A very interesting little book came my way at the Public Library. ‘In the World of Literature’ by Ceil Cleveland is a quiz book, testing one’s knowledge of fiction, drama, poetry as well as non-fiction.

“In Sri Lanka, we have barely any state funding for artists and realistically speaking, the government doesn’t sustain a model that would support developing creative practitioners.

Those who argue that implementing the death penalty for serious crimes would act as a deterrent against others who might want to commit such crimes are almost certainly mistaken. The reality is that a person who wants to commit a premeditated crime d

Appreciation on Ramanathan Nadarajah   It was with profound shock and grief that the banking community, his friends and relatives received the sad news of the untimely demise of Ramanathan Nadarajah on 24 June 2018. He was 74 at the time of

Some private bus operators simply don’t respect commuters. Bus conductors don’t ‘conduct’ themselves because they don’t know how to.

If we affirm independence and pluralism in the media are in fact preconditions for democracy to flourish, it is possible for key elements in government to be committed to media that do not simply repeat what they would like to hear. A positive relati

No one in the world is impeccable. Everybody makes mistakes. It’s the nature of human beings to commit mistakes. These mistakes can be classified either venial mistakes or grave mistakes. Some grave mistakes like killing, raping, drug trafficki

Member of the Western Provincial Council Jayantha De Silva, who expressed concern over the country’s failure to manage female labour, pointed out that the agriculture based economy that existed about sixty years ago had given pride of place t

Fetullah Gülen, the leader of FETO, was the mastermind behind what happened in Turkey on 15th July, 2016. Fetullah Gülen and his disciples planned and tried to capture the Turkish Republic. They did not hesitate to use lethal military for

Tissa Abeysekara knew Regi Siriwardena. It was Regi who inducted Tissa into the cinema, when, aboard Lester James Peries’s Gamperaliya, he pointed at him and suggested that he write the dialogues for the script. This was reasonable, given tha

Having given considerable concern in regard to the current state of affairs pertaining to the plantation industry, I wish to highlight certain facts, even though many have expressed their views.

Music has a Therapeutic value.I am a teacher of Western Music and English with 40 years of experience. Even now, I send pupils for London Examinations. I have taught in popular and less affluent schools, mostly in the Southern Province.   

They  are crammed in trucks, making that one last journey in their life. Cows of all sizes and shapes silently moan as they sense what is yet to happen. As the doors open at the butcher’s, some are with broken limbs, some have died and s

Mervyn Samaranayake passed away on July 18 in 1990. I write this with much feeling.   

The Colombo-Kandy hill-country railway line completes 165 years on 3rd August 2018 since its commencement on 3rd August 1853 by the English Governor Sir Henry Ward. Among the other railway stations, one of the main railway stations that begun its c

An annual feature in the Old Girls Association (OGA) calendar is the Susan George Pulimood Memorial Oration held every year on the 23rd of July to commemorate the birthday of Mrs. Pulimood who served Visakha Vidyalaya as Principal for 22 long years

 Since Sikkim became the first organic paddy farming state in India in 2015, many other countries have shown interest in working towards establishing a safe and  organic food industry.  Senior Professor and Chairman of the Department o

In a landmark event, marking Policy Makers Day of National Early Childhood Care Week 2018, Building Brains, Building Futures, The Sri Lanka Early Childhood Development (ECD) High-Level Meeting presented early childhood-centric budget proposals to Min

It all started with a two-acre land near the Mahaweli River in Mahiyangana. The land is ideal for those engaged in illicit sand mining.  One day a police constable attached to the Mahiyangana Police station approached the 50-year-old Podi Kumari

“Devena Vihangun” (Burning Birds) is Sanjeewa Pushpakumara’s first feature film and has won several international awards.

It’s a tough world out there for artists. Sustainable support for the arts has been literally non-existent in the past, in Sri Lanka.

“Asia and Pacific region should agree for a regional policy to address water-related disaster risk reduction” said State Minister of Irrigation and Water Resource Management, Palitha Range Bandara, at a special side event on Water and Dis

16th of July 2018 marks the 3rd month of the passing of Balasubramaniam Surendra, Suren as he was known to many of us. It was with profound shock and sadness that his family, countless friends and associates learnt of the news of his passing. &n

Mr. Kandavanam Kanagasabai, who was well known among friends as “Kanagasabai” hailed from a devout Hindu family from the North. He had his education at St. Henry’s College, Illavalai, a Catholic institution, and was a hosteler durin

Certain intellectuals love to wax eloquent on “alternative narratives” and not always for innocent reasons. In Sri Lanka, for these ladies and gentlemen, the prevailing narrative is informed by a Sinhala Buddhist mindset. An alternative t

Extracts from the Keynote Address by Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayake, Senior Lecturer, Department of English Language Teaching, University of Sri Jayewardenepura at the National Conference on Library and Information Science held on 28 June 2018.&n

Creating a healthy generation of children with potential is a vision of any country. As observed and mentioned, children should be nurtured to take the mantle of the society forward and in the right direction. But whether they have the proper envir

Fernand Braudel (1902-1985), the greatest historian of his generation, was possibly the greatest historian of the preceding century. His methods, profound as they were, have influenced historians, anthropologists, and ethnologists the world over. B

Leptospirosis, commonly known as rat fever, is mainly a disease infecting people working outdoors. This is a disease that occasionally causes serious consequences and even death. 

When we see someone, especially a child who is mentally or physically disabled, we immediately feel sorry for him or her. We make utterances like “aney pau” or “sin” when we see this type of child. Some however, feel disgust