Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

I am sure some LNP members well deserve it. They can consider the photos, the latest (taken last week) as their Christmas present this year. You have done a great job. Specially Laith ayya and Mr Brown with the able assistance of Ekanayake. The construction of the house is complete (at a cost of Rs. 550,000) and all it needs is painting. I am told that will be done soon, hopefully in January next year, when the blind lady`s family moves in.

Malaka Silva needs no introduction. As the son of a powerful minister in Rajapakse regime he surely represents the future of our motherland.

From the day I joined LNP, I have been stressing the danger of mixing religion and politics.

Cheevaradharis getting into politics in Sri Lanka has not done any good either to religion or politics. To move the country forward it is essential to ban any religious leader getting into politics, either directly or indirectly, specially these racist cheevaradharees.

When I raised this argument there were so many supporters of cheevaradharees saying I insulted religion. I have not. I have only raised the necessity of taking these hora ganayas out of politics. That would have done something good to the country.

For the first time (I think) I am going to tell something good about Mahinda mama in LNP. I am so happy about his performance. I am seriously considering voting for him in the next election. (I am not joking) I never knew this guy had so much of guts. I always thought him to be a spineless coward who bends in front of all cheevaradhariyas. I was wrong. He proved he is not scared of cheevaradharis. Well done, sir. Well done. Onna ohoma thamai weda karanna one.

Today Mahinda mama`s government took the bravest decision ever since 2005. Sinhala Baudhdha Mahinda mama today beat the (censored) out of the robed gang. Yes, no less. Beaten (censored) out of them. Tear gassed them, thrown water at them. (see the photographs) Thatta malliyas were crying. What a wonderful sight. That is how they should have been treated from the very beginning. Now Mahinda mama knows what to do with these cheevaradhariyas.

We can only hope that the Womens` wing of JVP (Samajavadi Kantha Sangamaya) too will have a similar protest in near future.

Photographs of elephants were taken sometime back on our way to Kandy.

Disclaimer: No insult intended to innocent four legged monkeys. :-)

Unlike WeeraMonkey (who has never been to Sigiriya and Sripada in his life) I travel often. This set includes photos from different travels.

Hope this indicates how colourful the boutique scene in Sri Lanka - both physically as well as ethnically.

High resolutions are for sale. Mr Brown gets a 10% commission. :-)

While clicking these, I was cursing the idiots for ruining such a beautiful scenery by writing on the rock, but looks like it had served a purpose. If not for that wrting ML would never have recognized his village!

These photos are for those who,

(a) wants to be nostalgic

(b) have not seen ML`s village (Why no people in the photos? I did not want to publish photographs of ML`s relatives without their permission. )

(c) like to pay me something to buy the high resolution versions of the photos. (MrBrown gets 10% commission)

It is strange for somebody like me who has so little time for religion to spend time on temples, but that was what happened last week.

Do not call me any names, I have taken my lunch too at many of those places. It is not customary for a layman to eat at a temple (unless he is broke) but when invited by priests it is difficult to decline too. Believe me, they were good food. Not the rubbish we eat at MacDonalds.

I prefer not to name the places, (none of them were so famous) but thought of sharing these photos with you.

This is another historical place in Sri Lanka that rarely attracts tourists, foreign and local. (For three hours on last Friday our group was the sole visitors)

Strictly speaking, we still do not know what role this place has played in Sri Lanka history. The current name is Panduwasnuwara and the popular belief is this is the kingdom of `Panduwasadeva` the second king of Lanka, according to Mahavamsa. However, like in many cases, popular belief in this case too is wrong. The architecture places it somewhere close to Polonnaruwa period, and can never be done in early (mythical) Anuradhapura age. Two stone inscriptions (one in Tamil) proves this point further. The Tamil inscription (I could not find anywhere what it says) suggest that this was a place once under Chola power. The other inscription was supposed to be done by king Nissankamalla who said to have visited the place, but it does not give any indication to place name.

I bet not many of you have seen this.

This place is about 4 km from Anuradhapura on the Vilachchiya / Tantirimale Road.

The plan of this Hamuduruwo is to build 1,000 monk statues following Buddha. I think about 500 were already built. (Some, as you see in last few photographs are not completed.)

I do not think it will do any good to religion, but I like the business idea. Many pilgrims to Anuradhapura already visit this place, so that has opened employment avenues for a large number of people, which itself is praiseworthy.

Dedicated to all Buddhists in LNP.

Sorry guys, I have had more photos, but lost one of my 1 GB memory cards.

I also visited Wat Benja, especially to locate the so called `Vallipuram` Buddha statue, but after carefully watching every statue I find the whole story might be a hoax, there is nothing called Vallipuram statute or at least there is no such thing at What Benja. All its Buddha statues (and replicas) were either from Thailand itself or from nearby Buddhist countries (Burma/Laos). It is naive to think 4 feet bronze state from Sri Lanka end up in Thailand anybody observing its transport.

This is certainly one of the best restaurants I have ever visited.

Situated off Vilachchiya, just next to Villpattu jungle it is on an island in the middle of a small natural lake. Named `Madol Duwa` after Martin Wickremasinghe`s famous novel by the same name by the proprietor when he settled down there in 1950s. He too ran from his home, just like Upali Giniwelle did.

Everyone in the vicinity are farmers, but this innovative man wants to make a difference. So he creates this restaurant in the middle of a jungle. Not much business (not many people go there anyway) but he earns enough money to find a decent living for his family.