> ## Content Index
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> 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-29/
- Published: 2026-05-01T07:03:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-01T07:03:20.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-16-2026

Mayday, mayday! May is here, but barely yet the monsoon. Too much to do, and too much heat to do it in. 

[*Poison*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW-q7tQE9Tt/?ref=examiner.media) returns for the weekend. Though sold out twice before, Polymarket isn’t making a book on the odds of this time. [Memories of Yaalpanam](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXbbyT0jS3i/?ref=examiner.media) unveils at Barefoot. Is it *kitsch*? Probably. Does it work? You tell us. They also have thirty [short films](https://www.barefootgallery.com/viewing-room/5-countdown-2026-1-minute-film-night/?utm%5Fsource=ig&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcontent=link%5Fin%5Fbio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn8BFI1TMczbKMd8G1CdsHZJxahkVmzaRFxRleGc9t8MRbVCYneYOGaBhhzvU%5Faem%5FSEnpKTVI7AOl4ZNyuuHFgg) in thirty minutes — a device of some affectation, but a pleasing one. Do Not Laugh is a winner. 

On Saturday, you snooze, you lose. Just after sunrise, a [tree walk](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vryyjwd%5F6236ZkFhcJ3tk5BeoYGTuKPR/view?ref=examiner.media) with Ruk Rakaganno at Victoria Park. Take a break from the blasted heat with a nap in the afternoon, then venture out to a tour of the Bellanwila Vihara’s dioramic [murals](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXs5acEkm6M/?ref=examiner.media). At night, CoCA screens “[the worst movie ever made](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXYRLGSk0J3/?ref=examiner.media),”rescuing you after with the balm of Chinthaka’s vinyl. 

Sunday is colourful; paint watercolour [mandalas ](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXhw0GJjWzR/?img%5Findex=2&ref=examiner.media)in the morning, or join [Urban Sketchers](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXlUiqhDilr/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) as they wander through Ape Gama. Sip and paint a [tote bag](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXqyKM8AMni/?ref=examiner.media) at Kai. And if that isn’t enough eat, pray, love, try [crochet therapy](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXlec0LDVh5/?ref=examiner.media) instead. 

On Wednesday, the Zonta Club’s idea of feminism, [The Devil Wears Prada 2](https://web.facebook.com/events/1326323446091697/?ref=examiner.media). Thursday is for the big boys on how to [get your startup selling](https://web.facebook.com/events/973888792250783/?ref=examiner.media) overseas. Or ditch the crypto whales, for a [film on the real ones.](https://si2026.org/participate/registration-rate?ref=examiner.media) Friday is for the folks at the *Tuesday* [book club](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXOX87EEvzO/?ref=examiner.media) (no, we don’t get it either). They’re reliving their O Level days with Northanger Abbey. Saregama with the [Tamil jazz collective](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW87j3XEwCI/?ref=examiner.media) as they pass through Sri Lanka on their South Asia tour. 

Want to get a head start on the next weekend? News for the shower singers – workshop players is holding [auditions](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXmWZvbjLGN/?ref=examiner.media) for the Hunchback of Notre Dame. A [Jaffna](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXEO4oBACBm/?ref=examiner.media) ‘experience’. It’s “not a tour” but a “gathering”. Good for the ‘travellers, not tourists’ among us I suppose. And Radicle’s exhibition tells us to [take a chill pill](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXuAK3TEvfg/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==), presumably by caffeinating us to death. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2026/05/data-src-image-7f48ec62-1073-4d61-8034-4c0c190b161d.jpeg)

*What to read* 

The present sits on the past, and on Geoffrey Bawa’s [chairs](https://phantomhands.in/journal/designing-under-constraint-geoffrey-bawa-and-the-spirit-of-making?ref=examiner.media). A May Day [ode](https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/trade-unionists-and-stories-beyond-labour-rights/article70926070.ece?ref=examiner.media) to Sri Lanka’s trade union leaders.

Is Sinhalese nationalism dying, last week’s *Examination* mused. Muragala [pitches in](https://muragala.lk/articles/baiya-toiya-and-the-aspirational-middleclass-nationalist-imaginaryshifting-axes-of-political-polarization-in-sri-lanka/?ref=examiner.media) with their take. Some fragments of a phd thesis [analys](https://www.proquest.com/openview/2dbb303493eeb57a4766e7973126a7a1/?ref=examiner.media)ing Buddhist thinking in modern Sri Lankan literature. 

Our age demographics continue to deteriorate. Four million elders are [ageing](https://www.echelon.lk/four-million-elders-ageing-without-income-security/?ref=examiner.media) without income security. Colombo Urban Labs lights the beacons on Sri Lanka’s [polycrisis](https://www.csf-asia.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CUL-Policy-Brief-April-2026-Nothing-left-to-pawn.pdf?ref=examiner.media). 

Do we really need a walk for peace, asks [Ruki Fernando](https://groundviews.org/2026/04/28/walk-for-peace-the-uncertain-potential-of-a-significant-moment/?ref=examiner.media)? The dog is cute. Maybe next time instead of the clergy, we should have the kennel club organise it. 

Meanwhile, the Colombo Poets collective has gone mobile, launching their new [app](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrEAbCiJx-/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) this week.