Personal page and articles by Nalaka Gunawardene
Ceylon Rationalist Association: 1970 Memorandum on a New Constitution for Sri Lanka
Photo source [Note: This memorandum was sent by the Ceylon Rationalist Association on 25 September 1970 to Dr Colvin R...
Continue reading »Beyond Nostalgia: ‘Children of Olcott’ Must Revisit History
Review of: Mahinde Thamai Iskole (Mahinda is the School!) by Sundara Nihathamani de Mel (Suratha Publishers, Mt Lavinia, Sri Lanka;...
Continue reading »Bridging Sri Lanka’s Deficit of Hope
The opening scene in the German-Sri Lanka feature film Machan (2008) unfolds at a garbage-strewn Colombo street, somewhere in the...
Continue reading »Re-imagine Development: Where Nobody Gets Left Behind
Cartoon by W R Wijesoma – Development that leaves some behind [Note: This was originally written as part of the...
Continue reading »March of Printer’s Ink: From Colombo Journal to Ceylon Today
Image courtesy Asia Society This short essay was originally written to mark the first anniversary of Ceylon Today newspaper, where...
Continue reading »“Inventors are like artists – we must celebrate and nurture them!”
Nalaka Gunawardene in conversation with Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, Commissioner, Sri Lanka Inventors Commission For over two decades, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi made a...
Continue reading »Manel Tampoe: Perceptive Chronicler of Sri Lanka’s DDT Generation
One of the earliest photos of Manel Tampoe, around age 15 Manel Tampoe, school teacher turned journalist and environmentalist, was...
Continue reading »A Child of Apollo Salutes His First Hero: Remembering Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11 bootprint When Neil Armstrong took that first ’small step’ on to the Moon, at 10.56 pm Eastern Standard...
Continue reading »Science and Politics of Mass Kidney Failure in Sri Lanka
Much of Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone is currently grappling with a drought caused by the delayed Monsoon. This is a...
Continue reading »The Rebel Who Peddled Dreams: On Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi (1954–2012)
Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi, who suddenly died on July 19 aged 57, is being described in tributes as a ‘veteran broadcaster’ and...
Continue reading »Rio+20 interview: “Green Economy should not justify Greed Economy!”
Environmental activist Hemantha Withanage talks to Nalaka Gunawardene in Rio de Janeiro Hemantha Withanage in Rio de Janeiro, photo by...
Continue reading »Who’s Afraid of Exotic Species, Gene Pirates and Government Babus?
Dr Ranil Senanayake, photo by Janaka Sri Jayalath In this second part of a long interview, South Asia’s first systems...
Continue reading »Sri Lanka’s Fast-track to Post-war Development: Remember the Mahaweli’s Costly Lessons!
Systems Ecologist Ranil Senanayake in conversation with Science Writer Nalaka Gunawardene. For Part 2 of this interview, titled Who’s Afraid...
Continue reading »Nurturing Public Trust in Times of Crisis: Reflections on April 11 Tsunami Warning
Five years ago, on a visit to the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo, Hawaii, I played an interesting simulation game:...
Continue reading »Arthur C Clarke’s World of 2012: Insights from his Titanic Novel
The year was 1989. Margaret Thatcher and George Bush, Snr., were in office. Mikhail Gorbachev was slowly but surely dismantling...
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