A review of Richard Simon’s Thomia, subtitled ‘the entangled history of Lanka and her greatest public school’. A history of failed promise and a requiem to Anglophone Lanka, Thomia traces the mighty currents, momentous events, and complex men who forged the fate of independent Sri Lanka.

Fuel stocks currently on the island are enough for just over three weeks. Sri Lanka is the only country in the world to ration fuel at the pump, dusting off the fuel QR system. Trishaw and bus drivers say their quotas aren’t sufficient.

The fuel queues have returned and you may be tempted to just stay at home. Over our dead bodies. We’ll try to be constructive too - curating this week’s happenings by location as

Sri Lanka’s Telugu community resents being boxed as the ‘Ahikuntakas’ or gypsies. Most Sri Lankans overlook the diversity within the community, and push them away as social outcasts. To secure a better future, the youth are embracing Sinhalese culture and Christianity.

After the US torpedoed the Dena, Sri Lanka had to decide on letting the Bushehr dock. Amid a whirlpool of competing considerations, Sri Lanka took nearly two days to grant the ship entry. The commercial fallout was contained, but sans an investigation Sri Lanka’s maritime reputation may suffer.

“No one cares” about opera and ballet anymore, pronounced Chalamet, that adonis of our time. In Colombo at least, the cosmos strikes back: writers, catch the Gratien Trust’s Creativity in Writing lecture this evening,

The Iran war’s fallout is already here, including via higher oil prices and torpedoed ships. Sri Lanka is better placed than in the past to manage the adverse impact, which will depend greatly on the war’s duration. But there are silver linings too.

Thirty two bachelor’s students will set off for overseas study this year, fully funded at taxpayer expense. They aren’t going to the best universities, and it’s unclear how they were selected or whether they can be compelled to return to Sri Lanka.