six directions. [...]
Building lives not just homes
Sri Lanka has been internationally recognized for providing ‘homes’ and not just houses since the Million Houses Programme of the 1980s. Yet, during the three decades of war, many homes were destroyed in the northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka. ‘Building, Owning and Belonging’ a book funded by The European Union (EU) in partnership [...]
Close encounter with tradition
The four-day celebration of Sri Lankan traditional arts and crafts, the Guru Gedara Festival was launched at the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya, Colombo on August 30 as the first immersive traditional arts experience of its kind in the country. Shedding light on local art forms which are fading away, the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation gathered the most [...]
Looking back through the ‘lens’ of time
The exact date and location of the landfall of the daguerreotype process in Sri Lanka is still a matter of dispute. Three possible destinations, which can vie for this distinction are Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna. In 1843, four years after its discovery was announced in Paris in 1839, several firms and individuals were advertising the [...]
Say cheese, Lankan style
The influence of tourism and the changing tastes of Sri Lankans have resulted in a growing demand for cheese. But cheese is not indigenous to Sri Lanka and was probably introduced here by Dutch and British colonisers, since it preserved well during the long voyage from Europe. Cheese is a dairy product derived from milk [...]
New entrants to Candy range
Softlogic recently launched new additions to its Candy range – the Watch & touch oven and the Bianca washing machine with a glitzy reception at the Movenpick Hotel.
A big fat Indian wedding in SL bags Fearless award for Geeshan
Well known wedding photographer Geeshan Bandara has won a second Fearless Award. Fearless Photographers is a community of 3,000 of the world’s leading wedding photographers. These professionals are not afraid to push the boundaries of photography to surprise and delight clients with extraordinary images of their wedding day. The Fearless Competition is highly contested, with [...]
The Red Mustang selected for Montreal World Film Festival
The Red Mustang, a short film by 27-year-old director Rehan Mudannayake has been selected for the prestigious Montreal World Film Festival, where it will play in the Short Films World Competition.The Red Mustang has been selected along with 13 other short films from over 2000 submissions globally. It was nominated for the Best Short Film [...]
Shedding the labels of deaf, blind or disabled women
Sunitha’s name is translated into ‘a woman of well conduct’. Being born to deaf and illiterate parents in India, did not hinder her from shaping her own destiny. Sunitha herself has a hearing disability, yet her accomplishments have far outstripped her problems. True to her name, Rama has turned out to be a goddess to [...]
With toe-tapping songs and more Clifford did it his way
Clifford Richards was back at the Bishops College auditorium on Sunday August 12 to give another toe-tapping performance. From old favourites such as Quando Quando, to Baby When I Met You there was Peace On Earth to the Sinhala catchy number Magey Nona Mata Harima Adarei and much more, Cliff kept the audience entertained not [...]
He ushered in the Golden Age of Nalanda College
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we lived, but what difference we made to make others happy. If you devote your lives to serve your country with commitment and determination, your name may never fade away. The demise or death of a veteran is an irreparable loss. Such men and women [...]
Join “LC Route 66” to raise funds for Performing Arts Centre
Throughout its history, students of Ladies’ College have excelled in the performing arts. The school’s choirs, band, orchestras, eastern and western dance and dramatic arts programmes are just a few of the diverse cultural activities offered to the students. In order to allow these programmes to continue to flourish, the school plans to build a [...]
Former scouts and guides to meet in friendship, fellowship and fun
The Sri Lanka Scout and Guide Fellowship (SLSGF) is all set to host the 15th Asia Pacific (AsPac) Gathering of International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF) in Colombo from September 5-8, at Global Towers, Colombo 6. The delegates, who are former members of the Scout and Girl Guide movements, will gather under the theme of [...]
The Kandy Kidney Protection Society needs your help
The Kandy Kidney Protection Society is once again in dire need of the generous assistance of the public as they continue their battle to provide treatment for kidney-related issues. Their biggest benefactors so far have been the readers of Vesak Lipi Digest, a leading Buddhist Digest published annually by Upali K. Salgado. This year was [...]
Auction of Ceylon memorabilia
Items of Ceylon memorabilia, colonial furniture, curios, antique prints and maps, as well as historical books on Sri Lanka, from the collection of Royston Ellis will be sold by auction next Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9. When he settled in Sri Lanka 38 years ago, British author Royston Ellis began collecting items relating [...]