Author Archive
July 3, 2009 at 10:19 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Foreign Relations, Human Rights, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk and spice routes for millennia. It drew traders from the east and west for both business and pleasure. Notable among the attractions were spices, whose many aromas and flavours formed an integral part of the tropical paradise experience.
The traditional Lankan curry contained up to 13 spices and herbs. Most plants were not native – cardamom came from South India, cloves from Indonesia and chilli all the way from the Americas. Cinnamon was Sri Lanka’s unique contribution to this delightful mix. The origins didn’t really matter: the islanders knew just how to mix the native and the foreign to achieve legendary results.
As Sri Lanka embarks on …
May 19, 2009 at 8:38 am · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, English, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics, Trincomalee, Vavuniya | by Nalaka Gunawardene
The long and bloody Sri Lankan war is over, and not a moment too soon. I really want to believe it. The alternative is too depressing to consider.
Of course, there is no independent verification – it has been a war without witnesses for the past many months, with no journalists or humanitarian workers allowed access. We know that history is written by victors, not losers. I am willing to take a leap of faith if that’s what we need to usher in the long-elusive peace.
As we stand on the threshold of peace, I am overwhelmed with memories of our collective tragedy. I hope we can once again resume our long suspended dreams for a better today and tomorrow.
I …
March 19, 2009 at 6:00 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Uncategorized | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Sir Arthur C Clarke on Hikkaduwa beach, photo by Rohan de Silva
Sir Arthur Clarke’s first death anniversary falls on 19 March 2009
Sir Arthur’s 90th birthday reflections (effectively his public goodbye) is available online at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE&feature=channel_page
During his illustrious career spanning over 60 years, Sir Arthur C Clarke received a large number of honours, awards and accolades from scientific, academic and literary bodies worldwide. At one time or another, he won all the top science fiction literary awards. He received honorary doctorates from universities in the east and west. In 1998, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his ’services to literature’.
In his adopted homeland of …
December 16, 2008 at 7:00 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
91st birth anniversary on 16 Dec 2008
“For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert.”
Sir Arthur C Clarke, whose 91st birth anniversary falls on 16 December 2008, once opened an essay on science and society with this pun on Newton’s Third Law of motion. He was empathising with politicians and the public who get confused when scientific opinion becomes divided or polarised.
Sir Arthur Clarke - photo by Shahidul Alam
Clarke was a rare expert who always tried to reconcile rational analysis with the real world’s limits of the possible. His forte was not only in extrapolating about humanity’s technological future, which he did exceedingly well in his writing and television appearances, but also in exploring …
November 21, 2008 at 11:12 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Book review of:
Palitha Perera Samaga Sajeeva Lesin
(Live with Palitha Perera)
Surasa Books, Colombo; 2008
‘What does Palitha Perera know about culture? He’s just a cricket commentator!’
That’s how a senior banker reacted when veteran broadcaster and journalist Palitha Perera’s name was proposed as script writer and narrator for a TV documentary series on Buddhist temple murals in Sri Lanka. When Palitha heard this, he realised how, in the minds of many Sri Lankans, he was pigeon-holed into a single niche. This prompted him to write his first book, capturing highlights of a long and illustrious career of over 45 years during which he has straddled multiple spheres of radio and TV broadcasting, cricket commentating, sports journalism, arts and culture. …
September 27, 2008 at 4:00 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
In the past week, the name ‘Sakvithi’ has been causing ripples in Sri Lankan society and creating numerous news headlines — for all the wrong reasons.
Sakvithi Ranasinghe, a populist tutor of English turned millionaire businessman, has fled the country after duping thousands of unsuspecting people to deposit their life’s savings in his investment firm. Media reports have variously placed the number of victims between 1,500 and 4,000 — and some estimates place the total worth of his loot to be a whopping Rs. Nine billion (over USD 83.5 million).
Since it broke around September 21, the scandal has consumed a good deal of newspaper space and broadcast time. Editorialists and TV pundits have been having a field day, some simply …
September 19, 2008 at 7:00 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
AJ Gunawardana and Lester James Peiris
September 2008 marks 10 years since the sudden death of Dr Ariyasena Jayasekera (A J) Gunawardana, an outstanding university teacher, writer/journalist, cinema personality and art critic. When he failed to regain consciousness from open heart surgery, at the relatively young age of 65, we lost a rare intellectual who had his feet firmly on the ground, and constantly built bridges linking media, culture and society.
AJ’s academic and professional accomplishments are well known and remembered. Having started as a journalist with Daily News, where he was a noted arts and culture correspondent in the 1960s, he went on to obtain a doctorate …
July 31, 2008 at 7:47 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Watching the current SAARC jamboree unfold over television news, my young daughter asked why none of the officials were smiling. The SAARC Secretary General, Dr. Sheel Khant Sharma, was always scowling. Others didn’t have smiles on their faces either, even insincere ones. They all looked stressed out, wearing glum, miserable faces.
I could only hazard a guess. Perhaps the assorted babus have too much to worry about, as they get through their very serious and grim business of fostering regional cooperation. On the other hand, after all these years of endless meetings and declarations, they might have forgotten the simple joys of smiling and enjoying each other’s company.
Make no mistake: SAARC is a good idea hijacked by unimaginative and pompous, unsmiling …
July 16, 2008 at 9:16 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Nalaka Gunawardene
One day a few years ago, I found my uncle in a really bad mood. Enjoying his retirement after long years as a senior civil servant, he was highly agitated about what I considered to be a perfectly harmless utility: the mobile phone.
“Everyone is carrying hand phones these days,” he complained. “The plumber, door-to-door salesmen — and even the paan kaaraya.”
What really irked my uncle was not so much what they were carrying as who was using the gadget. In his worldview, the mobile phone was a sophisticated technology tool not meant for the hoi polloi. (Especially when ‘respectable’ citizens like himself still didn’t own one.)
My arguments on social and economic benefits of enhanced access to telecom services didn’t convince …
July 7, 2008 at 8:25 am · Categories: Peace and Conflict | by Nalaka Gunawardene
Consumer protection! It’s of those widely desired, critically needed yet rarely found practices in Sri Lanka. When it does happen, even falteringly, the practice is largely confined to everyday consumer goods, mainly food items - ranging from our staples rice and bread to essentials like coconut, sugar and milkfood. Throw in LP gas, pharmaceuticals, fish and chicken, and the mix is about complete.
Or is it? Surely, our consumer needs and wants stretch way beyond these basic items? In twenty-first century Sri Lanka, when service industries dominate over manufacturing, retail and cultivation, why aren’t we consumers paying enough attention to safeguarding our rights on the service fronts?
A few examples illustrate these big gaps:
- The country’s electricity supply duopoly (CEB/LECO) introduced …
February 14, 2008 at 5:51 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Human Security, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Nalaka Gunawardene
13 February 2008, Colombo: Earlier this week, a leading Sri Lankan photojournalist was detained, questioned and released by police for taking photographs near a well-known Colombo school.
According to news reports, Associated Press (AP) photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe was apprehended by a group of parents who formed the school’s civil defence committee. They had handed him over to soldiers on duty near by, and he was briefly detained by the Narahenpita police.
It is not clear exactly why the experienced and credentialed photojournalist had to undergo this treatment. This might seem a minor incident in the context of highly dangerous conditions in which Sri Lankan journalists operate today. It was only a few days earlier that the World Association of Newspapers ranked …
