This footprint in the sand will stand the test of time and elements….
In her debut novel The Moon in the Water (2009), Lankan author Ameena Hussein uses a memorable line to describe her protagonist’s many dilemmas: “Her generation had the burden of being the link between the old world and the new. Between pre-man in the moon and post. Between letters and email.”
I’m as much a part of that in-between generation as her character Khadeeja. Rather than being a burden, however, I find it an extremely privileged vantage point to have been. There will never be another generation like ours that straddled two worlds…
For many of us who experienced it, the Apollo 11 ‘Moon shot’ will be among our most indelible memories. Among the various labels I can choose from those tumultuous times, I consider myself a Child of Apollo.
And the boyish, blue-eyed Neil Armstrong (already 39 when he went to the Moon) was my first hero.
These are excerpts from my personalised tribute to Armstrong, who signed off for good on 25 August 2012. In it, I reflect on how the first Moon Landing influenced me personally at the tender age of 3, and recall the very different times in which we lived our lives on the other side of the planet from where Apollo missions were taking off.
It’s a light-hearted, nostalgic and essentially personal tribute, not at all an academic or polemical discussion of the Cold War politics that inspired the Great Space Race. But I do touch on what it meant to be part of history’s first Big Media Moment that was shared in real time by 600 million TV viewers and another few dozen million radio listeners worldwide.
If Neil was originally a hero to me for riding atop the world’s greatest fireworks machine and taking that Giant Leap for Mankind, he is a hero for me now for what he chose to do with his life upon his return.
O voyagers, O seamen,
You who came to port, and you whose bodies
Will suffer the trial and judgement of the sea,
Or whatever event, this is your real destination.”
So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna
On the field of battle.
Not fare well,
But fare forward, voyagers.
– T. S. Eliot
Neil Armstrong – Driven by a sense of wonder, did his job quietly and well
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 26 August 2012
My column last week, on large scale chronic kidney failure (scientifically abbreviated as CKDu) that has become a major public health crisis in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone, inspired some discussion online — both on my blog and at Groundviews.org
Of course, scientists and environmentalists have been debating its causes for years without conclusive evidence or targeted action. Even then, the current silence of the state health bureaucracy frustrates many. A million US Dollar research study, initiated in 2008 with World Health Organisation (WHO) support, has been completed but its findings not released. Why?
As I noted, delays in releasing such studies will allow speculation and conspiracy theories to gain momentum. That helps no one.
At least two theories (among several competing ones) suggest a link between CKDu and agricultural runoff.
In my Ravaya column (in Sinhala) for 26 August 2012, I’ve written about the making of Ran Muthu Duwa, the first colour Sinhala feature film made in Sri Lanka, was released 50 years ago in August 1962.
Ran Muthu Duwa was a trail-blazer in the Lankan cinema industry in many respects. It not only introduced colour to our movies, but also showed for the first time the underwater wonders of the seas around the island.
Malima (New Directions in Innovation) is a Sinhala language TV series on science, technology and innovation. This episode was produced and first broadcast by Sri Lanka’s Rupavahini TV channel on 26 July 2012.
Produced by Suminda Thilakasena and hosted by science writer Nalaka Gunawardene, this episode features the following items:
• An interview with K M Wijepala, proprietor of Wijaya Agro Products in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, who has developed an entirely organic, liquid fertilizer as a substitute for imported, costly chemical fertilizers. Named GOLF (Gold Organic Lanka Fertilizer), it provides all required nutrients for all kinds of crops according to the innovator. Already patented in Sri Lanka, GOLF’s efficacy has been tested and confirmed by the state’s Tea Research Institute (TRI) and Industrial Technology Institute (ITI). Wijepala, a former field officer of the Department of Agriculture, is giving the recipe away to his fellow farmers as his contribution to a chemicals-free future for agriculture. In his view, the only ‘obstacle’ standing in the way of popularising this indigenous, low-cost fertilizer is the huge state subsidy given to imported chemical fertilizers. GOLF sells at one fifth of the real cost of chemical fertilizers but the 90% subsidy distorts the market. As long as the subsidy continues, farmers will have no interest or incentive in looking at any alternatives.
• An interview with young inventor Samali Gunasekera, a Grade 13 student at Bomiriya Central College, Kaduwala, Sri Lanka, who has designed a multipurpose helping handle for the kitchen. It helps raise cooking vessels, kettles and other utensils; it is also fitted with a spoon. This handle can make life easier for everyone including those with disabilities.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 19 August 2012
Much of Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone is currently grappling with a drought caused by the delayed Monsoon. This is a double whammy for residents in several districts who have been engulfed by another ‘slow emergency’ for nearly two decades: mass scale kidney failure affecting large numbers.
Diabetes or high blood pressure can lead to kidney failure. But beginning in the 1990s, thousands of people in the North Central Province (NCP) developed the condition without having either factor – mostly farmer men.
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I look back at the scientific, legal and policy struggles in Sri Lanka that finally god rid of lead additives in petrol (gasoline) in 2002. It is a success story in safeguarding public health and combating environmental pollution that holds valuable lessons in a new challenge that confronts us: how to reduce sulphur content in the diesel distributed in Sri Lanka that currently contains one of the highest sulphur levels in Asia. This is now urgent and important with WHO confirming diesel fumes cause lung causer.
To keep up with the silly season, here’s another photo taken in July 2011 in…well, read the sign behind us.
Waiting to be let in – surely they know our bylines? L to R – Nalaka Gunawardene, Kunda Dixit, Darryl D’Monte – Maldives, May 2011
PS: It’s actually in the Maldives, where fellow journalists Kunda Dixit, Darryl D’Monte and I were working hard to earn an honest living at a regional meeting on ozone and climate. Yes, we were let in — and we liked the salubrious settings…
L to R – Nalaka Gunawardene, Darryl D’Monte & Kunda Dixit in Paradise, May 2011
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 12 August 2012
Ran Muthu Duwa (Island of Treasures), the first colour Sinhala feature film made in Sri Lanka, was released exactly 50 years ago this week, on 10 August 1962.
Ran Muthu Duwa was a trail-blazer in the Lankan cinema industry in many respects. It not only introduced colour to our movies, but also showed for the first time the underwater wonders of the seas around the island.
It was different from many formulaic Sinhala films made since 1947, and included elements of underwater treasure, ancient legends, human treachery and, predictably, some romance. It may not have been great art but was a box office hit. An estimated one million people saw it during the first release: a tenth of the island’s then population.
But the cultural influence of the film went well beyond…
This is the (Sinhala) text of my Sunday column in Ravaya newspaper on 5 August 2012. This week, I trace the moving images coverage of the Olympics, from the early days of cinema to the modern instantaneous live coverage that makes the whole world watch the Games as they unfold.
Open Minds! (formerly: Moving Images blog) 