I am one of 80,000*
Though the barbed wire, I am looking down the road of memory. Selvam, my Selvam, I am waiting for you To bring back our lost life. You grabbed my hand hard and…
Author: Prasanna Ratnayake
Now our New Year has no moon
The moon rises to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Dreaming, I take the rifle and shoot my own heart. Now our New Year has no moon. The streetlamps of La Chappelle…
If you cannot protect your people, why should the sun rise on your country?
Missing for over 300 days On 25th November, far away from my motherland, I rang Sandya Eknaligoda to ask her, How are you? Yesterday was the 300th day that her loving husband has…
Broken Pottu
An infant in Menik Camp. Many thousands of the IDP children have lost both their parents comes news from the Sri Lankan ‘welfare camps’. Bright red pottu Every morning Never missed. The…
We do not know what no one can deny: Stephen Champion’s Lanka War Stories
On 4th February 2008, as the government celebrated the 60th anniversary of our independence from Britain, it struck me strongly that we Sri Lankans are going round in circles. For some time…
Memories of a Black Moon – the 1983 riots in Sri Lanka
More than two and a half decades later, one of my friends has asked to interview me about the ’83 riots. I was ten years old. My family was from the Sinhala…
Travels in a Militarised Society 6 – Strolling along Ward Place, Colombo
It is 10th December 2007, Human Rights Day. I am taking a stroll along Ward Place from Boralla to Lipton Circus. To either side of me are new buildings that have been…
Travels in a Militarised Society – 5
Again Boralla I do not remember how many times I crossed the Boralla Junction in my life but I do know that this relatively small area of less than two square kilometres…
Travels in a Militarised Society – 4
Human Rights Watchdogs, Neo-colonialism and the Stray Dog Population of Colombo International human rights organisations accuse the Sri Lanka government, the LTTE and the paramilitary groups operating under the aegis of government…
Travels in a Militarised Society – 3
In Colombo Again – November 2007 In Bambalapitya, I am texting a friend while crossing the road. A man in a new military uniform I did not recognise accosts me, “What are…
Travels in a Militarised Society — 2
Anudhradapura District, mid October 2007 The huge, busy conurbation of Anudharapura—once a sacred city—has become the major transit centre for military forces en route to and from the current war zones. The…
Travels in a Militarised Society — 1
Boralla Junction, Colombo – October 2007 I am waiting for a bus holding a small transparent plastic bag of fruit for my mother. As usual, the buses are sounding their horns, conductors…
Daratt (Dry Season) – Realistic and Symbolic drama in a post-war terrain
What can we learn as Sri Lankans from this excellent Chadian film that deals so profoundly with the social and personal consequences of civil war, difficulties so similar to our own? With…
Song of the Sleepless River: Music, racism and resistence
In the past two months Hugh Masekela and Afroreggae have given sold-out concerts in the Barbican. But this note is not about jazz or reggae; it traces some reverberations and reflections these…
Protecting Culture or Fishing in Troubled Waters?
“What a Life, What a Time, What a Country!†An email arrives from my friend Sathyajith Maitipe. He has just received instructions from the Censorship Board to remove the sexual scenes from…