Features

Unlocking their world: A home-based guide to nurturing children with autism

Published

17 hours ago

2026/10/13

Image courtesy Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders edited by M.D. Hollander, Eric (Author), M.D. Randi Hagerman (Author), and M. S. Casara Ferretti (Author).

by Dr B. J. C. Perera

MBBS(Cey), DCH(Cey), DCH(Eng), MD(Paediatrics), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Edin), FRCP(Lond), FRCPCH(UK), FSLCPaed, FCCP, Hony. FRCPCH(UK), Hony. FCGP(SL)

Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

An independent freelance medical correspondent.

When a family first receives a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a child, the immediate reaction is often a mixture of confusion, sorrow, anguish, overwhelming uncertainty and the terrible feeling of total helplessness. In Sri Lanka, where cultural perceptions and societal expectations around child development run ever so deep, parents of autistic children frequently ask themselves: “What did we do wrong?” or “Whose fault is it?” or “What will become of our child’s future?” etc.

The short answer to those sentiments is: you did nothing wrong. Autism is not an illness to be cured; nor is it the result of poor parenting. It is due to a developmental disturbance in the unique neurological wiring of the affected child’s brain. While clinical interventions, speech therapy, and occupational therapy play essential roles, the most profound transformations should occur where the child spends the vast majority of their time: at home, surrounded by close family and loved ones.

To support a child on the spectrum of ASD effectively, families must understand that autism is not a one-size-fits-all condition. As the very name suggests, it manifests along a broad continuum, from mild (Level 1) to severe (Level 3). Navigating this path requires specifically tailored strategies for home care, an understanding of local resources, inspiration from proven global approaches, and a clear awareness of some practices that can do more harm than good.

Understanding the Spectrum of ASD and Tailoring Home Care

Every child with autism has a distinct profile of strengths, sensory sensitivities, and developmental challenges. Matching your home environment to your child’s specific position on the spectrum is crucial for their growth and further development.

The Three Severity Levels

These levels measure how much daily help a person needs. They look at two main areas: social communication and restricted or repetitive behaviour.

* Level 1 (Requiring support): It is the mildest level. Affected children have trouble starting social interactions or organising tasks without help. They have fluent speech but struggle with distinction and gradation. They need subtle social cues in everyday life.

* Level 2 (Requiring substantial support):

It is a moderate level. The affected patients show clear social communication issues and strict routines that interfere with daily life even with help. Their speech is phrase-limited; they have significantly high sensory overload and often require visual schedules.

* Level 3 (Requiring quite extensive support):

This is the most severe form of the disorder. Those affected have severe communication impairments with minimal coherent speech and extreme resistance to change, needing constant and intensive help. They show marked behaviour problems, severe distress and meltdowns.

The Mild Stage (High-Functioning / Level 1)

Children on the mild end of the spectrum often speak fluently and could even excel academically or in specific interest areas. However, they may struggle significantly with subtle social cues, emotional regulation, and adapting to unexpected changes.

* Home Strategy to Follow: The family members need to focus on explicit social coaching and emotional literacy. Use “social stories”, like short, illustrated narrative scripts to explain everyday scenarios like taking turns during family games, handling losing, or starting a conversation with a cousin.

* Behavioural Pattern:

They may talk incessantly about a narrow passion such as train timetables or marine life while failing to notice when a listener has lost interest. Rather than hushing them, family members can set structured “sharing windows” (e.g., “We will talk about trains for 10 minutes, and then we will talk about dinner”). Genuinely responding to them and paying intense attention to what they say is of paramount importance.

The Moderate Stage (Level 2)

Children at this stage exhibit more pronounced communication delays, repetitive behaviour, such as hand-flapping or pacing, and have noticeable difficulties in shifting focus from one task to another.

* Home Strategy to Follow: Implement visual schedules. Children with moderate autism tend to process visual information far better than spoken words. Use picture cards affixed to a board to show the daily routine: Brush Teeth, Eat Breakfast, School, Play Time, Bath, Bed.

* Behavioural Pattern:

They may experience distress during routine shifts, such as leaving the house for a family visit. Providing a 10-minute and 5-minute visual timer countdown before a transition helps to ease anxiety dramatically. They need to be kept informed about what is going to happen.

The Severe Stage (Level 3)

Children on the severe end of the spectrum are often non-verbal or use very limited functional words. They frequently experience intense sensory sensitivities and may engage in self-injurious behaviour, such as head-banging, biting or severe meltdowns when overwhelmed.

* Home Strategy to Follow: Prioritise safety, basic communication, and sensory regulation. Set up a dedicated “calm-down corner” in the house, stocked with soft pillows, weighted blankets, and sensory toys. Communication should rely on Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) or basic hand sign gestures for fundamental needs like “water”, “food”, or “toilet”.

* Behavioural Pattern:

Sensory meltdowns in these children are not temper tantrums. They are involuntary neurological overloads caused by bright lights, loud noises, or internal distress. During a meltdown, lower the room lights, reduce noise, ensure physical safety, and family members need to sit quietly nearby without overwhelming the child with verbal demands and specific instructions to follow.

Lessons from the West: The “Son-Rise” Connection

In Western cinema and literature, stories like “Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues”, which documents how Raun Kaufman’s parents helped him overcome severe autism, offer valuable insights for Sri Lankan homes. While some historical claims in early literature about “total cures” should be viewed through a modern scientific lens, the core philosophy of the Son-Rise Programme remains profoundly effective: “Join the child in his or her world before you ask them to join yours.”

In traditional settings, adults often try to stop a child’s repetitive behaviour, such as spinning wheels or rocking. The Son-Rise approach flips this paradigm upside down, so to speak:

* Joining: If your child is sitting on the floor spinning a saucer, sit beside the child and gently spin a saucer, too. This non-judgmental validation builds an unexpected bridge of trust. The child realises, “You are not trying to change me; you are interested in what I am doing.“

* Capitalising on Eye Contact:

The moment the child turns to look at you in surprise, use that brief window of shared attention to offer a warm smile, a soft word of encouragement, or a gentle toy exchange.

* Parental Attitude:

The most crucial element from these Western frameworks is changing the emotional tone of the home from one of anxiety, desperation and pity to one of unconditional acceptance, love, and hopeful facilitation.

Mobilising the Extended Sri Lankan Family

One of Sri Lanka’s greatest cultural strengths is the extended family support system, consisting of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and domestic helpers living under one roof or nearby. When mobilised correctly, this network provides an extraordinary support system.

* Educating Grandparents: Older generations may view autism through traditional lenses, misinterpreting it as bad karma, spiritual affliction, or spoiled behaviour. Parents must gently educate elders using simple medical concepts. It is necessary to explain that the child’s brain is like a radio tuned to a different frequency. It is not broken; it just hears and sees the world differently.

Assigning Role-Based Support:

* Grandparents can offer calm, unhurried companionship, reading structured storybooks or tending a home garden alongside the child.

* Aunts and Uncles

can assist with transportation to clinical appointments or provide respite care, giving the primary parents a necessary break to prevent “caregiver burnout”.

* Siblings

should be taught how to act as play-partners rather than secondary parents. Encouraging games, such as building blocks, painting or water play that do not rely heavily on complex verbal rules, is a very useful and productive strategy to adopt.

Utilising Local Facilities and Community Services in Sri Lanka

While specialised services were once concentrated solely in major medical hubs, Sri Lanka has made noticeable strides in multidisciplinary care for developmental conditions such as ASD. Families should actively tap into both state and non-governmental resources.

* State Healthcare Infrastructure: Most of our tertiary care hospitals offer specialised Autism Assessment Clinics, speech and language therapy, as well as occupational therapy units. District General Hospitals across the island increasingly feature Developmental Clinics supported by the Sri Lanka Association for Child Development (SLACD).

* Primary Health Network:

Public Health Midwives (PHMs) and local Medical Officers of Health (MOHs) are often the first line of early detection. Parents who notice some lack of eye contact, speech delay, or absence of social smiling by 12 to 18 months of age in their child should request an evaluation through their local MOH Clinic.

* Non-Governmental and Foundation Support:

Organisations such as the MJF Charitable Foundation (Rainbow Centre) provide holistic therapy, inclusive education, and vocational training facilities. Regional charities, such as ECSAT in the Southern Province, offer community-based outreach, one-to-one educational support, and even home visitation programmes for families unable to travel daily.

* Community Integration:

Encourage participation in inclusive community settings. Local religious centres, such as temples, churches, and mosques, as well as community parks, can serve as gentle environments for social exposure during off-peak, quiet hours.

What NOT to Do: Some Counterproductive Measures

In their eagerness to help, well-meaning family members can inadvertently hinder progress or cause emotional regression. Families must consciously avoid several common pitfalls:

* Forced and Prolonged Eye Contact – For an autistic child, forcing direct eye contact can trigger physical anxiety akin to a threat response. It is much better to look at a shared object or toy together. Eye contact will improve naturally and progressively as trust grows. Improved eye contact is a definitive sign of progress.

* Punishing “Stimming”

(short for self-stimulatory behaviour) is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, or object manipulations used to self-regulate emotions and process sensory input. Flapping, rocking or humming are vital self-regulatory mechanisms for processing stress or joy for affected children. It is necessary to allow safe stimming freely and to gently intervene only if the behaviour has the potential to cause physical self-harm.

* Excessive Screen Time –

Handing a child a smartphone or TV screen to keep them quiet suppresses human-to-human social neural networks. It is far better to replace passive screen consumption with tactile sensory performance such as playing with sand, playdough, or pouring water.

* Hiding the child –

Keeping the child isolated out of fear of social stigma (“What will the neighbours say?“) robs them of essential social learning opportunities. It is necessary to introduce the child to community environments gradually during calm, low-density hours.

* Inconsistent discipline

– Allowing a behaviour one day (perhaps due to tiredness) and scolding for it the next day creates severe confusion for a child with ASD who generally tends to thrive on predictability. Ideally, it is desirable to maintain firm, calm, and uniform boundaries across all household members.

Light at the End of the Tunnel: Hope Begins at Home

Although many parents are devastated by the diagnosis, ASD is not the end of the world. Autism presents a unique developmental journey, but it is not a complete dead end. When a home environment shifts from a focus of intense frustration to one of structured acceptance, remarkable progress is most likely to unfold. The intense efforts put into such an endeavour will provide tangibly positive results. That platitude has been shown repeatedly and proven to be quite true, over and over, again and again, in very many scientific studies.

By blending modern behavioural strategies, leveraging some of the Western philosophies of unconditional joining, drawing strength from Sri Lanka’s extended family networks, and utilising available local clinical services, affected families can transform their homes into safe anchorages. In doing so, they give every affected child, regardless of where they sit on the Autism Spectrum, the opportunity to bloom into their fullest potential. It can be a fruitful and deeply satisfying journey of achievement. The secret to success is not to be miserably dejected, but to be hopeful and optimistic. Easier said than done sometimes, but it is the only axiom that will show clearly perceptible and improved results.

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Features

Coercive laws recipe for future misrule

Published

17 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

The NPP government is going after powerful figures from the past and present who have engaged in corruption, fraud and criminal activity in a way that no previous government in Sri Lanka has done. Former ministers, politicians and senior state officials are among those facing investigations and legal proceedings. The government has placed before Parliament a document listing 50 cases involving corruption, fraud and other crimes. These include not only financial offences but also cases relating to the Easter Sunday attacks, the killings of Lasantha Wickrematunge and Wasim Thajudeen, the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and attacks on journalists Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennakoon.

The significance of this effort is that it can demonstrate that nobody is above the law, regardless of political connections or social standing, which will help restore public confidence in institutions that have long been distrusted. It could also recover public resources, improve the investment climate and strengthen the foundations for a more prosperous and just Sri Lanka. When criticised for focusing on the past and not the present, the government position is that these investigations were initiated under earlier governments, particularly between 2015 and 2019, and that it is now allowing investigators to proceed to deal with the backlog without political interference.

But there is an aspect of the government’s approach that is less justifiable. While pursuing past wrongdoing by powerful individuals, it is also advancing a triumvirate of draft laws that could give the state sweeping powers over citizens, organisations and dissent in the present and future. The draft Prevention of Terrorism legislation, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill raise serious questions about the over-centralisation of power. Each of these laws strengthens the powers of the state while weakening the rights and safeguards that protect people from their misuse and thus questions the basic rights of people in democracy where ‘the power of the people is vested in the government’. This is a recipe for future misrule rather than the rule of law. As the well-known saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Proposed Laws

The real test of system change, for which the government obtained an overwhelming mandate, requires not only a government willing to hold others accountable, but one prepared to subject itself to the same principles of legality, transparency and restraint. The three proposed laws that are particularly important in this regard are the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill. Each of these draft laws has been presented as serving a legitimate purpose. Preventing terrorism, combating organised crime and ensuring that NGOs do not facilitate money laundering or terrorist financing are proper responsibilities of the state. Sri Lanka has international obligations in these areas, and no responsible government can disregard them. However, the existence of a legitimate objective does not justify every means adopted to achieve it.

The proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill illustrates the problem. Although its definition of terrorism draws on a model developed by a former United Nations Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has warned that the definition of terrorism extends beyond the model and could bring legitimate political protest, trade union action and civil disobedience within the scope of counter-terrorism legislation. Its concerns also include prolonged detention, inadequate judicial oversight and restrictions on access to legal counsel. These are objections that go to the heart of the relationship between the citizen and the state. The government cannot credibly promise to protect democratic freedoms while creating powers that could be used to restrict them. It is necessary for the government to reassess the draft through transparent consultation and revise provisions that could criminalise legitimate dissent.

The Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill raises similar concerns. It is presented as giving effect to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, which Sri Lanka ratified in 2006. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has argued that the convention does not require many of the bill’s provisions. The proposed law extends to a broad range of offences, permits detention orders lasting up to a year, makes confessions to police admissible for purposes of legal evidence, and introduces extensive surveillance powers. A law intended to dismantle criminal networks should not create a parallel system of exceptional powers that could be applied far beyond organised crime. Nor should safeguards developed through years of experience with abuses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act be weakened through legislation bearing a different name. The government should review whether or not existing laws could be used effectively to control these crimes or whether each exceptional power is necessary.

Civil Society

The proposed NGO Registration and Supervision Bill presents another test of the government’s intentions. The government may reasonably seek transparency in the finances of organisations receiving public or foreign funds, including measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. It seeks to justify its overreach on the grounds of meeting the internationally mandated requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the Asia-Pacific region. But these objectives do not justify placing civil society and NGOs under excessive administrative control when even the FATF ranks them as low to medium risks. The draft bill would require registration and renewal, impose extensive obligations on organisations and empower authorities to suspend or deregister them on broadly framed grounds. It is important to redraft provisions that confer excessive discretion over registration, renewal, suspension and deregistration of NGOs.

Among the concerns raised by United Nations human rights special rapporteurs with regard to the draft NGO law are provisions requiring organisations to align with government policies and restrictions that could affect advocacy, dissent and freedom of association. The implications extend well beyond organisations that engage directly with the government. Community groups, human rights organisations, independent researchers and organisations working on reconciliation or accountability could find their activities constrained by uncertainty over how these provisions might be interpreted. Organisations that criticise government policies are not thereby working against the country. Their freedom to do so is part of what distinguishes a democracy from a system in which the government determines which opinions and activities are acceptable.

The government has generated considerable public goodwill through its pursuit of corruption and criminality. It should not assume that this goodwill gives it an unlimited mandate to strengthen the coercive powers of the state. The NPP knows from its own history that governments can treat dissent as a threat and use the machinery of the state against their opponents. There is still time to correct the drafts through transparent public consultation, narrow definitions of offences, meaningful judicial control over detention and surveillance, and effective remedies against arbitrary decisions. A government that pursues corruption while weakening safeguards against state abuse risks undermining its own achievements. Besides bringing to light the abuse of power by previous governments, the NPP government needs to build a system in which no future government can abuse power in the belief they can get away with it.

Features

Quality assurance without quality enhancement: The irony of university QA

Published

17 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

By Ramya Kumar

According to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), quality assurance (QA) refers to “the means (i.e. the policies, attitudes, actions, procedures, etc.), by which an institution can guarantee with confidence and certainty, that the standards and quality of its educational provision are being maintained and enhanced”.

An expansive structure has been in place since 2005 to govern and implement QA processes within the state university system. The QAC is the focal point at the UGC that implements external reviews of state universities and institutes. Each university has its own Centre for Quality Assurance (CQA) tasked with performing QA in line with QAC directives. Faculties, in turn, have Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) performing their own QA; they are answerable to the CQA.

The big question is whether this all-encompassing top-down QA system, that in many ways undermines the internal dynamics of university governance, actually supports universities to enhance the quality of education. This article highlights some concerns.

Top-down check-box activities

The QAC conducts external reviews of universities and degree programmes. A review team appointed by the UGC (who may or may not have experience in the institution/programme in question) examines the self-evaluation report submitted by the said institution/programme. The team then conducts a site visit to verify the claims made in the university’s self-evaluation report, clarify issues identified during the desk review, and examine how QA procedures operate in practice. The team holds meetings with the university administration, members of the Council and Senate, Deans, Heads of Departments, academic and non-academic staff, students, and others. Following the visit, a draft report is submitted to the relevant institution/programme for comment before final publication. The reviewed institution/programme then prepares and publishes an action plan addressing the recommendations, with subsequent monitoring of progress.

There are some worthy QA initiatives under implementation, such as improving facilities for students with disabilities and strengthening mechanisms to address sexual- and gender-based violence. However, for the most part, QA activities have little to do with improving the quality of education. They are mostly preoccupied with monitoring faculty and department websites, digital transformation, student feedback, subject evaluation, course evaluation, peer evaluation, and, more recently, staff appraisal. These activities, which consume an inordinate amount of time—so precious at understaffed universities—have become check-box activities completed to generate evidence for the next review. Below is an excerpt of a conversation between two academics (1 and 2) that conveys how QA plays out at universities (reproduced with permission).

1: … .it’s like social media you know, like posting things on Facebook or twitter or Instagram. When people do a lot of social media, everything they do, they do thinking, “okay I’m going to post it in this way… this I have to put on my Instagram.” QA is a little like that… everything is considered in light of, “ah we can use this for the review, as evidence… for example very recently we were encouraged to have all the things that we do in our department in the faculty newsletter so then they can put in the review. Every little thing has to be noted down….

2: And with pictures and all…

1: At the very least it has to be written so that you have written evidence .. you can’t be doing something for the sake of doing something or because it is good for the department … and sometimes people tell me “oh yea that’s a good idea we can fit that under this x, y section of the review..”

2: Yea, and nobody really thinks about the actual outcome… whether it’s actually helping anyone..

1: I also find that a lot of the words that we used in different ways have now been co-opted to the QA discourse ..including quality.. I can’t actually say what I want as an “outcome”, for example, that the outcome of this workshop is that my students “think about” … then I am told “ah but no that’s not one of the Bloom’s taxonomy words, “think about”.…

2: And the worst part is these medical and agriculture people, these types of people go around spreading it like some kind of gospel!

1: Yea, this cookie cutter way of doing things, they think is the height of innovativeness or creativity, when actually it is so mundane … for me the most awful thing about it is like some fungus of mundanity has taken over through QA reviews.

2: yea, when you say QA, my mind closes off immediately and I stop listening…

Auditing everything but power

QA leaves out crucial aspects of university governance. For instance, there is no review or assessment of the “quality” of university administrations under Criterion 1 or the integrity of procedures governing the promotion of academic staff under Criterion 6 of the institutional reviews.

The majority in the Council—the university’s executive and governing body, which is responsible for selecting the Vice-Chancellor (VC)—are appointed in ad hoc fashion. Apart from the Ex-Officio members in the Council (VC, Deans, etc.), and the two members elected by the Senate, the remainder are appointed by the UGC with no formal consultation or vetting procedure. The VC appointment process described in UGC Circular No. 03/2023 exemplifies how an ostensibly technical process can become entangled in political sycophancy. The Registrar invites applications for the position of VC through advertisement. Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae, a statement of vision for the university and supporting documents. The University Council appoints a three-member Search Committee of senior academics to encourage “eminent persons” to apply, while the UGC appoints a former VC from another university to “observe” the selection process.

A Special Meeting of the University Council is convened. Candidates are interviewed and must make a presentation to the Council Members, followed by questions. Each Council member “gives marks” for seven prescribed criteria: strategic focus (20%), effective leadership (20%), holistic thinking/conceptual skills (10%), academic and research excellence (15%), personal integrity (10%), professional communication (10%) and managerial competence (15%). Marks are averaged, and the Council recommends three candidates to the UGC in rank order. The UGC-appointed observer separately submits a confidential report on the selection process.

This procedure is expected to guarantee quality, but does it? Applications are submitted to the Council Members, who have been appointed on questionable bases, and who are expected to review the applications and give scores, based on objective assessments. But, in reality, most Council Members are manipulated by VC candidates, who often have personal ties with them. The UGC-appointed observer usually has no genuine interest in the outcome. And there is no way for anyone to actually question the Council’s decision once it is made. Although the highest-ranked candidate may ultimately be appointed, the selection remains a political decision made by the President, who retains the discretion to appoint any one of the three.

External reviews also do not look into the promotions of academic staff, except to scrutinise whether there are policies and procedures in place to govern promotion. Academic staff may apply for promotion to Professor once they satisfy the prescribed eligibility requirements, which typically include the period of service, academic qualifications, research and publication achievements, teaching experience, and contributions to the university and wider community. Applications are evaluated against specified criteria, with research output and academic contributions assessed through documentary evidence and expert evaluation. Under the UGC’s scheme for Professors, two experts from outside the applicant’s institution assess specified aspects of research and knowledge dissemination. Again, beneath this technical process, which is externally evaluated, lies a problematic points-based scheme that can be manipulated and abused with impunity.

Rethinking university QA

Like the VC election process and the schemes of promotion for academic staff, QA reviews are open to manipulation. Before a review, there is a chaotic rush to complete evidence gathering and reporting. Academics leave all other work aside, including at times their teaching, to focus on completing documentation and preparing reports. The standardised criteria in the review manuals and scoring sheets often do not reflect differences in disciplines and institutional contexts. But this does not really matter because any serious problems experienced by institutions or programmes are hastily brushed under the carpet to conceal any evidence that could taint the review. The goal is to obtain an A or at least a B grade at whatever cost.

QA may result in positive change if it moves beyond top-down check-box activities towards internally designed and owned processes encompassing all aspects of university governance, led by departments and faculties, and supported by adequate resources. The current QA system needs to be dismantled and replaced by procedures that are accountable, not to the UGC, but to our students and the communities we serve.

(Ramya Kumar is attached to the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna)

. Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

Features

Down Memory Lane — the Grand 20th Edition!

Published

17 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Down Memory Lane: Ready to sing again

Yes, Down Memory Lane, the beloved Sing-Along concert series that first struck a chord, way back in 1997, returns for its landmark 20th edition this Saturday, 17th October, at the beautiful Bolgoda Grand Resort, Moratuwa town centre.

Having celebrated its glorious 25th anniversary with the show in 2023, this milestone 20th concert promises to be even more special.

The organisers, the ever-popular Moratuwa Arts Forum, are pulling out all the stops to present yet another unforgettable evening, brimming with camaraderie, fellowship, and pure nostalgia.

Get ready for two-and-a-half hours of non-stop singing as veteran vocalists, from the Moratuwa Arts Forum, will take the stage to lead and inspire the happy audience to sing, sing and sing to their hearts’ content.

The repertoire? Absolutely magical, according to the organisers.

Veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike: Will handle the evening’s proceedings / Priya Peiris: Event Conceptor

Around 40 golden oldies — from timeless English vintage evergreens and hits from the 50s to the 90s, to toe-tapping calypsos, soulful American plantation melodies, rousing cowboy and Dixieland favourites, aa well as cherished Sinhala standards. All to be sung with much gusto!

This year’s dedicated organising committee comprises Brian Coorey (Chairman), Priya Peiris (Event Conceptor), Hiran Fernando, Suranga Fernando, Viranjan Perera, Hemka Fernando and Neelesh Silva. Guidance and support comes from Moratuwa Arts Forum President Sarana Guneratne and Secretary Chandani Silva.

Adding his signature charm to the evening, as Master of Ceremonies, will be the veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike.

Don’t miss this landmark celebration of music and memories!

For further details, contact Hiran Fernando on 0772636446 or WhatsApp 0783636446.