Features
Medical Humanities:an interdisciplinary approach to holistic health
The Department of Medical Humanities at the University of Colombo’s Medical Faculty is another groundbreaking initiative by the institution as the pioneer of the discipline here at home and in South Asia. In an interview with the Sunday Island, Clinical Psychologist and Head of the Department of Medical Humanities, Dr. Santushi Amarasuriya elucidates on how this discipline, which is gaining momentum the world over, explores human experiences of health and illness drawing from a spectrum of other social and aesthetic branches.
Following are the excerpts:
BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE
Q: Could you please share the ‘story’ behind the establishment of the Department of Medical Humanities at the Colombo Medical Faculty?
A:The Department of Medical Humanities was established in 2016 in response to global trends which recognize the role of medical humanities in medical education. It helps medical practitioners to reorient themselves into a holistic and person-centered approach to health care. There was also a general recognition of the impact of burnout and resultant empathy-deficits among medical practitioners, with medical humanities seen as a mechanism through which doctors can understand, reflect upon and deal with such issues. It is in recognition of all this that our Department was established.
Medical humanities lies at the intersection of medicine and humanities. It draws from various disciplines; from literature and philosophy to ethics and arts. The scope of medical humanities is very broad and therefore we find varying definitions of it. How we define it here at the Colombo Medical Faculty, is as ‘humanities in the pursuit of improving the well being and achieving goals in medical education.’ Our goal is to use medical humanities to foster compassionate care, professionalism and ethical practice among medical and other health care professionals, whilst also being sensitive to the socio-cultural context in Sri Lanka.
If we look at the specific history of how the department came into being, one of the highlights was when a brand-new stream called the Behavioural Sciences Stream, first conceptualized by Prof. Nalaka Mendis, was established within the curriculum of our Faculty in 1995. This was a pioneering effort that recognized the transition of the medical model of illness, which focused primarily on biological factors, into what is known as the bio-psychosocial model of health and illness in the late 70s. This latter model takes a more holistic approach and recognizes that there are psychological and social elements that also determine the outcomes of an illness.
Then, during a revision of the Behavioural Sciences Stream curriculum in 2013, Prof. Panduka Karunanayake proposed the establishment of a Medical Humanities Unit. The ensuing discussions led to Prof. Godwin Constantine proposing the establishment of a department. Subsequently, Prof. Saroj Jayasinghe, who was the Chairperson of the Behavioural Sciences Stream at the time became the driving force in establishing the Department in 2016, becoming its founder Head.
I was the first permanent academic staff member to have been recruited to the Behavioural Sciences Stream in 2006 and after the establishment of the Department of Medical Humanities in 2016, I came on board as its first Senior Lecturer.
Q: Could you elaborate on the nature of the learning enabled for the medical student by the Department and how medical humanities help students to brave a demanding curriculum with empathy and kindness?
A: Our main teaching input is through the Humanities, Society and Professional Stream, previously known as the Behavioural Sciences Stream. We provide input into areas of personality development and psychology, communication skills, ethical practice, professionalism, and humaneness, utilizing different teaching methodologies.
If I were to address the topic of empathy that you highlighted, many of our activities try to cultivate this skill in students. However, I would say it is not easy to develop. Many studies have shown that when medical students reach the third year, which is when they start their clinical rotations and need empathy the most, there is actually a decline of it. This is referred to as the ‘devil in the third year’. Many reasons are attributed to this. For example, what was hypothetical is now actually real and students are suddenly overwhelmed with a higher level of responsibility because now they are taking care of real people. There is also a marked increase in workload and it could also be the lack of role models. All this might lead to a decline in empathy. But we must remember that empathy is a hard job, stepping into another person’s shoes and understanding their problems, such as what is making them distressed. To make it even more challenging, it would be multiple patients whose shoes they have to step into and that can be really exhausting.
As a human being, your natural defense mechanism would be to detach yourself and not be empathetic. Therefore, what we try to do is to recalibrate, talk about and reinforce the importance of it.
Q: Could you please explain how the wide range of disciplines coming under medical humanities is translated into actual practice by physicians?
A: One of the methodologies that we have adopted is to use narratives in medicine. Very early in the students’ career, we ask them to go and draw from patients their personal story, and NOT their clinical history. This helps to cultivate a holistic approach to medicine. As a clinician, when you take a clinical history, you are very cognizant that there is a lot more going on for the patient than merely their disease.
A simple exercise that some international institutions utilize is to take students on a gallery visit where they are asked to study portraits to sharpen their finer observational skills; they start learning to notice certain physical signs or certain subtle cues that may have escaped attention. Therefore, at the point of their interaction with patients, they become more attuned to reading many nonverbal cues. For example, take a well-known painting like the Mona Lisa. Closer observation reveals her pale complexion, swollen hands and puffiness around her eyes, which can be used to hypothesize possible ailments she may have suffered from.
Dr. Santushi Amarasuriya
Similarly, certain films can be used to create a stimulating dialogue about patient-experiences. They are able to trigger strong emotional reactions and then also provide a safe space to discuss difficult topics which may be inaccessible if only relying on personal experiences. Another tool that I personally find fascinating, that is adopted by some of our colleagues in the region, is the use of the ‘spectator’ concept within forum theatre, where the spectators have the opportunity to intervene and become the actors to change the outcomes of stories depicting difficult situations.
This highlights and empowers the students in their future roles as reflective change agents. Medical students can also be helped to actually step into the patient’s shoes and share the experience of the patient. For example, what is it like to be wheelchair-bound or lack the use of a limb so that they could relate to a patient’s situation better. There is a wide array of methodologies, and this is important given the diversity of student preferences.
Q Is it justifiable to say that this interdisciplinary approach has gained momentum today as the innate ‘humane humaneness’ coupled with professionalism which was found in the good old doctor of yesteryear is largely eroding today, replaced by a stereotypical fact-finder?
A: The importance of humaneness in medical care is well recognized now. The concept of person-centred or patient-centered care is known to a medical student and medical curricula all over the world are adopting these concepts now. If you ask a medical student what empathy is, they will regurgitate the definition and they also know it is important. I would argue that maybe in the good old days these definitions might have been rather alien, but the values these definitions entail may have been innate in most physicians.
That is not to say that there aren’t many students with such skills today. But previously, medical professionals might have had time to actually cultivate these abilities and skills; they might have been able to immerse themselves in the arts. Whereas now, the landscape is very different due to the sheer volume of information to digest, too many competing demands and so forth. Therefore, it becomes a matter of prioritization and many are driven to only focus on the more tangible and measurable elements.
A second reason is the structure of our education. If you take the A-Levels, it’s a rat race to get into the medical faculty and how you get there is by knowing all the information to answer the questions. Along the way you may not have had time for extensive reflection or contemplation. The student who comes to us is trained in that way. So, when they take a clinical history, they may be more driven to simply gather data and make a diagnosis. They forget the holistic nature of the interaction along the way.
Q: Do you think the relevance of medical humanities is unprecedented today given the shift in socio-economic dynamics in society?
A: As a country we have faced several calamities and the most recent one is the economic crisis. Along with it there are several other problems that our people have to face: a significant number is impoverished and there has been a lack of medical supplies and an exodus in the medical profession itself. So, if you think about the professionals working today, they are overloaded with work, and this can lead to a sense of helplessness and frustration.
If you place it within Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they may be struggling to meet basic needs. So higher-level needs like compassion and empathy start to look more like “nice-to-haves” than necessities, given that they are trying to deliver in a context that is resource-poor. It really is a balancing act. Therefore, it is often all too easy to satisfy ourselves with aggregate numbers. For instance, we say there are low rates of infant mortality and few maternal deaths. But what we might overlook in those aggregates is the experience that the patient has had in this whole process. What we do in our curriculum is re calibrate and remind them of what is finally needed.
Q: Today many patients lament that doctors are ‘poor communicators’, that their body language often doesn’t foster a sense of comfort and security in a patient. How does medical humanities envisage to address this so that doctors can be better communicators?
A: As a Faculty, we all endorse the importance of communication skills, and the input is given at different stages not only through our Humanities, Society and Professionalism Stream (HSPS) but through the other teaching arms as well. Interestingly, many students know the science behind communication practices, such as starting with an open-ended question, but they may not know HOW to do it. There’s a lot of art in asking a question. Although they may not have the innate gift of being effective communicators, with the right training, they can be developed into very successful ones.
In some of our activities we use different works of art, such as movies, paintings, poems, stories and so forth. In the recent past, we have used the painting titled ‘The Doctor’ by Luke Fildes. In the painting, a doctor is hovering over an ill child and we ask the students to interpret what’s going on. A lot is being communicated in this visual such as the stance of the doctor, the nonverbal behaviour, and in the background are the child’s parents who have entrusted the child to the doctor’s care. So just asking the students to analyze it and talk about it helps them to reflect. We use many other such methodologies to foster good communication in future doctors.
Another tool we often use is role-play. We recently launched a Communication Skills Master Class under the guidance of Prof. Dinithi Fernando, the current Chairperson of the HSPS, to give more muscle to the enhancement of communication skills.
Q: What are Sri Lanka’s strengths as a multi-cultural and a hospitable nation that medical humanities could draw from?
A: We are a collective community and helping another human being in distress, is very much a part of our culture. It comes very naturally and that translates into the process of healing a patient in distress. Kindness and compassion are key messages that are collectively shared by all our religions practiced here at home. If you consider kindness, I think of it at two levels: people whose core is kind and those who superficially reflect kind behaviour such as talking in a nice way and similar social graces. But this second category may not be kind deep down. Now if you think about our cultural orientation, it is that first one which is emphasized- kindness at the core. What we are trying to harness is a natural or deeply culturally-endorsed tendency.
Another example is the cultural sensitivity that we may already possess. We have students coming from different contexts and different experiences. They already recognize the existence of ‘health pluralism’ and that the patient’s conceptualizations of illness and treatment encompass a wide range of practices and beliefs that are not directly relevant to western medical practice. Therefore, it is just a matter of reminding them of these to help them to be more empathetic about patient experiences.
Q: What are the collaborations the Department has forged with professionals outside the medical stream to cultivate a sense of appreciation in aesthetics in future doctors?
A: One good example is our Humanitas programme. This is the brainchild of Prof. Panduka Karunanayake. The Latin term humanitas translates into human nature, civilization and kindness and relates to what it is that makes us human. In this programme we address various human issues – be it a current crisis or a problem like a heart break.
Prof. Karunanayake’s objective in launching this programme was to trigger an emotional reaction and let the other cognitive processes occur on their own. The Humanitas programme is solely directed by Dr. Santhushya Fernando who is a Senior Lecturer in our Department, where she gets in different artists from musicians to poets to talk about such issues and reflect and share their vulnerabilities, giving flavour to the programme. The programme has received very good reviews and all credit for this must go to Dr. Fernando who has spearheaded this programme with passion and enthusiasm.
Similarly, we have been fortunate to receive generous support from the academics of the University of Visual and Performing Arts who have not only made wonderful contributions to the Humanitas programme but to many other activities of the Department.
Q: What inspiration does the Colombo Faculty offer other medical faculties in the country in terms of recognizing medical humanities and what are the future plans of your Department to give a further thrust to medical humanities?
A: Even in terms of the Behavioural Sciences Stream, we were pioneers and all other faculties have now adopted it under different names. It is heartening to note that many of the medical faculties here have taken a cue from our experience. Although they may not have a dedicated department to the discipline, many have incorporated these ideas into their curriculum.
In terms of expansion, we have many plans which are aligned with the goals of our Department such as using the humanities to facilitate health education and training, initiating research by drawing from best practices which could be replicated here at home and also to enrich our curriculum. We plan to explore on how to enable more patient-friendly environments so that our future doctors can actually translate the concepts espoused by the humanities, into actual practice and also explore the role of the discipline in developing therapies or interventions to promote health.
The department has now been allocated a larger space within the Faculty to grow and expand but lacks facilities to make it an occupiable space. We are seeking donations from philanthropists and wellwishers to make this project a reality.
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 ✍️
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.
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.
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