30th July 2000
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Dream machines
By Kesara Ratnatunga
'Cable operated brakes, piped chassis lubrication,
overhead camp shaft driven by vertical dynamo, headlamp dip by electromagnets',
read the information board highlighting the then state-of-the-art technology
of a 1934 British MG PA. The open top, two-seater sports car fitted in
perfectly with 34 other dazzling mechanical masterpieces of yesteryear,
creating the nostalgic magic of a vintage car 
exhibition.
The exhibition was organised for the second time by the Vintage Car Owners' Club (VCOC) of Sri Lanka, and displayed cars from as far back as 1913. It was held from July 20 - 23, at the Lanka Oberoi's Atrium Lobby. The exhibits, ranging from the elegant Rolls Royce to the rugged US army jeep, uniquely captured the way motor cars integrated themselves into our lives from those early days of the automotive era. Looking at the earliest models of Mercedes Benz, Chevrolet, and Chrysler, it was amazing to note how they have evolved into the sleek, curved dream machines of today. But however 'rough edged' and even cumbersome some of the cars seemed, each one had an aura of majesty and history, preserved and maintained by the loving care of their owners.
Among the cars on display was the Standard Swallow 1, a giant black limousine which carried with it the elegance and distinction worthy of the great man it once belonged to, Indian Premier Jawaharlal Nehru.
There was also the white Chevrolet, which was used as a getaway car in a legendary heist committed in true gangland style, back in the 1950s.
Shades
Joseph
The coat in many shades of colour
Brought him fame, but also envy.
My father's gift, he said,
I did not ask for it.
Our father favoured you, they said.
And scorned him.
Jacob, aging, is beset by trouble.
Not from Laban or the people of Shechem
But in his own house lurks disaster.
A coat costing four shekel-
Such a trifling gift.
It was this bloodily slashed coat
His other shepherd sons brought home to Jacob.
Later he would ask himself where he had failed-
Is it unjust to love?
Death for a coat in many shades of colour?
Anne Ranasinghe
Shades of meaning
The man and woman stood before the painting, studying it intently. He saw the clear lines, the well-proportioned figures, the effective use of colour depicting light and shadow - the different components which made up the whole.
'I like this picture', he remarked at length.
She saw the drooping shoulders of the woman, the sad expression in her eyes as she carried her load, the carefree demeanour of the child skipping beside her - a painting for reflection.
'I like it too', she said.
Kantha Wijeratne
Shades
'It is blue'.
'No. It is green. Don't you know your colours?'
'I do. It is you who are colour blind'.
She glares at her sister.
'Actually, green is blue and yellow. So we are both right'.
They smile at each other, and continue their game.
Why don't we adults see the blue in the green?
D. de Silva
Shades
Shades. Now, that's interesting.
What shades?
Light and dark shades,
Or shades of skin colour -
Pure white (well, not quite)
Ivory white, pale pink, pale yellow,
Bronze, brown, black -
Each carrying with it its own power or weakness
Its expectations and compensations.
Or the beautiful greens and browns
Of hills and trees and mountains -
Or the shaded colours of a dawn or evening sky.
Or, could it be lampshades or sunshades
Or shades of meaning that can make or break a relationship.
Or shades from the past to haunt your present.
So many possibilities -
So many shades.
Lalitha Wirasingha
Shades
'The shades of night were falling fast
Up-i-dee, up-i-dah'.
...we sang lustily at school although my voice, at the best of times is
barren of melody.
The words meant little or nothing then. In later years I have gazed at the western sky in the gloaming; fascinated by the fast-changing shades of gold, orange and red obliterating the azure blue in one last desperate effort to keep the world aglow.
Twilight, having tarried long enough, is reluctant to linger anymore. From one minute to the next it is night; shades of night have usurped the sky.
Thilaha Yoganathan
Shades of green
Dark green
Light green
Greens in between
How heavenly the heaven you make:
How you shield us from that fire
The incandescent heat of the heavens
And ease in the light
And make life livable
On this scorching earth:
How the varying greens
Make patterned rhymes
Leaf curtseying to leaf
Branch entwining branch
And weave intricate poems
In a canopy above the earth
But in every stroke of the ax
I see the dent in the green
And the gaping mouth of the heavens
The end of poetry:
Light green perishing
In dark green
Scorched in the incandescent fire.
Kamala Wijeratne
Shades of umbrella
Along the coastal beach
In little shades of umbrellas
Lovers murmur
With the murmuring sound of sea waves
Even though the umbrella is small
It has given the shade
Not only for them
But their whole world
With infinite love.
Nandalal Nanayakkara
Different shades
Flames of red, gold and yellow
Melt into a yellow mauve,
Setting ablaze the distant waters
A ball of orange takes a bow,
A man sits with furrowed brow
Gazing out from the silent shore,
Watching, yet not seeing this wondrous sight
Though the whole world is aglow,
What dark thoughts lie behind those eyes,
Blacker than night?
Have sombre shades of sadness
Shut out the light in his life?
Dr. Malini Epa
Shades of Hades
Cobalt, crimson, orange, gold and green...
The dazzling shades of daylight
Yield to the twilight haze
Of palest purple, grey.
Then falls the curtain of indigo night,
Trailing shades of midnight blue.
I see the ebony visage of
Hades' demon king
Who came from his shadowed land
Of eternal darkness,
And snatched the laughing
Persephone from her sunlit fields;
Imprisoned her in his grim kingdom
For half the year, forever.
Then the sun abandons northern lands
Enshrouded in gloom...
Hades' shades cloud Autumn and
Winter until Demeter's daughter
Returns with refreshing spring
And radiant summer.
Jegatheeswari Nagendran
Darker shades
She was a shade darker than my complexion. She was the patient and I was the doctor. Maybe we were destined to play these roles at this time of history.
'What's your name?' That was the only question that I could ask in Tamil.
"Pushpadevi'.
'Address'?
She didn't seem to understand the question. I repeated the question in vain. Finally I looked at the admitting officer's note:
Name: Pushpadevi
Address: Refugee camp, Vavuniya
Mahesh Rajasuriya
Shades
When we were kids
We discovered shades...
On a butterfly's wing... a petal of a flower
In the evening sky... when the sun goes down
Each new shade bringing utmost joy.
Shades differ as years go by
When the young ones find love
They see shades of pink and blue...
And many more...
Newly weds find yet more shades
This time together
In each other's eyes...
Years go by...
Grown-ups stop seeing new shades...
When shades of theirs start to fade
Their little ones will start now
On finding shades...
Sandani Danthanarayana
(Mis)Understanding
Sitting near the sun-shade,
I started to think.
Shade... yeah! Shade,
'What are you thinking about?'
asked my friend, appearing suddenly.
'Shade', I said. Absently.
'Ah! Shaded sarees are in. But a bit too common.
'I didn't mean that'.
You mean the sunshade? I'll adjust it'.
'No, no, it's fine. Thanks'.
'Ah! You mean the shaded bi-colour anthurium?'
'No, I am trying to write a poem.
So leave me alone'.
'You are into poetry? Tell me about it', said my friend, making himself
comfortable in the chair.
There goes the poem.
Veranja Liyanapathirana
Mirror, mirror on the wall
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Believe it or not...
*Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
*Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.
*The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
*A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies of starvation.
*Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find food.
*The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old.
*More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.
*A sneeze travels out of your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
*More Monopoly money is printed in a year than real money throughout the world.
*Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
*A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21 inch tongue.
*Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
*Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
*The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'.
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