Features

W.A. de Silva (1869-1942): politician, scholar, agriculturist, Buddhist leader and philanthropist

Published

2 years ago

2024/01/14

(Excerpted from Selected Journalism by HAJ Hulugalle)

To the present generation the late Mr. W A de Silva is a somewhat elusive figure in the national pantheon. Yet in his day he filled a significant role as a politician, scholar, agriculturist, trusted Buddhist leader and inveterate, almost reckless philanthropist. He died 21 years before this was written, before many of the voters of today were born, and his name is rarely mentioned even in what used to be his spacious home which is now a dormitory for parliamentarians.

It is not the fashion to praise famous men of the past, unless – by doing so we can improve our own positions or derive a political dividend. We leave it to the families of the departed to find the money for the statue or the oil painting, and to supply the annual garland to perpetuate the memory of the man or woman who has rendered signal service to the state.

Even when the golden crown of Rajasinghe II was being sliced like a fruit cake, and melted in pieces in Slave Island by cat burglars who had taken it out of the Kandy museum, there was scarcely a sigh.

Mr. W.A de Silva’s memory has recently had to compete with that of the popular novelist of similar name after whom Wellawatte High Street has been restyled. Future generations should be warned that the considerable body of exact scholarship in the leading journals contributed by W. A. de Silva, politician and man of affairs, should not be carelessly credited in the cultural ledger to the account of W.A. de Silva, the writer of romance and essays in Sinhalese which are currently in vogue.

Mr. W.A. de Silva may have been tempted to change his name for the benefit of posterity. But he was hardly the man to change his name, or his coat, usually of the finest quality of China silk, to gain the approval of posterity or the plaudits of the proletariat. His wide reading and travels made him a citizen of the world though he never ceased to be a Buddhist nationalist.

He came from the South, as many famous sons of Ceylon have done, and he was educated at Christian schools like most of our Buddhist leaders of the past. It was only at the tail end of his school career that he went to Royal College for a brief period. He thereafter joined the Bombay Veterinary College where on passing out he was offered a post in India under the distinguished bacteriologist, Dr. Alfred Lingard.

He returned to Ceylon, but the Government service could not confine him. Indeed, it soon became obvious that he was meant for other things than veterinary science, important as this branch of learning must be for the development of a country. He was in a position to please himself, for he had married a daughter of Mudaliyar Sri Chandrasekera, one of the leading businessmen of the day.

In any case W. A. de Silva was not the man to hide his talent wrapped in a napkin. He was one of the pioneer rubber planters in the heyday of the industry and as a scientific agriculturist of the same class as Sir Marcus Fernando, Sir Henry de Mel and Mr. C.E.A Dias. He planted nearly a thousand acres at Srinivasa estate, Waga, which is now the fully bud-grafted property of Mr. G.G. Ponnambalam, Q. C.

When Mr. de Silva entered on a political career he was already a rich man, broadcasting his bounty.

When I first knew him he was nearing 50 years of age. He was joint Secretary with Mr. D. R. Wijewardene, of the Ceylon Reform League, formed on May 17, 1917, six weeks after Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, recently retired from the Civil Service, delivered his famous address on “The Political Needs of Ceylon”. The two secretaries were men of leisure and integrity, unaffected by the winds of rhetoric amply provided by some of their colleagues, and prepared to work unobtrusively.

The meetings of the Reform League was held either at “Rippleworth”, the residence of James Peiris, or “Ponklaar”, the residence of Sir Ponnambalam. I was taken to a couple of these meetings by Mr. D.R. Wijewardene who was then my boss, to keep a note of the proceedings for the official minutes and also prepare a press release.

The men I saw there – Arunachalam, James Peiris, D.B. Jayatilaka, W.A. de Silva, F.R. Senanayake, E.J. Samarawickrama, Francis de Zoysa, E.W. Perera and Dr. C.A. Hewavitarana – were not in their first youth. None of them were alive when Ceylon gained her political independence -“sic nos non vobis mellificatis apes.” (So we the bees make honey, but not for ourselves)

Jayatilaka, W.A. de Silva, Hewavitarana and the Senanayakes had been imprisoned during the 1915 riots without a tittle of evidence to connect them with the disturbances. The iron did not enter their souls, and they redoubled their efforts to make Ceylon a happier country for those who came after them.

As a school boy I often cycled through Flower Road and was fascinated with “Sravasti” just completed, and on the other side of the road, “Srimethipaya” the residence of Mr. A.E. de Silva, the father of Sir Ernest. Alas, they are no longer the stately and well-kept homes of the elite. They seem to say, in Omar Khayam’s words, “the lions and the lizards keep the courts where Jamshid gloried”.

Mr. and Mrs. W. A. de Silva were the great political hosts of the day. “Sravasti” was a salon as Londonderry House used to be under Tory governments in England. A report of the meeting of the Ceylon National Congress held in October 1920 says: “At the adjournment of Congress, the gathering -delegates, visitors and ladies-present, accepted the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. de Silva to a garden party at their spacious residence “Sravasti”, Edinburgh Crescent, where the host and hostess, assisted by many friends and relations, dispensed hospitality and provided the several hundreds of people so favoured with a most pleasant ending to a memorable day”.

“Sravasti” also welcomed distinguished visitors to Ceylon, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawarhalal Nehru, Srinivasa Sastri, B.G. Thilak, Bepin Chandra Pal and Sir Jagadas Chandra Bose from India and Ramsay MacDonald and Josiah Wedgewood, British parliamentarians. At “Sravasti”, Mr de Silva had the best private library in the. island. It was modelled on Sir Walter Scott’s library in Edinburgh and had a unique collection of books on Ceylon including some 1,200 ola manuscripts which he presented to the Colombo Museum.

He did not merely collect books. He read them and enjoyed them, and gave many excellent lectures which are preserved in the Journals of the Royal Asiatic Society and other publications. Like his life-long friend, D.B. Jayatilaka, he was able to find refreshment in these studies while engaged in the hurly-burly of politics. He was twice President of the Ceylon National Congress and his addresses were models of sober thinking, moderate speech and grasp of the practical problems of a changing society. They show remarkable foresight and anticipate many of the issues which engage the politicians of today.

The varied interests of Mr. and Mrs. de Silva took them to many countries and it was always a delight to talk to them about their travels. Sometimes travel was mixed with business. In 1919 Mr. de Silva was a member of the deputation which met Lord Milner, then the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs. It was led by Mr. H.J.C. Pereira, the brilliant advocate, and included D.B. Jayatilaka, W.A. de Silva, Father Nicholas Perera O. M. I., Dr. V. Gabriel and Professor D.M. de Z. Wickremasinghe of Oxford.

D.B. Jayatilaka, writing about it to Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam said: “The interview with Lord Milner on the 15th instant (October 1919) was a success. He was very courteous and affable and gave us it patient hearing. Mr. H.J.C. Pereira was splendid. He put the case for Reform its strongly as the most enthusiastic of us could desire. Mr. W.A. de Silva will remain in England till the end of March. I shall place him in touch with everything before I leave. I have not the slightest doubt that he will do the needful to the satisfaction of all”.

Mr. de Silva entered the Legislative Council in 1924 as a Member for the Central Province and continued there until the Legislative Council was replaced by the State Council in 1931. He then became the Member for Moratuwa and held the seat up to his death on March 31, 1942. He was Minister of Health during the six years from 1936 to 1942.

Towards the beginning of his career as Minister, Ceylon was visited by a virulent malaria epidemic. Malaria was a subject on which Mr. de Silva had much experience for he was the pioneer and probably the most successful large-scale entrepreneur in the malaria-ridden dry zone. After the first world war there was an acute shortage of rice in the island and the Government decided to give large tracts of land for paddy cultivation to joint stock companies, syndicates and individual capitalists.

The Ceylon Mills Ltd, took a lease of 5,000 acres of jungle land. European planting interests, forming themselves into a public company under the name of the Minneriya Development Company, took a lease of 9,000 acres. The Low Country Products Association leased 2,600 acres under the Kirindi Oya. All these projects folded up within a few years, defeated by malaria and lack of labour.

Mr. W. A. de Silva in 1920 took a 99-year lease of 1,169 acres under the Nachaduwa Irrigation Scheme. This land named Sravasti estate, was fed from the Nachaduwa tank which the Government had restored in 1914. In the same year the Government had settled a hundred families in a block of 500 acres which formed the nucleus of the Nachaduwa Colonisation Scheme. However the Government had to abandon their colony as the people could not stand up to the repeated attacks of malaria which sapped their stamina and left them physically debilitated.

Mr. W. A. de Silva persevered. He opened up 750 acres in paddy and on the high land he grew coconuts and dry zone vegetables. These were no tractors and earth-moving equipment then. The entire land was cleared, irrigation and distribution channels constructed and a network of roads laid down entirely by manual labour. A resident apothecary, well provided with drugs looked after the health of the workers. Labour was recruited through advertisements in the newspapers. The Ratmale railway station was established on the estate.

The financial strain of these efforts impoverished the patriotic benefactor but their results are seen today in smiling fields and trim cottages. His work in many fields has borne rich fruit, as in the hundreds of Buddhist schools throughout the island, but his pioneer work in the dry zone was perhaps his most notable contribution.

One is reminded again of what the late Pope is alleged to have said about his peasant father. ‘There are three ways of losing money: wine, women and agriculture. My father chose the dullest way of the three”. Agriculture had made Mr. de Silva rich and agriculture ruined him financially when he turned from self-interest to the public interest. But it did not make him unhappy.

Owing to the diversity of his interests it is not possible to rubber stamp Mr. W. A. de Silva and say he was essentially this or that. All the causes he served were worthy ones, and he succeeded in most of them to an outstanding degree. But above all he was a man with a humble and contrite heart and it was a rare experience to converse with him in his declining years as he sat in the armchair at the foot of the grand staircase at “Sravasti”. He had faith, hope and charity – above all, charity.

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Features

New mediation law for smarter dispute resolution of civil and commercial disputes – I

Published

3 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Mediation (Civil and Commercial Disputes) Bill was passed by the Parliament on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Harshana Nanayakkara, Minister of Justice and National Integration, introduced the Bill, and explained its provisions and value for Sri Lanka and global developments in the use of mediation. Encouragingly, it was passed unanimously.

Sri Lanka’s commitment to provide legislative support for the use of mediation is timely and most welcome. Given that the backlog of cases pending before courts is over a staggering 1.1 million, it is clear that Sri Lanka is yet another country that remains challenged to find responses to make dispute resolution more efficient. The impact of laws delays is serious and damaging not only to the disputants personally, but also for businesses and the economic development of the country. The delays in concluding cases impacts the economy adversely, both directly and indirectly, but are often seen only as an access to Justice concern. This is unfortunate. In many jurisdictions across the globe, alternative dispute resolution processes (ADR), such as mediation, have been introduced to alleviate laws delays. While Sri Lanka enacted legislation (1988) to provide for mediation in respect of minor community disputes of a low monetary threshold, the enactment of the new law heralds a commitment to provide for the recognition of a disciplined regime for its use for higher value civil and commercial disputes.

The new law provides for the recognition of mediation as a dispute resolution option that can be voluntarily selected by parties, and for a governance regime to ensure that mediations are conducted in compliance with certain standards which are globally accepted. It provides statutory recognition to the principle that a mediated settlement agreement that has been signed by the disputants, is valid in law. It does not provide for any management control by government or establish entities. In addition to the voluntary reference by parties, a court can also refer a dispute in an action before it, to mediation, at its discretion, after considering all circumstances and if considered appropriate. The voluntary nature of the process is not affected because, while the court can refer the dispute to mediation and the parties must then engage in the mediation, there is no compulsion for the parties to settle against their will.

The law sets out the obligations of Mediators, disputants and the Service Provider. Certain categories of disputes cannot be referred to mediation. These are disputes the settlement of which requires the inclusion of terms that can be given effect to, only on a decree of court, such as the termination of a marriage or a declaration of nullity of marriage or the adoption of a child or the partition of land to obtain rights in rem. A schedule sets out eleven (11) categories of actions that cannot be settled by mediation. However, matters relevant to such disputes may be mediated for the purpose of submitting terms of settlement to court for consideration of incorporation in a judgement, decree or order in compliance with applicable law.

The new law also provides that in a mediation, certain key principles of the process must be complied with. These include the confidentiality and the without prejudice rule in respect of matters discussed at the mediation; the rule that Mediators must be neutral and impartial; the party centric nature of the process that provides primacy to the wishes of the disputants including that it is they that determine the outcome and that a settlement is reached only if all disputants agree to the terms; the noncoercive role of the mediator whose duty is to facilitate and manage the process using mediation specific skills and techniques, but is debarred from imposing a decision. Although a settlement agreement is valid in law, provision is included to obtain a decree of court, based on the terms of the settlement. A mediated settlement agreement can be set aside on an application made to court, on specific limited grounds which are provided for, including that it is offensive to the public policy of the country. If the parties are unable to agree on a settlement, a certificate of non-settlement is issued. The provisions of the law are based on international best practices and principles articulated in the 1988 UN Mediation Convention (the Singapore Convention) and the UNCITRAL model law.

The popularity of mediation has grown for its value in being time efficient, cost effective and party centric. Parties have control over the outcome and have the space to discuss their concerns, fears and interests and need never agree to settle unless fully satisfied that settlement terms address their interests. Disputants are free to walk out of a mediation process at any time, if dissatisfied with the progress. The discussions are confidential and a valuable feature is that the process offers an opportunity to reduce acrimony which is prevalent in most disputes, and to restore fractured relationships which is very important in family and business related disputes. This benefit and the prospects for governments to reduce the cost of the administration of justice, by using mediation, is articulated in the preamble to the 2018 UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (2018) which states that the use of mediation results in significant benefits.

Pursuant to the interest generated within the country regarding the value of using Mediation for commercial dispute resolution, and heralding what we like to see as the initial steps of a Mediation boom in the country, several positive advancements have taken place –

* Parties have opted to include mediation in the dispute resolution clause in contracts;

* Given that mediating disputes requires very specialised techniques and skills, many professionals, including predominantly Lawyers, have engaged in training programmes offered by international training bodies that offer accreditation;

* Trained Mediators are engaged in an effort to form themselves as a professional Organisation;

* Mediation Advocacy training programmes have been held to train Lawyers on their niche role in the mediation process. That role is distinctly different to that of a court Lawyer who’s obligations are centred on an adversarial approach where the dispute is adjudicated in terms of the law alone. Hence lawyers need training to be useful within a non-adversarial process which is party centric and has a focus on reaching a settlement, based on the interests of disputants.

* Sri Lanka enacted the Recognition and Enforcement of International Mediated Settlement Agreements Act No. 5 of 2024 (the UN Mediation Convention Act) and ratified the Convention becoming the 14th country to do so. Sri Lanka will be seen as an investor friendly country in respect of dispute resolution where mediation is used, since it offers an enforcement regime which is recognised universally.

* The landmark determination of the Supreme Court (SC SD 22 of 2025) in the challenge by the Bar Association to the constitutionality of the Mediation (Civil and Commercial Disputes) Bill, found that none of the provisions of the Bill were unconstitutional and gave a judicial sign off to statutory provisions that seek to ensure that mediation services are provided in this country, in a disciplined manner in compliance with universally accepted standards.

* Perhaps, inspired by the statutory obligation imposed on judges to attempt pretrial settlement of disputes, in terms of the Small Claims Court Act and the Small Claims Court Procedure Act (both of 2022) and the Civil Procedure Code provisions on Pretrial Conference and Pretrial Orders, 125 District Judges were recently trained (with support from the ADB) in Mediation. The training provided a dual benefit – it provided training in skills that are required to settle disputes and equally importantly, provided a comprehensive understanding of how mediation will function when judges themselves refer disputes for settlement by private mediators.

* Trained Mediators are already conducting mediations with success.

* A not-for-profit guarantee company, the International ADR Centre – www.iadrc.lk ) was established in 2018 as a joint venture of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law & Practice (ICLP) to promote ADR and is actively engaged in promoting mediation through training, disseminating information and creating awareness among stakeholders, including the business sector. In addition to the International ADR Centre, “Udecide” is a project that promotes training of mediators and other activities that enrich the mediation culture.

* Commercial Mediation has been included in the Masters level programme at the Colombo University;

* The Sri Lanka Law College offers a component on Mediation in the Post Attorney Diploma programme, which commenced recently.

The private sector was actively engaged in the drafting of the Mediation Bill under the leadership of the International ADR Centre, which held many stakeholder consultations to obtain feedback from those that were conversant with the subject. The Centre had previously assisted the government to draft the UN Mediation Convention Act (Act No. 5 of 2024).

Several international Organisations that previously provided for resolution of disputes by arbitration, have provided for institutional rules to provide mediation services. These include WIPO and the ICC. Specifically, in relation to Investor State dispute resolution (ISDR), the International Bar Association (IBA) adopted its Mediation Rules in 2012 and ICSID (of the World Bank group) adopted its Mediation Rules in 2022. UNCITRAL, which is currently working on reforming ISDR, promotes mediation, observing that the use of mediation could reduce the costs of ISDS and also preserve relationships between the investor and the State. UNCITRAL has formulated provisions on and Guidelines for, Mediation for investor state dispute resolution.

(To be continued)

by Dhara Wijayatilake
Attorney-at-Law; Former Secretary to the Ministry of Justice; Director and Secretary General of the International ADR Centre.

Features

A Testament to the Sri Lankan family

Published

3 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

The passing of Dr. Devanesan Nesiah a few days ago brought back memories that spanned more than four decades. Devanesan signed the witness register at my marriage in 2002. It was a year of hope. The Ceasefire Agreement between the government and the LTTE had brought a respite from a war that had devastated the country for nearly two decades. The possibility of peace seemed real. It was fitting that Devanesan should be present on that occasion because his entire life was dedicated to building bridges across divides and seeking rational and humane solutions to conflict. He was a friend, mentor, and guide whose life embodied values that Sri Lanka, indeed the world, needs today.

In reflecting on Dr. Nesiah’s life, we need to be reminded that the forces that unite us as a people in Sri Lanka are stronger than those that divide us, and that the bonds of human affection can transcend even the deepest divisions of ethnicity, history and politics. I first met him in 1984. I had just had my very first newspaper article published in the Jaffna-based Saturday Review. The editor was Gamini Navaratne, a Sinhalese. This was a reminder that even during the darkest period of ethnic conflict, the bonds between communities remained strong. The article I had written was based on my encounters with the anti-Tamil violence of July 1983.

At that time, Dr Nesiah was the Government Agent of Jaffna. Tens of thousands of Tamil people who had fled violence in the south had been transported to the north by a government that had failed to protect them. He came up to me at an event, introduced himself, and told me that he liked what I had written. He also said that he would soon be leaving for Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and that we could meet there. Over the next three years, Devanesan and his wife Anita adopted me into their family. I used to visit them two or three times a week, not only to be given meals by Anita but to discuss matters with Devanesan. These included the academic papers and newspaper articles that were written. Later, Anita earned her PhD in religion and served on the boards of many civic organisations, including the National Peace Council.

Practical Solution

In 1992, we had both returned to work in Sri Lanka when Devanesan invited me to accompany him to Jaffna to celebrate the eightieth birthday of his father, K Nesiah, the distinguished educationist affectionately known as Professor Nesiah. The older Nesiah had been a leading member of the Jaffna Youth Congress. This remarkable movement championed complete independence from British rule, national unity, and the eradication of social inequalities based on caste and communal identity.

At a time when many feared that independence would lead to majoritarian domination, the leaders of the Youth Congress chose instead to place their faith in a shared Sri Lankan future. They believed that people from different communities could build a common nation while preserving their distinctive identities. So did Devanesan. This vision remains relevant today. It needs to be actualized.

The tragedy of Sri Lanka’s post-independence history is not that diversity exists. Diversity exists in every society. The tragedy is that we often allow diversity to become a source of fear, though we share many of the same values of family, hospitality, respect for elders and compassion towards others. During our visit to Jaffna in 1992, we met representatives of the LTTE administration, including Raheem. The discussion turned to the controversial issue of merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Dr Nesiah argued that if the merger could not be achieved due to political opposition, it might be more rational to seek greater powers for provincial councils instead. Raheem disagreed. Devanesan was interested in finding practical ways to achieve justice and coexistence. That was characteristic of him.

Devanesan Nesiah was a student of conflict and strategy. He became a doctoral student of Professor Thomas Schelling, who would later receive the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on conflict and cooperation. Schelling’s insight was that even in the midst of conflict, there are usually common interests that adversaries share. Even adversaries locked in a struggle usually depend on each other for the outcome they each want. The challenge is to identify those common interests and build upon them. Conflict is not simply a contest between enemies. It is also a search for ways to coexist. Together as students and peace practitioners, we applied those theories to the Sri Lankan context to understand what was going on and to share that understanding with the Sri Lankan people.

Rational Empathy

Dr Nesiah spoke his mind, truth to power. He was a man of logic, rationality, and principle. His integrity came at a cost. His public service career experienced many ups and downs because he refused to accommodate irrational or corrupt demands. There were periods when he was sidelined into that administrative limbo known as the “pool” and assigned no substantive responsibilities for refusing to give in to political demands. Like the rest of his larger family, most notably the Hoole family of Jaffna, he would not abandon his principles. In 2018, to protest the action of President Maithripala Sirisena in sacking the then government he returned his Deshamanya Award (Pride of the Nation) national civil honourn which was soon thereafter overturned by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional. His commitment was not to personal advancement, but to what he believed was right.

My wife Sumadhu recalls a story he told her. One day, while travelling on official duty, he told her how he had seen a thalagoya, a monitor lizard, trussed up and being taken away for slaughter. The sight of the creature’s suffering affected him deeply. He said he saw tears in its eyes and described the moment of awakening. From that day onwards, he gave up eating meat.

The story brings to mind the biblical story of the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus and the Buddhist exhortation, “May all living beings be well and happy.” But the deeper significance lies not in religious comparison. It lies in the awakening of empathy.

That was the essence of Dr Devanesan Nesiah’s worldview. The prejudices that society often imposes through ethnicity, religion, caste, or gender had little hold on him. He saw them as human constructs that often served to privilege some while excluding others. Such were his values that made him an extraordinary human being. Dr. Nesiah lived according to that understanding. He showed that integrity can survive amidst conflict. He reminded us that reason and compassion are not opposites but partners, that what unites us as Sri Lankans inhabiting our common island home has always been greater than what divides us, and we need to build our institutions accordingly.

I am proud that he was my friend. I am grateful that he was my mentor.

by Jehan Perera

Features

City of Dreams …Heartbeat of Colombo

Published

3 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

Enroute

If Colombo’s nightlife had a pulse, you’d find it 23 floors up, at Gatz, City of Dreams, Cinnamon Life.

The entertainment lounge has shed its old skin and stepped out supper-club style — think dim lights, clinking glasses, and live music that doesn’t ask you to choose between dinner and a show. You get both.

What’s more, at the new look Gatz the music never stops and it’s all happening seven nights a week … with live entertainment, and this is the scene, beat by beat:

Monday and Tuesday: Top Hats with Daniella/Naomi, from 7.00 pm onwards.

Sohan, Kamal Munasinghe (GM, Cinnamon Life) and Imran of
Funtime Entertainments

One of Colombo’s most sought-after bands is now a Monday-Tuesday ritual.

With a super repertoire, Top Hats can swing from lounge jazz to dancefloor fire. Big venues love them. Now Gatz gets to claim them.

Wednesday: Enroute with Gananath & Debbie – from 7.00 pm onwards.

Want New York at sunset? This is it. Gananath & Debbie transport you straight to the heady days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles …old-school cool, live and unfiltered.

Thursday to Sunday: Terry & the Big Spenders – from 8.00 pm onwards.

Terry & The Big Spenders

The crowd favourite. A super big band sound that owns the 70s, 80s and 90s.

If you’ve been waiting for horns, harmonies, and nostalgia with volume, Terry & the Big Spenders deliver it nightly. No wonder they’re a huge hit.

Gatz is now an entertainment lounge, in Supper Club style, with Happy Hour very day, from 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm because the night, they say, should start with a toast.

And, from July, weekends at the Gatz go global. Local and foreign guest stars will be around to entertain you. Gatz is certainly booking big.

Wow! That would be another exciting experience for those patronising the most talked about venue in town.

In charge of the new setup is our legendary entertainer/singer Sohan Weerasinghe, along with Imran of Funtime Entertainment.

The twosome, with invaluable assistance from the General Manager, Kamal Munasinghe, and the entire team at Cinnamon Life, have built Gatz into more than a venue. They have turned it into the “Heartbeat of the City.”

So come for happy hour. Stay for Terry’s horns, Sing-along with Enroute and Dance with Top Hats, all on the 23rd floor, and while Colombo sparkles below the bands will take you higher.

Remember, the heartbeat is loudest at Gatz.