ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වැදි ජනයාගේ ඉතිහාසය

හිටපු වැදි නායක
තිසාහාමි(1998)

ප්‍රාථමික ජන කොටස්‌ හැඳින්වීම සඳහා ආදිවාසීන් යන්න භාවිතා කිරීම නොමඟ යවන සුළු බවත්, ආදිවාසී සමාජයන් සඳහා ප්‍රාථමික සමාජ යනුවෙන් භාවිත කිරීම වඩා තර්කානුකූල බවත්, මහාචාර්ය ජේ. ඩබ්ලිව්. ඩී. සෝමසුන්දර ප්‍රකාශ කරයි. (සෝමසුන්දර, 2008) ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආදිවාසී ප්‍රාථමික ජන කොටසක්‌ ලෙස 'වැද්දන්' හඳුන්වනු ලබයි. මේ නිසා මෙහිදී ම විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආදිවාසීන් යනුවෙන් අර්ථකථනය කරනු ලබන්නේ වැදි ගෝත්‍රික සමාජයයි.... වැද්දන් ඔවුන්ව හඳුන්වා ගන්නේ වැද්දන් යන නාමයෙන් නොව 'වන්නිලැත්තන්' යන නාමයෙනි. 'වැදි' යන සිංහල වචනය පාලි භාෂාවෙන් 'ව්‍යාධ' හෙවත් 'විදින්නා' යන අර්ථයෙන් බිඳී ආවකි (සෝමසුන්දර( 2006, පිටුව 77,). ව්‍යාධ දෙවියා යනු දඩයක්‌කරුවාගේ දෙවියා ය. මේ අනුව වැද්දා යනු දඩයක්‌කරුවා යන අර්ථය ගෙන දෙයි. 'වැදි' යන්න 'වන චාරි' හෙවත් 'වනයේ හැසිරෙන්නා' යන අර්ථය ද ගෙන දෙයි. අතීත වැද්දා සතුන් හීලෑ කරගත් හෝ ශාක වගාකර ගත් හෝ නිවහන් තනාගත් පුද්ගලයෙකු නොවේ. මේ නිසා වැද්දා යනු 'ප්‍රාථමික මානවයා' යන අරුත ද ගෙන දෙයි. වැද්දා හැඳින් වීම සඳහා පුලින්ද, සබර, නිශාද, වන සරණ, වනපස, වනදරු, මිලක්‌ඛ, කිරාත යන නාමයන් ද භාවිත වී තිබේ, දුන්නෙන් විද සතුන් මරණ නිසාත්, දුනු දරා සිටින නිසාත්, 'වැද්දා' යන්න ව්‍යාවහාර වූ බව පෙනීයයි. මෙම ප්‍රාථමික ජන කොටස වැද්දන් යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පමණි. වෙනත් කිසිදු රටක වැද්දෝ නොමැත. අතීත වැද්දා සත්ව හා ශාක ගෘහස්‌ථකරණයෙහි යෙදුණු පුද්ගලයෙකු නොවේ. නිශ්චිත භූමි සීමාවක්‌ තුළ පූර්ණ කාලීනව සතුන් දඩයම් කිරීමේ හා වන ද්‍රව්‍ය රැස්‌කිරීමේ යෙදුණු පිරිසකි. එසේ වුවද අද ජීවත් වන වැදි ජනයා ජීවන වෘත්තියක්‌ ලෙස සතුන් දඩයම් කිරීම නොකරයි. බොහෝ දෙනා වන ද්‍රව්‍ය රැස්‌කිරීමටත්, ගොවිතැනටත්, හුරු වී සිටිති. වැද්දන් ඔවුනට ම ආවේනික වූ මානව ලක්‍ෂණ හා සංස්‌කෘතික ලක්‍ෂණ ඇති ජන කොට්‌ඨාසයකි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වැදි ජනයා පිළිබඳ පළමු වරට සවිස්‌තරාත්මක පර්යේෂණ අධ්‍යයනයක්‌ සිදුකර ඇත්තේ වර්ෂ 1911 දී සී. ජී. සෙලිග්මාන් හා සිය බිරිඳ වූ බ්‍රෙන්ඩා ඉසඩ් සෙලිග්මාන් යුවළ විසිනි. ඔවුන් විසින් රචිත The Veddas ග්‍රන්ථයෙහි වැද්දෝ වර්ග තුනකට වෙන් කරයි. එනම් වැද්දෝ, ගම් වැද්දෝ හා වෙරළබඩ වැද්දෝ යනුවෙනි (සී. පී. සෙලිග්මාන් පිටුව, 29). ඔවුන්ගේ ගවේෂණයට භාජන වූ වැදි ජනාවාස 12 සඳහන් කොට තිබේ. එනම් බණ්‌ඩාරදූව. බුදුගහලදෙන, දඹාන. ගොඩතලාව, කොවිල්වනමේ, ළිඳගල, නිල්ගල, උන්නිච්ෙච්, සේන්කඩ, තමන්කඩුව. උණුවතුර බුබුල සහ සීතලවන්නියයි (සෙලිග්මාන්, පිටු 257-306). දහනව වන සියවසේ මුල් භාගයේ දී පමණ අමුඩය ගැසූ වැද්දන් හා උඩුකය නිරාවරණය කොට විලි පමණක්‌ වසාගත් වැද්දන්ගේ ඡායා රූප සමූහයක්‌ එම ග්‍රන්ථයෙන් දැකගත හැකිය.

We need to talk... the four words that could KILL your marriage

By Tanith Carey, Daily Mail

When Susie Clements rang her boyfriend and told him: ‘Darling, we need to talk’, she hoped it would be a turning point in their relationship.

Both were saddled with hectic work schedules, so Susie wanted to find ways for them to spend more time together. But instead of opening up the lines of communication, Susie says her suggestion to boyfriend Simon had the opposite effect.

‘As a couple, the time we’d spent together over the previous months had been magical,’ says Susie, 52, a striking blonde divorcee from Lincoln.

‘But we were both busy people — and I wanted to work out a way where we could have more of those good times.

‘When I rang Simon and told him I wanted to discuss where we were heading, there was a long pause. Abruptly, he said he was on his way to play squash and he’d call me the next day.’

Looking back, Susie, who runs her own importing business, realises it was a turning point — but not the one she was hoping for. She says: ‘We had a row about his attitude and after that he grew distant. I tried to bring it up again when we next saw each other — but he just looked at me blankly and said: “You’ve lost me.”’

‘In retrospect, I wish I’d never uttered those words, because it was the beginning of the end.

SLC bans national cricketers from speaking to media

The Interim Committee running Sri Lanka Cricket has banned national cricketers from speaking to the media, journalists covering the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Galle were told yesterday.

Despite repeated requests, Interim Committee Secretary Prakash Schafter informed that national cricketers will not be available to speak to journalists while the Chairman of the Interim Committee Upali Dharmadasa played it safe avoiding calls from journalists.

No specific reasons were provided for the ban to speak to the media on the Test series that gets underway today, but ‘The Island’ learns that the Interim Committee officials were acting on the instructions of their political bosses. The Island

Southern Highway : Emergency service for users

The government will introduce an emergency hotline (1969) to assist users of the Southern Highway during an emergency and disaster situations.

Ports and Highways Deputy Minister Nirmala Kothalawela said the hotline has been designed to provide emergency roadside assistance relating to security, medical, fire extinguishing service and disaster management and other rescue services.

The hotline would provide emergency response to help the highway users with personal or medical emergency associated with an accidents or illness while they are on the highway.

The deputy minister said that the 24 hour emergency service units including emergency disaster service, ambulance service, police service, and fire and rescue service will be established on the Southern Highway. Meanwhile, emergency breakdown services will also be operated for the benefit of highway users. Highway users can call the hotline to obtain emergency service as well as other advise while they are traveling on the Southern Highway.

Courtesy - Daily News By Irangika RANGE

Midnight In Paris: Love Letter To The Most Beautiful City In The World

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

This is Woody Allen’s 41st film and his highest grossing feature in North America, why? No idea. Midnight in Paris is not half as gripping as his previous four movies which were all filmed in Europe. Allen gave Scarlett Johansson her best roles in the London based Match Point and in Vicky, Christina Barcelona where she and her other cast members had superbly written characters. Even Allen’s previous production You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger had such a strong ensemble cast led by the amazing Naomi Watts and Anthony Hopkins, that, it is a shame the entire lot did not get a group acknowledgment for their performances.

The wider public appeal of Midnight in Paris is probably thanks to less twisted and complicated characters in the film.

Gil played by Owen Wilson is a Hollywood screenwriter who is thinking of giving up his lucrative career for that of a probably less commercially successful author. He is holidaying in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her equally shallow parents who hate just about everything about France. Inez wants to go shopping, get some ridiculous antiques just for the sake of saying that they were purchased in Paris, get married and go back and live in Malibu. She is rather unsupportive of Gil’s new career goals and it becomes very quickly obvious that they are the mismatch of the century.

ලෙයින් තෙත් වුණු ඉතිහාසයක මහා තිර සිත්තම ගාමණී

අපේ රටේ ඇඟට දැනෙන

යුද සාහිත්‍යක්‌ බිහිවුණේ නැහැ   ගාමණී අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර 

ගෝනගල සිංහල ගම්මානය අම්පාර දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌කයේ උහන පොලිස්‌ බල ප්‍රදේශයට අයත් ඉතා දුෂ්කර ගමකි. මීට අවුරුදු 12 කට ඉහත දී එනම්, 1999 වසරේ අගෝස්‌තු 25 වැනිදා එම ගම්මානයට කඩා වැදුණු ම්ලේච්ඡ කොටි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් නිරායුධ ගම්වැසියන් ඝාතනය කරා ඔබට මතකද ?

කුරා කුහුඹුවකුටවත් වරදක්‌ නොකර ජීවත් වූ සිංහල මිනිසුන් 57 ක්‌ මෙම ඛේදවාචකයට මුහුණදුන්නා.

තම මාතෘභූමියට දරුවන් ජනිත කිරීමට සිටි ගැබිනි මව්වරුන්, කටේ කිරි සුවඳවත් මැකී නොගිය බහ තෝරන සිඟිති දරු පැටවුන්, තම අඹු දරුවන්ගේ ජීවිත රකින්න මහ පොළව සමග ගැටී අනේක දුක්‌ කම්කටොළුවලින් මිරිකෙන ගොවීන් අමු අමුවේ කපා කොටා ඝාතනය කළා. එම අහිංසකයන්ට මේ ඉරණමට මුහුණදෙන්නට සිදුවූයේද කොටි ප්‍රහාරයකින් මියගිය ගැමියෙකුගේ තුන් මාසෙ බණට සහභාගි වී සිටියදීය. ගෝනගල ගම්මානය ලෙයින් තෙත් කළ පුවත එදා මාධ්‍යයෙන් වාර්තා කළ අයුරු ඔබට මතකද?

ගෝනගල පමණක්‌ නොව මුළුමහත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවම කඳුළින් තෙත් කළ මෙම සිදුවීම යළිත් අපේ මතකයට නැඟෙමින් තිබේ. ම්ලේච්ඡ එල්. ටී. ටී. ඊ. ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය මේ වන විට මෙරටින් සහමුලින්ම අතුගා දමා හමාරය. නමුත් ගෝනගල සිදුවීම ගැන අපේ රටේ සිනමාහල් අසල යළිත් බොහෝ පිරිස්‌ කතා බහ කරන්නට පටන්ගෙන ඇත. ඒ මෙරට බිහි වූ දේශප්‍රේමියකු අතින් ගෝනගල සිදුවීම සෙලියුලොයිඩ් පටයක්‌ හරහා රිදී තිරයට ගෙන ඒමත් සමගය. හේ අන්කවරෙකුවත් නොව රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකරය.

1971 වසරේ කැඩේට්‌ නිලධාරියකු ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවික හමුදාවට බැඳුණු ඔහු 2001 වසරේ රියර් අද්මිරාල් ධුරයට උසස්‌ වූ අතර 2005 වසරේ නාවික හමුදාවේ ප්‍රධාන මාණ්‌ඩලික තනතුරට ද පත්විය. 2006 වසරේ නාවික හමුදාවෙන් විශ්‍රාමගත් ඔහු යළිත් මේ රටේ සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක බළකායේ අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල් ධුරයටද පත්විය. 2010 වසරේ එයින්ද සමුගත්තේ අම්පාර දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌කයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයකටද හිමිකම් කියමිනි.

ඇසින් දුටුවන්ගේ හෘද සාක්‍ෂිය "ගාමණී" ඔහුගේ මංගල සිනමා නිර්මාණයයි. සනත්, දිල්හානි, බිමල්, ඩබ්. ජයසිරි, ගීතා කාන්ති, වීණා ජයකොඩි, දමිතා අබේරත්න, රත්නා ලාලනී, මහේන්ද්‍ර පෙරේරා, සුජානි මේනකා, ගිහාන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, කුමාර තිරිමාදුර, ජගත් බෙනරගම, ජගත් චමිල, මුතු තරංගා, අනුරුද්ධිකා පාදුක්‌කගේ ඇතුළු නළු නිළියන් රැසක්‌ මෙහි රංගනයෙන් දායක වන අතර නිෂ්පාදනය උපාලි රාජපක්‍ෂගෙනි.

"මම අවුරුදු 38 ක්‌ හමුදා සේවයේ නියෑළුණ නිලධාරියෙක්‌. ඒ වගේම මේ යුද්ධයේ ආරම්භයේ සිට අවසානය දක්‌වා ගමන් කළ නිලධාරීන් ස්‌වල්ප දෙනාගෙන් ද එක්‌කෙනෙක්‌. යුද වැදුණු සෙබළාගේ මානසිකත්වය ගැන හොඳ අවබෝධයක්‌ තිබෙනවා. ඉතිං ඔවුන් සමග මෙහෙයුම්වලට සහභාගි වී වැඩ කරද්දී ඒ කැපවීම මම දුටුවා. නමුත් එම සෙබළා තුළ යම්කිසි වේදනාවක්‌ තිබුණා ඇයි මේ අය වෙනුවෙන් සිනමාවක්‌ බිහිනොවන්නේ කියලා. ඕනෑම රටක යුද්ධයක්‌ තිබෙනවා නම් යුද සාහිත්‍යයක්‌ බිහිවෙනවා. නමුත් අපේ රටේ ඇඟට දැනෙන යුද සාහිත්‍යයක්‌ බිහිවුණේ නැහැ. ඉතිං මම කල්පනා කළා සිනමා ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයේ තිබුණ ඒ හිඩැස නැතිනම් රික්‌තය පුරවන්න. ඒ අහිංසක වෑයමේ ප්‍රතිඵලය තමයි"

"ගාමණී" යනුවෙන් රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර මෙවැනි නිර්මාණයක්‌ කිරීමට අදහස්‌ කළ හැටි පවසමින් අපත් සමග කතාබහට මුල පිරීය.

සත්‍ය සිදුවීම වුණු ස්‌ථානයමද රූ ගැන්වීමට යොදාගත්තේ ?

නැහැ. අම්පාර දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌කයේ උහන ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්‌ඨාසයේ උහන කියන ගමේ තමයි මේ සිදුවීම වුණේ. අපි ඒ හා සමානම ගමක්‌ නිර්මාණය කළා පුත්තලමේ කරුවලගස්‌වැව කියන ප්‍රදේශයේ.

එතකොට දර්ශන තලය නිර්මාණය කළේ කොහොමද?

අපි ගෝනගල ගමට ගොස්‌ දින ගණනාවක්‌ එම පරිසරය පිළිබඳව දැඩි පරීක්‍ෂාවක්‌ සිදුකළා. ගමේ මිනිසුන්ගේ හැසිරීම් රටාව, ගමේ පන්සල පිහිටා තිබෙන ආකාරය, ආරක්‍ෂාවට යොදවා ඇති සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක බළකායේ කඳවුරු

සනහස සඟවා දෙනෙත නුරාවෙන් මටද ආදරේ කියා තිබේ...

ඔබ පෙම් කරනා ඔබේ කුමාරී
ඔබට ආදරේ කියනා අයුරින්
පෙර දවසක මා පෙම් කරනා සඳ
මටද ආදරේ කියා තිබේ...

සාගර වෙරළේ සොඳුරු සෑඳෑවක
රඟහල කෙළවර අඳුරු නිමේෂක
අද ඔබ ළඟ ඔබ සනසාලන ඈ
පෙර දවසක මා තුරුළට වී හිඳ
මටද ආදරේ කියා තිබේ...

සක්‌මන් මළුවක දෙපා ගෙවෙද්දී
දොඩමළු පෙම්බස්‌ ගොළුවී යද්දී
මා සමුගෙන ඔබ වෙතට පැමිණි ඈ
සනහස සඟවා දෙනෙත නුරාවෙන්
මටද ආදරේ කියා තිබේ...

පද රචනය - සුනිල් ආර්. ගමගේ
ගායනය/තනුව - විශාරද ගුණදාස කපුගේ

ආදරය... කොතරම් මිහිරිද... ඒත්... ඒත් ඒ මිහිර උපරිමයෙන් විඳින්න වාසනාව ලැබෙන්නේ පෙම්වතුන් කීයෙන් කී දෙනාටද... විරහවත් එක්‌ක ඒ මිහිර පළා යනවා... ඉන් පස්‌සේ සාගරය බඳු වේදනාවක්‌ අබියස මේ පෙම්වතුන්ට තනිවෙන්න සිද්ධ වෙනවා...

වෙන්ව ගිය පෙම්වතා හෝ පෙම්වතිය යළි දිවි ඇතිතුරාවට දකින්න නොලැබෙනවා නම්... ඒක හිතට එක්‌තරා සහනයක්‌... ඒත්... කාලයක්‌ ප්‍රේමයෙන් වෙලී සිටි ආදරවන්තිය... තවකෙකු සමඟ අතිනත බැඳන් යන ආකාරය දකින පරාජිත පෙම්වතාට.... ඇතිවන හැඟුම... වේදනාව... වචනයට හරවන්න පුලුවන්ද...

Women gossip for 5 hours daily

While it may be a Herculean task for anyone to calculate how much his wife or girl friend talks in a day, a study has found an average woman spends five hours a day gossiping. Whether they are at home or at work, females natter for around 298 minutes daily, which is the equivalent of more than a third of their waking hours, researchers in Britain have found.

Discussing other people's problems, who's dating who and other people's children form the basis of most chats. Other topics most regularly include sex, shopping and soaps, Daily Express reported the study as stating.

The study found women spend 24 minutes a day discussing their weight, diets and dress size. One third said they spend a part of their day discussing what they are eating for lunch, while a quarter regularly exchange recipes.

The survey was commissioned to mark wine firm FirstCape Cafe Collection's search to find Britain's Queen of Chat.

Spokesman Steve Barton said: "Women are renowned for their ability to chat and men are fascinated by what they find to talk about when they get together.

"I'm pleased to see complaining about their partners was at the bottom of their list, though. It is also interesting to see how the conversation differs between women talking to each other and women talking to their partners."

Other topics include what cosmetic surgery procedures they would like, what the mother-in-law has said, and which celebrities they fantasize about.

Most women prefer chatting to their friends to anyone else but say they talk to their partner, mum and their best friend about completely different things.

The study revealed husbands are most likely to get the work talk whereas a woman is more likely to gossip with her best friend.

However, 36 percent of women say they cannot be trusted to keep a friend's secret and that they regularly tell their partner things they are told in confidence.

- hindustantimes.com

Oh... To be Young & Healthy

Have you seen Sewwandi recently? She gets sweeter and better looking day by day! How does she do it? More to the point, why can’t we do it? What is the secret Sewwandi has that we don’t have?

Well I am sure it is nothing very profound. If we think for a minute most probably we will get the idea of how to look better but the difference between most of us and Sewwandi may be that she actually practices what she believes to be good for the health. How many of us can say that?!

Take sleep for instance. All of us know we cannot do without sleep for too long. It is so important that many military giants are experimenting how to curtail the need for sleep in their soldiers. Sleep regulates your body's metabolism and helps you stay fresh. Recharges your batteries as it were! Although the quota of sleep required may vary from person to person, 6-8 hours sleep daily will help you not only attain healthy and younger looking skin but also allow you to go on with life without falling asleep mid-way!!

Then we go to the other end! Just 30 minutes of moderate activity, jogging or a fast walk, for three or four times a week can help you can help you stay disease-free by strengthening your immune system. Just an apple a day will not help to keep the doctor away if you are beyond 35 years! A little bit of a sweat out will also help to keep your waistline manageable!

The next thing I am going to suggest will definitely get me in to hot water if you take the present prices but say it I will!! Four to five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables will help you have that fresh, glowing and younger looking skin as well as a healthy body. So there!! A diet rich in antioxidants like broccoli, red peppers, cauliflower and other yellow, red and green vegetables that are high in vitamins A, C and E that fight the oxidation that damages your tissues.

Water is god’s gift to man king. Man has been trying to improve on it but it has been a sad failure so far!! Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day. Water hydrates your skin and will flush your system of impurities that you have helped your body to accumulate.

Of religious scientists

Courtesy - The Island By Carlo Fonseka

Thunder and lightning occurring during raging storms would surely have frightened our cave-dwelling ancestors out of their wits. They couldn’t figure out who caused what they saw (lightning) and heard (thunder). In their experience of everyday life visible living agents caused the significant things that happened to them and around them. For thunder and lightning there was no visible causal agent. Given their state of pathetic ignorance about the workings of the natural world, the thinking ones among our ancestors leapt into the unknown and assumed that thunder and lightning must be caused by invisible powerful beings - or gods – who controlled the heavens. So out of the depth of their abysmal ignorance about the natural order our ancestors became religious.

Astronomy

Stress really does turn your hair grey

Grey hair really is a sign of stress, say scientists.

When the going gets tough chemicals are triggered which damage DNA and leads us to look older and also increases the risk of diseases. Mice given an adrenalin-like compound to trigger stress had reduced amounts of a protein that keeps us healthy by protecting our cells from developing abnormalities.

Professor Robert Lefkowitz, of Duke University, North Carolina, said: "This could give us a plausible explanation of how chronic stress may lead to a variety of human conditions and disorders, which range from merely cosmetic, like greying hair, to life-threatening disorders like malignancies."

In experiments the researchers whose findings are published in Nature discovered a molecular mechanism through which adrenaline acted to destroy DNA.

Women gain weight after marriage, men after divorce

Both sexes were more likely to gain weight in the two years after a divorce or marriage

By Nick Collins

A study of more than 10,000 people surveyed between 1986 and 2008 found that both marrying and getting divorced can have a "weight shock" effect that leads to rapid weight gain, especially in over-30s.

But there was a marked difference between men and women in which marital event was the most traumatic on the waistline.

Sex scandal threatens Aussie Govt.

ROD McGUIRK,Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian police were investigating allegations Tuesday that a lawmaker misused a credit card to pay prostitutes, a political scandal that could bring down the country's fragile government.

New South Wales state police said they are looking into new evidence that government lawmaker Craig Thomson misused a trade union credit card when he was a senior union official in 2005 and 2007. A conviction for theft or fraud would force Thomson to quit Parliament and cost Prime Minister Julia Gillard's year-old government its single-seat majority.

UFOs: Unidentified flying objects: Far out!

What is a UFO? It is any strange aerial or optical phenomenon (for example light) not readily explainable to the observer (1)(4). The first modern sightings of UFOs began in America. Considerable number of people reported having seen saucer-shaped objects in the sky, in Washington, beginning 1947.

A typical UFO is a round saucer-like object

Subsequent sightings were reported in Western Europe, Soviet Union, Australia, Canada and other countries. Some persons who had encountered UFOs claimed that they went inside the craft. Some of their experiences are given below. (2):
One of the first reports was filed by a businessman, Kenneth Arnold: He was flying his own aircraft (in Washington State) from Chehalis to Yakimo, on January 24, 1947. As he detoured over the mount Rainier area, flying at an altitude of 2,740 metres, he spotted a group of nine saucer-shaped craft flying in line-ahead formation 40km away. They were about 150 metres above him. He timed their passage; and was surprised to find their speed was around 8,000 km an hour.
On December 6, 1952, the crew of a US Air Force B-29 bomber, saw a group of UFOs over the Gulf of Mexico, the objects were also picked up on the bomber's radar screen where measurements showed their speed to be more than 8,000km an hour.
Later the flying objects moved away at a speed of some 14,480km an hour.
The American, George Adamski, claimed to have seen an alien (living being) in a UFO on November 20, 1952. He also said that he was taken on a trip aboard a flying saucer, but there were no other witnesses.
An American couple, Betty and Barney Hill, were driving from Canada towards their home, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA on the night of September 19, 1961.
They noticed a light moving, up in the sky, which they identified as an enormous object hovering over the road. Looking up through the binoculars, Barney saw the occupants of the craft peering out of the craft's windows.
Stunned at what they saw, the two of them started driving home at high speed although they felt drowsy.

An alien as described in the sightings

The distance they had to travel (from the UFO - sighting place to home) was 56km, but the journey took two hours, they could not understand why they spent such a long time to travel 56km. Actually, so much time was not spent on the journey.
As revealed subsequently, under hypnosis, they stated that they were taken aboard the UFO, subjected to medical examination before being taken back to their car.
A young Brazilian peasant farmer, Antonio Villas Boss, claimed to have been kidnapped by the crew of a UFO, on the night of October 15, 1957.
He recalled that the UFO crew were largely human in appearance. After taking aboard the craft he had been medically examined including taking of a blood sample, he had been persuaded to have sex with a female member of the crew.
He was release after four hours and then the craft took off and disappeared into the night sky. A doctor who examined the farmer the next day found a scar on the skin at the place from which the blood sample was taken.
The government of USA sponsored investigations into UFOs (3). The inquires were conducted by three panels of scientists consisting of Physicists, Astronomers, Engineers and Meteorologist appointed in 1952, 1966 and 1968.
The first panel of inquiry (1952) was set up, in secret, by the CIA and the members were briefed on US military activities and intelligence. Its report was originally classified as 'secret,' but later declassified. The third panel examined 59 UFO sightings, and 37 scientists contributed to its work.

The writer's art of developing a dialogue: News, views nothing without interviews

Courtesy - Daily News ByGaston DE ROSAYRO

An interview is a conversation with a purpose. We might add that it is a controlled conversation. It could be defined as the art of asking the right questions and getting the right answers. Interviewing is the one of the most basic and often the most intimidating tasks in journalism.

Interviewing is the one of the most basic and often the most intimidating tasks in journalism.

Whatever anyone may say to the contrary journalism is a creative occupation. Despite the panjandrums propounding their theory that articles are a fixed formula plugged with simple facts, I stand by my statement. There is no place for theoreticians in the hurly-burly world of practical, professional journalism. Hands on editors, the real professionals, often laugh heartily at the avalanche of clichéd poppycock that passes for most mainstream journalism.
It is odd that so much emphasis is put on teaching journalists how to write an article when that skill is useless without also teaching them how to develop strong interview techniques. The finished product may be a piece of writing that you craft, but the material a result of the interviews you conduct.

සෙනෙහසේ නවාතැන...........................

චුට්ට චුට්ට හිත රිදුනම
හිතට මහ බරක්
රණ්ඩු වෙන්න හොඳද ඔහොම
ඇයිද මේ සැකක්...
පෙරුම් පුරන් අද දවසෙත්
හිටියා මඟ බලන්
ඔබ ආවේ නපුරු සිතින්
නැතිව පෙම් වදන්...
හිත මිතුරන් සමගින් මම
කතා කලත් දැන්
ඔබට සැකයි මා ගැන අනේ
හොදට දනිමි මං...
ආදරයයි කිය කිය මට
දමන නීති දැන්
එක දෙක තුන වැඩිවෙනකොට
කොහොම ඉන්නේ මං...
හිත රිදවා නෙතු ඇඩවූ
දරණු ඔබේ වදන්
හුදකලාව මගේ සවනට
රිදුම් දෙයි තවත්...
කැඩුණු හිතක් හදා ගන්න
නොහැක ලේසියෙන්
ගෙනෙන්නෙපා අපේ ලෝවට
සැකය මේ ලෙසින්...
සසර පුරා බැඳී ඉන්න
පැතුව පෙම් පැතුම්
එපා අනේ දිය කරන්න
කඳුල සමඟ දැන්.......
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දුයිෂෙන් මං ආදරෙයි

සත්තකින්ම මට නුඹ කුමාරයෙක්, මේ සරසවි පින්බිමේ මට හමුවුන සොඳුරු කුමාරයා නුඹ. අරලිය මල් ගස් වැටුණ තණ නිල්ල පසු කරන් පිය ගැට පෙළ නැග ගෙන මං ආවේ නුඹ ගාවට, මතකද ? ඔය දයාබර ඇස් මා සමඟ කතා කළ අරුම. සත්තකින්ම මගේ වදන් හමුවේ, ඔබේ හසරැල් මට ළෙංගතු වුණා. ඒ හසරැල් හමුවේ දුටුදා පටන් ම මං නුඹට ආදරය කළා. මගේ ආත්මීය ආදරයට නුඹේ ගුරු සිත නුඹ මා වෙන් කරන පවුර වෙලා මගේ ආදරණීය ආදර සිත්තම මට නුඹට කියන්න බැරි වුණා. නුඹ ඉදිරියේ මං ගොළු වුණා. ඒ බලාපොරොත්තු ඔක්කෝම ඒ ගොළු මුහුදට එක් වෙලා. කාරි නෑ මට, උරුම නෑ නුඹ, ඔබේ සිත මට කිව්වා. මං නුඹට ගොඩාක් ආදරේ කළා. ඒත් නුඹ ඒ කිසිවක් දන් නෑ.
ඒක හරියට මේ සරසවි පින් බිමේ පිපෙන අරලියා මල් පොකුරු දැක්කම මං ඒ මල් එක්ක හිනාවෙනවා වගේ. ඒත් අරලිය මල් දන් නෑ මං අරලිය මල් එක්ක හිනා වෙනවා කියලා. නුඹ මේ සරසවියට එන අලුත් දවසක් පාසාම මං ආවේ අලුත් බලාපොරොත්තුවක් ඇතිව. හැම මොහොතකම මං ප්‍රාර්ථනා කළේ නුඹ මගේ වෙන්න කියලා.
පන්ති කාමරේ අවසාන පේළියේ හිටපු මං දිහා නුඹ බලන බලන වාරයක් පාසාම නුඹත් මට ආදරය කරනවා කියලා මං හිතුවා. අපි හමුවෙන වාරයක් වාරයක් පාසාම තව තවත් නුඹ මට මං නුඹට දයාබර වුණා. හරියට චිංගිත් ආයිත්මාතව්ගේ ගුරු ගීතය වගේ...

Body language: how to tell if someone likes you

Learn to read body language and you might just hit the jackpot.

Right chaps, listen up. This is important. In fact, girls, there’s plenty for you, too, so please read on. I have just received a lesson in understanding body language from a behavioural psychologist and dating coach. It was encouraging, disheartening and baffling all at once.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. It’s not easy being a man and here’s why. A woman is capable of giving off approximately 50 different signals through body language, whereas the less complex gentleman is only able to muster around 10. This makes men easier to understand, putting us at an immediate disadvantage. It gets worse. According to my coach, Jo Hemmings, females are better at picking up and understanding signals. But it’s a doddle for them, isn’t it? When they’re on a date, they only have to decipher a few signals.

Men, Hemmings tells me, struggle to appreciate what different gestures mean. But, surely we get confused because when we are out with a girl we have to unravel the meaning of dozens of signals. It’s not our fault! Apparently, males’ interpretations are based more on what they hear than what they see. So what body language signals should men look out for if they want to know whether a girl likes them or not?

Cocking of the head, maybe? Flicking of hair? Smiling?

The romance of love

Of all close relationships, romantic love appears to be the most fascinating one. Although almost all of us value close relationships, romantic love is something that defies definition. Those who are in love spend a lot of time and energy to maintain a romantic relationship sometimes neglecting all other duties and responsibilities.
A relationship between parents and children is something natural and common. Even a relationship between two friends is nothing special. However, we still do not know exactly why and how two people get attracted to each other and build a romantic relationship. Unlike in other relationships, lovers are bound by intense feelings which range from passion to jealousy.
A romantic relationship has been a pre-requisite for marriage especially in Western culture even in the 18th century. However, as far as Eastern culture is concerned, arranged marriages co-exist with love marriages. One cannot say that arranged marriages are better than love marriages or vice versa. Yet, the fact remains that most love marriages in the West end up in divorce. It does not necessarily mean that arranged marriages do not end up in divorce. Sometimes, they do.

Sacred institution

In Eastern societies people still consider marriage as a sacred institution. So, once married the husband and the wife try to live together at least for the sake of children.
Even in Far Eastern countries such as Japan, people place a greater emphasis on marriage more than romance. The position in India and Sri Lanka too appears to be the same. This may be partly due to Eastern culture and the religion.

The Apes Return: Smarter, Stronger, Better

The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is probably one of the most tongue twisting film titles of the year; but thankfully it has not put off any spectators since the movie is a well deserved box office smash.

This is not a re-make nor a prequel of the original Planet Of The Apes series starring Charlton Heston which were based on French author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La planète des singes. Between 1968 and 1973, Heston starred in five “Ape” movies which ended up having quite a following. In a nutshell, the original story is about a crew of astronauts which crash land in a very distant future, only to find out much to their horror that apes have become the dominant species on earth. The film was a novelty with its fantastic prosthetic makeup (no digital creations as yet) and the story itself which attracted a huge following. Tim Burton did attempt a rather sad remake starring the wonderfully built but ever so expressionless Mark Walhberg in 2001, but the film was simply boring and no “Ape” series fans would ever consider it worthy of discussion.

මට ම අහිමි වන මගේ දියණිය

මට මගෙ දූගෙ පුංචි කාලෙ මතක් වෙනවා. මට දුව නළවන්නවත් ලැබුණෙ කලාතුරකින්. මං ගෙදර එනකොට මගෙ දුව නිදි. ඒත් මං එයාට ආදරෙයි. මට ස්වර්ණ ශ්‍රී බණ්ඩාරයන්ගේ මේ පදමාලාව සිහි උණේ මීට ගොඩක් කාලෙකට ඉස්සර. ඊට පස්සේ දුවට තියෙන ආදරය හින්ද ම මාත් පදමාලාවක් ලිව්ව. මං ඒ පදමාලාව ඔබ හමුවෙ තියන්නෙ නිහතමානී ව. හුඟක් ලංකාවෙ කලාකාමී හිතවත්තු මෙය අගය කළ නිසා. ඔබට රහක් නැතිනම් මට සමාවෙන්න.

හිමිදිරියේ පිනි අහුලන
සඳ එළියේ තරු අල්ලන
පුංචි දූට දේදුන්නක්
ගෙනල්ල දෙනවා
පරිස්සමට ඊතලයක් ළඟින් තියනවා

පංචායුධ කුමාරයා
නුඹ කැන්දන් යන දවසේ
ආශාවෙන් බලා ඉන්නවා
මගෙ දූටත් ආයුධයක් දෙන්න හිතෙනවා
විදුලි අකුණු වැහිකුණාටු
මගේ දූට හිරිහැර නම්
හිත හදාන බලා ඉන්නවා
මගෙ දූටත් රන් පත්තිනි සලඹ ගේනවා

මේ අනාගත නිර්මාණයක්. සංගීතවත් කළේ දර්ශන රුවන් දිසානායක. ගායනා කරන්නේ අමරසිරි පීරිස්. ඒත් මේ නිර්මාණයට වඩා මගේ හදවත ආදරේ කරන නිර්මාණයක් ස්වර්ණ ශ්‍රී බණ්ඩාරයන් ලියල තියෙනවා.

”දෑතේ එල්ලී මියුරු කතා කී
සුරතල් දෝණියනේ
කාලයෙ රිය සක මහලු මගෙන් නුඹ
ඈතට ගෙන යන්නේ

රචකයා සිහිකරන්නේ දියණියගේ කුඩා අවදිය. දෑතේ පැටලෙමින් හුරතල් කතා කියපු අවදිය. කාලය විසින් සියල්ල ඔහුගෙන් උදුරාගනු ලැබ ඇති වග ඔහුට සිහිවෙනවා. “කාලය රිය සක” වැනි රූපකයක් යොදා ගැනීමෙන් රචනය වඩාත් ප්‍රාණවත් වෙනවා. තමන් වයසට යන විට බොහෝ දේ තමාගෙන් ඈත්වෙනවා වගේ දියණියත් ඈත්වන බව ඔහුට දැනෙනවා.
ඒ සමඟ ම අතීතය පිළිබඳ චිත්‍ර පෙළක් ඔහු ඉදිරියේ දිගහැරෙනවා. ඒ අතීත සිහිනය තුළ රැදෙන්නේ දියණිය සමඟ ගෙවුණු අතීතය පිළිබඳ පැහැබර මතක සටහන්.

බොළඳ මියුරු බස්
සවන් නිවාලූ
කැකුළු සිනා රස
සිත සනහාලූ
අතීත සිහිනය
බොඳවී දියවී
ඈතට පාවෙන්නේ

දුරම මිස, ළඟ නැතිද - අහනවා නෙතු මාගේ

විරහව..... කුරුටු ගෑ ගී පොතේ වැඩිපුරම දිග හැරුනේ විරහ ගීත..... අපේ ගීත සාහිත්‍යය පෙරළා බලන්න..... එහි තියෙන ගී වලින් වැඩි හරියක්‌ විරහ ගීත විය යුතුයි....... ඒ තරමට විරහව අපේ ගීත ලෝලීන්ට සමීපයි.... මේකට හේතුව මොකක්‌ද ...... විරහව නොවිඳි කෙනෙක්‌ නැතිව ඇති.... ඒක වෙන්නැති විරහ ගීයට මේ තරම් ඉල්ලුමක්‌ තියෙන්නේ.... හොඳ, හිතට දැනෙන විරහ ගීතයක්‌ අද, හෙට ලියෑවුනත්.... විරහ ගීත සාහිත්‍යයට එය වැඩි නැහැ. 

දිගු දැස දුටුවාම 

හැඟෙනවා පෙරසේම 

උන්නු හැටි මගේ ගාව 

ඔය හිතට අමතකද 

බිඳ දමා මගේ සිහිනේ

ඇයිද ඔබ හැංගෙන්නේ...

මට දෙන්න මගේ සිහිනේ

ළඟ ඉන්න පෙර වාගේ...

මේකත් විරහ වේදනාවෙන් ගයන ගීයක්‌.... ඔහු ආදරය කළ යුවතිය... වෙන කෙනෙක්‌ එක්‌ක ගිහින්.... ඒත් අහම්බෙන් ඇය නෙත ගැටෙන ඔහුට අතීතය මතක්‌ වෙනවා.... 

ඔයාගෙ දිගු නීල දැස... දැක්‌කාම එදා මගේ ළඟට වෙලා හිටි හැටි.... මට හැඟෙනවා..... දැනෙනවා..... ඔයාට ඒක අමතකද..... ඔයා එක්‌ක කූඩු වෙන්න මං කොතරම් හීන මැව්වද..... ඒත්... ඇයි ඔයා මගේ ඒ සුන්දර හීනය බිඳ දැම්මේ..... ඇයි ඔයා සැඟවෙන්නේ..... ඒ හීනය බොඳ කරන්න එපා.... පෙරදා වගේම මගේ ළඟින් ඉන්න.... මා දුටු සිහිනයේ යළි රැඳෙන්න මට ඉඩ දෙන්න..... 

මේ ගීතය ලියුවේ නන්දන වික්‍රමගේ... ජනප්‍රිය ගීත රැසකම පද රචකයා..... ගී පද එකටෙක ගෙතුනු අයුරු.... නන්දනගෙන් ඇහුවා.... මේ ඔහු අපට දුන්නු කෙටිම කෙටි උත්තරයයි....

මේ සිංදුව එකපාරටම ලියෑවුණා... රොමේෂ්ගේ ස්‌ටුඩියෝ එකට දවසක්‌ රැයක මම ගියා.... ඔහු මට මෙලඩි එකක්‌ දුන්නා... අහන්න... ඒ මෙලඩි එක ඇසූ සැණින් මට ඒ තුළින් විරහවක්‌ දැනුනා.... ඒ අනුව තමයි මේ ගීය ලියෑවුනේ... 

රෑ දිවා හිතපුරා ඇවිලිලා මේ ගින්න 

තරු පවා හඬනවා ඔබට නෑ තේරෙන්නේ 

හිතට හිත හිමි නැතිද 

අහනවා හිත මාගේ 

මට දෙන්න මගේ සිහිනේ

ළඟ ඉන්න පෙර වාගේ...

රැයක්‌ දවාලක්‌ නෑ... ඔබ මට දුන් මේ විරහා ගින්න.... හිතපුරා ඇවිලෙනවා.... ඔයාට තේරෙන්නේ නැහැ.... මා විඳින දුක දැකල තරු පවා හඬනවා.... මගේ හිතට ඔයාගේ හිත අයිති නැද්ද..... ඔයාගේ හිතට මගේ හිත අයිති නැද්ද..... මේ පැනය නිතරම මගේ හිත මගෙන් විමසනවා.... අනේ.... ඔයා එදා වගේම මගේ ළඟින් ඉන්න.... මගේ සිහිනෙන් මා මුදවන්න එපා..... 

මේ ගීතයේ සංගීතයත් ගායකයාගේමයි. ගයන්නේ රොමේෂ් සුගතපාල.... යෞවනයේ ආදරය දිනා ගනිමින් සිටින ගායන ශිල්පියෙක්‌.... 

අප පෙර එදා හමුවෙලා

වෙලුනු හැටි මුදු පහසේ

පෙනෙනවා දකිනවා

නිහඬ රෑ දුර අහසේ 

දුරම මිස ළඟ නැතිද 

අහනවා නෙතු මාගේ

එදා අපි හමුවුනාම... ආදරෙන් තුරුළු වෙලා.... මෘදු පහස.... විඳි අයුරු.... මට අදත් පෙනෙනවා වගේ.... සමහර විට ඒ ආදරබර මොහොත හිතින් මවාගෙන මා එය දකිනවා..... අපි එලෙස පෙමින් වෙලී සිටි හැටි.... නිහඬ රාත්‍රියේදී ඈත ඈත දුර අහසේ මැවී පෙනෙනවා.... ඒත් ඔයා ඉන්නේ දුර.... ළඟ නොවේ.... මගේ නෙත් මගෙන් විමසනවා.... ඇයි ඔයා දුරස්‌ව ඉන්නේ කියලා.... 

ගීය ගැයෙන්නේ නව යොවුන් වියේ පසුවන හඬකින්... ගයන ශෛලියේත්.... වෙනසක්‌ තියෙනවා.... ඒ අද තරුණ පරපුර වඩාත් ප්‍රියකරන ශෛලියක්‌... රොමේෂ්ගේ හඬට වගේම සංගීතයටත් නන්දනගේ පදමාලාවටත්.... ගීත රසය විඳින තරුණ පරපුර දැඩි ඇල්මක්‌ දක්‌වන අයුරු මේ දිනවල අපට අසන්නට දකින්නට ලැබෙනවා.... 

අජිත් අලහකෝන් - Divaina

The loving treatment

The love story of prince Saliya, King Dutugemunu's son, and the young outcast maiden Asokamala is known and lay in Sinhala folklore as a fine romance of all times. The story has a number of variants. Asokamala was known as a granddaughter of a great physician who hailed from the remote village called Heloli in the ancient capital of Anuradhapura. She, who was quite pretty and looked like an earthbound fairy, was attracted by Saliya. She was gathering herbs and flowers from an orchard called Hopalu.
Prince Saliya, who was attracted by the charms of Asokamala, did not bother about inheriting the luxuries of kingship. Having agreed to live with Asokmala peacefully in the forest closer to Hopalu grove, the prince Saliya declared that the heir to the throne is not worth when compared with the love of Asokamala. When King Dutugemunu heard about his son's displeasure to be the next king, he got worried. The king became sick, as a result. The courtiers ushered in the most learned physicians of the kingdom. But all that was futile. He was still worried and sick.

Showing his colours

Showing his colours : This creative artist is more accustomed to and fond of the rice meal in Welikada jail than that of his own abode. That’s because he has been in prison 37 times since April 1991 serving drug related sentences. During periods in prison, he has produced artwork for eight pandals, 10 bhakthi gee, chariots, 10 floats and also drawn all murals at the new prison canteen. Painting seems to be in his blood since both his father and grandfather had been professional painters. His artwork had helped the Mahara prison to earn its highest income in 2001. Here, he repaints the mural depicting mother’s love on the Welikada Prison wall which he produced several years ago. Picture by Saman Sri Wedage.

Hundred against Australia, a dream come true – Tharanga

The Island by Rex Clementine

The last few months have been extremely tough for Sri Lankan opener Upul Tharanga, who missed the national cricket team’s tour of England as he served a three month drug ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council. He was recalled to the side soon after the ban concluded and with the five match ODI series against touring Australians at stake, the opener slammed his 12th ODI hundred to help Sri Lanka to a comfortable win and keep their chances alive in the series during the third ODI at Suriyawewa on Tuesday.

Tharanga also became the fifth Sri Lankan to score a hundred against the world’s number one ranked team following Aravinda de Silva (2), Sanath Jayasuriya (2), Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara. It was also his fourth hundred in 2011, an exceptional record given the fact that he missed three months of international cricket.

New TV guidelines on tobacco, alcohol scenes: Mosaics out, warning messages a must

*Broadcasters required to include health warning messages

*Tobacco, alcohol cause for loss of over 40,000 lives yearly

Authorities are set to issue new regulations which allow television broadcasters to do away with mosaics or blurred images masking tobacco and alcohol scenes in their programmes but which require them to carry messages warning of the dangers and ill-effects of tobacco and alcohol when such programmes are aired.

Broadcasters would be required to run health and other warning messages or images which show the illnesses, suffering, financial losses etc. due to tobacco and alcohol use at the bottom during the entire length of such scenes from September 1.

“This mosaic mechanism has not been authorized by us. It has only brought the wrath of the public on the authorities,” National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) chief Prof Carlo Fonseka said. Prof Fonseka said that a series of new guidelines to prevent encouragement of tobacco and alcohol use in the entertainment media would come into effect from next month.

Homosexuality is a natural human tendency

By Dr. Granville Dharmawardena,

PhD. (Cambridge)

The Health Minister of India, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has derided homosexuality an unnatural disease from the West (Island 6th July 2011). Our investigations show that it is not so. Homosexuality is a natural human tendency and definitely it is not a disease and it is not unnatural. Up to now psychology has not solved the problem why some men and women become homosexuals. Hypnotherapy, scientific research on rebirth and their consequences throw some light on this problem. In the past, discussing homosexuality in public was anathema. But it has existed in all societies and been practiced clandestinely. In today’s society it has become a subject that can be discussed in public and as a result gay activists have started asking for their rights including recognition of gay marriages.

Buddhism and Empiricism

By Carlo Fonseka

[Text of a lecture delivered at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura]

(Continued from last Wednesday)

Influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) became the gospel of the Logical Positivists. And positivism has been regarded as a philosophical defense of science and mathematics, which are regarded as the supreme ways of exercising human rationality and gaining knowledge. In later life, however, Wittgenstein judged that his Tractatus was fundamentally in error. But the definitive statement of his repudiation of it came only in his posthumous publication called Philosophical Investigations (1953). From 1939 until 1947 Wittgenstein was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. During this period he published almost nothing. His second philosophy was disseminated only to and through his students. As it happened, one of his students during that period was K. N. Jayatilleke who seems to have imbibed the best of both early and later Wittgenstein.

Work of K. N. Jayatilleke

K. N. Jayatilleke's monumental work Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge (1963) embodies a thorough examination of the epistemological foundations of Early Buddhism. Noting that "the origins of the Indian empiricist tradition and its early development in Early Buddhism are largely unknown to Western scholarship," Jayatilleke remarks that Radhakrishnan "went so far as to say that Early Buddhism was positivistic in its outlook and confined its attention to what we perceive".14 He focuses on Aldous Huxley's observation that "Early Buddhism for the most part respected the principle of verification and confined its statements to verifiable propositions".15 Then he quotes Huxley who said, "The Buddha … seems to have applied to the problems of religion that 'operational philosophy' which contemporary scientific thinkers have begun to apply in the natural sciences... [but] Buddha was not a consistent operationalist; for he seems to have taken for granted, to have accepted as something given and self-evident, a variant of the locally current theory of metempsychosis"16. Jayatilleke comments that Huxley has been misled into thinking that the Buddha had dogmatically accepted the doctrine of rebirth from the prevalent tradition.17

Cricket: Malinga and Tharanga fashion Sri Lanka win against Aussies

Cricket: Malinga and Tharanga fashion Sri Lanka win against Aussies

Southern Expressway to open next month: A Speedy and safe journey to Galle

Courtesy Daily News by Hemanthi GURUGE

The roadway

The construction of the southern expressway has opened a new chapter in the transport sector in Sri Lanka providing an opportunity for safe and speedier transport facilities for users.
Arrangements have been taken to open the Kottawa to Pinnaduwa section of the expressway next month, enabling a motorist from Kottawa to reach Pinnaduwa in one hour. The High-Level Road from Kottawa to Colombo is being developed parallel to the expressway.
Construction of the other stage of the expressway from Galle to Matara has already commenced and it would be opened for the public later on.
The entire project will cost Rs 75 billion once the final stage from Pinnaduwa to Matara is completed. Total expenditure of the southern express way from Pinnaduwa to Kottawa is about Rs 60 billion.

GAMANI: lessons from the past :

Dr Sarath Weerasekara and Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Picture by Nissanka Wijerathne

Though peace has dawned in our country, the memories of three decades of terrorism are unforgettable. There are past experiences that would haunt our memory forever.

Lessons need to be learnt to avoid repeating the same mistakes. This is the basic message in Gamani, Rear Admiral Dr Sarath Weerasekara’s maiden movie which will begin screening in theatres island wide soon.

Gamani depicts the essence of the terrors of the LTTE. The film is woven around a real story which occurred in a village called Gonagala, located in the Ampara District. It is spearheaded by a personality who was the Director General of Civil Security Forces which played a key role in concluding the conflict.

The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Mass Media and Communication Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the cast of the movie and crew of Gamani and many other key figures in the industry were present for the press show of the film.

No substitutes for mother’s milk!

The National Breastfeeding Week ended yesterday. What is the best food for the infant? The whole world has only one accurate answer to this question. It is breast milk, mother’s milk. Sri Lanka tops the South Asian region in breastfeeding during the first six months of an infant. This is about 85 per cent now and the local health authorities are working hard towards achieving 100 per cent breastfeeding.
According to medical professionals attached to the Health Ministry, only breast milk should be given to an infant during the first six months. Then it should be continued with other types of food until the end of first year. The government has initiated the feeding hour and has legally made it a right of the baby (and its lactating mother) in order to promote breast feeding. Under present rules and regulations, lactating mothers can take two hours off per day (either one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening or two hours in the morning or evening) to breastfeed their infants. Under the present law, this relief should be given to all lactating mothers in Sri Lanka working in both state and private sector.
The immunization capacity is comparatively high among the children who had been breast fed by mothers. There is a significant growth in their intellectual level too. Mothers should be made aware not to be deceived by certain advertisements which promote various milk powders indicating a high level of intellectuality. Breast milk (mother’s milk) is the best food / drink that can be given to an infant during its childhood. Breast milk changes throught out the day adding nutrients to it depending on the varieties of food taken by mother. According to the National Policy, infants should be fed only with breast milk within their first six months. But it is not an easy task because of the anti breastfeeding campaign carrying out by various institutions and organizations especially infant milk powder promoters. Here we are going to talk about how some ignorant mothers feed their infants with cow’s milk to make them more intelligent!

The fall of the Tusker

Courtesy - The Sunday Times Extracts from a talk on ‘The Future of the Tuskers in Sri Lanka’ by Srilal Miththapala at the Sustainable BioDiversity and Economic Development Conference held last month

In Sri Lanka, the elephant has had a very close association with the people, culture and religion of the country. It is estimated that the beginning of the 19th century, there were some 10,000 wild elephants in Sri Lanka (Mackay, G. M. 1973), but in subsequent years, indiscriminate capture and hunting led to the destruction of thousands of elephants. The remaining populations are mostly smaller, isolated and fragmented, because their ancient migratory routes and habitats have been disrupted by expanding human encroachment. This fragmentation of habitat has increasingly brought wild elephants in conflict with man. Today, the human elephant conflict (HEC) has transcended from a basic wildlife management problem to a major environmental and rural socio economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) has recorded that 1369 elephants have been killed in the last 10 years, while during the same period more than 500 humans have also lost their lives. The DWLC estimates that Sri Lanka has around 4,000 to 5,000 elephants in the wild, and that on the average HEC results in 150 elephant deaths per year, and 50-70 human lives per year.( DWLC Web Site) Due to the ranging behaviour of elephants, it is most often solitary bull elephants that face most of the conflict in their search for food, water and receptive females for mating. Of the 1369 elephants killed over the past 10 years, the DWLC estimates that 68% were healthy adult bulls. Hence this is of great concern for sustaining a viable wild elephant population. Given the fact that only male Asian elephants have tusks, and the fact that the Sri Lankan species has one of the lowest incidences of tuskers of around 7.3% of the male population (Hendawitharana W, Santiapillai C, et.al 1994), there are definitely enough reasons and more, to be concerned about the future of the tuskers among the Sri Lankan wild elephant population.

සමුගන්නට නම් අහිමි ආදරෙන් මේ ලෙස ඇයි අප හමුවන්නේ.

අපි ආයෙත් හමු නොවුනා නම්
ඉස්‌සර දවසක මියගිය සෙනෙහස
යළි ඉපදී මා හද හඬවන්නට
අපි ආයෙත් හමු නොවුණා නම්

ඔබ නොහඳුනනා විරහ වේදනා
පෙරදා වින්දේ මා පමණයි
හුඟ කලකින් හමුවී සෝ ළතැවුල්
අදත් විඳින්නේ මා පමණයි

සමුගන්නට නම් අහිමි ආදරෙන්
මේ ලෙස ඇයි අප හමුවන්නේ
ආදරයේ කඳුළින් මියයන්නට
ජීවිත ඉරණම විසඳෙන්නේ

පද රචනය - ආචාර්ය අජන්තා රණසිංහ
තනුව/සංගීතය - වික්‌ටර් රත්නායක
ගායනය - සෝමතිලක ජයමහ

වළ දැමූ අතීතයක්‌.... යළි ගොඩ දමන්න කැමැති කවුද... අතීතයේදී අප මුහුණදුන් ඇතැම් අමිහිරි සිද්ධීන්... යළි යළිත් මතක්‌ වෙද්දී... හදවත හඬා වැළපෙනවා.... ඒ නිසාමයි ඒවා වළ දමන්නේ... ඒත්.... ඒ යටගිය අතීතය අපි ඉදිරියේ යළිත් දකින්න ලැබුණොත්...

"ගාමණී" චිත්‍රපටය සිංහල සිනමාව ගොඩ ගැනීමට සමත් වේද?

සරත් වීරසේකරයන් විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද "ගාමණී" චිත්‍රපටය සිංහල සිනමාව අද වැටී ඇති අගාධයෙන් ගොඩගැනීමට සමත් වනු ඇතිය යන අදහස එය නැරැඹූ මා තුළ ඇති විය.

ජනප්‍රිය සිංහල සිනමාව අද වන විට අඳබාලයන් පිනවන කාම රැල්ලක්‌ බවට පත්වී ඇති බව රහසක්‌ නොවේ. ඒ අතර විද්වත් යෑයි කියනු ලබන සිනමාව වියත් කර ඇත්තේ මේ රට වනසන විජාතික දේශපාලන සංස්‌කෘතිය ආක්‍රමණය පෝෂණය කිරීමයි. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය ඩොලර් මෙන්ම ඒවා හුවා දක්‌වන ප්‍රචාරය ද ඒ විජාතික බලවේග විසින් නොමඳව සපයනු ලැබේ. සරත් වීරසේකරයන්ගේ "ගාමණී" චිත්‍රපටය බිහිවී ඇත්තේ මෙවන් පසුබිමක්‌ තුළයි.

සිනමාවක්‌ වශයෙන් හැඳින්විය හැකි සිනමාවක්‌ මෙරට තුළ උපත ලැබුවේ. ලෙස්‌ටර් ඡේම්ස්‌ පීරිස්‌ගේ රේඛාව චිත්‍රපටය සමග බව අවිවාදයෙන් පිළිගත යුතු වෙයි. සිනමා මාධ්‍යය යනු කුමක්‌ද යන්න අපට පෙන්වා දෙන ලද්දේ රේඛාව චිත්‍රපටය විසිනුයි.

Psychological Science: Social class as culture

Social class is more than just how much money you have. It’s also the clothes you wear, the music you like, the school you go to - and has a strong influence on how you interact with others, according to the authors of a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
People from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes - a fact that should figure into debates on public policy, according to the authors.
People who come from a lower-class background have to depend more on other people. “If you don’t have resources and education, you really adapt to the environment, which is more threatening, by turning to other people,” Keltner says. “People who grow up in lower-class neighbourhoods, as I did, will say,’ There’s always someone there who will take you somewhere, or watch your kid. You’ve just got to lean on people.’” Wealthier people don’t have to rely on each other as much. This causes differences that show up in psychological studies. People from lower-class backgrounds are better at reading other people’s emotions.

Mother’s blood test reveals baby’s sex

by Frederik Joelving

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Blood drawn from expectant mothers could offer parents an earlier sneak peek at their baby’s sex than methods currently used in the U.S., researchers said Tuesday.

The test may be particularly valuable for families that harbour sex-linked genetic disorders like hemophilia, they add.

Because such disorders only strike boys, knowing that the baby is a girl could spare the mother diagnostic procedures, such as amniocentesis, that carry a small risk of miscarriage.

“It could reduce the number of invasive procedures that are being performed for specific genetic conditions,” said Dr. Diana Bianchi of Tufts University School of Medicine, who worked on the new study.

But other researchers voiced concerns, saying it could be misused to terminate a pregnancy if the baby isn’t of the desired sex.

“What you have to consider is the ethics of this,” said Dr. Mary Rosser, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

Gender

“If parents are using it to determine gender and then terminate the pregnancy based on that, that could be a problem,” she told Reuters Health. “Remember, gender is not a disease.”

වැඩ කරන ජනතාව වෙනුවෙනි

හැත්තෑව දශකයේ මතු වූ සිංහල ගීත අතර අමරණීය ගීතයක් ලෙස ‘අඳුරු කුටිය’ නැමැති ගීතය හඳුන්වා දිය හැකි ය. මේ ගීතය එකල සරල සංගීතයේ පැවැති ආකෘතිය පුපුරවා හළ ගීතයක් විය. සංගීතයට වඩා මිනිස් හඬෙහි ඇති බල පෞරුෂය මේ ගීතයෙන් සමාජගත විය. එහෙත් මේ සියල්ල ම අබිබවා නැඟී සිටින්නේ මේ ගීතයෙන් මතුවන සමාජ යථාර්ථයයි.
මේ ගීයට පසුබිම් වන්නේ රවින්ද්‍රනාථ තාගෝර් ගේ ගීතාංජලියෙහි අන්තර්ගත පද්‍යයකි. එහෙත් ඒ පද්‍ය අනුකරණය නොකරන රචකයා එය පොදු ජනතාවගේ ගීතයක් බවට පත් කරනු ලබයි. මේ ගීයෙහි දිවෙන පදමාලාව, කවිතා ගුණය හා ගේයතා ගුණය රැකගත් නිර්මාණයක් වන්නේ එබැවිනි.
මා මෙහි දී මහගම සේකරයන්ගේ පැදි පෙළක් දිග හරින්නේ තත්සර ඇසුර පාඨකයන් වෙනුවෙනි.

“දවසක් දා
කැඩපත ඉදිරියට ගොසින්
ඇඳි සළු පිළි උනා දමා
හෙළුවැල්ලෙන් බලා උනිමි
වැද්දෙකු තව වැද්දෙකු හට
මුණ ගැසුණාක් මෙන් වෙමි මම
මගේ ම පිළිබිඹුවට
නිකමට විරිත්තුවෙමි
එවිට ඔවුහු
දුනු ගී ගෙන
මා හා සටනට සැරසුණහ
සිනාසුනෙමි
එවිට ඔවුහු දුනු හී ගෙන
මා හා මිතුරු වූහ

How Right was Mr. Knox?

Courtesy - The Island - By Maureen Seneviratne

"Right" does not mean in this instance "Rightist" politics. (oh, how "involved" we, as a nation are with politics, anyhow!). It is simply the opposite of "wrong".

Robert Knox, if not exactly a household word or in name, rather, rings a bell in many a mind. Mr. Knox a British Ships captain put in at Trincomalee from, where he was brought to Kandy. A prisoner of the Kandyan King in the 17th Century According to the custom of that time he was not incarcerated in a prison or kept bound and fettered in the Royal dungeons. He was placed in the midst of a Kandyan village and the villagers were responsible for his well being. They had to provide him with food, clothing and shelter, and medicines if he fell ill.

Mr. Knox, apart from a few minor ailments as would affect any middle-aged person, came from hardy stock and had been a sea-farer. His father was a ship’s captain before him. He did not fall ill. Instead, very soon he became accustomed to his fate and spent a great deal of his time studying the manners and mores of his captors. He soon decided that he had very little in common with their way of life and lived out those years in a constant search for an escape route.

UK to ban social media?

In response to this week's riots in London following the death of Mark Dugan, David Cameron has told parliament that the government is looking to ban people from popular social networking sites if they are suspected of plotting criminal activity. It is a popular notion that Blackberry's BBM and Twitter have played a huge role in fanning the flames of unrest in London.

Cameron said he would meet with Facebok and Twitter to discuss whether it is possible to limit the spread on online messages in connection with acts of rioting, looting or other criminal activity.

It looks like Cameron is taking a leaflet out of NYPD's book and exaggerating it a bit. Social media isn't the only thing Cameron is after, he is also requesting that broadcasters hand over unused footage to police in connection with the riots in order to bring more criminals to justice, which has been vehemently protested when attempted previously.

Of the riots in connection to social media, Cameron had this to say: “Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers. Police were facing a new circumstance where rioters were using the BlackBerry Messenger service, a closed network, to organise riots. We've got to examine that and work out how to get ahead of them.”

Something special to say

Jomo was a merry old man who came from a remote village in Africa. He once wanted to go to the city and feel the pulse of the people and the place. So he walked for many days. Then he saw new houses and faces. He smiled with them.

"What are you looking for?" Asked some of them.

"I want to rest for a while and tell you something special." Said Jomo.

"What's that something special?" They asked Tomo.

"First I need to rest. Then I want to eat something. Then I will tell you something special."

Those who heard Jomo wanted to know that something speical. SO they treated Jomo so well.

"I don't have any money. I can only talk."

"What do you want to talk?" They asked.

"I want to tell you something special."

So some people gave him money. Some others gave him food. There were people who gave him lodging and looked after him. But all of them were inquisitive. They wanted to know the 'something special' he desired to talk. So they studied his ways and manners and posed the question.

"What's that something special that you wanted to tell us?" Asked some people. Jomo looked at them and just asked:

"Don't you know what I am going to say to you?"