“Nayanandaya,” meaning the enchantment of indebtedness, is Surath de Mel’s latest novel. True to his reputation as a maximalist writer, de Mel traverses the labyrinth of middle-class struggles; poverty, unemployment, the quest for education, through a father’s fragile dreams. The novel unfolds around Mahela, his son, his friendships, and the fragile relationships that keep him tethered to life.

“Happiness is not a destination; it is a journey. There are no shortcuts to it. At some point, the path you thought was right will be wrong. You have to make sacrifices for it.”

These words, uttered by the protagonist Mahela to his ten-year-old son, is the silent mantra of every middle-class parent. A common urban middle-class father’s yearning for his child to climb the ladder he himself could not ascend.

A Socio-Political Mirror

Sri Lanka’s middle class remains trapped in paradox. They are educated but underemployed, salaried but indebted, socially respected yet politically invisible. Structural inequalities, economic volatility and populist politics inclusively contribute to keep them “forever middle”.

Through protagonist Mahela, who is sometimes a graphic designer, sometimes a vendor and always a failure Surath de Mel sketches the deficiencies of an education system that does not nurture skills of the students. Sri Lanka boasts about high literacy rates, yet the economy cannot absorb the thousands of graduates produced into meaningful work. Underemployment becomes the inheritance of the middle class. With political connections often the stories can be transformed. De Mel pens it in dark humour to expose these truths:

“Some notorious writer once sneered in a newspaper, ‘Give your ass to the minister, and you’ll earn the right to keep it on a bigger chair.’ Countless people waiting in ministers’ offices, pressing

their backsides to seats, carrying the weight of their own lives.”

Childhood Trauma and Its Echoes

Surath de Mel frequently weaves psychoanalysis into his fiction. In Nayanandaya, he captures the lingering shadows of childhood trauma. Mahela, scarred by a loveless and fractured youth, suffers phobic anxiety and depression, apparently with a personality disorder as an adult. His confession at the psychologist reveals it out:

“Childhood? I didn’t have one. I was fifteen when I was born.”

Here, Mahela marks his true birth not at infancy, but at the death of his parents. This statement itself reveals the childhood trauma the protagonist had gone through and the reader can attribute his subsequent psychological struggles as the cause of it.

Surath de Mel

From a Lacanian perspective, trauma is not just something that happens to a child; it is a deep break in how the child understands the world, themselves, and others. Some experiences are too painful to be put into words. Lacan calls this the Real — what cannot be fully spoken or explained. This pain does not disappear but returns later in life as anxiety, fear, or obsessive compulsive disorder.

This trauma disturbs the child’s sense of self and their place in society. When language fails to make sense of loss, the mind creates fantasies to survive. These fantasies quietly shape adult desires, relationships, and choices.

In Nayanandaya, childhood trauma of the protagonist does not stay buried — it lives on, shaping the adulthood in unseen ways. In the narrative, Mahela’s struggles are not just personal failures but the result of a past that was never given words.

Tears of Fathers – Forgotten in Sri Lankan Literature

Sri Lankan literature has long been attentive to suffering — especially rural poverty, social injustice, and the silent endurance of women and single mothers. Countless novels, poems, and songs have given voice to maternal sacrifice, female resilience, and women’s oppression.

Yet, within this rich narratives, the quiet grief of the urban middle-class father remains mostly unseen. Rarely does fiction pause to examine the emotional lives of men who shoulder responsibility without language for their pain. These masculine tears are private, swallowed by routinely and masked by humour or silence. Definitely never granted literary space.

In Nayanandaya, Surath de Mel breaks this silence. Through Mahela, he lends voice to these overlooked men — fathers whose love is expressed through sacrifice rather than speech. However, de Mel does not romanticise the tears. Rather he humanises them. He allows their vulnerabilities, anxieties, and quiet despair to surface with honesty and compassion. In doing so, Nayanandaya fills a striking gap in Sri Lankan literature, reminding us that fathers, too, carry invisible wounds.

Literary value

With Nayanandaya, Surath de Mel reaches a new pinnacle in his literary craft. His language is dense yet lyrical, enriched with similes, metaphors, irony, and a full range of literary tools deployed with confidence and control.

One of the novel’s most touching narrative choices is the personification of Mahela’s son’s soft toy, Wonie. Through personified Wonie, de Mel captures the two most touching incidents in the entire novel . This simply reveals the author’s artistic maturity, transforming a simple object into a powerful emotional conduit that anchors the novel’s tenderness amidst its despair.

At a deeper symbolic level, Mahela himself can be read as more than an individual character, but a metaphor for Sri Lanka — a nation struggling under economic hardship, clinging to impractical dreams, witnessing the migration of its people, and drifting towards a slow, painful exhaustion. His personal failures could mirror the broader decay of social and economic structures. This symbolic reading lends Nayanandaya a haunting national resonance.

Today, many write and many publish, but only a few transform language into literature that lingers in the reader’s mind long after the final page. Surath de Mel belongs to that rare few. In a literary landscape crowded with voices, he remains devoted to art rather than popularity or trend. As a scholar of Sinhala language and literature, de Mel writes with intellectual depth, dark humour, and deep human empathy.

In conclusion, Nayanandaya is not merely a story; it is social commentary, psychoanalytic reflection, and tragic poetry woven into richly textured prose. With this novel — a masterful interlacing of love, debt, and fragile dreams — Surath de Mel engraves a distinctly Dostoevskian signature into Sinhala literature.

Reviewed by Dr. Charuni Kohombange

Around 40 percent of the annual energy we use is consumed in domestic activities. Energy is costly, and supply is not unlimited. Unfortunately, we realize the importance of energy – saving only during the time of a crisis.

If you adopt readily affordable energy-saving strategies, you will cut down your living expenditure substantially, relieving the energy burden of the nation. Here are some tips.

Cooking:

Cooking consumes a good portion of domestic energy demand and common practices, and negligence leads to 30 – 40 percent wastage. A simple experiment revealed that the energy expenditure in boiling an egg with the usual unnecessary excess water in an open pan is nearly 50 percent higher than boiling in a closed lid pan with the minimal amount of water. In an open pan, a large quantity of heat is lost via convection currents and expulsion of water vapor, carrying excessive amounts of heat energy (latent heat of vaporisation). Still, most of us boil potatoes for prolonged intervals of time in open receptacles, failing to realise that it is faster and more efficient to boil potatoes or any other food material in a closed pan. About 30 – 40 percent of domestic cooking energy requirements can be cut down by cooking in closed-lid pans. Furthermore, food cooked in closed pans is healthier because of less mixing with air that causes food oxidation. Fat oxidation generates toxic substances. In a closed- lid utensil (not tightly closed), food is covered with a blanket of water vapor at a positive pressure, preventing entry of air and therefore food oxidation.

Overcooking is another bad habit that not only wastes energy but also degrades the nutritional value of food.

Electric kettle:

For making morning or evening tea or preparing tea to serve a visitor. Do not pour an unnecessarily large quantity of water into the electric kettle. Note that the energy needed to make 10 cups of tea is ten times that of one cup.

Electric Ovens:

Avoid the use of electric ovens as far as possible. Remember that foods cooked at higher temperatures are generally unhealthy, and even carcinogens are formed when food is fried at higher temperatures in an oven. If ever you need to bake something in an oven, limit the number of times you open the door. Use smaller ovens adequate for the purpose and not larger ones just for fashion.

Refrigerators:

Refrigerators consume lots of energy. Do not use over-capacity refrigerators just for fashion. Every time you open the fridge, more electricity is used to reset the cooling temperature. Plan your access to the appliance accordingly. Check whether the doors are properly secured and there are no leakages. Keep the fridge in a cooler location, not hit by direct sunlight and away from warmer places in the kitchen. Remember that turning off the fridge frequently will not save energy, instead it draws more energy.

Use of gas burners:

Do not use oversized utensils. Keep the lid closed as far as possible to prevent the escape of heat. Remember that excessive amounts of heat energy are carried away by a large surface-area conducting utensil. Do not open the gas vent to allow the flame to flash outside the vessel. A flame not impinging on the pan would not heat it, and gas is wasted. Ensure that the flame is blue. Frequently check whether gas vents are clogged with rust and carbon. Frequently, cooking material in the pan drops into the gas vents, and salt there corrodes the gas vents. Cleaning and washing would be necessary. Do not prolong cooking, taking time to prepare ingredients and adding them to the pan intermittently. Add ingredients at once and before switching the burner. If the preparation of a dish is prolonged to slow the cooking, use earthenware pots rather than metallic ones. An earthenware pot, being thermally less conducting retain heat.

Firewood for cooking:

Do not attempt to eliminate the use of firewood in cooking. If you are living in a village area, the exclusive use of LPG gas is an unnecessary expenditure. Large smoke-free, efficient oven designs are now available. If you are compelled to use gas, keep the option of firewood ovens, especially for prolonged cooking. Admittedly, there are locations, especially in cities, where the use of firewood is unsuited.

Hot water showers:

Before installing hot water showers, reconsider whether they are really necessary in a hot tropical climate. Go for solar water heaters, although the installation cost is high. Instant water heaters consume much less electricity compared to geysers with water tanks. Now, cheap and safe instant water heaters are available.

Lighting:

Arrange and design your residence to optimise daytime illumination until late evening. If you are constructing a new house, take this issue into account. Use LED lamps, which provide the same illumination for 85 percent less energy. In study rooms and areas that require prolonged illumination, paint the walls white. Angle – poised LED lamps with very low voltage are available. Use them for reading and studies. Routinely clean the surfaces of all lamps. Dust deposition cuts off light.

Air conditioning and ventilation:

Air conditioning consumes prohibitively large quantities of electrical energy. You can avoid air conditioning by optimising ventilation. The principle is to have air entry points (windows) in the house near the ground level and exit points (vents or windows) near the roof. Ground level is cooler, and the region near the roof is warmer. Thus, a cool air current enters the house near the ground level and hot air is drawn by the vents near the roof. The region near the ground can be rendered cooler by planting trees. Architectural designs are available to optimise this effect. You can sense the direction of air motion by holding a thin strip of paper near the windows at the ground and near the roof level. In addition to ceiling fan, install exhaust fans in the upper points of the house to remove hot air and draw cooler air through windows near the ground. Reduce the amount of sunlight hitting the roof by shading with trees. There are techniques for increasing the reflectance of the roof with paints and other designs.

Transportation:

A good portion of your budget is drained by transportation. Irrespective of who you are, use public transport if convenient and available. As much as possible, use the telephone and email to get your things done. If the officers do not comply for no valid reason, complain. Plan your trips to the town to do several things at the same time. Whenever possible, plan to share transport. Buy energy – efficient small vehicles. Routinely examine your vehicle for energy efficiency, i.e. correct tire pressure etc.

Charge electric vehicles off peak hours. Slow charging reduces heat generation in the circuit, reducing energy loss.

Energy is costly and limited in supply. Everything you do consumes energy. Be energy conscious in all your deeds. That attitude will reduce your expenditure, lessen the environmental degradation and financial burden of the nation in importing fuel.

Educating the general public is the most effective way of implementing energy-saving strategies.

By Prof. Kirthi Tennakone
(kenna@yahoo.co.uk)

By Ifham Nizam

Sri Lankan scientists have uncovered a remarkable long-distance migration route used by seabirds, linking the island’s shores with the Arctic—an achievement that is expected to reshape global understanding of bird movement and highlight Sri Lanka’s importance in the natural world.

The discovery, led by Professor Sampath S. Seneviratne of the University of Colombo, shows that Heuglin’s Gulls travel nearly 8,000 kilometres from Sri Lanka to breeding grounds in northern Russia, following a carefully chosen path that combines coastal travel with long inland journeys.

Prof. Seneviratne told The Island that the finding challenges the long-standing belief that seabirds depend mainly on ocean routes.

“For a long time, we assumed seabirds would stay close to the sea throughout their migration. What we are seeing here is very different. These birds are moving across land as well, using a route that connects Sri Lanka directly with the Arctic,” he said.

Brown headed gull- migrating from Himalayas to Mannar

The birds begin their journey from the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka, especially around Mannar—an area known for its rich birdlife and coastal habitats. From there, they cross over to India and move along the western coastline before turning inland.

Their journey then takes them through Pakistan and Afghanistan, across parts of Central Asia, and onwards to the Arctic region, where they breed during the northern summer.

What has drawn particular attention from scientists is the route chosen by the birds.

Instead of attempting to cross the world’s highest mountain ranges, or taking a much longer path over the open ocean, the gulls appear to follow a middle course that allows them to avoid harsh conditions while still maintaining a steady journey.

Map 1 &2 birds moving through the continent to reach the Artctic

“They are not simply taking the shortest distance,” Prof. Seneviratne explained. “They are choosing a route that gives them the best chance of survival. Along this path, they are able to find food, rest, and avoid extreme environments.”

The birds travel long distances each day, covering hundreds of kilometres, but they do not do it all in one stretch. Their journey depends heavily on stopovers—places where they pause to rest and rebuild energy.

“These stopovers are critical,” Prof. Seneviratne said. “If the birds cannot find suitable places to feed and recover, they will not be able to complete the journey.”

Co-researcher Dr. Gayomini Panagoda said the discovery sheds light on a route that had remained largely hidden until now.

“We always knew these birds were leaving Sri Lanka during certain times of the year, but we did not fully understand where they were going or how they got there,” she said. “Now we have a much clearer picture of their journey.”

Awareness among schoolchildren

She added that the findings show how closely connected different parts of the world are through nature.

“A bird that spends part of its life in Sri Lanka ends up in the Arctic. That tells us how linked these ecosystems really are,” she said.

The findings also underline the importance of Sri Lanka’s coastal areas, which serve as vital feeding and resting grounds for migratory birds before they begin their long journey north.

Veteran ornithologist , Professor Emeritus Sarath Kotagama said these habitats are of international importance and must be protected.

“These coastal regions, especially places like Mannar, provide the food and shelter these birds need before migration. If those areas are damaged, it will affect bird populations far beyond Sri Lanka,” he said.

Professor Seneviratne with Dr. Gayomini Panagoda

Kotagama warned that increasing pressure on coastal ecosystems—from development, pollution, and climate change—could pose serious risks.

“We are already seeing changes in many of these birds. If we are not careful, we could lose habitats that are essential not just for local wildlife, but for species that travel across continents,” he said.

The discovery also draws attention to the wider network of migration routes that connect countries across Asia and beyond. Birds do not recognise national borders, and their survival depends on conditions in many different places along their journey.

Prof. Seneviratne stressed that protecting these birds will require cooperation between countries.

“These birds travel across several regions, and each of those regions plays a role in their survival. Conservation cannot be done by one country alone,” he said.

A GPS tagged Crab Plover

He added that more work is needed to understand how other species use similar routes and how changes in climate and land use may affect migration patterns in the future.

“There is still much we do not know. This is just one piece of a much larger picture,” he said.

Environmentalists say the findings should encourage stronger action to protect wetlands and coastal ecosystems in Sri Lanka, many of which are under increasing threat.

“These areas are not just important for birds,” Dr. Panagoda said. “They support fisheries, protect coastlines, and are part of our natural heritage. Protecting them benefits both people and wildlife.”

She noted that conserving these habitats will also help ensure that future generations can continue to witness the arrival and departure of migratory birds.

For Sri Lanka, the discovery is both a moment of pride and a reminder of responsibility.

It highlights the role the island plays in supporting wildlife that travels across vast distances and connects different parts of the world.

It also shows that even a small country can have a big impact when it comes to global biodiversity.

As Prof. Seneviratne put it, “What happens in Sri Lanka does not stay in Sri Lanka. These birds carry that connection across continents.”

The discovery is expected to encourage further research into bird migration in the region, as scientists continue to explore how different species move across landscapes and adapt to changing conditions.

It also reinforces the need to protect the natural environments that make such journeys possible.

In the end, the story of these birds is not just about distance. It is about survival, connection, and the delicate balance of nature.

From the shores of Sri Lanka to the frozen Arctic, their journey is a powerful reminder that the natural world is far more connected than we often realise—and that protecting one part of it helps protect the whole.