මා පෙම් කළ ජනපද කල්‍යාණිට හිමියනි මට කළ නොහැක නිගා...

නව දැලි හේනක පෑව වැඳිරි රුව

ලෙස උවමින් දෙනුවන් රවටා

මා පෙම් කළ ජනපද කල්‍යාණිට

හිමියනි මට කළ නොහැක නිගා

සුරඟන රූ සිරි දුටිමි හැඳින්නෙමි

සිත් ලෙස දෙනුවන් බඳුන් පුරා

මා හඳුනන මගෙ හදගත් කලණිය

මට නුදුරුයි සුරඟනට වඩා

මා සිත සුවපත් කරලනු නොහැකිය

සෝ ළතැවුල් දෙයි රැය ද දිවා

නෙත දුටු සුරඟන රූසිරි කුමට ද

හද දුටු ජනපද කලණ නිසා

පද රචනය, සංගීතය සහ ගායනය

සෝමතිලක ජයමහ

 

සංගීතය හා ගායනය එකම පුද්ගලයා අතින් නිමැවෙන අවස්ථා සිංහල ගීතය තුළ හමුවන්නේ ඉතා කලාතුරකිනි. ආනන්ද සමරකෝන්, සුනිල් ශාන්ත, ෂර්ලි වෛජයන්ත ආදීන්ගේ නිර්මාණ තුළ මේ තත්ත්වය කලාතුරකින් දක්නට හැකිය. මේ අතර සෝමතිලක ජයමහ නම් වූ ගාන්ධර්වයාට හිමිවන්නේ සුවිශේෂත්වයකි. අප අතර කීර්තියට පත්වූ ගී නිර්මාණ කීපයකම මේ ත්‍රිපුද්ගල සංයෝගය සෝමතිලක ජයමහ නම් වූ කලාකරුවා අතින්ම සම්පූර්ණ වී තිබේ. කාව්‍යක්කාරයෙකු, සංගීතඥයෙකු මෙන්ම මධුර හඬකට හිමිකම් කියමින් සුගායනයේ යෙදීමේ හැකියාව වූ කලී කෙනකුට කලාතුරකින් දායාද වන භාග්‍යයකි.

එක්තරා විරෝධාකල්ප නිර්මාණයක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකි මේ නිර්මාණයට පසුබිම් වන්නේ සද්ධර්මරත්නාවලියේ හමුවන නන්ද තෙරුන්ගේ වස්තුවයි.

Dual citizenship for 500 applicants

The Government has decided to grant dual citizenship to more than 500 people, whose applications were pending for more than a year, Immigrations and Emigrations Chief Chulananda Perera said yesterday.

This would be the first time dual citizenship has been granted after the government put the scheme on hold last year pending a review.He said the 500 applicants included both Sri Lankans and foreigners and they were selected from about 1,000 applications.

The move came as the government was formulating new scheme on granting dual citizenship.

He said proposals for the new scheme had been handed over to the Attorney General for advice.

The scheme of dual citizenship had been put on hold to prevent the abuse this facility by people who might pose a threat to national security.

However, since the end of the war, a large number of Sri Lankans who have obtained citizenship in other countries had shown interest in gaining dual citizenship, Mr. Perera said.

The Sunday Times By Chris Kamalendran

Sleep paralysis studied

What do Moby Dick, the Salem witch trials and alien abductions all have in common? They all circle back to sleep paralysis. Less than 8 percent of the general population experiences sleep paralysis, but it is more frequent in two groups — students and psychiatric patients — according to a new study by psychologists at Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania. Sleep paralysis is defined as “a discrete period of time during which voluntary muscle movement is inhibited, yet ocular and respiratory movements are intact,” the researchers state in the current issue of Sleep Medicine Reviews. Hallucinations may also be present in these transitions to or from sleep.

Alien abductions and incubi and succubi, as well as other demons that attack while people are asleep, are implicated as different cultural interpretations of sleep paralysis. The Salem witch trials are now thought possibly to involve the townspeople experiencing sleep paralysis. And in the 19th-century novel Moby Dick, the main character Ishmael experiences an episode of sleep paralysis in the form of a malevolent presence in the room. Brian A. Sharpless, clinical assistant professor of psychology and assistant director of the psychological clinic at Penn State, noted that some people who experience these episodes may regularly try to avoid going to sleep because of the unpleasant sensations they experience. But other people enjoy the sensations they feel during sleep paralysis.

Larry Crowne…A Decent Box Office Bomb!

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Alright, so here comes my rather challenging task of reviewing “Larry Crowne” which was literally killed by the critics after release.

It was called “bland”, “boring”, “simplistic”, “and lifeless”. So what on earth could have possessed me to watch such a box office and critical fiasco? Well for one thing, it is best to formulate your own opinion on films like on people and how one watches a film depends on what is expected of the movie. Is it for pure entertainment purposes, to gain some extra knowledge on a specific subject or because you are a big fan of the actors?

No doubt ‘Larry Crowne’ does not ooze with an ounce of creativity. The plot is predictable to an extreme and does not move away from the rom com happy ending. Those who wish to analyse further could say that it is about a man who re-invents himself and changes his boring destiny late in life. It is about second chances being possible even when the odds are completely against you. Now doesn’t that sounds slightly more appealing than being called boring and bland?

Tom Hanks is the star and director of ‘Larry Crowne’. He also co-wrote this rather unexciting screenplay with Nia Vardalos who seemed to have lost her entire creative genius after coming up with the hilarious ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ in 2002.

Anyway, Tom comes as Larry an ex-Navy veteran who has been working in retail for several years.

When the company downsizes, they decide to let him go due to his lack of educational qualifications. Larry watches his life slowly fall apart as his divorce seems to have pretty much eaten up all his assets and being on unemployment will not allow him to pay his mortgage.

Housewives? Modern women prefer to be called ‘stay at home mums’

London: Modern mothers hate to be called housewives and would instead prefer to be described as "stay at home mums", a new study has found. According to the study, two-thirds of British mothers believe the label "housewife" has "negative connotation" and even "trivializes" their family role — in fact, a third of those who disliked the term even described it as insulting.

The study, based on a survey of 2,000 moms, shows how a woman’s perception of her role at home and within the wider society has changed over the years. Many prefer the "stay at home mum" title because they consider caring for the children to be their primary role and believe household chores are now a shared responsibility with their husbands, the ‘Daily Express’ reported. Liz Day, parenting consultant for Mothercare, which commissioned the survey, said: "Times have changed and clearly mothers feel there are now more modern, and perhaps, more descriptive names that fit their role. There is no doubt the role of a mum has changed with a more shared approach to chores."

Mothers’ attitudes toward their role were examined as well as their thoughts on how they are seen by others. Many believe people look down on them for choosing to stay at home rather than work, says the survey.

Sunday Island