What do you say to a man who has kept you waiting for five years? Before us stands author and poet Vikram Seth; shirt open to the waist, hair tousled by hands and breeze, he’s uncertain of who we are and why we have come to intrude on him. I’m wet from the hips down, … Continue reading
Surrounded by masons at work, Tristan Al-Haddad is laying bricks. His white t-shirt isn’t quite as pristine as it was a few hours ago, his hands are coated in dust, grime and sweat beads on his brow. People driving by on Horton Place need only glance over into the grounds of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute … Continue reading
As you sit here, reading these words, trillions of neutrinos are streaming right through you; as if you were a sieve, they pass unnoticed through your clothes, through your skin and bone, through the chair you are sitting on and the floor of the room you’re in. They pass right through the Earth itself and … Continue reading
The first face I see belongs to Lord Ganesh. As is traditional, the Remover of Obstacles greets every devotee who arrives at the newly opened temple in Wellawatte. Inside, three goddesses await but this space is dedicated primarily to one of the eight forms of the goddess Luxshmi – from the benevolent hand of Aishwarya-Luxshmi … Continue reading
Some of the most interesting moments in Aaron Burton’s film ‘My Mother’s Village,’ come when people sit watching themselves. There, captured on the screen, they are as they were over 30 years ago. The passing of time solidifies in that moment, etched in to the very lines of people’s faces. Chandrawathie’s face now, for instance, … Continue reading
For Part 1, look here. In Delhi, green tends to come in dustier shades, but there’s so much of it. The area adjoining Hauz Khas Village is a great example – the trees grow thick and a little wild but sadly the deer park appears bereft of deer. The village, swallowed whole by a ravenous, … Continue reading
Pic courtesy Dominic Sansoni–three blindmen photography Laki and his owls: he’s lost track of how many he’s sketched, sculpted and painted into life but the closest you’ll ever come to seeing them in the same place is in a book launched last week. ‘Laki’s Book of Owls’ delivers exactly what the title promises and catalogues … Continue reading
The biomedical in biomedical engineering ensures that Angelo Karunaratne’s raw materials are quite distinct from his counterparts who specialise in say, aeronautics. His playing field is the bridge that links medicine and engineering and he works not just with plastic and metal but with living tissue. With the completion of his PhD, the young Sri … Continue reading
By November 29, Dr.Nalin Samarasinha a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Houston, Arizona, felt like he had been on a rollercoaster. As Star gazers, professional and amateur alike, waited with bated breath to hear of ISON’s fate, reports began to pour in. A few hours before, the comet had attained perihelion, skimming … Continue reading
Rumours are popping up around comet C/2012 S1 faster than astrophysicists can squash them. No, there are no alien aircraft accompanying the comet known to the public as ISON; no, electric discharges didn’t link it and Mars when it flew by the red planet in October (the cameras of Rovers Opportunity and Curiosity didn’t even … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 