Archive for Kandy
April 23, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Colombo, Development, Education, Kandy, Post-War | by Muditha D. Senarath-Yapa PhD.
I experienced three disturbing scenarios within the last 5 months. In no particular order they are as follows.
- I recently visited Sri Lanka after seven years. End of it I was overwhelmed by nostalgia and wanting to go back home. When I left my country for higher studies I had plans to come back. Right after the PhD, I wanted to stay a little longer and get some more research experience. So I took a postdoctoral position at a prestigious university. Of course I had to give up my probationary lecturer position and pay back the bond. After coming back from the recent visit, I searched for suitable jobs with enough chance to do scientific research in Sri Lanka. I actually …
January 7, 2010 at 7:00 am · Categories: Diaspora, Kandy | by Mahesan Niranjan
Saturday: Fly from Heathrow to Colombo; uneventful journey; drink gin and tonic, take long sleep. Hear that an aunt passed away just before departure.
Sunday: Catch up on sleep and go to funeral. My cousin goes through religious rituals, with the priest dragging on. He is a nice guy, my cousin, meticulously following all instructions from the priest. When in his position, at my dad’s funeral a few months ago, I had a quiet word with the priest: “Itupaththu Oraam nootaaNdu aiya, vEhamaahap pOngO (it is the twenty first Century, priest, go faster)”, and he obliged. Doesn’t matter though, because the only person at the event with good knowledge of Sanskrit was my dad, and he was dead. At my aunt’s …
November 30, 2009 at 5:38 am · Categories: Colombo, Education, Kandy, Peace and Conflict | by Nishika Fonseka
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries that provides students the opportunity of a free secondary education. More than 200,000 students sit for the GCE Advanced Level examinations in Sri Lanka every year, of which only around 20,000 are selected to the fourteen universities across the country. It is possible to conclude then that this 10% who make it, are among the brightest and best brains in the country, who deserve every bit of the chance they get to ensure a better life for themselves. Surprisingly then, barely one year into their University careers, a few of these same students get angrily referred to in the media and among the public as being “mentally unstable” and even “psychotic”. The reason? …
November 6, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Advocacy, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Districts, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Media and Communications, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Pollonnaruwa, Post-War, Puttlam, Reconciliation, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, War Crimes | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
Whilst it is not clear as to whether we would be voting in both the presidential and general elections on the same day, it is clear that we will be voting in at least one of them in the next three months, followed soon thereafter by the other. Most likely it will be the presidential elections since it is the president who has to decide and since he is much more popular than his party. Moreover, we have been told that he is willing to sacrifice, if necessary, two years of his first term in order to secure a second and a parliamentary majority nearest to the heart’s desire.
All elections are important and these will be no exception. It is worth …
August 1, 2008 at 4:16 pm · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Kandy, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance | by RD
It was July ’83.
I was seventeen, which you’ll be surprised about if you’ve seen my youthful appearance and I was in Sri Lanka on one of those “extended” studenty type of holidays that we all wish we could have now. It was the summer between the first and second year of my ‘A’ levels and my parents had paid for me to go there and stay with my Uncle and his Australian wife for a couple of months.
My mother is Tamil, as were her parents, an incredible coincidence I know. I went to stay with her brother who was working for a couple of years in Lanka. He had left the country as a child with my Mother’s family, had …
December 29, 2007 at 5:30 pm · Categories: Kandy, Media and Communications, Peace and Conflict | by Gamini Viyangoda
A few days back, a big poster published by one called Kosgoda Gnanaseeha Thero (B.A. Honors) of Pahingamuwa Gangarama temple could be seen pasted in some places in Kandy area. Its headline was âSolution to the National Question in Sri Lanka- Evict Three Million Aliensâ. It was so descriptive that it looked like a whole chapter of a handbook of patriotism than a normal poster. Therefore, only certain sections are quoted here, as would be necessary to understand its basic tenets.
âWe urge the UNO to evict three million aliens from Sri Lanka as an effective measure to prevent the conspiracy of exterminating the Sinhala race. The present war, the scarcity of food, obstructing development projects, murdering Sinhala leaders, anti-Buddhist campaigns …
March 9, 2007 at 8:46 am · Categories: Anuradhapura, Colombo, Galle, Hambantota, Kalutara, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Matara, Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Peace and Conflict, Pollonnaruwa | by Pradeep Peiris
The latest survey conducted by the Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals that Sri Lankans express mixed opinion on the recent crossover by the 18 UNP parliamentarians along with 6 Muslim Congress MPs. 37% of people approve of this move while the same percentage disapproves. Interestingly, a quarter of Sri Lankans are either unaware of the crossover or do not have an opinion on whether to approve or disapprove of it; despite the chaos it has triggered in many corners that is yet to be settled.
In the wake of numerous interpretations and reinterpretation of the present political situation as a result of the recent crossover by the political elites, the authors of …
