Like Drought Parched Earth: The Painful Injuries Sustained By Tea Pluckers
“I apply castor oil to my fingers and hold them over the fire. That is the medicine. For two days, I can pluck tea. After that, the pain comes back. So I…
Year: 2017
STORYSPHERE: In Search of Work
As part of a series marking 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka, used StorySphere, an immersive storytelling platform created by Google to showcase 360 degree imagery. Here, Principal Sivayoga of…
STORYSPHERE: The Daily Journey
As part of a series marking 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka, used StorySphere, an immersive storytelling platform created by Google to showcase 360 degree imagery. Here, Vice Principal of…
The Rights of Tea
The tea’s words explode, hot water turns into red and gold. Pekoe picked on Nuwareliya slopes. burnt in kilns, sorted then for the nose of a dapper merchant in a silk suit…
STORYSPHERE: Education at Risk
As part of a series marking 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka, used StorySphere, an immersive storytelling platform created by Google to showcase 360 degree imagery. Here, Vice Principal Thiruchelvam…
The Road to School: Access to Education in the Plantation Sector
For children living in Spring Valley estate, close to Badulla, the day begins at 5:30 am, when they begin to get ready for the bus to school. The bus leaves at 6:20…
The Monarch and the Hegemon: Tales of Suicidal Folly
Emma Lazarus’ poem, , became news recently when a poetry website carried it in response to Donald Trump’s immigration policy, and Mr. Trump responded with a characteristic twitter-barrage. Lazarus’ poem, written to…
From Tamil Nadu to Badulla: A Century in the Tea Estates of Sri Lanka
The Spring Valley region of Badulla, nestled at the foothills of the Namunukula range, is one of the coldest areas of the Uva province. The tea factory of the same name has…
Voluntary, Safe and Sustainable Return: Support Needed for Sri Lankan Refugees
“O our motherland, bid us a farewell We buried our smiles in our lips We buried our life in our bodies We are making a procession like empty skeletons….” This was the…
The significance of Ms. Anika Wijesuriya’s evidence: What should we request from President Sirisena now?
Photo courtesy Getty Images, via As the media predicted last week, alluding to an off-guard comment made by a junior member of the Attorney-General’s legal team of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry…
A Look Back with Fresh Hope
Photograph courtesy Introduction Many Sri Lankans trace the ethnic problem back to the movement for ‘Sinhala Only’ and the passage of the Official Language Act in 1956. In fact, the problemneeds to…
On religion, intolerance and economic prosperity
Photo by Dominic Sansoni Some moons back, in the course of a conversation with an overseas-based Sri Lankan academic who was then in Colombo on a short vacation, I was struck by…
A Honeymoon in a Refugee Camp – Remembering Black July, 34 Years Later
S Sornalingam had always thought he would have happy memories of July 1983. On July 15 that year, he and Suhenthra Muthuraja got married in a civil ceremony in Jaffna. At the time,…
The Gloves Are Off: Reactions to Ben Emmerson’s Statement on Torture, Counterterrorism
On July 14, 2017 the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson released a statement at the end of his visit to Sri Lanka, where he met with detainees, activists,…
Constitution, equality and Beethoven’s ninth symphony
I’m responding to one aspect of the article by Dr Rohan Wickramasinghe published in The Island of 17 July, 2017. He poses the question as to what the aristocratic framers of the…
