06 JANUARY 2008: As a political hit man to President Mahinda Rajapakse, Dr. Mervyn Silva would be entitled to a double PhD. He has the perfect qualifications. An impressive entourage of gangsters, drug dealers and double murder suspects, no sense of shame and a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush. He is also a […]

JULY 11,1999: Yesterday I happened to come across a thick dusty file on the cover of which was the legend ‘Journalism Course‘. I’d almost forgotten that about the time I was toying with the idea of becoming a lawyer, a doctor and a flower shop girl (The latter on being inspired to the profession by […]

DECEMBER 19, 1999: It is not often that I miss the Ladies’ College Old Girls Association (OGA) Carol Service. To me Christmas is all about caroling. It makes my day to warble flat and unmusical to the tune of Oh Come All Ye Faithful and giggle a little as I childishly substitute ‘Come and eat […]

AUGUST 8, 1999: My chauffeur is not what I would describe as an intrepid member of the lion tribe. I say this because of his nothing short of peculiar behaviour at the city’s military check points.
My car is one of those unassuming match box types that no self respecting terrorist or female suicide bomber will want […]

JANUARY 13, 2008: There is a pathos that consumes my soul as I observe policemen stationed at every foot nay every inch of the road liberally dotting the city, arms and ammunition at the ready, while the anticipated bomb and claymore mine always seems to explode somewhere else.
It is difficult to imagine the really hardened […]