Though she was born in Sri Lanka, raised in Zambia and is currently resident in America, Dr. Neelika Jayawardane has long since resigned herself to being Indian. “In Africa, if you’re South Asian, you’re Indian,” she says. “They see us as one monolithic Indian, just as we see Africans the same way. Instead of being … Continue reading
In recent weeks, daily power-cuts have reminded Sri Lankans that a steady flow of electricity can be something of a luxury. However, in parts of rural Sri Lanka even interrupted power would be a welcome step-up from having to rely on kerosene. Now, researchers from the Kelaniya University’s Physics Department have hit on what could … Continue reading
There are three naked children in the picture, but only one of them is malnourished. There’s nothing obvious to give it away – the boys look fairly healthy, the first even boasts a little paunch. When Nkosinathi Mbuya, senior nutrition specialist at the Human Development Unit of The World Bank, reveals that despite his round … Continue reading
Farah Zahir knows that for a parent, not knowing can sometimes be the heaviest of burdens. Still, she is often the last place they go looking for answers when their child isn’t developing normally. A post-doctoral fellow working at the Friedman lab and the British Columbia’s Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver, Canada, Farah studies the … Continue reading
The crumbling remains of two forts (one Dutch, one British), an old barn once used to store arecanuts and some rare silver tokens bearing the legend Fanam are all that remain to tell the tale. They are all connected to Ruwanwella – one of the key points along the ancient road that once stretched all … Continue reading
The Indian government wanted its disabled citizens to vote. Faced with mounting social pressure, leading parties were debating disability issues in their stump speeches, vying for votes. Here was a departure from business as usual – the Disability Act, passed in 1995, guaranteed equal opportunities to disabled people but little had come of it. Tom … Continue reading
Asha De Vos and her watch have been all but inseparable for nearly 15 years. A gift from her father, well-known architect Ashley De Vos, the watch was an acknowledgement of what her family recognized as Asha’s “strong desire to be at least five minutes early to anything I attended or did.” Punctuality, however, isn’t … Continue reading
Dr. Michael Van der Poorten keeps his garden well stocked with poisonous plants. A few leaves from the patch of Kalanchoe growing in the shade are enough to make up a fatal dose while the slender vine of Tragia spp, a stinging nettle, lies close to the path, ready to inflict intense itching on anyone … Continue reading
Could we have already braved the worst case scenario? It’s small consolation, but new research suggests that something along the lines of the 2004 tsunami, which left such crippling devastation in its wake, is the direst Sri Lanka could face. Using computer modelling, Dr. Janaka Wijetunga, a senior lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering, … Continue reading
The hullabaloo that greeted the opening of the E01 in late 2011 may have been somewhat out of proportion to what one might expect a mere expressway would warrant – but while they’re common enough elsewhere, this was a first for Sri Lanka. The 128km of winding concrete ribbon made travelling from Kottawa in … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 