On 7 February 1971, Trinity College, Kandy held its 99th annual Prize Giving. Presided by the then Anglican Bishop of Kurunegala, Lakshman Wickremesinghe, the ceremony featured Martin Wickramasinghe as its Chief Guest. By this point Wickramasinghe had become Sri Lanka’s leading literary figure. A grand old man of 80, he…

It is perhaps ironic that Amarasiri Kalansuriya joined the Second Volunteer Battalion of the Sinha Regiment the year he turned 18. Ironic, because it was this Battalion that the United Front government mobilised against JVP insurrectionists in 1971. Ironic, because Kalansuriya, who died last week aged 82, epitomised in film…

Sri Lanka under British rule — Since at least Marx and Malinowski, anthropologists have been fascinated by the links between “primitive-tribal” and “modern-secular” societies. I use these terms with a pinch of salt — hence the asterisks — for the simple reason that no society can be said to fit one case or the other. In…

Sri Lanka’s oldest development think-tank, Marga Institute was formed in 1972, at a time of deep social unrest. — The ideological direction of the journal will be radical in that it will unremittingly question the values and systems that hinder development. It stands for an equitable and humane social order which will eradicate social and economic privilege and which will leave no room for the concentration and arbitrary exercise…

The first Sinhala film I saw was “Chandi Shyama.” It did not, I confess, leave much of a good impression on me. The second, “Madol Doowa”, caught my fancies. The third did not catch my fancies, but it left a better impression. This was “Sagara Jalaya.” — Sumitra Peries’s fifth film, Sagara Jalaya Madi Handuwa Oba Sanda, is considered her best work today. Yet in another sense, it is hardly considered at all. While critics are willing to ascribe to it a high place, they do not pay to it the kind of attention they give to…

Mahagama Sekara died on January 14, 1976. On January 15, 2023, at 6.30 pm, Bandula Nanayakkarawasam will be presenting the latest “Rae Ira Pana” show at the New-Fangled Auditorium of Holy Cross College, Gampaha. Featuring Sunil Edirisinghe, Uresha Ravihari, Shashika Nisansala, Rohana Siriwardena, Raveen Kanishka, and Sarath de Alwis, it…

When I look back at 2022, what strikes me above all else is how agonisingly slowly it passed. The early days of COVID-19 had been slow enough. But 2022 broke that record. From day one, we were hurtled into one crisis after another, from which there seemed to be no…

A recent World Food Programme report underlies the magnitude of the food crisis in Sri Lanka. The report shows that 36% of the country’s households are effectively food insecure, while 76% are engaging in “food-coping strategies.” 35% of the country’s households are “facing insufficient food consumption”, while female-headed households (44%)…

The past three years have been exhausting and frustrating. When COVID-19 swamped the country and the world, I wanted to be done with it. I thus ended 2020 with the hope that 2021 would bring better news. But 2021 only carried forward 2020 to much worse heights. All bad things…