When worlds collide – Open Minds! (formerly: Moving Images blog)

Nalaka Gunawardene, photo by Sarath Kumara

“Question, When At Crossroads”

With that title, Ceylon Today on Sunday 23 September 2012 carries a profile of my new Sinhala language book, Sivu Mansala Kolu Getaya (SMKG for short).

The article is written by Yashasvi Kannangara based on an interview with myself, and her reading of the book that came out last week.

A recurrent theme in SMKG is my interest in Sri Lanka’s ‘Children of ’77’ — the generation who were born after the economy was liberalised in 1977 which, in turn, ushered in radical changes in our society, culture and media. So I’m intrigued to be profiled by a member of that very generation, @YashasviK!

Here’s an excerpt, where she quotes me directly:

“I studied in the Sinhala medium, but with effort became bilingual and began writing in English. For the past 20 years, I have written in English, so it was not easy to begin writing in Sinhala again. Even though I have training and an educational background in Sinhala, when I made a comeback in 2011, I had to find my feet in a world of Sinhala writing and communication, my style of writing is essentially conversational Sinhala. In a sense, with this column, I have come back home. The last time I wrote in Sinhala was in another century and in what now feels like another country!”

Read full article here

Disclosure: I’m also a columnist for Ceylon Today, where I write When Worlds Collide every Sunday.

Question, when at crossroads: Ceylon Today, 23 September 2012

This blog has been silent for over two weeks at a stretch, which is unusual. A few regular readers have enquired as to why.

Well, I’ve been busy on other fronts – some online, others offline. Many years ago, a journalist friend of mine – herself an early adopter of information technologies – cautioned how time-consuming and addictive this medium can be. “Sometimes networking can mean not working,” she said. That’s still true, unless our bread-and-butter is earned entirely online. Conversely, working offline can mean being away from social networking online. You get the idea…

But I digress. The real reason for my not blogging is a lot more interesting – I only wish I could disclose it, but inter-galactic peace depends on my silence. I hope you understand.

This cartoon will give you a hint. ‘When worlds collide’ is one of my favourite phrases, and it seems to be happening to me a little too often. (Disclaimer: I don’t look anything like the blogger in this cartoon.)

The PC Weenies is a popular webcomic with a special focus on technology humour and geek culture, as experienced through the lives of the fictitious Weiner family. The PC Weenies was created and launched on the web in October 1998 by Krishna M. Sadasivam, a former electrical engineer.