A fitting memorial
In 1923 Ceylon was a different place to the Sri Lanka of today. The land was ruled by the Empire’s masters, ensconced in their ‘Britishers Only’ Colombo Club near Galle Face Green. The Ceylonese had, however, formed their own rival Orient Club located near the racecourse. ‘Divide and Rule’ was the unwritten law. ‘Natives’ were [...]
A safe haven for children with cancer
Life was good for this little family of three from Embilipitiya. The father was working in West Asia to keep the home fires burning and the mother was looking after their one-and-only 4+ daughter in Embilipitiya. That was late December 2021. Now, in May 2023, life has irrevocably taken a different turn, away from the [...]
A walk to raise funds
‘SUWA ARANA’ is scheduled to be opened on June 29, with a fund-raiser in the form of a two-mile walk or five-km run to be held next Sunday (June 4) to mark Cancer Survivors’ Day, at 4 p.m. from Independence Square, Colombo. Initially, the cost estimate for SUWA ARANA had been Rs. 425 million but [...]
Letters to the Editor
Panadura Vadaya and Buddhist revival: Little known but key role played by John Capper As the 150th anniversary of the Panadura Vadaya approaches this August, there should be greater recognition of the role played by John Capper, the then editor of the Ceylon Times. He published an account of each day’s proceedings during the debate [...]
Appreciations
Compassionate doc, outstanding sportsman and loyal friend Dr. J.C. Fernando We bade goodbye to Dr J.C. Fernando—iconic Royalist, outstanding sportsman, compassionate doctor, and loyal friend—on April 18. I first met Janaka Chandana Fernando—or JC as he was popularly known – in 1962, when we entered the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo. He was well known as [...]
Saving a historic hospital from certain death
Behind those sturdy pillars, past the broad corridors and into the courtyard, this new book unravels a murky saga. And who better than the man whose own career was intertwined with its conservation, to tell the story. Gamini Wijesuriya describes it as a ‘tortuous effort’. Looking at it now, so beautifully restored, it is hard [...]
Remembering another coronation 70 years ago
Malini Samarakkody, like many other Sri Lankans, spent the afternoon of Saturday, May 6th watching the grand coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla unfold at Westminster Abbey, the solemn ceremony cloaked in tradition and ritual hallowed through the centuries. It was some 70 years ago – June 2, 1953, on a grey and [...]
Exploring karma and rebirth
The title of Shirani Rajapakse’s latest collection of poetry – Samsara – lays bare the journey through the landscapes of eternity it proposes to traverse. The seasoned scribe, for whom this is her second shortlisting, is this time moving away from the theme of her previous two collections, “Chant of a Million Women” and “Fallen [...]
It seemed that everyone in the world was here
Mollie Panter-Downes on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II At the Abbey and all around Parliament Square were stands resembling the high, scalloped galleries of a medieval tilting yard, painted clear blue and yellow, and decorated with shields and little pennants flying aloft. These stands were full of visitors from the Commonwealth nations, which had [...]
A musical treat from Wycherley
“Voices Ablaze”- presented by the Choir of Wycherley International School Recently I received an invitation to a musical performance by school children and my host warned me that they had not performed at a concert of this nature before and that they were greenhorns. When the performance opened with the song ‘The Hills are Alive’ [...]
Ashan Benedict: Washington DC’s interim police chief
Ashan Benedict, an American of Sri Lankan ancestry, has been appointed interim police chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington DC, the US capital. Benedict has served as the executive assistant chief of police at MPD since April 2021. His main responsibility includes managing the day-to-day operations of the department. Benedict acknowledged that [...]