Nadeesha* has worn a burqa for 15 years, and the abaya for twice as long. Last week, when she heard that a ban on face-covering was in place, she knew there was a difficult time ahead. “This is a lovely country, it is my country. It has been a paradise on earth, and we have … Continue reading
There are few people who know their way around a Sri Lankan garbage dump as well as Dr.Randika Jayasinghe. However, while you might expect the research scientist to be studying landfill composition or whether toxins are leaching into the groundwater, Randika is actually more interested in talking to the communities in the area. “I look … Continue reading
As the sun sets at the Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan, the two countries execute a quick parade. Every day, a border closing ceremony involves soldiers in full regalia from both sides marching in a choreographed demonstration that includes the highest kicks you have ever seen. Spectators applaud, but when tensions run high in … Continue reading
Vraie Balthazar remembers thinking: “This can’t be normal.” Her periods had taken on a kind of life of their own. She would bleed not just three or four days, but seven days. Her sanitary napkins needed to be changed every two hours. She would layer them together, two-pads deep, to make a kind of adult … Continue reading
Standing at just 4’11, Thilini Gunasekera is used to being dismissed. It happened when she wanted to join the Air Force and study aeronautical engineering – she didn’t meet the height requirement. It happened again when she stepped into a classroom full of men to study how to become an automobile mechanic – except this … Continue reading
Exciting research based on finds at the Fa-Hien Lena (cave) in Kalutara are transforming anthropologists’ understanding of how Homo sapiens moved through our world some 45,000 years ago, while offering an explanation for why we are today the solitary survivors from a family tree that once included other hominins such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus. … Continue reading
High-altitude training at sea level is not for the easily embarrassed. For the past few weeks, daybreak sees Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala and Johann Peries rise and gather their gear before they head to the beach or to a park. Endurance training has them pitting their strength against the high waves or lifting 20-kg weights in each … Continue reading
It seems inevitable now that Richard Flanagan would come to know Siegfried Heidl better than John Friedrich. Heidl is a work of fiction, but he is Flanagan’s creation; Friedrich on the other hand, when all is said and done, was a man Flanagan spent just three weeks with, some 30 years ago. Yet, Friedrich has … Continue reading
Today, Prof. Eyal Weizman will deliver the 18th Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust Lecture at BMICH. Its open to all, and you should go. From experience, I can tell you that Weizman’s work is both provocative and significant. We met when the Israeli professor was a speaker at the Falling Walls conference in Berlin. The conference is … Continue reading
Have you heard the story about Gabriel García Márquez’s 80th birthday party? Gabo was famous by this time, his years as a poverty stricken journalist having given way to his career as Colombia’s most famous novelist. At 55, he had become the first of his countrymen to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. At 80, … Continue reading
