Features

Landmarks in the history of the tea industry

Published

2 years ago

2024/06/16

by ACB Pethiyagoda

Commercial agriculture in Ceylon commenced over two centuries ago and much has been written on the subject over the years by scientists, economists, agriculturists and others. This effort is by one who was actively connected with the several aspects of the tea industry for about two decades. Needless to say the events which took place in the early years are recorded following reference to several writings such as ‘A Hundred Years of Ceylon Tea’ by D. M. Forest, A History of Sri Lanka’ by K. M. De Silva, `Tea’ by T. Eden, ‘Tea Planting in Ceylon’ by E.C. Elliott and F.J. Whitehead, ‘A History of the Up-Country Tamil People in Sri Lanka’ by S. Nadesan etc.

In around 1769 the Dutch took to commercial cultivation of cinnamon when supplies from wild plants in the territory of the Kandyan kings dwindled. Organized plantations were therefore set up by Governor Iman Willem Falck in the now Maradana, Cinnamon Gardens and Borella areas. Villagers in various parts of the Southern region of the country, reasonably close to the Western coast, were also encouraged to take to the cultivation.

The quills were in great demand in Europe as a spice and also, particularly among the wealthy, to stir their tea from China in the cold of winter evenings to give it a ‘lift’. The industry diminished in importance during the period of the British Governor, Frederick North (1798-1805) on account of severe competition from Java and low-grade produce from South India and the Philippines. This was about 25 years before Buckingham Palace itself was built by Gorge IV and at the time when Britain ruled the waves and governed vast territories in Asia including parts of Ceylon, except its Kandyan Kingdom.

The next commercial crop, with a short overlapping period, was coffee introduced by the Arabs and which had its beginnings in the Wet Zone peasants’ home gardens. This was even before the arrival in Ceylon of the Portuguese, the first European invaders. It was first grown on a commercial scale at elevations of about 1,600ft around Kandy and Gampola commencing about the middle of the 1820s. The prime movers were Governor Lt. Gen Sir Edward Barnes (1824-1831) and the commander of the Army in Kandy Lt. Col Henry Bird.

While the latter established his plantation at Sinhapitiya near Gampola, Barnes’ plantation was at Gannoruwa, Peradeniya which is today the foremost Government Agricultural Research Station. Other Englishmen followed suit in rapid succession so that sales of land soared from about 350 acres in 1834 to around 79,000 acres in 1841 alone. These buyers were favoured with loans and from the Ceylon Bank (opened in 1841) together with Government land on a grant system up to 1832 and thereafter by auction at a minimum upset price of 5sh. an acre.

Several other laws related to land were enacted over the next few years favouring the English prospectors until the infamous Waste Lands Ordinance came into force in 1897 depriving the Sinhalese of all inherited or uncultivated land leaving no room, in some areas for even a burial ground of their own.

Who were the main buyers? Government Agents, Judges, other high Government officials, Army personnel, and even Archdeacons and Colonial Chaplains! While these gentlemen were the owners the lands were opened mostly by a rough and ready lot of adventurers and soldiers of various ranks discharged from the Army. They had no proper education or knowledge of agriculture but without hesitation they assumed the ranks of Captain, Major etc. according to their ability to get away with it!

Nearly 70 years after the commercial planting of cinnamon, tea came into the scene as seed and seedlings for experimental purposes in 1839 to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, once the home of an early Kandyan chieftain, from the Calcutta Botanic Gardens. About 30 of the seedlings found their way to the property in Nuwara Eliya owned by Sir Anthony Oliphant, Chief Justice and were tended by the Rev E R Gepp, tutor of the Chief Justice’s son. Oliphant Estate at the entrance to Nuwara Eliya from the direction of Kandy would very likely have been the location of the Chief Justice’s house and garden.

The coffee blight, Hemileia Vastartrix was first seen around 1869 but was not considered a serious threat to plantations which in that year totaled some 176,000 acres and continued to be opened.

The extent under cultivation increased to 275,000 acres by 1880. Though yields declined gradually due to the disease prices increased with improved demand. Hence, plantation owners were not unduly bothered about the blight as their coffers kept filling. Further, rumours of labour shortages, financial difficulties and political problems in Brazil and Java and the consequent decline in crops contributed to the complacent attitude of the Ceylon planters.

With the industry thriving there was a demand for improved transport facilities and Governor Sir Henry Ward spent one million pounds sterling for the construction of over 3,000 miles of roadway during his five year period here from 1855. To his credit he also made plans for a railway to the coffee growing areas resulting in the completion of the line from Colombo to Kandy in 1867 and thereafter in stages to Nawalapitiya and beyond upto Nuwara Eliya and Badulla.

During a period of about 20 years with the gradual decline in coffee yields, concern about the situation emerged at last and as a replacement crop cinchona, now known as quinine, became popular. It was known as Jesuit bark, in honour of that Order whose members knew of its curative powers for malaria. In 1861 the Hakgalla Botanic Garden was established by Government for test planting and propagation of cinchona from seeds originally collected in South America.

Loolecondra Estate, Deltota of James Taylor fame, was one of the first estates in 1867 to plant cinchona on a commercial scale mostly as an intercrop with coffee and very much later with tea. Its quality was considered superior to produce from Java and India and Canavaralla Estate in Namunukula was another estate which pioneered in growing the crop. The extent under cultivation rapidly increased from 6,000 acres in 1878 to 64,000 acres by 1883. Similar expansion in other countries resulted in a decline in prices so that by 1890 trees were being uprooted in Ceylon or planted areas were abandoned to the jungle tide.

George Henry Thwaites was appointed Superintendent, later designated Director, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya in 1849. He devoted 30 years of his life in the fight against the coffee disease and with equal enthusiasm the development of cinchona, nutmeg, cloves, cocoa and cardamom. His name in the development of tea as a commercial crop has a special place as he nurtured and took a serious interest in the first seedlings received at Peradeniya about 10 years before his appointment and for experimental planting in several estates with planting material which arrived from India from time to time thereafter. The modest man although with a Ph.D insisted on being addressed as Mr. Thwaites as there was at the time a Dr. Thwaites, MD in Gampola practicing medicine!

About the time of his retirement from service, to settle down in Kandy, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon nominated Mr. Thwaites a Life Member of the Association; the first of a long list of other distinguished persons connected with the industry.

It was from Thwaites that James Taylor received his first lot of tea seed in about 1860. From around 1866 large quantities of seeds and plants from the Botanic Gardens both at Peradeniya and Hakgalla were distributed widely. Interests in the cultivation became greater almost by the day as a result of a successful study of the industry in India initiated by the Planters’ Association, with Government’s support and led by Arthur Morice, Superintendent of Mooloya Estate, Hewaheta; a close associate of Taylor.

The study revealed that tea planting on a commercial scale was certainly a profitable venture in Ceylon if the seed of the best Assam hybrid variety is introduced and confined to plantations situated at high elevations. These conditions were not difficult to satisfy as expensive and time consuming operations such as jungle clearing and land preparation had already been carried out for coffee and cinchona planting; of greater importance was the urgent need to find a feasible alternative to the declining viability of coffee.

The next event of great significance to the tea industry was when Taylor opened a clearing of 19 acres with Assam seed in Loolecondra Estate in 1866. Some documents indicate the year as 1867 which could perhaps be correctly taken as 1866/67 as planting may have commenced late in ’66 and ended in early ’67 along with the North East Monsoon rains. Even if this was not the case the fact that it was the first planting on a commercial scale after several experimental plots had been raised for about 28 years from 1839 onwards at Peradeniya and Hakgalla Gardens, the Chief Justice’s garden in Nuwara Eliya and somewhat later in Rothschild Estate, Pussellawa, Condagalla Division of Labukelle Estate, Ramboda, Kotegoda Division of Glen Alpin Estate, Badulla and several other plantations.

Tea leaf manufacture is the other aspect which had to be developed along with cultivation. W.J. Jenkins, of Condagalla, claimed to have carried out the first experiments although Taylor also made a similar claim. Perhaps Taylor was right as he would have had sufficient leaf from his 19 acre field to carry out experiments closer in volume to that required for processing on a commercial scale. Jenkins teamed up with Taylor and carried out joint experiments in Taylor’s bungalow verandah until 1872 when Taylor set up a ‘Tea House’ conforming to his own design and plans.

Water wheels were used for motive power to roll the leaf before the fermentation period which was a definite improvement on Jenkins’ practice of rolling by hand which failed to give the much desired ‘twist’ to the fired leaf. This was an inefficient and slow process and therefore expensive even in those times.

As early as 1878 and 1880 Ceylon teas appeared in the London and Melbourne markets respectively and a record in 1881 indicates a valuation of 23 lbs of Loolecondra tea at three shillings per pound by a valuer in Mincing Lane. As the valuation was made in London it was naturally in sterling currency although Ceylon had its own currency in rupees and cents beginning January 1872.

To Taylor’s credit he found that fine plucking (two leaves and bud) as a result of close plucking intervals made better quality teas which naturally received higher prices than those from more mature leaf plucked at longer intervals. This requirement, clearly established over a century ago as a basic need to produce quality teas is to this day sometimes unwittingly ignored by planters; main reasons being their inability to organize close plucking rounds due to shortage of labour or lack of planning or both.

The undisputed pioneer known as the Father of Ceylon’s Tea Industry’ James Taylor was born in March 1835 in Kincandineshire near Aberdeen to Michael, a wheelwright and Margret Taylor who had five other children. At the age of 14 he became a pupil teacher but having met Peter Moir, a cousin on home leave from planting in Ceylon, James set his mind on following his cousin’s footsteps and arrived in Colombo and Naranhena (later a division of Loolecondra). He settled down in Loolecondra in his rough, thatched roofed bungalow enduring for many years the hardships of living under almost primitive conditions.

However, he appears to have enjoyed himself in total dedication to his job as Assistant Superintendent on a salary of $100 a year, less instalments on cost of passage and gear advanced to him by Ms. G & JA Halden of London. His only interests appear to have been on improving the profitability of the estate, experimenting with crops, manufacture of tea and being a good employer to his labour force. He subsequently built himself a comfortable bungalow on being appointed Superintendent but never once went back to England. The one holiday he took out of the country was in Assam to study tea planting and manufacture.

Taylor remained single and the Sinhalese woman who kept house for him is said to have cried her heart out when he died of dysentery at 57 years. He was buried in the Mahaiyawa cemetery in Kandy.

Taylor was recognised by both Government and his fellow planters for his various achievements and contribution to the industry. The Planters’ Association as a token of its appreciation gifted Taylor with a silver tea set made in London and a cheque for Rs. 2,871.11 being the balance of the amount collected. Governor, The Right Hon. Sir William Henry Gregory (1872-1877) who visited Lookcondra to congratulate Taylor on his achievements said that “many men have had monuments raised to them less deserving than Mr. Taylor”.

Up to about the 1870’s proprietors of estates were only Europeans but soon thereafter Indian names such as Eduljee who owned Wewessa in Passara and Benerajee Jeejeebhoy owner of Nahawilla in Demodara appeared in land transfer records. In the midcountry Sinhala names such as Amarasuriya, Pieris, de Mel, de Soysa etc. were known as prominent plantation owners.

It was only in about the 1860s that young Assistants from so called good and well to do families in England were recruited in preference to cashiered soldiers etc. who were engaged earlier. It was in these times that some senior planters and proprietors who considered themselves as superior in society even wore black tailcoat and white tie at dinner! In society they considered themselves the ‘cream, along with only the top Government administrators; others in business and lower grades in Government service were considered inferiors with little effort being made to conceal the attitude.

This account of the industry is in no way complete without mention of the Tea Research Institute of Ceylon, which was established in October 1925 from when crop research activities ceased at the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya. It was funded by a cess of cents 10 per 100 lbs of tea exported. In 1928, St. Coombs Estate at Talawakelle with a planted acreage of 291 acres out of 424 acres was bought for Rs. 600,000/- out of a loan of rupees one million granted by Government to the Board of Control. Laboratories and quarters for staff were built and for long years the Institute held a unique and prestigious position as a specialized organization and ideal employer. In much later years Sub Stations were set up at Passara and Bombuwela and still later at Kandy and Ratnapura.

The contribution made by the Institute to the advancement of the industry was immense. In the early days it successfully controlled the Tea Tortirix pest by biological means and in about 1949 means for the control of the parasitic fungus Blister Blight were found expeditiously. The expansion of the area under cultivation and replanting of poor yielding seedling tea by vegetatively propagated means commenced in about 1947, although the technique was known in Japan in the nineteenth century and had been adopted in Assam in the 1930s. In Ceylon the results of the search for high yielding, drought, and Blister resistant clones with desirable manufacturing qualities was an outstanding success.

In 1930 the Institute commenced an Advisory Service to assist tea small holders as the planted extent under this category was then in the region of 60,000 acres. Three years later the Tea Control Department was set up to implement several Acts connected with the industry which were passed by the Government.

(To be continued next week)

(First published in 2,000. The late author was a tea planter who also worked for the Tea Research Institute early in his career. He ended his working life handling agricultural projects for the Ceylon Tobacco Co. Ltd.)

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Features

More state support needed for marginalised communities

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/13

Thilina Walpola

A landslide in the Central Province

Message from Malaiyaha Tamil community to govt:

Insights from SSA Cyclone Ditwah Survey

When climate disasters strike, they don’t affect everyone equally. Marginalised communities typically face worse outcomes, and Cyclone Ditwah is no exception. Especially in a context where normalcy is far from “normal”, the idea of returning to normalcy or restoring a life of normalcy makes very little sense.

The island-wide survey (https://ssalanka.org/reports/) conducted by the Social Scientists’ Association (SSA), between early to mid-January on Cyclone Ditwah shows stark regional disparities in how satisfied or dissatisfied people were with the government’s response. While national satisfaction levels were relatively high in most provinces, the Central Province tells a different story.

Only 35.2% of Central Province residents reported that they were satisfied with early warning and evacuation measures, compared to 52.2% nationally. The gap continues across every measure: just 52.9% were satisfied with immediate rescue and emergency response, compared with the national figure of 74.6%. Satisfaction with relief distribution in the Central Province is 51.9% while the national figure stands at 73.1%. The figures for restoration of water, electricity, and roads are at a low 45.9% in the central province compared to the 70.9% in national figures. Similarly, the satisfaction level for recovery and rebuilding support is 48.7% in the Central Province, while the national figure is 67.0%.

A deeper analysis of the SSA data on public perceptions reveals something important: these lower satisfaction rates came primarily from the Malaiyaha Tamil population. Their experience differed not just from other provinces, but also from other ethnic groups living in the Central Province itself.

The Malaiyaha Tamil community’s vulnerability didn’t start with the cyclone. Their vulnerability is a historically and structurally pre-determined process of exclusion and marginalisation. Brought to Sri Lanka during British rule to work for the empire’s plantation economies, they have faced long-term economic exploitation and have repeatedly been denied access to state support and social welfare systems. Most estate residents still live in ‘line rooms’ and have no rights to the land they cultivate and live on. The community continues to be governed by an outdated estate management system that acts as a barrier to accessing public and municipal services such as road repair, water, electricity and other basic infrastructures available to other citizens.

As far as access to improved water sources is concerned, the Sri Lanka Demographic Health Survey (2016) shows that 57% of estate sector households don’t have access to improved water sources, while more than 90% of households in urban and rural areas do. With regard to the level of poverty, as the Department of Census and Statistics (2019) data reveals, the estate sector where most Malaiyaha Tamils live had a poverty headcount index of 33.8%; more than double the national rate of 14.3%. These statistics highlight key indicators of the systemic discrimination faced by the Malaiyaha Tamil community.

Some crucial observations from the SSA data collectors who enumerated responses from estate residents in the survey reveal the specific challenges faced by the Malaiyaha Tamils, particularly in their efforts to seek state support for compensation and reconstruction.

First, the Central Province experienced not just flooding but also the highest number of landslides in the island. As a result, some residents in the region lost entire homes, access roadways, and other basic infrastructures. The loss of lives, livelihoods and land was at a higher intensity compared to the provinces not located in the hills. Most importantly, the Malaiyaha Tamil community’s pre-existing grievances made them even more vulnerable and the government’s job of reparation and restitution more complex.

Early warnings hadn’t reached many areas. Some data collectors said they themselves never heard any warnings in estate areas, while others mentioned that early warnings were issued but didn’t reach some segments of the community. According to the resident data collectors, the police announcements reached only as far as the sections where they were able to drive their vehicles to, and there were many estate roads that were not motorable. When warnings did filter through to remote locations, they often came by word of mouth and information was distorted along the way. Once the disaster hit, things got worse: roads were blocked, electricity went out, mobile networks failed and people were cut off completely.

Emergency response was slow. Blocked roads meant people could not get to hospitals when they needed urgent care, including pregnant mothers. The difficult terrain and poor road conditions meant rescue teams took much longer to reach affected areas than in other regions.

Relief supplies didn’t reach everyone. The Grama Niladhari divisions in these areas are huge and hard to navigate, making it difficult for Grama Niladharis to reach all places as urgently as needed. Relief workers distributed supplies where vehicles could go, which meant accessible areas got help while remote communities were left out.

Some people didn’t even try to go to safety centres or evacuation shelters set up in local schools because the facilities there were already so poor. The perceptions of people who did go to safety centres, as shown in the provincial data, reveal that satisfaction was low compared to other affected regions of the country. Less than half were satisfied with space and facilities (42.1%) or security and protection (45.0%). Satisfaction was even lower for assistance with lost or damaged documentation (17.9%) and information and support for compensation applications (28.2%). Only 22.5% were satisfied with medical care and health services below most other affected regions.

Restoring services proved nearly impossible in some areas. Road access was the biggest problem. The condition of the roads was already poor even before the cyclone, and some still haven’t been cleared. Recovery is especially difficult because there’s no decent baseline infrastructure to restore, hence you can’t bring roads and other public facilities back to a “good” condition when they were never good, even before the disaster.

Water systems faced their own complications. Many households get water from natural sources or small community projects, and not the centralised state system. These sources are often in the middle of the disaster zone and therefore got contaminated during the floods and landslides.

Long-term recovery remains stalled. Without basic infrastructure, areas that are still hard to reach keep struggling to get the support they need for rebuilding.

Taken together, what do these testaments mean? Disaster response can’t be the same for everyone. The Malaiyaha Tamil community has been double marginalised because they were already living with structural inequalities such as poor infrastructure, geographic isolation, and inadequate services which have been exacerbated by Cyclone Ditwah. An effective and fair disaster response needs to account for these underlying vulnerabilities. It requires interventions tailored to the historical, economic, and infrastructural realities that marginalized communities face every day. On top of that, it highlights the importance of dealing with climate disasters, given the fact that vulnerable communities could face more devastating impacts compared to others.

(Shashik Silva is a researcher with the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka)

by Shashik Silva ✍️

Features

Crucial test for religious and ethnic harmony in Bangladesh

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

A political protest that led to governmental change in Bangladesh mid last year. (photograph: imago)

Will the Bangladesh parliamentary election bring into being a government that will ensure ethnic and religious harmony in the country? This is the poser on the lips of peace-loving sections in Bangladesh and a principal concern of those outside who mean the country well.

The apprehensions are mainly on the part of religious and ethnic minorities. The parliamentary poll of February 12th is expected to bring into existence a government headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Islamist oriented Jamaat-e-Islami party and this is where the rub is. If these parties win, will it be a case of Bangladesh sliding in the direction of a theocracy or a state where majoritarian chauvinism thrives?

Chief of the Jamaat, Shafiqur Rahman, who was interviewed by sections of the international media recently said that there is no need for minority groups in Bangladesh to have the above fears. He assured, essentially, that the state that will come into being will be equable and inclusive. May it be so, is likely to be the wish of those who cherish a tension-free Bangladesh.

The party that could have posed a challenge to the above parties, the Awami League Party of former Prime Minister Hasina Wased, is out of the running on account of a suspension that was imposed on it by the authorities and the mentioned majoritarian-oriented parties are expected to have it easy at the polls.

A positive that has emerged against the backdrop of the poll is that most ordinary people in Bangladesh, be they Muslim or Hindu, are for communal and religious harmony and it is hoped that this sentiment will strongly prevail, going ahead. Interestingly, most of them were of the view, when interviewed, that it was the politicians who sowed the seeds of discord in the country and this viewpoint is widely shared by publics all over the region in respect of the politicians of their countries.

Some sections of the Jamaat party were of the view that matters with regard to the orientation of governance are best left to the incoming parliament to decide on but such opinions will be cold comfort for minority groups. If the parliamentary majority comes to consist of hard line Islamists, for instance, there is nothing to prevent the country from going in for theocratic governance. Consequently, minority group fears over their safety and protection cannot be prevented from spreading.

Therefore, we come back to the question of just and fair governance and whether Bangladesh’s future rulers could ensure these essential conditions of democratic rule. The latter, it is hoped, will be sufficiently perceptive to ascertain that a Bangladesh rife with religious and ethnic tensions, and therefore unstable, would not be in the interests of Bangladesh and those of the region’s countries.

Unfortunately, politicians region-wide fall for the lure of ethnic, religious and linguistic chauvinism. This happens even in the case of politicians who claim to be democratic in orientation. This fate even befell Bangladesh’s Awami League Party, which claims to be democratic and socialist in general outlook.

We have it on the authority of Taslima Nasrin in her ground-breaking novel, ‘Lajja’, that the Awami Party was not of any substantial help to Bangladesh’s Hindus, for example, when violence was unleashed on them by sections of the majority community. In fact some elements in the Awami Party were found to be siding with the Hindus’ murderous persecutors. Such are the temptations of hard line majoritarianism.

In Sri Lanka’s past numerous have been the occasions when even self-professed Leftists and their parties have conveniently fallen in line with Southern nationalist groups with self-interest in mind. The present NPP government in Sri Lanka has been waxing lyrical about fostering national reconciliation and harmony but it is yet to prove its worthiness on this score in practice. The NPP government remains untested material.

As a first step towards national reconciliation it is hoped that Sri Lanka’s present rulers would learn the Tamil language and address the people of the North and East of the country in Tamil and not Sinhala, which most Tamil-speaking people do not understand. We earnestly await official language reforms which afford to Tamil the dignity it deserves.

An acid test awaits Bangladesh as well on the nation-building front. Not only must all forms of chauvinism be shunned by the incoming rulers but a secular, truly democratic Bangladesh awaits being licked into shape. All identity barriers among people need to be abolished and it is this process that is referred to as nation-building.

On the foreign policy frontier, a task of foremost importance for Bangladesh is the need to build bridges of amity with India. If pragmatism is to rule the roost in foreign policy formulation, Bangladesh would place priority to the overcoming of this challenge. The repatriation to Bangladesh of ex-Prime Minister Hasina could emerge as a steep hurdle to bilateral accord but sagacious diplomacy must be used by Bangladesh to get over the problem.

A reply to N.A. de S. Amaratunga

A response has been penned by N.A. de S. Amaratunga (please see p5 of ‘The Island’ of February 6th) to a previous column by me on ‘ India shaping-up as a Swing State’, published in this newspaper on January 29th , but I remain firmly convinced that India remains a foremost democracy and a Swing State in the making.

If the countries of South Asia are to effectively manage ‘murderous terrorism’, particularly of the separatist kind, then they would do well to adopt to the best of their ability a system of government that provides for power decentralization from the centre to the provinces or periphery, as the case may be. This system has stood India in good stead and ought to prove effective in all other states that have fears of disintegration.

Moreover, power decentralization ensures that all communities within a country enjoy some self-governing rights within an overall unitary governance framework. Such power-sharing is a hallmark of democratic governance.

Features

Celebrating Valentine’s Day …

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love, romance, and affection, and this is how some of our well-known personalities plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day – 14th February:

Merlina Fernando (Singer)

Yes, it’s a special day for lovers all over the world and it’s even more special to me because 14th February is the birthday of my husband Suresh, who’s the lead guitarist of my band Mission.

We have planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day and his Birthday together and it will be a wonderful night as always.

We will be having our fans and close friends, on that night, with their loved ones at Highso – City Max hotel Dubai, from 9.00 pm onwards.

Lorensz Francke (Elvis Tribute Artiste)

On Valentine’s Day I will be performing a live concert at a Wealthy Senior Home for Men and Women, and their families will be attending, as well.

I will be performing live with romantic, iconic love songs and my song list would include ‘Can’t Help falling in Love’, ‘Love Me Tender’, ‘Burning Love’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’, ‘The Wonder of You’ and ‘’It’s Now or Never’ to name a few.

To make Valentine’s Day extra special I will give the Home folks red satin scarfs.

Emma Shanaya (Singer)

I plan on spending the day of love with my girls, especially my best friend. I don’t have a romantic Valentine this year but I am thrilled to spend it with the girl that loves me through and through. I’ll be in Colombo and look forward to go to a cute cafe and spend some quality time with my childhood best friend Zulha.

JAYASRI

Emma-and-Maneeka

This Valentine’s Day the band JAYASRI we will be really busy; in the morning we will be landing in Sri Lanka, after our Oman Tour; then in the afternoon we are invited as Chief Guests at our Maris Stella College Sports Meet, Negombo, and late night we will be with LineOne band live in Karandeniya Open Air Down South. Everywhere we will be sharing LOVE with the mass crowds.

Kay Jay (Singer)

I will stay at home and cook a lovely meal for lunch, watch some movies, together with Sanjaya, and, maybe we go out for dinner and have a lovely time. Come to think of it, every day is Valentine’s Day for me with Sanjaya Alles.

Maneka Liyanage (Beauty Tips)

On this special day, I celebrate love by spending meaningful time with the people I cherish. I prepare food with love and share meals together, because food made with love brings hearts closer. I enjoy my leisure time with them — talking, laughing, sharing stories, understanding each other, and creating beautiful memories. My wish for this Valentine’s Day is a world without fighting — a world where we love one another like our own beloved, where we do not hurt others, even through a single word or action. Let us choose kindness, patience, and understanding in everything we do.

Janaka Palapathwala (Singer)

Janaka

Valentine’s Day should not be the only day we speak about love.

From the moment we are born into this world, we seek love, first through the very drop of our mother’s milk, then through the boundless care of our Mother and Father, and the embrace of family.

Love is everywhere. All living beings, even plants, respond in affection when they are loved.

As we grow, we learn to love, and to be loved. One day, that love inspires us to build a new family of our own.

Love has no beginning and no end. It flows through every stage of life, timeless, endless, and eternal.

Natasha Rathnayake (Singer)

We don’t have any special plans for Valentine’s Day. When you’ve been in love with the same person for over 25 years, you realise that love isn’t a performance reserved for one calendar date. My husband and I have never been big on public displays, or grand gestures, on 14th February. Our love is expressed quietly and consistently, in ordinary, uncelebrated moments.

With time, you learn that love isn’t about proving anything to the world or buying into a commercialised idea of romance—flowers that wilt, sweets that spike blood sugar, and gifts that impress briefly but add little real value. In today’s society, marketing often pushes the idea that love is proven by how much money you spend, and that buying things is treated as a sign of commitment.

Real love doesn’t need reminders or price tags. It lives in showing up every day, choosing each other on unromantic days, and nurturing the relationship intentionally and without an audience.

This isn’t a judgment on those who enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. It’s simply a personal choice.

Melloney Dassanayake (Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2024)

I truly believe it’s beautiful to have a day specially dedicated to love. But, for me, Valentine’s Day goes far beyond romantic love alone. It celebrates every form of love we hold close to our hearts: the love for family, friends, and that one special person who makes life brighter. While 14th February gives us a moment to pause and celebrate, I always remind myself that love should never be limited to just one day. Every single day should feel like Valentine’s Day – constant reminder to the people we love that they are never alone, that they are valued, and that they matter.

I’m incredibly blessed because, for me, every day feels like Valentine’s Day. My special person makes sure of that through the smallest gestures, the quiet moments, and the simple reminders that love lives in the details. He shows me that it’s the little things that count, and that love doesn’t need grand stages to feel extraordinary. This Valentine’s Day, perfection would be something intimate and meaningful: a cozy picnic in our home garden, surrounded by nature, laughter, and warmth, followed by an abstract drawing session where we let our creativity flow freely. To me, that’s what love is – simple, soulful, expressive, and deeply personal. When love is real, every ordinary moment becomes magical.

Noshin De Silva (Actress)

Valentine’s Day is one of my favourite holidays! I love the décor, the hearts everywhere, the pinks and reds, heart-shaped chocolates, and roses all around. But honestly, I believe every day can be Valentine’s Day.

It doesn’t have to be just about romantic love. It’s a chance to celebrate love in all its forms with friends, family, or even by taking a little time for yourself.

Whether you’re spending the day with someone special or enjoying your own company, it’s a reminder to appreciate meaningful connections, show kindness, and lead with love every day.

And yes, I’m fully on theme this year with heart nail art and heart mehendi design!

Wishing everyone a very happy Valentine’s Day, but, remember, love yourself first, and don’t forget to treat yourself.

Sending my love to all of you.