Keeping a legacy alive
When Isabela Ono was a little girl, and her friends would ask what her father did, she would say he designed gardens and they would say “oh so he’s a gardener”. There was no word in Portuguese for ‘paysagiste’ or landscape designer which is what her architect father’s work actually was and she had no [...]
New life for Kanneliya’s degraded rainforest
The beginnings were not only small and humble. The vision seemed impossible to achieve! Five years after, having grappled with different challenges including those posed by some plants and animals and also the vagaries of the weather, it has emerged a winner. It is all about ‘LIFE’, a project by Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL) to [...]
Never again 83: Thenuwara’s yearly artistic ritual
Chandragupta Thenuwara is busy overseeing the skeleton of his latest exhibition calcify at the Saskia Fernando Gallery. With paint-daubed fingers, just in from his studio in Athurugiriya, he is lost in the minutiae of where the floor tile installations that form part of the oeuvre should go; and where his famous ‘barrels’ should stand guard. [...]
Letters to the Editor
Fate of a plant – Crudia zeylanica (‘Pandu-karanda’): From doom to salvation The uproar about the appearance and disappearance of this rare tree known as ‘Pandu-Karanda’ on the construction pathway of the Colombo- Kandy Expressway is considered a blessing for the survival of this leguminous tree species in Sri Lanka. The serendipitous re-discovery of this [...]
Appreciations
He made his students fall in love with physics Prof. Rohan Jayasundera Distinguished professor, Rohan Jayasundera sadly passed away on July 18 leaving behind not only his loving and devoted family and friends, but a legacy that will live on. This interview by co-op student Sophie Twardus, Special Projects (Teaching Stories), CTE. University of Waterloo, [...]
When a US diplomatic mission to Japan in 1852 stopped over in Galle
When an American expedition to Japan made landfall in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1853, they were by no means the first representatives of the newly founded nation to arrive in this country. By 1813, more than four decades earlier, members of the American Christian Mission sponsored by the American Board of Commissioner’s Foreign Missions had [...]
Literary critic, author remembered
Honouring his six decades of service to the Sri Lankan cultural field, a ceremony to felicitate renowned journalist, poet, literary critic and author Tilakarathna Kuruwita Bandara, will be held on Friday, July 28, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute auditorium from 3.30 p.m. onwards. The event includes the launch of “Pathra Kala Kavu Silumina -‘Tilakarathna [...]
Buddhist influence on constitutionalism
Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law (Cambridge University Press, 2023) Edited by Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago) and Benjamin Schonthal (University of Otago) The book aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the influence of Buddhism on constitutional law (the framework for limiting the power of the state), the constitution of the Sangha (the collective Buddhist [...]
Documentary on Sirimavo
‘Our Mother, Grandmother, Prime Minister: Sirimavo’ Anomaa Rajakaruna’s award-winning documentary is screening at PVR Cinemas at One Galle Face from until July 27. The documentary won the award for the Best Film of the Women Filmmakers Section at the 21st Dhaka International Film Festival. The film is the story of the first elected female head [...]
New book on Easter massacre
‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre’, Lessons for the International community, by Dr. Rohan Gunaratne will be launched on Friday, July 28 at 4 p.m. at the BCIS Auditorium, BMICH. A lecture will also be delivered by Dr. Rohan Gunaratne and a video of Zaharan will be screened at the launch.
Stagecraft concert
SING 2023, a concert featuring the students of the Stagecraft school of performance arts will be held on August 1 at the Buddhist Cultural Centre. Directed by Rapti Fernando, the programme will have carefully chosen student favourites from the genres of musical theatre and pop with solo, duet, trio, and ensemble items with choreographed movements [...]