91 days will teach you a lot about a country. Since they moved here in early February, Jürgen Horn and Michael Powell have found that the quickest way to gather a group of Sri Lankans is to get into a car wreck. They’ve become addicted to kottu and thambili, learnt that baby elephants sometimes like … Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2012
Jay Jay: Seeing is Believing
Don’t call Jay Jay a magician – he’d rather be known as an illusionist. (He considers the latter designation the “more classy” of the two.) Whatever you dub him, it doesn’t make what Jay Jay accomplishes any less clever – employing suggestion and misdirection, artifice and guile he convinces you to believe, however briefly, in … Continue reading
Olivia Newton John: Two Conversations with ONJ
She doesn’t like the words ‘bucket list’, considers allowing oneself negative thoughts a form of self-defeat and bristles at the implication that it’s time to retire ‘Let’s Get Physical’. “You think it stops now?” she asks my colleague, obviously enjoying putting a journalist on the spot. A few minutes later she says, “Someone told me … Continue reading
Suzanne Andrade: ‘The Animals and Children Took to the Streets’
A dark sky filled with stars hangs above the city, but down at the Bayou Mansions the women in leopard print are still awake. They are singing, their scowling white faces filled with malice and disenchantment. One of those faces belonged to Suzanne Andrade and by the time I meet her I am used to … Continue reading
Prof. Narendra Nayak: “Blasphemy is a Fundamental Right.”
Prof. Narendra Nayak doesn’t believe in miracles. He’s manufactured too many of them himself to do so. So what if the mystic can light a lamp with water or a place a flaming ball of camphor on his tongue? It proves little if the priest can pull holy ash out of thin air or pour … Continue reading
Nishan Silva and Kyle Mayfield: Snuba in Sri Lanka
You should know this: my decision to Snuba is a real act of courage. I once got seasick just watching a documentary about the ocean, my mediocre freestyle keeps me partial to the shallow end of any pool and I last owned a swimsuit in 2005. You might think that my borrowed swimsuit and I … Continue reading
Keerthi and Lalani Wickramarathne: The Way of the Bow
The quiet click of an arrow being notched is followed by a muted thud as it embeds itself in a bolt of straw. The sounds carry over the gentle patter of rain drenching the quiet garden in Thalawathugoda where Keerthi and Lalani Wickramarathne run their dojo. Here, the couple teach the ancient martial art of … Continue reading
Kannan Arunasalam: On making the ‘I Am’ series
In Kannan Arunasalam’s ‘I Am’ series every one of the narrators is given a title, a designation if you will. Retired school principal S. Thoradeniya is dubbed ‘The Reader,’ Bala Tampoe is ‘The Union Leader,’ Helga de Silva is ‘The Warrior Queen,’ The Venerable Walatara Sobhita Nayaka Thera is ‘The Chief Monk.’ If one were … Continue reading
Madiha Sikandar: A Miniature Painter in Pakistan
The flower casts a shadow, the rhinoceros kicks up dust; a tracery of thin veins appear just under the delicate skin of one petal, sharp thorns sprout from another sturdy stem. When people see Madiha Sikandar’s work for the first time, her first challenge often lies in convincing them it’s not ‘real’ – “I can’t … Continue reading
Maya Krishna Rao: Dancing Ravana into Life
Maya Krishna Rao is pleased to find herself here, on the isle of Ravana. She’s been in pursuit of this elusive king for years and yet his essential nature continues to elude her. “It’s special to be here because in Sri Lanka, you’ve feted the man, and given him all the status that he actually … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 