‘We sign everything else except our own marriage document’
A few weeks before Yasmin’s nikah ceremony, there was a flurry of news articles announcing reforms to Sri Lanka’s Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). For a while, Yasmin got her hopes up, wondering if she would have a chance to be present at her own nikah ceremony and sign her own marriage documents. Her [...]
Kanya bags big prize with tale about the powerless
Sri Lankan author Kanya D’Almeida has won the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.Kanya’s win was announced in an online award ceremony on June 30. She is the first Sri Lankan to win the overall prize and the second to win for the Asia region. “Winning the Commonwealth Short Story prize during this moment of global [...]
Letters to the Editor
The importance of becoming a tri-lingual nation In the recent past, there has been a lot of correspondence in the print media, regarding the medium of instruction in schools. Some scholars have advocated the introduction of English, very early during the formative years of children; the advantages of which would be better prospects for employment, [...]
Appreciations
Tribute to a wise and gentle leader of men Theagaraja Sri Nagendra “Him I call a Brahamin, Ever true, ever kind, He never asks what life can give, But what can I give life” – The Baghavad geeta It is a year since Sri was called to his eternal reward. I had known him from 1974 [...]
Carmel wins the Gratiaen for her debut whodunit
Carmel Miranda was announced the winner of the Gratiaen Prize for 2020 while Malinda Seneviratne walked away with the H. A. I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation for the year. The two prizes were awarded at an online event held in the evening of Friday, July 2. Winner Carmel Miranda’s debut novel Crossmatch, though ostensibly [...]
Rum-inations
Somasiri Devendra was an undergraduate at Peradeniya when Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, declared it “more open than usual”. Recalling this, Devendra decided to be “more retired than usual” at age 88. To take retirement seriously. (Or not so seriously. Whatever.) COVID had imposed its own sanctions, but “COVID does not a prison make, [...]
Sri Lanka should tap potential of gotu kola
Almost every culture from the ancient Egyptians to the native Americans possesses a wealth of herbal medicinal knowledge which has been passed down from generation to generation. According to the World Health Organisation, 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional herbal medicines as their primary source of health care. 74% of the modern medicines [...]
WNPS lecture: How to manage iconic species
Dr Desley Whisson will deliver the WNPS monthly lecture on ‘When human-wildlife conflicts involve an iconic species’ on July 15 at 6 p.m. via Zoom and FB Live. Those interested could sign up online on: https://forms.gle/67vSKzH2uwXozkQq9 World-wide, many native wildlife species have become locally abundant or have increased in geographic range. In some situations this [...]
Book presentation
D.A.P. Weeratna, PC presented a copy of his book ‘Criminal Procedure in Sri Lanka- Vol 5’ to President of the Court of Appeal Justice Priyantha Fernando recently.