Off the beaten track in Yala
We felt the dry zone nip in the air as we transferred from our vehicle to the 50-year-old Land Rover Defender waiting for us at the Park gate at Galge. We had travelled on the expressway and passed a sleepy Sella Kataragama town by the time the day dawned for us at the Menik bridge. [...]
When Copenhagen fell in love with Barbara’s looms
In October 1966, architect and historian Ismeth Raheem left for further studies in architecture to the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. When his colourful handloom shirts attracted attention and numerous compliments, Raheem was struck with the idea that maybe he could hold an exhibition of Barbara Sanson’s handlooms in Copenhagen. The Ceylon Tea Centre strategically [...]
Letters to the Editor
Using cloth bags at supermarkets to save time and environment You go to the supermarket to buy a few things needed for the house. You take out of the boot of your car, a few cloth bags that you keep specifically for use at these supermarkets. These cloth bags can easily be kept folded in [...]
Appreciations
The world is not the same for us any more without you LAKSHMAN HULUGALLE It is still hard to believe you are gone for over a year. It is a year since we heard your voice, your laughter, saw your smile or touched you. However, your presence is still vibrant in our memory. To live [...]
Making Lunuganga more than just a beautiful garden
As the Geoffrey Bawa Trust explores, ever more subtly, the potential of Lunuganga not just as a garden but as a fountain of creativity, an essay at self expression and an island’s identity, they are leaping into new territory- finding novel ways to make the garden’s timeless magic reflect. To Lunuganga: April 2023–August 2024: 75 [...]
Time, energy and money
Now that the psalmist’s ancient prediction that “the days of our years are three score and ten” no longer holds true for many of us – after all even the King of England and our President had both survived in good health to their early 70s before they were even able to commence their current [...]
Unpacking The Lanka Box
A volume of short fiction is exciting because it allows both reader and writer to rummage through an assortment of themes, ideas and images without the need to stitch or to unravel a single totalizing grand narrative that holds everything together. This is particularly valuable in the context of South Asia where jagged territorial and [...]
The story of a family reflecting changing times
Kamala Wijeratne’s second novel Anithyagama – The End of An Era– is about the impermanence of life. Wijeratne has been writing poems and short stories for 40 years, but she started writing novels only in 2020 and won the Godage & Brothers award for the best novel in English that year. She received the Sahithyaratna [...]
Bento feast of Thai flavours
Thai cuisine is known for its wonderful blend of sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavours. In an exciting new addition to the Royal Thai at Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, the restaurant now offers a Thai style Bento Box. A Bento Box includes multiple compartments meant to accommodate various types of food. Royal Thai’s new Bento Boxes [...]
WNPS lecture on balancing conservation and development
‘Wildlife: Is it Truly Wild? The dilemma of wildlife welfare and ethics in the present era’ is the topic of this month’s Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) lecture by Prof. Tharanga Thoradeniya on Thursday, May 18 at 6 p.m. at the Jasmine Hall, BMICH. Over the years, human welfare and development have been pursued [...]
Festival of Flowers to bring creativity to the fore
The Shi-En Ikebana & Floral Art Society will present a Festival of Flowers under the theme “Floral Innovations”, on May 19 and 20 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel’s Ivy Room. There will be over 50 western and Ikebana arrangements by the talented members of the society who will use an array of flowers and foliage [...]