Features

Sanjaya Epa Senevirathna’s word-ink brush strokes

Published

5 months ago

2026/01/11

The unit of time was transformed from hours to litres. The long hand is now at the edge of an Asoka glass. The first pouring began when the short hand was at the three hundred and seventy five millilitre level. Thereafter having ventured into the regions of solitude, the cleared pathway led to the bottom of the glass where all hands collapse.

Along the way, thoughts that arrive from the void meet words subjected to self-inflicted incarceration . Once they meet the journey is no longer one of solitude.

The past converses quietly with words associated with to generate compatibilities and leave short notes of it all the following morning. The new day arrives through the previous day’s notebook. The note lengthens as new words join those scribbled before. Since I am partial to associating words that graze entirety and context or leave them altogether I have kept them thus. Those that left did not just up and go. Some of them cut, chopped and in other ways hurt with pens of various colours while others received torrents of foul language. Those that are not found herein would forgive, I believe.

The above is the preface to the debut collection of poems by Sanjaya Epa Senevirathna titled ‘Aadara Saadaya,’ (literally ‘The feast of love,’ but dubbed ‘Coffeed Poetry’ by the poet). It doubles as an acknowledgments note. I usually get to the frills, if you will, such as forewords, addendums and acknowledgments only after I’ve got through the main literary course. If at all. In this case, I did, again after reading the poems. The poetry and the poet compelled me to venture to the periphery. That too was poetic. Unexpected and delightful. In fact I can’t think of any such ‘peripheral’ note that complements a collection of poems so beautifully. The first thought that came to mind was, ‘Sanjaya should write prose too.’

Sanjaya may not. He confesses that he had promised himself that he wouldn’t write anything until he turned 40. He didn’t publish, but he did write, but sporadically. He penned a few songs for well-known artists such as Kasun Kalhara, Kithsiri Jayasekera, Chandana Liyanaarachchi and Nirosha Virajini. He produced advertising copy too, but a long time ago. Poetry had come ‘writing’ had been slow. Maybe what happened was that he translated poetry into another art form, like hours to litres.

Sanjaya Epa Senevirathna is best known as an award-winning designer of book covers. What had become a flirtation in his school days seems to have blossomed into a lifelong love affair. So far he has designed around 300 book covers. The cover for Kasun Pussawela’s telling account of the Welikada riots, ’10, 11, 12,’ won the State Literary Award for the Best Book Cover in 2017. Incidentally, that’s the only award on offer for book covers in Sri Lanka. Sadly.

Having read the preface/acknowledgments I asked him, ‘why not a novel or short stories?’ Sanjaya said it could be on account of his work as a copywriter and art director: ‘I must have been framed by advertising briefs — I couldn’t get out of the A4 sheet of paper.’ Maybe one day he will.

So, that’s the poet. What of the poetry?

Upul Shantha Sannasgala in his foreword, written as a poem, likens him to an Indian Gooseberry or nelli. ‘A nelli-flavoured poet,’ is how he describes Sanjaya. The Indian Gooseberry has five identifiable flavours. Sannasgala believes that the poet has evolved into a many-flavoured man of words.

The poems, untitled, speak of and to perennial themes such as love, relationships, things that come together and are torn asunder. They are rich in metaphor and elegant in economy. Maybe this is because he has, as a cover-designer, has much practice in condensing much into few.

Having awoken

in a new territory

language we abandoned

in favour of essence.

The above verse perhaps reveals the poetic mind and explains stylistic preferences. In fact, although inserted in metaphoric sense, he offers…

Let us remove

unnecessary words

and our glasses fill

in the space thus created.

The artist, who is necessarily concerned with line and space, pours familiar techniques into his poetry. He advocates and indeed creates breathing space for the reader, a moment and place for reflection, a pathway into thought and thought process wherein one can become happily trapped and lost but nevertheless find solace of one kind or another.

He concludes, ‘it is in the sound of patience / that (one) can hear love.’

Endowed with such a gift for finesse it is difficult to understand why Sanjaya, at times, feels a need to elaborate. The same poem has the following lines thrust somewhere in the middle:

The sounds of quarreling

which filled silent spaces

moves through tension, sweat, and

among streaming tears

to moisten the territory…

so tender leaves can sprout.

Such expansion is sometimes necessary, but not in this instance. He says so much with so little and seems to have forgotten himself and his operative principle to brevity.

Consider this:

Direct the uncluttered gaze

beneath the surface…

at the water’s depths

there are words to be found

more polished and spherical than necessary.

Such words can delight of course. They can detract too. When poetised, the blemishes can be retained but this does not mean they are unpolished. It is an invitation to write as well as read or rather how to write and write and how not to.

It’s the second verse, longer than the first and even more lengthier than the third and last which I believe captures and holds the idea on its own:

All people have stories

but letters are only found

upon riverbeds where dreams have dissolved…

Such ‘editing’ cries out in other poems as well. Consider the following obtained by removing an equal number of lines/words:

Could you be a womb

wherein I could curl

and be reborn

in the sounds

of a pulsating heart?

Such love

I still need

you know?

What can be said of fathers and sons, what of what’s said in slivers of time or volume, minutes or litres?

Who else listened

to stories that fathers

don’t even tell mother(s)

but men?

Would have sounded better if ‘men’ or let’s say ‘males’ which is the correct translation of the original ‘pirimi’ was replaced by ‘sons,’ I felt. That said, to me it is the most beautiful poem in the collection. Well, the most beautiful verse, for it’s just the first few lines of a longer poem.

‘Men,’ does make sense because the rest of the poem speaks of the work of males, as lovers and friends. Could have been another poem, though.

The poet reveals himself and like an accomplished artist hides himself as well. There’s a Sanjaya Epa Senevirathna who arrives and one who has just left signs of presence, within reach but untouchable.

He writes of an addressee resisting capture in any form.

In all poetry read so far

you are not evident

no, not even in a single line

He continues and I paraphrase: ‘No, not in a text or subtext, not in a tone, a rhythm, not in a brushstroke, or piece of fiction; [you] are in your existence, but I am not.’

I did not distance you,

friend,

into a different circle

I entered

that’s all;

there’s no one else,

but me.

For a friend or a lover where friendship or love has run its course, a word of consolation? Perhaps. Perhaps it’s simply the truth, as in the common ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’ But it seems to me that Sanjaya is where he is as he has always been. In his circle. Alone. From there he gazes upon the world around him, the people who venture close or towards whom he moves along with his circle-residence, condensing treatise into lines, hues and spaces, removing unnecessary words, creating breathing space so readers can sip a cup of coffee and feast on love at their own pace.

The cup runneth over not, but a few drops remain. Just enough to flavour love, among other things.

(Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer. malindadocs@gmail.com).

by Malinda Seneviratne ✍️

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Features

US’ anti-migrant stance set to intensify tensions in Western camp

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Migrant boats land on Western beaches. Credit: PA

The announcement by the US authorities of an anti-migrant stance during a recent commemoration in France of the epochal D-Day Landings of June 6, 1944, ought to strike impartial observers as a supreme irony. Whereas what should have been expected was a vibrant celebration of the beginning of the process of Western Europe freeing itself decisively from Nazi or fascist control during the crucial stages of World War Two, this was not to be.

What the world heard instead was a call to contemporary Western Europe to arm itself against a seemingly rising and threatening migrant presence in the region. In other words, the migrant must be despised and ‘shown the door’.

Instead of a commemoration that rejoiced in the flourishing of liberal democracy and its values what one got was a strong affirmation of fascism and racial chauvinism. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vented his spleen against the migrant or foreigner presence in Europe reportedly thus: ‘Sadly today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies.’ To ‘beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?’

While at the outbreak of World War Two it was Nazi Germany that was doing the invading and bringing some principal European countries under its suzerainty, this time around we are being given to understand that it’s migrants to the West who are seeking to colonize the latter. It goes without saying that such inflammatory rhetoric would have the deleterious effect of keeping racial tensions alive in the West and jeopardize all possibilities of the countries concerned cementing and maintaining social stability.

The Trump administration gives the impression of taking a leaf from the politically underdeveloped regions of the South to keep the US polity stable and united. In South Asia, for instance, we are not short of ambitious demagogues who use what is referred to as the ‘race card’ to gather unto themselves a following and thereby further their political fortunes. By seeking to stir and sustain anti-migrant hysteria, the Trump administration is also essentially replicating Nazi Germany’s policy of anti-Semitism. That is, fascism is very much alive in the US under President Trump.

Such efforts at churning racial hysteria at this juncture in the US should not come as a surprise. For all intents and purposes, the Trump administration is nowhere near achieving its aims in West Asia, for instance, in the short term. It has failed to bring Iran down to its knees, as it hoped to do, but is adopting the expedient of keeping the world guessing and confused on what it is doing in the region, since it cannot withdraw from the theatre in a hurry without losing face.

While perhaps working out an escape strategy the Trump administration it seems, is hoping to maintain its following at home intact and silent by playing on their racial biases and insecurities. Hence, the anti-foreigner campaign.

Simultaneously, the Trump administration will need to keep a close eye on how economic pressures on the domestic front are panning out. Anti-administration sentiments first break to the surface at meal tables. On this score, the news cannot be good because the average US family’s spending power ought to be shrinking on account of rising energy and oil prices. Consequently, it would not be a bad idea to keep the attention of the US consumer diverted by adeptly playing ‘the race card’; once again, lessons from intellectually bankrupt Southern politicians are coming in handy.

To be sure such comparisons many politicians in vibrantly democratic countries would find quite unflattering. But the stark truth is that racism cannot be tolerated in civilized societies and those politicians who resort to it risk being branded as racists of the first degree. In fact they could be seen as being on par with the likes of German dictator Adolph Hitler and his close collaborators.

However, on the question of migrant policy the Trump administration would likely be at polar opposites with the most vibrant of liberal democracies of the West. This will be the case with the UK, France and Italy for instance. The latter continue to keep their doors open to legal migrants and they are likely to view a virtual blanket ban on migrants as reprehensible.

Moreover, in the foremost democracies of the West debates are vibrantly ongoing on the need to keep racism or any hint of it completely outlawed in the public plane. There is the case of the UK, for instance, where the authorities continue to emphatically pinpoint their adherence to the principle of anti-racism in the conduct of public affairs.

One proof of the above was the parliamentary debate relating to the killing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak in Southampton. Police handling of the victim came in for sharp scrutiny by particularly the opposition in the House of Commons but there seemed to be a consensus over the main political divide that the matter should not be politicized.

Moreover, the UK authorities stressed in the House the government’s strict adherence to the policy of non-racism. It was also pointed out that British institutions set up to manage racism at the national, county and neighbourhood levels, for example, were very much intact. In fact, Sri Lanka could gain considerably by studying and implementing locally, legislation modeled on the relevant UK laws if it is in earnest when it speaks of ‘reconciliation’.

Accordingly, it is highly unlikely that Western Europe would ‘cave in’, so to speak, to US pressure on issues related to migration. The liberal democracies of Western Europe in particular would remain for the foreseeable future migrant-welcoming, multi-ethnic and plural democracies.

Nor is it likely that Western Europe would be passively receptive to US demands that it drastically increases its defense spending to meet the latter’s demands. Within the Western fold the EU is remaining committed to backing Ukraine, for instance, in its ongoing armed resistance to the Russian invasion and it is not giving any indication of being deferent to US pressure.

However, although tensions would continue to bristle within US-Western Europe relations on the above and numerous other matters of contention it would be far too premature to announce a parting of company between the two sections of the West. In that sense, the post-World War Two order remains essentially intact. There are still many things in common between the two, particular on the economic plane, that will ensure the continuance of the partnership.

Features

A decade among Yala’s ghosts of gold

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

YM75 "James" surveys his territory from a tree-top vantage point, demonstrating the leopard's commanding presence in the landscape.

The first rays of dawn creep over the ancient rocks of Yala. The Indian Ocean glimmers in the distance, and the wilderness slowly awakens. Somewhere amid the scrub jungle, a pair of amber eyes scans the landscape.

For wildlife conservationist and leopard researcher Milinda Wattegedara, moments such as these have defined more than a decade of dedication to one of Sri Lanka’s most iconic creatures—the Sri Lankan leopard.

What began as fascination evolved into a remarkable conservation journey that has transformed the understanding of Yala’s leopard population and placed Sri Lanka firmly on the global wildlife research map.

“Long before I ever lifted a camera, leopards had already captured my imagination,” says Wattegedara. “What fascinated me was not merely their beauty but the complexity of their lives—their hunting strategies, movements, reproductive behaviour and their remarkable ability to adapt to changing environments.”

That fascination led to the birth of the Yala Leopard Diary in 2013, an ambitious long-term project dedicated to documenting individual leopards and unraveling the mysteries surrounding their lives.

For many visitors, a leopard sighting is a fleeting thrill. For Wattegedara and his team, every encounter is a chapter in an ongoing scientific story.

“Each photograph was never the end of an encounter,” he explains. “It was the beginning of deeper questions. How did a particular leopard use the landscape? How did its behaviour change with the seasons? What environmental pressures shaped its decisions?”

These questions drove years of meticulous fieldwork. Every sighting was carefully recorded with details including location, habitat, behaviour, date and time. Photographs were analysed to identify individual animals through unique spot patterns, allowing researchers to distinguish one leopard from another with remarkable accuracy.

What followed was groundbreaking.

YF77 “Shelly” pauses in quiet observation, embodying the alertness
and grace that define Yala’s leopard population.

From 2013 to 2026, the Yala Leopard Diary identified an astonishing 189 individual leopards within the Yala Block 1. The research revealed a leopard density of approximately 0.524 leopards per square kilometre, making Yala one of the highest leopard-density landscapes ever recorded anywhere in the world.

Such findings have elevated Yala’s status among global wildlife researchers.

Nestled between the Indian Ocean and a mosaic of habitats, ranging from rocky outcrops to dense scrub forests, Yala offers an ecological stage unlike any other.

Here, leopards are photographed silhouetted against ocean horizons, perched atop ancient granite formations, resting on tree branches and stalking prey across sunlit grasslands.

The images tell stories of extraordinary lives.

There is Haminee, a devoted mother navigating the challenges of raising cubs in a competitive landscape. There is Lucas, one of Yala’s most frequently documented males, striding confidently across the Gonalabba Plains with the vast ocean forming an unforgettable backdrop.

There is Ruki demonstrating the species’ incredible strength by hoisting prey onto branches, and Shelly, quietly surveying her surroundings in a moment of feline vigilance.

Together, these individuals have become familiar characters in a living wilderness drama.

YM31 “Ruki” secures prey on a branch, illustrating the remarkable strength and coordination of the Sri Lankan leopard.

Recognising the immense value of long-term documentation, Wattegedara joined forces with fellow researchers Dushyantha Silva, Raveendra Siriwardana and Mevan Piyasena to establish the Yala Leopard Centre in 2020.

Located at the Palatupana entrance to the Yala National Park, the centre is believed to be the world’s first information facility dedicated exclusively to leopards.

“The centre serves as a repository of knowledge, accumulated through years of observation and research,” Wattegedara says. “Our goal is to connect visitors with the science behind conservation and foster a deeper appreciation of these magnificent animals.”

The project’s impact extends far beyond Sri Lanka’s borders.

Research arising from the Yala Leopard Diary has been published in internationally recognised scientific journals. One study introduced an innovative framework for identifying individual leopards, while another documented an extraordinary and previously unrecorded case of a leopard cub being consecutively adopted by two different adult females—first a relative and later an unrelated leopardess.

The discovery attracted international scientific attention and highlighted the complexity of leopard social behaviour.

Yet for Wattegedara, the most important lesson remains one of humility.

“One conclusion has become increasingly clear,” he reflects. “Our understanding of these leopards remains far from complete. We are only beginning to understand how they live, adapt and persist in one of Sri Lanka’s most dynamic protected landscapes.”

YF15 “Hope” descends Rukvila Rock at dawn, showcasing the agility and adaptability of Yala’s leopards.

His words underscore an essential conservation truth: the more we learn about nature, the more mysteries emerge.

As Sri Lanka navigates growing environmental challenges, the Yala Leopard Diary stands as a shining example of what sustained observation, scientific curiosity and public engagement can achieve.

Beyond the stunning photographs and remarkable sightings lies something even more valuable—a growing body of knowledge capable of informing future conservation decisions and ensuring that future generations inherit a wilderness where leopards continue to roam free.

For more than a decade, Wattegedara and his colleagues have followed the tracks of Yala’s elusive predators through dust, rain and scorching heat.

Their work has revealed that every leopard has a story, every sighting has significance and every photograph can contribute to conservation.

And perhaps, most importantly, it has reminded us that the golden ghosts of Yala still have many secrets left to share.

By Ifham Nizam

Features

Glamour, music and community spirit …

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lankans are quite active, all around the globe.

News has just come my way, from Glasgow, in Scotland, where the glamour of masks, music, dancing, and community spirit, came together, in spectacular fashion, at Masquerade Night, bringing together members of the Sri Lankan community for an evening filled with music, fashion, food and entertainment.

Organised by Mahesh Balaaratchi (DJ Mowgli) together with Sulochana Asmone, Hiroshini, Prasad, Ashi, and Shawn, the evening provided guests with an opportunity to socialise, enjoy live entertainment, and celebrate in a unique and elegant setting.

Guests arrived from 6:00 pm, dressed in formal attire and decorative masks, creating a colourful and vibrant atmosphere throughout the venue.

DJ Mowgli: The main
organiser of
Masquerade Night

There was a delicious selection of Sri Lankan cuisine and street food, which proved popular throughout the evening.

The buffet offered a variety of traditional favourites, giving attendees a taste of home while adding to the festive atmosphere.

Entertainment was provided by DJ Mowgli, whose performance kept the audience engaged throughout the night. His playlist featured a mixture of popular favourites, dance classics, and cultural music, remixed for a younger generation.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Baila session, which brought a distinctly Sri Lankan flavour to the event.

The Baila segment highlighted the importance of preserving and celebrating cultural traditions, while bringing people together through music and dance.

As familiar rhythms filled the room, guests enthusiastically took to the dance floor, creating one of the most memorable moments of the night.

The crowd was described as lively, energetic, and welcoming, with attendees embracing the spirit of the masquerade theme while enjoying the opportunity to reconnect with friends and meet new people. The family-friendly atmosphere ensured that guests of all ages could take part in the celebrations.