What’s in a name? Everything when it’s ‘The Beatles’
Sixty years ago the man behind the name change of ‘Silver Beetles’, a little known British pop group then was none other than Royston Ellis, a celebrity of the youthful Beat Generation who has long since made Sri Lanka his home Liverpool, at the start of a brand-new decade. There is a beat in the [...]
Letters to the Editor
My father and the Hansa Regiment: Factual inaccuracies in Dr. Amunugama’s memoirs I do believe that Sarath Amunugama’s memoirs will prove a valuable resource for future historians. However, in the cause of historical accuracy, I should like to take issue with what he writes (“April Fifth 1971: High drama in Temple Trees”, the book extract [...]
Appreciations
I wonder whether this tribute will make his grade? Dr. Ananda Soysa When he passed a year ago, I never thought of writng about him. My mother asked why I didn’t. With echoes of his voice ringing in my head “A pair of scissors like a pair of knickers” and “May I, not can I”, [...]
To a time when food was cooked with a lot of thought and love
One of Ruwanmali Samarakoon-Amunugama’s early memories is of the creamy beetroot curry she adored as a child, the fascination of watching her plate of rice turn pink, the snowy white grains stained by the beetroot’s deep crimson hue. She remembers it from her grandmother’s home in the tranquil hills of Peradeniya, her mother later cooking [...]
The one that got away – Sandranathan Rubatheesan
The eldest son of a schoolteacher and a civil servant, in the peninsula village of Chavakachcheri, Sandranathan Rubatheesan found completing schooling difficult. Having already taken up photography as a hobby, when the war ended he felt he needed to get out of Jaffna: small place, densely populated, the usual and unusual conflicts. He came to [...]
disABILITY: Staying connected with a life-changing app
It is fifteen minutes before the start of the media conference and large as life they come on the screen smiling, interacting and undergoing therapy, interspersed in-between with the word disABILITY. In a small knot, right at the front of the hall are a few wheelchairs from where too there is loud laughter, chatter and [...]
Go pink on Friday
Friday, October 23, is ‘Wear it Pink Day’. Anyone can do their part to raise awareness for breast cancer on that day by simply wearing pink – a symbol of strength, support and solidarity with the women battling breast cancer. October is known internationally as the month of breast cancer awareness and this is the [...]
‘Put yourself in the shoes of the elderly’
Just one generation ago, caring for your elderly family members at home went without saying. All their needs would be seen to by their children, often with the help of domestic staff, and they would live out their years in a close nuclear family environment with only a few gentle activities to break up the [...]