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Quote - Joseph Pulitzer

"PUT IT BEFORE THEM BRIEFLY SO THEY WILL READ IT, CLEARLY SO THEY WILL APPRECIATE IT, PICTURESQUELY SO THEY WILL REMEMBER IT AND, ABOVE ALL, ACCURATELY SO THEY WILL BE GUIDED BY ITS LIGHT" ***** JOSEPH PULITZER *****
DISCOVER - SRI LANKA: PROLOGUE

IN PRAISE OF MY BEAUTIFUL ISLAND,
INFORMATION, PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO.

THE 13th CENTURY VENETIAN TRAVELER MARCO POLO DESCRIBED THE ISLAND AS 'THE JADE PENDANT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN'. THE ABUNDANCE OF GEMSTONES, SPICES, RAIN FORESTS AND WILDLIFE; THE MAGNIFICENT BEACHES, ANCIENT RUINS AND A WRITTEN HISTORY OF OVER 2500 YEARS MAKE THIS ISLAND A TOURISTS' PARADISE.

THE RUINED CITIES OF ANURADHAPURA AND POLONNARUWA ILLUSTRATE THE GLORY OF THE ANCIENT KINGDOMS. THE GIGANTIC STUPAS AND BUDDHA STATUES ARE AMONG THE BIGGEST MAN MADE STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD. THE MASSIVE RESERVOIRS, BUILT BY ANCIENT KINGS TO IRRIGATE THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND, ARE MARVELS OF HYDRO ENGINEERING. THERE ARE EIGHT UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SRI LANKA

THE ISLAND WAS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AS 'TAPROBANE' AND TO THE ARABS AS 'SERENDIB'. EARLY MERCHANTS VISITED THE ISLAND IN SEARCH OF GEMSTONES AND SPICES, MAINLY CINNAMON AND PEPPER. COFFEE AND TEA PLANTATIONS WERE STARTED BY THE BRITISH COLONIAL RULERS. CEYLON TEA IS FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER.

TOURISM INDUSTRY IS A MAJOR MONEY SPINNER FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. THE VAST EXPANSE OF BEACHES, RAIN FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS WITH HERDS OF WILD ELEPHANTS, THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS WITH LITHE WATER FALLS, BRING IN THE TOURISTS. THE ISLAND IS DOTTED WITH HUNDREDS OF HOTELS TO ACCOMMODATE THE TRAVELER. AN ISLAND OF 25,000 SQ; MILES HAS 103 RIVERS AND 25000 RESERVOIRS, MOSTLY MAN MADE. WITH VARYING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS THIS IS TRULY A 'SMALL MIRACLE'.

" THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA IS A SMALL UNIVERSE, IT CONTAINS AS MANY VARIATIONS OF CULTURE, SCENERY AND CLIMATE AS SOME COUNTRIES A DOZEN TIMES ITS SIZE........I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS ANY COUNTRY WHICH SCORES SO HIGHLY IN ALL DEPARTMENTS - WHICH HAVE SO MANY ADVANTAGES AND SO FEW DISADVANTAGES. LOVELY BEACHES, BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES, IMPRESSIVE RUINS, A VIBRANT CULTURE AND CHARMING PEOPLE- NO WONDER SRI LANKA IS A SMALL MIRACLE ".***** Arthur C. Clark *****




Over: 70 Pages, 800 Posts, 1000 Photographs and 900,000 Page views

03 August, 2009

SRI LANKA - CAMEOS - BY SAM WAIDYASEKERA

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED FROM THE BOOK 'CAMEOS '- BY THE LATE SAM WAIDYASEKERA (1936-1972), WITH THE APPROVAL OF HARRY WAIDYASEKERA, THE EDITOR.

THE PASSAGES OF THIS BOOK CONTAIN SOME REPRESENTATIVE WRITINGS OF THE LATE SAM WAIDYASEKERA WHO DIED AT AN EARLY AGE OF THIRTY SIX. THEY FORM A SMALL PART OF A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF MANUSCRIPTS, LEFT BEHIND BY SAM WAIDYASEKERA, AND HAVE BEEN EDITED AND PUBLISHED PARTLY IN MEMORY OF HIS LABORS OVER SEVERAL YEARS AND PARTLY AS THEY PROVIDE AN INSIGHT INTO HIS KEEN POWERS OF OBSERVATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL MENTALITY INTO MANY MATTERS, RANGING FROM THE APPARENTLY TRIVIAL TO ONES OF A MORE REFLECTIVE NATURE.

WRITTEN IN A CLEAR,DELIGHTFUL AND OFTEN HUMOROUS STYLE AND LANGUAGE,THEY PORTRAY THE AUTHOR'S ATTITUDE AND OBSERVATIONS ON ORDINARY AND SIMPLE FOLK HE MET IN REAL LIFE AND PLACES HE VISITED DURING HIS RAMBLINGS AND WHICH CREATED AN IMPRESSION IN HIS VIVID MIND. CAMEOS IS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS, THE FIRST CONTAINS PROFILES OF MANY PERSONALITIES AND CHARACTERS HE CAME ACCROSS IN ORDINARY LIFE; THE SECOND, HIS IMPRESSIONS IN VERSE AND THE THIRD PART AN ACCOUNT OF SOME PILGRIMAGES AND EXCURSIONS.

HIS WRITINGS ON MORE DEEPER MATTERS OF A SCIENTIFIC, METAPHYSICAL AND ESOTERIC CHARACTER ARE CONTAINED IN ANOTHER VOLUME ENTITLED 'ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND THE ESOTERIC'.

ON LOVE AT A MORNING WALK

A morning stroll do I take and mix with the surge of life,
Roving bands in energetic strife,
I seek answers to this quarrel,
What is the end of life-
Perhaps the end is Love.
I wait for my beloved chaste in the glow of womanhood,
Intelligent of my need of her
And communing in the way of lovers
Murmer "Love".
I walk along the spreading sands
Finely golden sands,
Becon the outlaw doggie that seeketh its company
Rolling in its warmth,
And stroke him tenderly,
Love golden at the pale of strife
Emerging to the fore.
And on along the sands I walk,till I meet
The lad and women of the sands,
They know me and smile
"You have come again", "And why not" I ask,
I walk along with the lad walking hungrily
Glad of my company,wait beside the track
When the grandson of Beating the fisherman
Stays for a word,
Their heads I tussle in simple fondness,
Youth at the threshhold;
Leaving the friendly women of the sands behind,
I am back on the road musing-
There is love at the core.
Perhaps the answer that is both the Begining and the End.

1 comment:

Cara said...

This reminds me of rousseau's reveries of a solitary walker. He examines many different subjects; philosophy, politics-- all in the course of a stroll around paris. I always find it easier to write after a thoughtful walk.

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