Aiyo! lamented Aiya to the Adigar
Picture courtesy Thuppahi Work on the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been underway since the turn of the century, but will not be finished for another decade or…
Culture
Frangipani : Opening Ourselves to Dialogue
90 min. Sinhala feature film with English subtitles is a Sinhala film made in Sri Lanka in 2014 written, directed and produced by Visakesa Chandrasekaram, a Sydney-based lawyer and creative writer. While…
Bikes, Helmets and Public Safety Concerns
The official government news portal of Sri Lanka recently reported that a ban on full-face helmets will be re-imposed starting April 02. The report argues that the “face of the motorcyclist should…
To be or not to be gay – Frangipani and the travails of homosexuals in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy Years ago, when only heterosexuality was legal in Australia men or women having sex with members of their own gender was a serious offence. Underpinning the law was a gamut…
Presidential polls 2015: An electoral trial on biased fortunetelling
AFP PHOTO STR/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian I don’t know much about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reliance on astrology, despite India being a land full of astrologers – those with credibility…
The Incident at Kumbukgate: Reflections on the Attack on Young Artists and Activists
Photo courtesy Nidahasa The chilling news came in the afternoon – our friends, colleagues and comrades who had been holding a small scale meeting in Kumbukgate, Kurunegala, were under attack, surrounded by…
T. Shanaathanan in conversation with Sharmini Pereira
Sharmini Pereira: What’s your earliest recollection of wanting to study art? Was it something that you were encouraged to do or something that you encouraged your family to allow you to do?…
Social Responsibility in Universities in Unstable Times
Photograph courtesy Vikalpa Vice Chancellor, the dean and colleagues, let me wish all of you a very good morning. When the Dean, Faculty of Arts wrote to me some time ago and…
In conversation with Thaji Dias
The gifted Thaji Dias is the Principal Dancer of the Chithrasena Dance Company. We begin our conversation, unsurprisingly, by getting Thaji to recall her first memories of dance, given the family and…
Colombo International Film Festival: Six Days That Would Change Your World
It is possible that one may find my title to be exaggerated: this is not the first time that we are hearing the words ‘international film festival’ in a Sri Lankan context….
Engaging issues of caste – the forbidden subject
Image courtesy Wikipedia Caste is observed by the overwhelming majority of Sinhalese and Tamils but the subject remains virtually taboo in public discussions. If it is mentioned in public, it is often…
Bringing Politics to the Stage: Observations on Post-War Political Theatre in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy Floating Space production of ‘My Other History‘ During the summer of 2010 I was tasked to assist a foreign post graduate student to conduct her research on Sri Lanka’s post war theatre….
Ideological Cancers within the Sinhala Universe: Roadblocks in the Path of Reconciliation
Photo by REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte via Channel 4 Way back in the 1970s the manner in which Anagārika Dharmapāla conflated the concepts of “Ceylonese” and “Sinhalese” in one of his public exhortations (Guruge 1965)…
In the name of talent
Image from ‘Kolavari Sri lankan tuition song-By Risinu Gamlath’ video, courtesy Sirasa TV For a very long time now I have watched little children performing at children’s reality shows in Sri Lanka,…
Sri Lankan gastronomy: In conversation with Koluu
Koluu is arguably Sri Lanka’s best known and most loved chef, and an actor to boot. We begin our conversation by going back to his childhood and looking at what prompted him…