(Pic by Jeevan Chandimal/PMD)
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Last Monday’s briefing at the Presidential Secretariat (old parliament) on the status of the war-winning armed forces revealed the pathetic state of affairs during the yahapalana administration. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa chaired the Defence Ministry review which lasted several hours. After Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne addressed the gathering, respective service chiefs explained the crisis experienced by the armed forces during the 2015 to 2019 period.
Navy Chief VA Nishantha Ulugetenne and Airforce Chief AVM Sudarshana Pathirana explained how they were deprived of the required support to maintain available assets. There hadn’t been a similar meeting since the change of government in Nov 2019. The then government allowed the armed forces to deteriorate. The rapid deterioration had been all part of the yahapalana strategy meant to undermine the armed forces. Downsizing the Army had been one crucial aspect a
By Prof. Wimal Dissanayake
The Venerable Tirikiunamale Ananda Maha Nayaka Thera has written a reverential commemorative poem, titled
Guru Dev Samara, celebrating the life and times of his teacher the Reverend Ampitiye Rahula Maha Thera. It is a poem that deserves the critical attention of discerning readers primarily because of the dexterity with which the author has handled his chosen poetic meter and commanded it to perform a number of functions related to the vitality of the poetic text
Guru Dev Samara consists of 130 stanzas written in conformity to the
drutha vilambitha meter. As I will explain later, the choice of this meter is indeed a happy one. It serves to enhance the willed intensity of the poetic text.
The talk of the town these days is all about an Ayurvedic ‘paniya’ or syrup, supposedly prepared by using some secret ingredients in addition to nutmegs and bees honey, being sought by desperate Sri Lankans, who appear to have lost faith in the government’s ability to control or curb the rapidly spreading viral infection.
We saw last week in the print and electronic media, pictures of hundreds of men and women rushing to the village of Hettimulla in Kegalle and gathering outside the high-walled residence of Kapurala-turned Ayurveda practitioner Dhammika Bandara to grab a bottle of the ‘paniya’ being touted by him as a cure for the deadly COVID-19 virus, and according to some media reports was being distributed free-of-charge.