The humble leaf that reigns this season
In Buddhist mythology, it is believed that after Lord Sakra painted a hare on the moon, he threw away the brush, which fell on the Naga (snake) world below the Earth, where it grew into a betel creeper. Anantha, the lord of the Naga world who had protective powers later brought it back from the [...]
Moulding a sweet past
A stroll around the Colombo Museum this holiday season may just provide an intriguing lesson for Sri Lankans celebrating the dawn of the Sinhala and Hindu New Year. Beautifully carved Olinda boards, milk rice moulds, aluwa moulds and jaggery moulds displayed in the Colombo National Museum’s Anthropology Division give an illuminating glimpse of how our [...]
Letters to the Editor
Show more respect to the workers who are our biggest foreign exchange earners The single largest contributor to Foreign Exchange Earnings is the worker remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad. But the question is are the authorities treating these Sri Lankans with due respect? Are they being treated reasonably? If these workers are the biggest [...]
Appreciations
Thank you for being our biggest fan, nightingale, guru and best friend Linnette de S. Wijeyeratne The morning light comes stealing – To start a new day Out there the world is waiting – To take you far away We thank God every day for blessing us with you as our amazing mum. We will [...]
An evening of ‘many gems’
This year, the lot of the Gratiaen judges was more unenviable than it had been in years past (though it must at the same time have been highly rewarding and thrilling). It was quite a large haul- in fact 42 entries- but even more overwhelming has been the quality of the work. From the moment [...]
Arsikland! The Musical: Free with mirth; but missing a serious jolt
StageLight&Magic had whipped up a musical satire of our infamous constitutional coup- before all that drama and outrage would get cooled on its rack. It paraded in that riotous cohort of characters we know from Pusswedilla’s Arsikland- played now by a whole new cast. Did we miss some of the star turns- Dominic Kellar, Pasan [...]
Dancing the night away to ‘Rocking and De-Rolling’
Giving their usual musical concerts a fun twist, the De Lanerolle brothers celebrating their 10 years of performing as a duo had everyone on their feet on April 5 at the Hilton Grand Ballroom with ‘Rocking and De-Rolling’. A first ever show in this style for the duo, they hoped to revive something ‘only done [...]
Voice of Praise service for Holy Week
The Passion of Christ, a service for Holy Week will be sung by Voice of Praise Chamber Choir, directed by Denham Pereira, on Wednesday, 17th April at 6pm at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte. At the heart of the service, led by the Venerable Chrisantha Mendis, is a sequence of the [...]
His love for this country through his angle
Nguyen Duc Hoang is not a professional photographer – but being the Deputy Country Director for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has never stopped him from pursuing his hobby, but rather fuelled it. Every time he travelled on work around the country, he would take his camera with him. His passion was demonstrated [...]
Cycling far from the madding crowd
Morning’s peak traffic time at Kaduwela junction! Cars, buses, lorries, trishaws, motorcycles and even bicycles, literally nudging each other, horns honking to get ahead and speed away the moment the lights changed colour. How would they ever get across this busy intersection, with “rows and rows of traffic”, to get to Malabe, coming from the [...]
Botanik dishes out tasty fare for rice and curry fans
As Sri Lankans (most proper ‘rice addicts’ by birthright) we are constantly on the lookout for a tempting plate of rice and curry come lunchtime. Though you’re never short of options, you’d often find most of the so-called ‘bath kades’ putting up the same old tired dishes on a daily basis. With the launch of [...]
Seasonal colours
During the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April and continuing to May, cities such as Colombo witness a great flowering of trees, with roads literally carpeted with flowers. When I grew up in Colombo, I took it for granted that these were local trees. Why else would they be in Colombo? However, as I [...]
Intricate kolams that signify harmony
With the Sinhala and Tamil New Year being joyfully celebrated across the country, the sight of a Kolam drawn at the entrance of a Hindu home carries special meaning. These may be abstract Kolams drawn according to one’s knack for art or by connecting dots or Rangoli Kolams that are intricate and detailed. Geometric, landscapes [...]
Little Minds Strong Values launches official website
Well-known musician Rukshan Perera’s latest project with the Rotary Club of Colombo Metropolitan ‘Little Minds Strong Values’, recently launched its website. Here users can request a copy of the values album, download music tracks and even rate, comment and support the project. The album which was launched in February under Phase 1 of the project, [...]