• At what cost? - Dear Daughter
• Ooh!Wills is here
• Combined Efforts
• Is it Murder?
• Light up your life
• Rain or shine, their work goes on
• Ladies on the ramp
• Collagen and Elastin in Cosmetic Creams
• Innocent until proven guilty
• The spy who loved children
• 

Ooh!Wills is here

Like any other teenage boy, he likes techno music, action movies, fast food and sports. But not every 16- year- old could spend his birthday clicking on to one of 50 Web sites to read: "Move over Leo, "Wills is Here!" Or, "Prince William is a cutie."

Or, "I will marry you, Prince William."

The eldest son of England's Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, turned 16 on June 21. To celebrate the event, or rather to damp down the media fire, the young Prince William of Wales revealed some of his likes (including his tail coated school uniform) and dislikes- the adulation of his teeny bopper fans.

The first "interview" (in fact a written question and answer format distributed by Press Association) with England's fresh-faced future king was a poignant reminder of how desperately he longs to be seen as an ordinary youngster in an extraordinary situation, and of how eager the public is to view him as the reincarnation of his charismatic mother.

As his blond hair, quick-to-blush cheeks and lowered eyes stared out from every British tabloid over the weekend, he has become, in spite of himself, an instant, Prince of Hearts. In the 10 months since his mother's death, the luck or the curse of his genes has made him blossom from a shy and awkward teenager into the very image of Diana. The Sun newspaper has inevitably dubbed him: "The People's Prince."

Since the essence of monarchy is regeneration, it is natural that William should receive the attention and adulation that both his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Charles had in their formative years.

With Diana memorials now reduced to tubs of autographed margarine and Spencers and Windsors warring like Montagues and Capulets over anniversary tributes, William is the only bright gilding left on the tarnished family crest.

"He is the John Kennedy Jr. figure - a heritage, good looks and a tragic past that gives him an extra magic from a dead icon," said Robert Lacey, author of the definitive "Majesty," a biography of Queen Elizabeth II.

More ominously, Ingrid Seward, editor in chief of the royalist Majesty magazine, admits that Pince William has taken on the ultimate status of the Media Age: His image makes a "selling cover." The current issue has nine glossy pages devoted to him.

How can the royal family - and a fascinated but fearful public prevent the fledgling prince from being engulfed by the same media attention that swamped Diana? Especially since William has already shown his distaste for and distrust of the press.

The handling of the landmark birthday is a hint of how the palace is trying to modernize its approach. Instead of a lofty communiqué from a remote courtier, William actively cooperated in providing information about his current life and record of achievements.

Significantly, in the same week, he also lodged an official complaint against a newspaper complaining of a "grossly intrusive and inaccurate'' report of the kind his mother most deplored. Read saccharine speculation about putative girl friends and unsourced information about his private life.

Although the press has left William alone at Eton, his august private school and published little comment on the Press Association interview, this noble reticence is unlikely to last. The media is too competitive and the worldwide public appetite too voracious to be content for long with crumbs about William's pet Labrador called Widgeon and "his sense of fun and quality of thoughtfulness."

At the heart of the problem — and of William's current discomfort— is the fact that Western society recognizes 16 as the age of sexual being. The Prince of Hearts is a title that suggests not just a caring nature but that William is both eligible and nubile. And every photograph proves that he has inherited from his mother the allure that marks him out from the dull and dutiful Windsors.

For Mr. Lacey, William has the charisma spiced with risk that was the essence of Diana and some of the royal family's more colorful forbears.

''What he has speaks of an intense need for glamour and excitement in the royal family, which Diana satisfied— and with it goes an incredible element of danger," he says.

To Mr. Lacey, William's sun-gold glamour can be compared to a former Prince of Wales - his great-great-uncle, who became Edward Vlll and, after his abdication, Duke of Windsor.

"Whereas Charles has always been slightly out of step or 'tone deaf,' William fits into a much grander tradition of 'sparkling Princes of Wales,'" Mr. Lacey said. "And all of them have had the same problems: What happens when they hit the flesh pots?"

The immediate plan is for William to be kept out of trouble as he continues his studies at Eton College, where his 13-year-old brother, Harry, will join him in the autumn. Whereas Charles was pushed by a forceful father to be an "action man'' and deny his contemplative nature, William has his father's support in focusing further studies on history of art, as well as geography and biology.

The school is conveniently placed for him to take tea with granny at neighbouring Windsor Castle. But according to Hugo Vickers, a royal historian, William is unlikely to join in a royal ceremonial or take up even minimal royal duties until he turns 18—the legal age when he could be king without a regency. Charles will also spare his son the agony of embarrassment that he faced when invested as Prince of Wales in 1969 at age 20.

William said in the interview that he wanted a college education to follow. Although Ms. Seward said Diana told her that she would have liked William to go to Harvard, Mr. Vickers said that at an American or Canadian college, William might be even more "vulnerable to hysteria," citing the screaming teenage fans surrounding the royal trip to Cana- da this year.

After college, Mr. Vickers rules out as antipathetic to the modernizing Britain of Tony Blair, the long period with the army or navy that was once the backbone of a monarch's training. William may have to find another way to prepare for a life of service to his country.

What most people must hope for William is that he can absorb the shock of his mother's death and go on to lead a fulfilled and useful life. Inevitably, he will start to move centre stage as Prince Charles turns 50 in November, as Queen Elizabeth ages and when the nonagenarian Queen Mother is no longer around to sit smiling graciously under an umbrella as she did at the Ascot Races last month.

But whether William likes it or not, a significant moment in the royal rites of passage is the renewal of the dynasty. And whatever his achievements, the next 10 years are destined to lead to the apotheosis of the current hopes and dreams: When the Prince of Hearts gives his to an appropriate bride, to secure the succession and to keep the tattered family flag flying.-(Couresy International Herald Tribune)

Combined Efforts

By Ayesha Reza Rafiq

A daughter following in a mother's foot steps is not that un- usual, but how often do you hear of a mother following in her daughter's footsteps?

Thirteen-year-old Nadine Mcleod started painting early. As a toddler Nadine would daub paint as and when it pleased her on a wall set aside especially for her at home, with the blessings of her mother Priyeni Mcleod. Recognising her talent, her parents sent her for classes to art teacher Latiffa Ismail when she was about six.

As Priyeni used to sometimes wait until Nadine finished her classes, Latiffa encouraged her to start painting herself. Although she was not in the least interested in painting, Priyeni agreed to join the class about three years ago, as 'Latiffa was very persuasive', and has since developed an avid interest in painting. Both mother and daughter are great admirers of Latiffa Ismail's teaching methods. She never tells us what to draw, Nadine says, and that is the main reason she enjoys Latiffa's classes.

Priyeni and Nadine will hold a joint art exhibition 'Combined Efforts' at the Heritage Art Gallery from July 4 to 12. The exhibition has taken about an year to put together, with the majority of the paintings being Nadine's. It has proved to be a very expensive business, due to having to buy the paints and frame the pictures. 'Framing the pictures alone cost us Rs. 20,000,' Priyeni says. To save money they make their own canvases at home, which Nadine prefers to paint on. She paints with watercolours and does pencil sketches, but Priyeni uses the more expensive oils, as she says they are easier to paint with.

Mother and daughter however, in keeping with their different personalities, take a different approach to their art. Priyeni, very articulate, tells me, 'once I start painting I just can't rest till I'm finished, it's almost frustrating. That's when I take the colours and go 'dadabada, dadabada," punching her hands into the air to emphasise her point. "Because of this it's not at all relaxing." Then she points at a painting of water buffaloes hanging on the wall of which she seems to be very proud, and says this was done in just such a fit. Both Priyeni and Nadine say their moods influence their paintings a great deal, and it was when they were in bad moods that they have done some of their best work. Priyeni says she finds it very difficult to paint as she is not a natural artist. Nadine, the more experienced and the quieter of the two however, can finish a painting in just half an hour. "I decide on what I'm going to paint as I go along, so it's more relaxing for me."

Nadine, a student of Methodist College hopes to take her London O/Level in Art under the guidance of Latiffa Ismail. She is a great admirer of Senaka Senanayake's art but at the same time says that she wouldn't want to paint like him as that is not her style. While being quiet, she is stubborn when it comes to her paintings. Priyeni, obviously Nadine's greatest fan, says she has a great deal of confidence and never takes advice about her paintings from anybody except Latiffa.

Nadine seems to have inherited her artistic ability from her father's mother, also an artist. "My grandmother did that," she ventured to say, after her initial shyness wore off, pointing to a lovely painting of flowers hung on their sitting room wall. Priyeni says she wanted her mother-in-law also to contribute to the exhibition, but that lately she has lost interest in painting.

Priyeni, who worked for an NGO, Plan International, until a month ago, says she experiences fulfillment through her painting that she didn't through her job, which was why she left her administrative post there. Having a Diploma in Journalism from the Open University of Sri Lanka, she has set up a small scale business where she undertakes to write company profiles, newsletters, brochures, etc. She is also a member of the English Writers Workshop where she dabbles in writing poetry, and has had her work in local English publications such as 'Nava Silu,' 'Channels' and 'Waves.'

So where do they get their inspiration? Nadine says it's from no particular place. Priyeni, going a little bit further, says the Mcleod family has a love of travelling and makes it a point to go out of Colombo at least once a month. These are the times, says Priyeni, when she is inspired to do her landscape paintings, but Nadine does not paint on these excursions, as she prefers to indulge in her other interests such as swimming .

Priyeni is happy with her occupations as she thinks that, "when we're old we should be able to do what we want to do." Nadine who doesn't want painting to become her career as she feels she might "get bored if I have to stare at a canvas the whole day", at the moment wants to become a veterinary doctor but adds she will definitely continue painting.

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