Suspicious rituals

I've been suspicious of rituals that permeate Sri Lankan life. It stems from a powerful lifelong inner conviction I've had since I was a child. The rituals around me - from dinner dances to school assemblies to pujas - were false, contrived, and manipulative. Deep down, I wanted nothing to do with them. So there …

Gift COVID gave to me

It's feeling comfortable with not giving fuck about tribal affiliations and associated displays. It's accepting that I'm an introvert who prefers not to socialise as a detached fact - not a value judgment. I can play the extrovert for survival (which is what the job requires). Yet even at my chattiest, the inner introvert is …

Sri Lanka’s politicians are the problem NOT the solution

Sri Lanka's professional politicians are the cause, not the solution, to the country's current catastrophe. They must ALL resign from politics. We must end the idea of politics as a profession. All of which might be harder to swallow than we think. As a group, they made politics into a lucrative form of organised crime …

COVID and the inner introvert

Pre-COVID, I thought I was an extrovert. It took a plague to kill that delusion. Not having to perform in the world of face to face interactions was a relief. I felt I no longer had to hold my inner breath anymore. I could admit to myself the insanity of the commute. Why go to …

Astrologers blamed for COVID-19 crisis

It’s an inauspicious start to the Sinhala-Tamil new year for Sri Lanka’s astrologers. Sri Lankans are lashing out at their astrologers for failing to raise the alarm about the COVID-19 crisis. The rage of a nation entering its first month under an indefinite curfew is growing. Curfew defying mobs outside the offices of prominent astrologers …