Ceylon Traveller

Originally published in the Sunday Leader of 4th December, 2011 on page 39.

Online version here but the print version looks so much better with a full page. Will try to scan and post it sometime soon.

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1. Medirigiriya 2. Habarana 3. Kantharodai, Jaffna 4. Temple of the Tooth, Kandy 5. Buthawa, Yala 6. Kinniya, Trincomalee

I was bitten by the travel bug very early in life. All thanks to my parents who are always ready to hit the road, whether it is an impromptu day trip (like deciding to go to Udawalawe because I have a case of exam nerves and the only thing that will calm me is having our vehicle chased by an elephant) or an elaborately long planned trip (such as their honeymoon which was a cross country road trip). As a result of this, I have travelled all over Sri Lanka and been to more places than most people I know.

There are places that became second homes, such as Yala. There are unusual and obscure places like Lulkandura, Sri Lanka’s first commercial tea estate where James Taylor planted the first tea plant or the Kudiramali cliff in Mannar with its remnants of ancient habitation. There are adventures that will never be forgotten like climbing Adam’s peak through a jungle route during the rainy offseason or how I got lost while climbing down from Mihintale. In exactly one month from now, I’ll be moving out of home and embarking on what I choose to call yet another adventure. And as excited as I am, it is definitely bittersweet.

So this photo essay is a small way of saying thank you to my parents for passing on their love for travel, for instilling in me a love for history and archaeology and most importantly, for giving me all the reasons in the world to stay in this country and keep coming back home no matter where life may take me.

Pyramus and Thisby – 2011

Took my camera along when I went to watch Pyramus and Thisby, “a hilarious adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, according to Jehan Aloysius who devised, directed & choreographed the play.

It was a laugh riot and these were the shots I managed to take from my seat during the brief intervals I stopped laughing. Ended up going for it a second time without the camera so that I could catch all the action happening onstage.

The lighting wasn’t spectacular so there wasn’t enough light to properly capture the amazing choreography.

                   

Bangkok – September, 2011

Visited Bangkok for a few days. This was my first visit and I wish there had been more time to walk around and explore the city. This is a sample from the few times I took my camera on an outing.

              

Stigmata’s ‘Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom’ – A Decade of Martyrdom has Paid Off

originally published in The Nation

“Here, did you know Stigmata’s new album is coming out this week?”

The question came from a friend’s mother a few days before the launch of Stigmata’ third studio effort, ‘Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom’. A few years ago I couldn’t have imagined a scenario where a parental figure would come up to me and strike up a conversation on heavy metal. It is 2010 and, as Bob Dylan would muse, the times they are a changin’; heavy metal is becoming a fascinating study of demographics with Stigmata, the country’s pioneering metal band, becoming the face of Sri Lankan metal. And they have done all of this on their own terms.

The weeks leading up to the launch saw the band sign up with the country’s leading record label M Entertainment, Sri Lanka’s first heavy metal billboard being put up in Colombo and the band travel around the country with Ian Wright of the Discovery Channel.

But the best proof of how far they have come in the last ten years was the 26th of June, 2010, the day they launched ‘Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom’, dubbed the most anticipated CD launch of the year.

While the number of gigs has increased in the last few years, metalheads still look forward to them with the same fervor. When it’s a Stigmata gig, there’s even more anticipation because it is guaranteed that regardless of circumstances, the ‘Stigz’ will put on a good show. And that is exactly what they did the night the Psalms were unleashed, proving that talent and showmanship can overcome technical glitches.

There is no denial that the sound issues that blighted the performance that night had an anticlimactic effect on the audience after the many months of hype, but fans and naysayers would both be of unanimous agreement that Stigmata is one of the handful of bands that could recover from such difficulties with such élan.

Fifteen songs were performed that night which included the entire track list of the new album, a tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio through a cover of Black Sabbath’s classic ‘Children of the Sea’ and of course the recent crowd favorite, the Stigmata version of Tarzan Boy.

The spirit of camaraderie was palpable. No member of the audience uttered a noise of protest during the times the band halted performing in order to tackle the technical glitches. Frontman Suresh put his charisma to good use as he kept the crowd entertained, ensuring that neither they nor his fellow band members were discouraged.

As someone put it the next day, it was truly a resilient performance and by the time the last track March of the Saints was performed, all earlier troubles were forgotten. There were feet being stamped collectively and row after row of horns being waved.

A decade of martyrdom had paid off.

Rookantha and Chandralekha Live in Concert – Suwanda Danee

Took me ages but found the time to upload another video from this concert. The previous post about the same can be found here. As far as I know, the concert will be broadcast on Rupavahini on the 6th of March 2010, from 10pm onwards.

Enjoy the video.