‘Proud beyond words’
“In 2007, when I cast Hiran in Equus, I knew I couldn’t have asked for better. I’d just seen him in Scott Richards’ workshop production with the British Council, and I knew what a super little actor he was. Little did I realise then that he was destined for greatness on stage in the West [...]
Easter: Hope in troubled times
“Two thousand years ago, in the Middle East, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you are using the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point.” – Rick Warren Today, Easter Sunday is the day we remember the rising of [...]
Taking handloom to luxury markets overseas
The words ‘fair-trade’ were not part of the business lexicon ten years ago when Selyna Peiris first joined the handloom company that her mother had built, after graduating from the Sri Lanka Law College as an attorney-at-law. “I remember people used to tell me ‘What are you doing, people want to see handloom, they don’t [...]
Letters to the Editor
National List MPs: Why these manoeuvres? The manner of filling vacancies of 29 National List MPs out of the 225 MPs in Parliament of the recognised political parties and independent groups contesting the General Elections has become quite farcical. It is also a violation of the democratic rights of the voter. Firstly, under Article 99A [...]
Appreciations
A brilliant, industrious and hardworking officer throughout his career SAMITHAMBY JEYARAM Samithamy Jeyaram passed away on January 29, at his home at Zacharias Road, Periya Uppodai, Batticaloa. He was born on May 29, 1936 and had his primary education in Batticaloa. After completing his B.Sc degree he was appointed as a Planning Officer and worked [...]
Recalling a period of great dynamism and pivotal change
In 1960, Nihal Seneviratne had that unenviable task of what Banquo in Macbeth called “looking into the seeds of time, and saying which grain will grow; and which will not”. Aged 25, he had a ‘snap decision’ to make about his future: either take a prestigious Smith Mundt scholarship to the University of Columbia (and [...]
A “techy guy” unravelling the Ramayana
Bala Sankuratri was a self-avowed Indian “techy guy” before he was converted by Ravana into a full-time searcher after that eastern Holy Grail: the truth about the Ramayana. He was travelling in Lanka where the ‘demon’ king, the abducted Sita Devi and Hanuman are all embedded into the landscape with hoary toponymy – whether in [...]
Comprehensive study through combination of genres
In the past two decades, Sri Lanka as a subject of study in the social sciences and humanities has grown in popularity. Yet and still, there are only a handful of peer-reviewed book-length publications that explore the topic of Sri Lanka, and a majority are authored by social scientists. ‘Assembling Ethnicities’ stands out because of [...]
The story of 31 mosques
Although Sri Lanka’s Muslims form nearly ten percent of the population of Sri Lanka, a comprehensive work detailing their main places of worship and recording their history, evolution and architecture has been a long-felt need. This lacuna is now filled with a well-illustrated coffee table book ‘Iconic Masjids of Ceylon’ authored by Asiff Hussein and [...]