Where to go
This evening, Saint Vajra teaches at Lakmahal and art emperor Chandraguptha opens his new exhibit at Saskia’s. Then move from your head into your body at the Tamil-Afro DJ nite.
Colombo literary festival opens this weekend. Get Orwellian with our culture minister, who shares his plans for shaping our culture. Or even more dystopian — lawyer Sumanthiran talking about literature. Dissect today’s Lankan literature, and from the editor of the spiffy Ceylon Journal, visualising D. S. Senanayake.
On Saturday, let writing workshops, storytelling sessions, and reading rooms look after the kids. Leave them there the whole weekend. And for the adults, Shashi Tharoor on murder. Join in a women’s chalk mural or if you’re lazy check out the film list. Don’t miss the Ajay Kamalakaran ones.
Outside the festival, actor Peter d’Almeida, this time as himself. For music, there’s “vocal artistry” at the Goethe or Musaeus’ “tour of legends” feat Umaria. And Vembadi Old Girls laddle out seafood Kool in Wellewatte, the best place for Jaffna food in all the island.
On Sunday, Black July: a documentary based on S. Thondaman’s cutting quip, “Sunday Sil, Monday Kill.” Or walk through history instead in Kelaniya or Colombo.
The lit fest continues through the week. Take sick leave for sessions on nature, borders, and Sri Lankan Sci-Fi. Or on Wednesday the archaeologists' poya bana: Buddhist heritage and its discontents.
Later this week the George Keyt foundation opens up Westminster House, the UK envoy’s bungalow, to show 19th century paintings of Ceylon.
What to read
Crows and cockroaches — South Asian politicians love to be pests. Read Arundhati Roy on India’s Aragalaya.
Also, books on Allan Bennet, the British Buddhist who thought Burmese Buddhism was purer than ours. Colombo aunties come together to unpack school trauma, with this book on how the Visakhas and Bishops of this country made respectable ladies out of you.
Indian journalist Narayan Swamy went inside the LTTE’s elusive mind. Now he tries his hand at the JVP. Meanwhile, for fallen journalist DBS, a tribute. Manjula Gajanayake successfully roasts both the NPP and the BASL.
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