Sunday, 10 Sep 2023
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By R. S. Karunaratne
‘All I can give you is the opportunity, the impulse, the key’ - Hermann Hesse
Whether you are young or old, you have the right to be fit. Also, you have a right to good health and a long life. But when you come down to it, only you can make the changes that will bring you the benefits. You may have tried and failed with many exercise routines, but this time you are going...
Most of us take water for granted. We think we will have enough water all the time. Especially on rainy days we see large amounts of water going to waste. Although most parts of the earth is covered with oceans full of water, we cannot drink or use it for domestic purposes. That means we need ‘usable’ water that we can drink and wash with and also to use to grow our food...
Leaving instructions for what should happen to your movable and immovable property after your death is a serious matter, but for some people, the temptation to cause mischief or raise a smile from beyond the grave is too much to resist. If you treat the matter seriously, a last will is not just a list of bequests. It gives an opportunity to leave some money or property to...
Your beloved mother dies suddenly. You never expected her to die in the prime of her life. Before the funeral rites are over, you get a letter from your employer terminating your services. While you are wondering what to do, your house is robbed.
All the events take place when your daughter is going through a divorce and recovering from an illness. When pressure mounts...
Pun is a play on words identical in sound or similar in sound, but are sharply diverse in meaning. Puns have had serious literary uses.
William Shakespeare and other writers had used puns seriously for comic purposes. In “Romeo and Juliet”, Mercutio bleeding to death says grimly, “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.” John Donne’s solemn “Hymn to God the...
By R. S. Karunaratne
We have been taught that there are five basic senses: taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell. We also have five corresponding...
Charles Spencer Chaplin, popularly known as Charlie Chaplin, was born in London in 1889. His father was an alcoholic and his...
Man is God’s plaything, and that is the best part of him. Therefore, life must be lived as play. -PlatoWhile scanning the...
Most of us are familiar with Western philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Bertrand Russell. We know very little...
The conventional view that some people are born with intelligence has been challenged by modern psychologists. Today, they say...
The coconut tree is often called the tree of life because every part of it is useful to man. Some time ago, coconuts were the...
If you look at yourself closely, you will realise that you have been doing all kinds of mindless activities such as leaving your...
A funny thing has happened to us on our way to the communication revolution. We have stopped talking to one another!I was walking...
Animals lurk everywhere in the English language. There are many phrases, expressions, idioms and proverbs involving animals. Does...
When you do something strange, people ask: “What are you, some kind of nut?” They are obviously not referring to coconuts which...
Being a book lover I always glance through newspaper pages giving details of new arrivals. According to the advertised books,...
A malapropism is a mistake caused by getting two words confused. It is named after Mrs Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley...
In a large hospital Dr Rebecca Bingham happened to walk past a patient lying on a stretcher who was about to be wheeled into the...
Most of us know Charlie Chaplin as a comedian who acted in silent films, but his life-story itself is good material for a film....
Hindi cinema loves revisiting India’s glorious past every now and then and narrating the stories of heroism and bravery. After...
Daydreams are pleasant thoughts you have while you are awake. Dr Erantha de Mel in ‘Optimizing the Infinite Mind’ says...
The latest Bollywood movie Panipat - The Great Betrayal, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, is screened at the Majestic, City Centre...
From the day I read Robert Browning’s poem “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” as a child it has remained a haunting mystery for me. I...
Rama, Sita and Ravana are three great personalities fondly remembered by millions of people in India and Sri Lanka. Even Valmiki...
The following are excerpts from a keynote speech made by Women and Media Collective Executive Director Dr. Sepali Kottegoda, on...
In a way, this is the Age of Superstars. Television channels are vying with one another to produce superstars. There is a mad...
There is a river near my home and the sea lies at a distance. I often sit in my verandah and watch how the moon rises at night....
It is no secret that almost everybody has something to worry about. As children we are worried about our studies and examinations...
It is no secret that almost everybody has something to worry about. As children we worried about our studies and examinations....
There has been a renewed interest in King Ravana who is supposed to have ruled Lanka 5,000 years ago. Newspapers are full of...
One day I noticed that my 19-year-old granddaughter was having some difficulty in reading one of my favourite Paulo Coelho novels...
It is not easy moving through the world when you are terrified of darkness, spiders, clouds, thunder or closed spaces. The list...
Grass is a low green plant which grows naturally over a lot of the Earth’s surface. It has very thin leaves which grow in large...
With IS (Islamic State) terrorists blowing themselves up and disrupting social life, you might wonder whether the world is coming...
From my childhood I have been fascinated by spiders. I would watch how they weave their webs dexterously. After weaving the web...
The most important places of pilgrimage in Buddhism are located in the Gangetic plains of Northern India and Southern Nepal, in...
When a baby is born, most parents consult astrologers to name it. Some well-known astrologers charge Rs 5,000 and give a list of...
As most people believe meditation is not an exotic or difficult practice that requires chanting, navel gazing or sitting in the...
Except for a few leading local artists such as, Senaka Senanayake and Jayasiri Semage, most of the others seem to think that they...
Although man is mortal, philosophers and sages seem to be immortal for what they have said still rings true. In a world dominated...
A myth is an idea or story that many people believe, but which is not true. A myth can also be an ancient story, especially, one...
Most sensible people have the habit of collecting epigrams, quotations, maxims and proverbs as they are the concentrated human...
Roy in his teens wanted to have a beautiful girlfriend. While attending a mixed school, he had the opportunity of looking at the...
Have you ever met a man or woman who married his or her first love? There may be a very few such couples. In fact, Walter Scott...
Psychologists view perception, or seeing, as a process of building the things we perceive as reality out of fragments of...
Writing love letters may appear to be an old-fashioned pursuit in modern times. However, love letters have their own plus points...