Curfew, moonlight, and Sri Lanka’s War

Curfew. An adult word. Floats across the power cut dark to the veranda. To us kids sitting around the carom board. Lit by a candle on an upturned Milo tin. Curfew. A thrilling word. It means no school. Waking late. Street cricket. Assorted fun with the gang along the lane. My ears pick up other …

Original Sri Lankan Hackers

They built Sri Lanka’s bridges, roads, power grid, dams and other infrastructure we take for granted. You may have heard a few names - Wimalasurendra, Kularathne - in passing. The rest never got the recognition required to be forgotten. Yet their work still stands. Despite a decaying state bureaucracy poisoned by Sri Lanka’s feudal politics. This …

My Nationalist Paintings

I painted endless variations of the same sunset at school. The powers that be approved. I was capturing the offical ideology in pretty pictures. Celebrating beliefs we kids were expected to swallow without question. The pictures themselves looked harmless. The sky was always a lush water colour gradient. Descending from a fringe of deep evening …

Controversial colonel’s return creates another political crisis in Sri Lanka

Rarely does the return of a famous son plunge a land into such a slow motion crisis. On the face of it the crisis appears to centre on emotional arguments about historical trivia. Yet it's divisiveness has frightening implications about the future post war stability of the island. To understand its significance, it is essential …

Whoever wins this election, we will be OK

Whoever wins this election, we Sri Lankans will be fine — or the very least manage OK. There will be no apocalypse. Life will go on. Sri Lankans will try to make life better with or without the government and NGOs. Not having a war will help. This is a naive sounding feather ruffling U …