> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.examiner.media/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Where to go and what to read
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/where-to-go-and-what-to-read-11/
- Published: 2025-12-12T07:36:55.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-12T07:51:55.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-14-2025

Year-end blues straining your relationship? Take your beau to the [Goethe](https://www.goethe.de/ins/lk/en/ver.cfm?event%5Fid=27176690&ref=examiner.media) for a film this evening. Watch how the Cubans navigate love and wars of the soul. 

Still single? Band your friends together for two quizzes: murder mystery at [Lakmahal](https://www.instagram.com/p/DRt9cl6CYKp/?ref=examiner.media) or Breaking Bad at [Pixels and Pints](https://www.instagram.com/p/DRtwCK1k0P%5F/?ref=examiner.media). Has the year left you with one too many kids? [Excel World](https://www.instagram.com/p/DSHy3bVjFyT/?img%5Findex=6&ref=examiner.media) has Winter Wonderland (open till 2026). 

On Saturday, [Good Market](https://www.instagram.com/p/DSHGBdvj0Vf/?ref=examiner.media) serves a tropical *aperitif* to initiate Colombo’s boozy season: drinking the fruits of paradise which usually grace the bowl, not the glass – rambutan, hibiscus and narang. As penance, watch human rights films all afternoon at the [Law and Society Trust](https://web.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1304732228362781&set=a.564727565696588&ref=examiner.media). Or throw in the towel after just one. Retreat to Barefoot’s [garden sessions](https://www.instagram.com/barefootgardencafe/?ref=examiner.media), [salsa](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR8rIIDiE-S/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) at the Hilton poolside or the symphony orchestra’s [Christmas concert](https://www.instagram.com/p/DREi682GGJS/?ref=examiner.media). 

“Strictly no gambling” at Sunday’s [poker night](https://www.instagram.com/p/DSFHFneCI6g/?ref=examiner.media). Zero chance you’ll make your entrance money back, but also no risk of losing your shirt. For pursuits more mellow, [Ways of Knowing](https://www.instagram.com/p/DR3sC4WCpZJ/?img%5Findex=6&ref=examiner.media)’s guided tour at the Bawa Trust and Ruwan Prasanna’s [Life of Fire](https://www.instagram.com/p/DRehzpXAbVs/?ref=examiner.media) at Saskia’s. 

Later this week the evergreen and overambitious [Mahler Society](https://www.goethe.de/ins/lk/en/ver.cfm?event%5Fid=27176660&ref=examiner.media) delivers a concert of Wagnerian ambition – combining novella, film and music. Two batteries of theatre – this week and next – at the [national youth drama festival](https://web.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1168578715432361&set=a.189993416624234&ref=examiner.media). 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2025/12/WhatsApp-Image-2025-12-12-at-10.17.41-1.jpg)

*What to read*

On Cyclone Ditwah, two key pieces. From [Ravindra Jayaratne](https://scroll.in/article/1089100/sri-lanka-cyclone-ditwahs-devastating-effect-shows-how-vulnerability-has-been-engineered?ref=examiner.media)’s flood mapping of Sri Lanka. Drains built for old rain patterns are a problem. [Rajni Gamage](https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/cyclone-ditwah-and-the-politics-of-recovery-in-sri-lanka/?ref=examiner.media) on the politics of recovery. 

Can we ever offer doctors enough to stay? Some thoughts in this [article](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379355231%5FBrain%5FDrain%5Fthe%5FExodus%5Fof%5FSri%5FLanka's%5FHealthcare%5FWorkforce?ref=examiner.media) on the exodus of some of our best and brightest. Midwives, toy safety and teenage healthcare in the [journal of child health](https://sljch.sljol.info/articles?ref=examiner.media). 

Other marginalia: a [report](https://www.csohate.org/2025/12/07/contours-of-emerging-hate-in-sri-lanka/?ref=examiner.media) on Hindu nationalist groups in Sri Lanka, a [paper](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2025.2588221?ref=examiner.media) on the rising trend of micro-housing and the [male domination of logistics](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125010526?ref=examiner.media). 

In case you missed the President’s *Newsweek* interview, here you [go](https://www.newsweek.com/sri-lankas-president-speaks-turmoil-recovery-and-diplomacy-11172487?ref=examiner.media).