Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Sections
    • A-Z of Sri Lankan English
    • Banyan News Reporters
    • Longing and Belonging
    • Long Reads
    • LLRC Archive
  • Authors
  • Editors
  • Special Editions
    • End of war | 5 years on
    • 30 Years Ago
    • Mediated | Art
    • Moving Images
    • End of War
    • Remember the Riots
  • About
  • Contact
  • Site Guidelines
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • Subscribe: RSS | EMAIL
  • ARCHIVES
Groundviews

Author: Mahesan Niranjan

Year
Month
Colombo, Jaffna, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Reconciliation

The Story of Green Shoots of Hope behind Barbed-Wire Fence

A few weeks ago, in the town of Kilinochchi in the North of Sri Lanka, I visited a large factory. An exciting visit to Kilinochchi, because just six years ago, the likes…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 09/10/201409/09/2014
Jaffna, Peace and Conflict

Counter-Thuggery Doesn’t Pay

Out there, in the Northern parts of post-war Sri Lanka, anyone who cares to look will see a difficult situation prevailing. There live people who have not been re-settled in places they…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 06/06/2014
Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Reconciliation

The Story of a Meditating Sri Lankan Man

The other day, on the banks of the Diyawanna waterfront close to the Sri Lankan Parliament, I noticed a man sitting in meditation. What a surprise? He is none other than my…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 06/04/201406/02/2014
Colombo, Education, Jaffna, Politics and Governance

The Story of a Sri Lankan Constant

Have you ever observed Physicists? They are usually searching for constants, and separating them from variable quantities aren’t they? You must have heard of Plank’s constant, gravitational constant, the speed of light…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 07/28/2013
Colombo, Politics and Governance, Remember the Riots

Pursuit of Revenge is Not Path to Justice

Photo courtesy BBC In our favourite bar  on the afternoon of the 21st this month, I was having a beer with my usual drinking partner, the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow, Sivapuranam Thevaram. “That…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 07/28/201308/14/2013
Elections, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance

The Importance of Working With

Image courtesy “Machan, I hope a couple of UPFA guys get elected, too!” said my drinking partner, the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow Sivapuranam Thevaram. It is a warm and beautifully sunny day…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 07/17/2013
Colombo, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance

Sumanthiran’s Choice

I have two Tamil friends. Their names are SriLankan Tamil and Tamil Sri Lankan. “Aren’t they the same?” you ask. No, the order in which the identifiers appear is significant, and is…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 06/01/2013
Colombo, Politics and Governance

Encounters with Upper Echelons

“What is the similarity between President Mahinda Rajapakse and our former President Dingiri Banda Wijetunge?” the Sri Lankan Tamil man, Sivapuranam Thevaram, of whom I have told you much in these pages…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 12/30/2012
Features, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Post-War

Don’s Diary II: A Flying Visit to Jaffna

In early December 2010, I made a short visit to Sri Lanka, spending two days in Colombo and three in Jaffna. Sunday: A day of perfect rest. My cousin and nephew visit.…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 01/30/201202/01/2012
Colombo, Jaffna, Language, Peace and Conflict, Reconciliation

The Story of Learning Lessons by Counting Costs

One morning last week, as I sat in my armchair reading the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliations Commission (LLRC), I saw a man dressed only in a sarong running along…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 12/28/2011
Colombo, Peace and Conflict

The Story of a Drunken Tamil Man’s Diary

Assume, like me, you are one of those expatriate Sri Lankans, living far away from home, often feeling the remorse of a guilty thief. You took a lot from there, particularly in…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 11/14/201111/12/2011
Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Reconciliation, War Crimes

The Story of the Hypocrite in a Tamil Man

Reaction to the recent programme by UK’s Channel 4, , has great variety, ranging from “Ah, didn’t we tell you all along, the Sinhalese and their army are nasty people,” from the…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 06/21/201106/19/2011
Colombo, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Poetry

The Tamil Man’s Genes

My Tamil DNA, inherited from generations before, and the genes lined up along it, have now been analyzed: 99.99 percent the same as a Sinhala fellow’s 99.90 percent the same as a…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 01/21/201101/18/2011
Colombo, Identity, Jaffna, Poetry, Politics and Governance

The Offer from a Sri Lankan Tamil Man

My King! I propose a deal with you COMPATIBLE with my Membership of our country I hold so dear which you do not wish to deny. My King! Here is your part:…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 01/05/201101/05/2011
Colombo, Education, Peace and Conflict, Post-War, Youth

Student Unrest in Universities

Unhappy university students are marching in the Island of Brinka, and I met my good old friend Sivapuranam Thevaram at a pub in the ancient university city of Cowford to discuss this…

Mahesan Niranjan Mahesan Niranjan on 11/12/201011/11/2010

Posts navigation

Older posts

  • Popular
  • Recent

Popular Articles

  • South Asia Faces a Volatile and Unpredictable Future: Amnesty International
  • When Repeal Is Not Reform: An Anti-Terrorism Act Worse Than The PTA
  • Still on the Rotten Bridge
  • Anti-Terrorism Bill: The Good, Bad and the Ugly
  • Kamala Vasuki: Bringing Truth Through Art

Recent Articles

  • South Asia Faces a Volatile and Unpredictable Future: Amnesty International
  • Kamala Vasuki: Bringing Truth Through Art
  • When Repeal Is Not Reform: An Anti-Terrorism Act Worse Than The PTA
  • Anti-Terrorism Bill: The Good, Bad and the Ugly
  • Still on the Rotten Bridge

Facebook

Groundviews

Twitter

Tweets by @groundviews

Copyright © 2016 Groundviews. All rights reserved. All content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Web Design & Development by SABERION