by S. Skandakumar
As the clock moved towards 10.50 a.m ,on January 31, 2021, my mind went back 25 years to that fateful day.
It was a Wednesday, and having finished our weekly meeting of the Parent Board of Directors in the Board Room on the eighth floor of Steuart House around 10.30 am, we sat around to exchange views on matters of a non-official nature as was customary, before returning to our rooms.
Enjoying the view of the sea beyond the Central Bank that faced us from the opposite side of Janadipathi Mawatha, was a favourite pastime of ours on such occasions.
Janadipathi Mawatha on that last day of January was as busy as always as people flocked into the banks, business offices and hotels that stood imposingly along it . Yes, The human traffic on this busy street was as heavy as the vehicular.
(Excerpted from Senior DIG (Rtd.) Edward Gunawardena’s memoirs) Colombo Division was hectic, but it was good fun. All Three of us new ASPs, Brute Mahendran, Cosmo David and I were resident at the Officer’s Mess, Brownrigg Road. Today it is the Senior Officer’s Mess, Keppetipola Mawatha This is because during the JVP insurrection of 1971 […]
by Saman Indrajith
Writing a handbook for a profession of public and social occupation is not easy and this is true for the profession of journalism which is considered an occupation that both supports and sustains the credibility of the decision-making system and drives its functions.
Compiling a handbook for media professionals is hard because it can never be a completed task owing to many practical reasons including the difficulty of providing a clear-cut, all-agreed definition of what journalism is. It has been defined as a job, an art and a profession among many others.
Yet there are a number of handbooks for journalists and some of them have come to attention having been prescribed for the courses of study by various journalism schools both local and foreign. The most recent handbook for journalists was released last week by the Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union (FMETU), an affiliate of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and the local member of the Internation
by Senior DIG (Rtd.) Edward Gunawardene
In recent weeks many interesting articles have appeared in the Sunday Island on the Burghers of Ceylon. The contributions by Godwin Perera, Laksman Ratnapala, A. J. Perera, Sumith de Silva and Manel Fonseka have rekindled in me memories of the many public figures of the Burgher community, particularly police officers at the time I joined the police in the late fifties of the last century. The mix-up in photos of Col. F. C. de Saram and Canon R. S. de Saram and the references to Burgher bits were indeed amusing.
When I joined the police, the induction process of new entrants to gazetted rank, required probationary ASPs to be introduced by appointment to senior public officers including the Governor General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Attorney General etc. As such, with my batchmates before long I was able to meet several amiable public servants of the Burgher community.