The Sunday Times Plus - Sunday, January 21, 2007

Plus

Free spirit

A young girl sits in a tent in a jungle clearing in the Maha Oya area, typing on a little portable typewriter. She listens to the rush of the river and the chatter of the primitive Veddahs who live here, as she types. It is the early 1930’s, and any sign of civilisation is far away from this settlement of Veddahs in the heart of the wilderness.


Autumn in Tibet
In this final part, Nishy Wijewardane reaches alpine Jiuzhaigou on Sichuan’s northern borders and crosses to western Sichuan’s “Wild West” Khamding region to explore timeless Tibetan heritages.

Neem repellent
Could ‘Formula Zx’ a repellent invented by a Sri Lankan be the answer to the dangers posed by mosquitoes? Not a year has passed in recent times without the fear of mosquitoes gripping the country, what with the dengue and recent chikungunya outbreaks.

Seven years to the Booker
Currently, the best thing about winning the Booker Prize, as Kiran Desai would have it, is that it brought her here – to our tiny island in the Indian Ocean. “I anticipated my affection for Sri Lanka,” she says smiling. As the sun sinks past the horizon, and a dusky twilight cloaks Galle Fort, Kiran and I have what can best be described as a chat; it begins with the promise of ten minutes, and very quickly stretches to twenty, then half an hour.

	Appreciations
	Professor P. D. P. Gunatillake
	Cyril Perera
	Chitra Wickramasuriya
	J. P. Pathirana

	Letters to the editor
	Karapitiya cries out for post-intern medical officers
	Now, where in Sri Lanka is ‘Kolpity’?
	Sound advice against noise pollution
	Empty words on a police calendar for new year

	Books
	A celebration it was!

	Grave problem of gravity

	Entangled with love

	Sharing the Dhamma in his own unique style

	Satya Paul’s bold success

	Explosion of energy

	Recreating magic of Kathak

	For a hassle-free wedding

	Felicitating Somaweera Senanayake

	Hilton gets new GM

	Generous hearts needed to save little hearts