Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 18 March 2012

I’m neither a historian nor chef, but have a healthy interest in both their subjects. I wish the two come together more often! I tried such a ‘fusion’ in words less than 100 days after Sri Lanka’s war ended.

The resulting essay, titled ‘Sri Lanka: Spice Island or Bland Nation?’ (published in Himal Southasian magazine in July 2009, and in compact form on Groundviews.org) highlighted challenges of the mind that we face as we rebuild our nation.

Today, just over a thousand days after the war’s end, my words still hold true. If anything, they are more pertinent now given the shrilly rhetoric we’ve heard in recent weeks. So here is another version of my original essay:

Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was a hub in the maritime silk…