Podcast 2 : Hemasiri Liyanage at Haththotuwegama Felicitation Ceremony
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Hemasiri Liyanage’s speech at Gamini Hattotuwegama felicitation ceremonyවෙබ් ආලෝචනා පොඩ් විකාශය 2ඊයේ (2007 ජූනි 30) මහරගම තරුණ සේවා සභා පරිශ්රයේ …
Archive for June, 2007
Podcast 1 : Parakrama Niriella at Haththotuwegama Felicitation Ceremony
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Parakrama Niriella’s Speech at the Gamini Hattotuwegama felicitation ceremonyවෙබ් ආලෝචනා පොඩ් විකාශය 1ඊයේ (2007 ජූනි30) මහරගම ජාතික තරුණ සේවා සභා පර…
One for a Sunday Morning in Bed
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Blue tit leaving nest.
So, I moved out of my parents’ house in the boondocks and into a three-bedroom annexe in Colombo West. It’s a nice place, superb location, and I’m sharing with two close friends.
When people ask me why I moved out I jokingly answer that I need to have sex, but actually, it’s more […]
Views of Thoppigala mountain (possibly) and surrounding area
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Its been on the news a lot but rarely in a big picture. Its a strange place not clearly marked on any maps I could find on line. My main source was this United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs PDF file. Found a similar location in a PDF on Google (view in […]
Do you have a private life?
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
The digital camera coupled with email are changing a lot of things in our lives. Certain things, meant to be private, are now released to the general public. What made me write this? well, most of you might have received the hen night pictures of the wife*, of a sri lankan cricketer.
Most people now carry […]
The need to break silence - embarrassing!
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Words such as “wassup”, “hey” are used to break the silence, or simply to acknowledge the presence of another at office. Sometimes, people ask “how is it going?”. Being a guy, i was asked that once while i was standing in front of a urinal - emptying my bladder: the natural answer was “its going […]
The pretense of professionalism - the flipside of media freedom in Sri Lanka
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
In calling the media “feral beasts” caught in a vicious cycle of unravelling standards Tony Blair, in his last days of office, may have captured the approach to journalism by some of the media institutions in Sri Lanka. While a recent article to Groundviews points to the abject degeneracy of State media in […]
The ‘Backfire’ Cometh!
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Found this excellent image of a Tupolev Tu-22M3 floating down to a landing from Wikipedia. This aircraft is unique in the world in the sense that it belongs to the elite brethren of supersonic bombers. It started off as an early version in 1961, in a totally different format. A product of the famed Tupolev […]
Weekends.
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Usually, most of the people look forward toward weekends. No work, no deadlines, no boss to scream at you, no waking up early in the morning… Its two days where you can do anything you can do and enjoy your life. Usually I have looked forward to weekends too. But lately, all of them seem to turn out to be pretty dull and monotonous.
FoieGras- First look at how the text rendering
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
After about a months of time into the GSoC project, I was able to finish the first significant improvement in the project that happened from my side. For a long time I was wandering here and there testing one thing or the other to see what’s working best and finally had enough of it.
For […]
තන්තිරිමලේ විදුලි ආලෝකයෙන් නැහැවෙයි.
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
විජය පුවත්පත් සමාගමේ පුර්ණ අනුග්රහය යටතේ පවත්වනු ලැබු තන්තිරිමලේ විදුලි ආලෝක පුජාව අාගමික වතාවත් වලින් අනතුරුව විජය පුවත් පත් සමාගවේ සභාපති තුමන් අතින් 2007/06/30 වන දින රාත්රි 7.00 විවෘත විය මෙම අවස්තාවට විශෘල පිරිසක්ද සහභාගි වි සිටියහ. මිට අමතරව සභාපති තුමන් අතින් දහම් පාසල් ගුරු ගුරුවරියන්ට නිල ඇදුම් ප්රධානය කිරිමද මෙහිදි සිදුවිය.
රාත්රි 8.00 ට පමණ […]
LRRP attack hits LTTE escort
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Sri Lanka Army’s deep penetration unit detonated a claymore mine targeting a senior LTTE leader’s escort last week. The target of this LRRP attack was a senior leader of the LTTE; Colonel Bhanu. 3 senior LTTE cadres were killed in this incident but Bha…
Restoration
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Restoration - Chat…Another addition to my new album soon to hit clubs around… life has never been this great!
post script
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
some pictures of cast and crew before the final show are on my flickr.
here and here and here’s what people said this time around.
mind adventures theatre company production options for next year include brecht’s ‘threepenny opera’ and a new musical adaptation of wederkind’s ’spring awakening’. keep an eye out.
for now, good night and good luck […]
Weekends.
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Usually, most of the people look forward toward weekends. No work, no deadlines, no boss to scream at you, no waking up early in the morning… Its two days where you can do anything you can do and enjoy your life. Usually I have looked forward to weekends too. But lately, all of them seem to turn out to be pretty dull and monotonous.
more racist reporting by western media’s sri lankan corespondents
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
one more example of racist reporting by westerns media can be seen below. the headline reads “Tamils kill seven civilians” (this time the culprits are ‘afp correspondents’). this equating of tamils with terrorists is inexcusable. being journalists sh…
List of Sri Lankan Radio Stations and Online Streams
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Here I am listing some good Sri Lankan Radios and Music Portals with their online streaming feed. Remember some radio streaming feeds they providing are not valid, so in here I have try my best to avoid those invalid feeds.
Here goes the list;
SLBC Sinhala National Service [ Website | Live Stream]
[…]
Want to increase your productivity?
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Check out my blog entry on the above topic on my blog dedicated to personal development Unleash Your Potential.
Story of 5 Spartas!
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
In the movie 300, you have seen how these sparta soldiers guarded their soil, but dis video says actually there was 305 Spartas. Don’t you agree with me? then go ahead and see the video.
Why is stuff banned in school?
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Why are CD’s DVD’s and the like banned in schools? I mean, people who really want to bring something can get anything in, despite all the bag-checking as you enter and the random class checks.What’s the big issue? I mean, in school, it’s just a piece o…
Frustrating!
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Duh life is!I know there is a saying in Tamil which goes ” Kodukura Theyvam kooraya pichukondu kodukkum” which literally means if the god decides to bless you with something he gives them all at once! Until few days back I thought it only fits for good…
Car Bombs in London-UK feeling the heat
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
UK Anti-terrorism police have launched a huge manhunt for the people who planted two car bombs in central London. Police, who have described events as "troubling", are studying hours of CCTV footage in the search for suspects. The cars - both…
Perth Diary: Networking Equals Socially Challenged
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
The first thing you notice about living in Perth or Fremantle is that the people are for the most part very friendly here. Much more so than back home where friendship - pardon this cynic - seems to often be doled out in rations depending on either a) what you can do for the person or b) what it is about you that they like and want to be associated with.
I don’t mean to give you the impression that the Australian people are by all means to be considered a fun jovial lot. Both statements in the last paragraph are generalisations and I accept them for what they are. But it has been an observation of mine that there more people here that are open to the idea of friendship or association with me than there would be back home. People seem to be more accepting.
This could be the case for a lot of reasons. Perhaps I think more like they do. Perhaps I have been lucky to find the minority of people who are nice. I hear a lot of stories about people who aren’t nice after all. Perhaps it’s the fact that Fremantle and Perth seem to work like a small village - everyone knows everyone else.
It’s not a small place this western half of the country. It supplies the nation with food and with the mining that accounts for most of the country’s economy. It’s bigger in landmass area and size than most of Europe. Yet it has a tiny population in comparision to it’s size due to the climate and landscape and most of that population is centered around Perth and the mining towns.
Perhaps it’s best to say that Perth and Freo work like Colombo does to an extent. Maybe the gossip network is just as strong. But the moment you meet a new Sri Lankan, they ask questions about your family and relations to try figure out if they are related to you or know someone - anything for a term of reference to start a conversation? People here don’t ask who you are related to but they do ask if you know so-and-so once you tell them where you work or study or what you are in involved in. Perhaps the networking here revolves more around what people do or where they live rather than who they are related to. I have had people ask me if I know so-and-so who goes to Notre Dame. Not very likely mate.
I guess inane questions are to be found all over the world. There is no escaping them.
But I am serious about the small village syndrome. I could suddenly find that somehow inescapably I am connected to my next door neighbour via a friend of a friend of a friend. Not that I am obliged to know them - they can be noisy at times. They keep switching the dishwasher in their kitchen on when I am ready to go to bed and their kitchen backs on to my bedroom. Who was the wonderful architect who planned that wonder of interior design I wonder.
And it is amazing how news travels and how fast. I could run into random people in Perth who know me through my partner’s mother, who will hail me in the street, remember my name and know every minute detail of my life despite the fact that I only met them once. They get all their news through her. I guess I have been adopted. People in Fremantle know me by sight now and know my life history even if they cannot remember my name. The people who run the two newsagents know me, the travela gent knows me, everyone in a bookstore for miles around definitely knows me and the baristas in Dome are so familiar with me that the moment they see me come through the door, they have run my order and started making my hot chocolate. Apparently I am a fixture in Fremantle now.
But I can’t complain. This is why I chose not to live in Melbourne or Sydney. Sure, there are Sri Lankans there and I am sure they are very happy. But I see no point in taking the chance to live abroad for awhile and then choosing to live somewhere where you would inevitably get drawn into a 20,000 member strong diaspora and you would never have a chance of meeting anyone else. And with the gossip and networks, any chance of a private life would be moot. If I wanted to be around Sri Lankans 24/7 I would have stayed at home - a few are all right but I’d like to be friends with other nationalities too.
Maybe this is why I chose Perth. Tonight I get on a flight to go to Brisbane before I head for home. I will be away for a month. The number of people that I have only met recently or met once or twice who claim they are going to miss me and have called my house or my cellphone to wish me luck is overwhelming and I am touched hence why I thought I would write about them this week.
Friendship is a strange thing. You can make friends in a minute who will be lifelong buddies - you can spend a good part of your life just getting to know someone well enough to consider them a friend. And sometimes someone you never thought would be a friend - merely someone you know - suddenly finds they have more in common with you than they thought - something you could have pointed ages ago - and wants to spend time with you more often. And you take the chance because you can never have too many friends.
Even if as with me, they do end up getting scattered across the world and never even think of emailing you.
- Marisa Wikramanayake
Chatroom Rview…ish.
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
I went for a play last night called “Chatroom” at the Punchi Theatre in Boralle. It was basically about a few 16 year old kids chatting about random shit online. It began on a funny note, with one kid (the cynical boy) trying to convince another (t…
PUNCHI BANDO OBA KOHEDO?
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Where is Punchi Banda?
“Fuel prices up again
The price of petrol was increased by Rs. 5, diesel by Rs. 4 and kerosene by Rs. 16 a litre from midnight yesterday.
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Lanka Indian Oil Company said the decision to increase fuel prices had been taken due to rising crude oil prices in the world market.
According to the latest hike the new price of a litre of
iPhone
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
So the iPhone has hit the streets finally, and with a fuxxing steep price tag of 599 Dollars for an 8gb ! (hmm..not bad) My friends are going crazy over this… First of all whats with the name, I want a numeric code name like 7250, N95 etc. not somet…
Goodbye Jimmy Boy
Friday, June 29th, 2007
Remember it like it was yesterday.
Tracy sent me a text one night and asked if I wanted to join the cast of her next production - Chatroom.
I’d been away from theatre for such a long time and feeling a desperate need to get back, I said yes.
I remember the first reading I went for. I […]
SLFP - (M). What would be the Future?
Friday, June 29th, 2007
Wrong Timing, Wrong Reasoning, Wrong Partnering.
Mangala Samaraweera is one of the few politicians in Sri Lanka, whom I identify as “value for votes” politician for the common public. (Surprised?). When we buy something from a shop, we expect some “value for money”. Likewise, when we vote for some politicians, we expect some “value for votes”. And Mangala Samaraweera has given exactly the same
පොසොන් පොය වැඩසටහන්
Friday, June 29th, 2007
පොසොන් පොය නිමිති කර ගෙන් විහාරස්ථානයේ ධර්මදේශනාමය වැඩසටහන තපොවනය නම් ස්ථානයේදි පවත්වන ලදි.
මිට අමතරව තන්තිරිමලය ශ්රි විමලඤාන මහා විද්යාලයේ සිසුන් ඔසු පැන් දන්සලක්ද, උඩුගම්පලගෙදර විහාරස්ථානය හා එම දායක සභාව විසින් සංවිදානය කර දෙනු ලබන බත් දන්සලක්ද විලච්චිය ප්රදේශයේ තරණ පිරිස විසින් දෙනු ලබන් බත් දන්සලක් හා තන්තිරිමලය තරැණ පිරිස විසින් සංවිදානය කර දෙනු ලබන බත් […]
අෂ්ඨාංගසිලයේ සමාදානය හා බුද්ධ පුජාව
Friday, June 29th, 2007
තන්තිරිමලේ විහාරස්ථානයේ වාර්ෂිකව පවත්වා ගෙන යනු ලබන පොසොන් පෝය වැඩ සටහනේ පළමු අංගය වශයෙන් අෂ්ඨාංගසිලයේ සමාදානය හා බුද්ධ පුජාව තන්තිරිමලේ විහාරාධිපති පුජ්ය ටි. චන්දරතන හිමිගේ ප්රධානත්වයේන් අෂ්ඨපල බොධින් වහන්සේ අභියස දි උදැසන 06.30ට පමණ ආරම්භ විය. එහිදි සියයකට අදික පිරිසක් පෙහෙවස් සමාදන් විය.
Sarvodaya Hosts Learning and Experience-Sharing Workshop on Eco-Village Design
Friday, June 29th, 2007
Sarvodaya recently hosted a Workshop to share the experience on Eco-village Design and the workshop was held at the Damniyangama Eco-Village constructed by Sarvodaya for 55 Tsunami affected families.
Secrets of Life
Friday, June 29th, 2007
I am giving you advice, so accept it. You will remain in good as long as you follow my advice. There are three signs of the believer: obligatory prayer, fasting and alms.The pretender has three signs: he flatters when someone is present, backbites when…
Spreading the glow…
Friday, June 29th, 2007
The historic Tantirimale Seya will be illuminated today and tomorrow by Wijeya Newspapers Limited for the fourth consecutive year to mark the Poson Poya day.
[…]
Illuminating Thanthirimale
Friday, June 29th, 2007
By Kelum Bandara
Thanthirimale Buddhist Shrine was built during the Anuradhapura era in the 3rd century BC and is situated on a rock, 41 km away from Anuradhapura. It had been known as “Thiwakka Bamunugama” during the times of ancient kings. It is believed that Bhikkhuni Sanghamitta on her way to Anuradhapura with the Sri […]
පොසොන් සිසිලයි - තන්තිරිමලයයි
Friday, June 29th, 2007
ෛඑතිහාසික තනිතිරිමෙල් රජමහා විහාරස්ථානය විසින් පොසොන් පෝය නිමිති කරගන වාර්ෂිකව සිදුකරන මහා පුණ්ය උත්සවයේ වැඩ කටයුතු 2007 ජූනි මස 30 වැනිදා තන්තිරිමලේ රජමහා විහාරස්ථනයේදි ආරම්භ විය.
2007/06/30 - පොසොන් පෝදා වැඩ සටහන
පෙ:ව: 06.30 - 07.30 :- අෂ්ඨාංගසිලයේ සමාදානය හා බුද්ධ පුජාව (බෝධින් වහන්සේ අභියස)
පෙ:ව: 07.30 - 08.30 :- හිල් දානය ( ධර්මශාලාව හා තපෝවනය )
පෙ:ව: 08.30 […]
A Day in the Life of Me
Friday, June 29th, 2007
Apparently if it’s not this:
it’s this:
According to girlfriend.
Symposium of Religious Leaders for Peace
Friday, June 29th, 2007
The National Peace Council of Sri Lanka has organized a Symposium of Religious Leaders for Peace along with National Conference on Religions for Peace and Sri Lankan Movement for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation. It was held at the BMICH (Bandaranaike…
6am Colombo on a Sunday
Friday, June 29th, 2007
I am charioteering alone to a small temple across town (having woken up in the pre dawn dark. Fiancee’s folks are have been having some small Pirith sessions at their place. Just the three of them, my parents and humble self. A short bout of chanting about an hour on Friday and Saturday evening. Sunday […]
Whites of your eyes
Friday, June 29th, 2007
There is something so disconcerting about seeing the whites of someone’s eyes in a car that is hurtling towards you. It was hardly my fault (I think). For one thing I could have sworn she had her left blinker on and she was in the left turning lane. I was more concerned with traffic taking […]
I fought the law..
Friday, June 29th, 2007
Muse
.. and the law won
After my last brush with the law (see Drinking and Driving) people have often asked me why I didn’t fight it. One went so far as to say that if I wasn’t guilty, then I should have fought it, and since I didn’t fight it, I must …