The Sri Lankan film director and writer, Tissa Abeysekara, is one of our greatest storytellers in both Sinhala and English. Two of the best examples are his short novel, Bringing Tony Home, published in 1998; and In My Kingdom of the Sun and the Holy Peak of 2004. These are landmarks in Sri Lankan literature. His latest work, Ayalea Giya Sithaka Satahan (Notes of a Vagabond Mind), this time in Sinhala, is a new genre in itself; part autobiographical memoir, part cultural commentary, an exploration of history through myths, folklore, archaeology and written documentation.

On reading this new book, I was immediately reminded of R. A. Brohier’s books Seeing Ceylon (1965) and Discovering Ceylon (1973) and of Martin Wickramasinghe’s Kalunkla Seveema …

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During this year’s Vesak week in Sri Lanka, Buddhists celebrated the birth, life and death of their Lord. Principles were recalled: that it is a bad thing to drink alcohol, to eat meat or fish, to commit any crime against living beings. However, there were no messages about the protection of human life, or references to the principle of ahimsa for people; revealing a curious absence of concern or interest in the humanitarian disaster raging in the country. The last few months of undeclared war in the North and East have generated 300,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and, according to reports by human rights organisations, more than 4,000 people have been abducted and killed; while in the South families …

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