I'm slightly materialistic. How about you?

End of November is when you settle all taxes and bills for the year. Same with a Government.  They’ll clear out all payments . Balance the debit and credit . Once this is done  you’ve got a clean state and a fresh start. December is all about fun and  to shop. And you will think of what to buy and what not to buy.  In preparation for the deep breath you are going to take tomorrow, begin to examine the way you approach money....

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It's a fleeting world , I realized

There is a girl who is fond of little things. Little things like feeding ants sugar cubes. Ladybirds thrill her. She likes to watch sundown. Even sunset. She wants to know how spores turn into fungi so soon. And how   wind can turn into a tornado in seconds. She fell asleep earlier than usual one night. Before anybody else she was woken up the next day.  Gleaming rays of the sun were playing on her eyelids and woke her up. Staying...

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Halves here and halves there

It’s already half past 10. Not much for a Sunday. Have been wasting time for nearly 2 and a half hours thinking of what to do for the rest of the day. And I have been just invited for a meet up. That was a long promised one. But didn’t want to make it now. Got it arranged  for the week after.  No much  rain like yesterday. It’s half gloomy and half sunny. I don’t understand these weather lingos. Let the weather men deal with it. Even...

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That bittersweet longing.

Write on nostalgia. Something nice, I was advised.   Don’t know whether it should be nice or nicely written. Let me put things in the way I can. I don’t know if ‘nostalgia’ can be nice. It has this bittersweet longing for things, persons or may be some times we have cherished in the past. There are moments when we have eyes and moments when we are blind. There are things we pass by on our way to work or school.  There are buildings...

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Galle Face and other tidbits

I recollected a chat I had sometime back. It eventually remembered me of Galle Face. I was told Galle face is a beautiful place to shed tears. Pic by David Blacker Haven’t been to Galle Face for some time. That’s because Law College is on holidays these days. Not that the College is closed, just that I am on study leave. I take walks often as a habit. Being a usual visitor to Pettah, at times I will take the road to World Trade Center. On...

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To Romesh Gunasekara

This is for you, for you Pic by www.gettyimages.com who is made of delicate reef , poisoned ramparts , the noontide  and sand glass paint, to your politicians and men  with handlebars and tortoise topknots, to your noisy nights in the pearl of frogs, drums, bottles, dogs barking at moon , the chatter under yellow lights in streets, and crowded tea stalls that were halted by a hammer blow, to the ugly disturbance , bulletins and...

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Right choice matters

Pic by www.lifescriptdoctor.com On a hot and sticky day, go out, may be drive up to Colpetty. Stare up at a cloud.You will see the sun peeping through the buildings. In bright orange. Sometimes red. Don’t stare for too long. You don’t want to go blind. It’s too bright that you won’t see anything clear. Eyes will close, naturally. Buildings are growing taller and taller. Wonder how tall future cities might get. But you will see short ones too.Not...

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These days

My 'these days' are parched shriveled star - crossed and unseeded of landmark and anecdote, and in volumes of  poetry in a cloud movement. And Did you know the vacancy that sat in my heart  is a space  that you hol...

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'Buddho yo kalitho doso - Buddho kamathu tam mamam '

I was crowned with flowers and swapped the princely garb in yellow robe because , dedication is large and countless to win the ten precepts . Even I wonder Of what 'dukkha' is made Or letting go Or the renouncing . And may The Enlightened one bear with me if I have wronged by word or deed, or forgive me if I overstep and fracture the ‘buddha vachanaya' (Inspired by Tharindu Amunugama's Photography)...

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Landmarks will guide you to correct places.

This is a collection of notes on ' Maps' I'm writing for the JEANS section  in 'The Nation' newspaper . Jeans is dedicated for  kids , for their  enthusiasm and curiosity.  This is the second in the series. It’s  cool to have a stroll; especially on a Sunday morning when roads are not crowded. Torrington and Independence Avenue in Colombo look neat, calm and relaxing. There’s pin- drop silence. A few cars are...

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You can draw your own map

Some things are incidental. It seems I’m writing about intersections, maps, places and random encounters more frequently than usual. I had just met a map-maker several days ago. Road encounters have made me realize that maps and directions are meaningless. Drivers ignore No-U turns, they forget roundabouts, prohibited left turns and right turns, double lines and single line. They drive as they wish. It’s a time race. It’s a matter of reaching...

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Kites , turtles and other things.

Turtles have their favorite spots on the beach. I don't know if they are the same turtles. But they come to the same place. To the same turtle hatchery they have had before. Maybe they have memories just like us. They are safe. Until the catchers know their spots. Humans are the worst kind I’ve known. When something comes their way, they will try to make all the possible, and the impossible out of it. Same with the turtles. When they are found,...

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You and I

I think I'll never see rain like this that joins sky and earth and otherwise never touch hearts of you and I. May the rain , rain over me  and you be the raindrop  that slurps  in to my heart pages  stored words , lines - half erased , completed, the jumbled ones and painted pictures down the straws  of every vein and capillary  and walk tippet y -toe in and out hearts and kidneys . Eventually you know everything connects even raindrop and blood and even , you and I...

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When you have young blood in you

There are up days and down days. There are things we like to do. There are things we want to do but we cannot do. Life is short. There’s only a little you can wish when you are in death bed. I remember a Lawyer, now a Judge saying that you should enjoy every little thing that comes your way. ‘Do not wait for a ‘nakatha’ (an auspicious time) and overthink whether to do or not. Some things fleet so fast, you can’t get them back. If you get to work with a Minister, tell him to take you too around the world. Fill passports .There is so much to explore....

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