May 28, 2021, 9:48p05

GYPSY TALES … stories from my life !   As I enter my 60s in December this year, I had this brilliant idea of writing my life story. It felt grand. And then again it felt terribly presumptuous too. “Who would”, I asked myself in all seriousness, “be interested in my life story” however special it might be to me. There was a tinge of embarrassment too. But I knew that I had some interesting stories from the different eras of my life that ran parallel to the changes in society and the world I grew up in. I had to find a compromise. And compromised, I did. I would embark on a long string of stories inspired by the various incidents, situations, experiences, people, etc etc etc and upload them here on my blog. For some comforting reason that option felt less presumptuous. Now for a title. What would

Read more...

May 28, 2021, 9:48p05

I think I was about three years old when we moved to No 25, Green Path in Kohuwala, Nugegoda. Please note that the ‘Nugegoda’ tag HAD TO be added on to Kohuwala. It was the norm at that time, even with the letters the postman brought us. No 25 was a spacious old house with a front ‘office room’ on the right hand side, a large hall and dining room along whose right hand side were the bedrooms. At the back was the kitchen. There was a large garden all around the house with trees of every kind. The back garden was larger, verdant and salubrious. Our landlady was a very kindly old lady call Mrs. Bogaars. I call her ‘old’ because in the mind of a three-year old, everyone above forty was deemed very old. I never knew her first name. She was simply Mrs. Bogaars. She occupied one

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

If Bonsoir was considered a ‘hit’ among Sri Lankan television viewers during that time, I must add that the Sinhala Bonsoir far outshone its English counterpart. From the day we began, there were persistent requests for a Sinhala Bonsoir. We had neither the time, nor the manpower, nor the expertise to embark on such a venture BUT it did persist in our minds as a ‘somehow-must-do-someday’ task. One day our technical director Chinthananda Abeysekera volunteered to do a Sinhala Bonsoir “provided it happened on a once-a-month basis”. He already had much on his plate – handling the entire technical side of Bonsoir – lighting, filming, editing, maintenance etc. The French Embassy was delighted that France would now reach a wider audience through the Sinhala Bonsoir and agreed to his time frame. Chintha’s talented older brother Indrananda Abeysekera also came onboard, as a freelance scriptwriter and did a great job I

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

Daughter of the celebrated Mrs. Olga de Livera, Ramya de Livera Perera is the well-known pianist and violinist, and, a much sought after performer and teacher. She has also been one of the lead violinists of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka for several years. Always the quiet and unassuming person she is, Ramya and her husband Christel run a charming little guest house – Wayfarers Inn. It is a very peaceful and salubrious locale, indeed an oasis down Rosemead Place. Ramya has, over the years had an assortment of pets, from dogs to geese to swans and whatever else in between. There were ten dogs at one time. Their weekly bath was a ritual, with all of them lining up for the identical special treatment. Peggy is a long stay guest at the Wayfarers Inn. By the way, Peggy is not a ‘she’. She is a ‘he’. It was

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

Our neighbours, the Madanayake’s house and garden at No 93, Rosemead Place were our permanent outdoor set. But there were also times when we ventured beyond our immediate neighbours. There were Anne Ranasinghe at No 82 and Ramya de Livera Perera at No 77 towards Wijerama Mawatha. Towards Kynsey Road, at No. 112A, were Erin and Upatissa Attygalle and their (then) little daughter Ruveka, who attended Ladies’ College. The house is called ‘Amazing Grace’. A strange coincidence is that his immediate neighbour today are Michel Treutnaere and family. Upatissa was the owner of the once-famous Spanish Hacienda in Kollupitiya, next to Methodist College at No 238, Galle Road. His house at Rosemead Place is Spanish-styled with Spanish architecture. The balcony has a Spanish air about it with its beautiful white wrought iron furniture and that’s where we did our special programme on the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. I remember Yasmin

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

The French Embassy at Rosemead Place was ‘home’ for fifteen glorious years until the studio moved to Barnes Place in 2000, the year I quit Bonsoir. It was the only foreign mission in Colombo at that time, to house such a television studio. During those early years, we were unhappy being confined to ‘performing’ in front a grey or black curtain and under three lights. We wanted to shoot outdoors with its endless possibilities and thus made friends with our friendly and consenting neighbours. The Bandaranaikes lived down the road at No 65. Their lovely old house – Tintagel – had lots of filmable corners and spaces. True they were friends of the family, true I had, as a wailing, pamper-less, one-week old infant, pee-ed in her older daughter Sunethra’s arms in the early 60s, true her younger daughter Chandrika is Francophone, and true her son Anura was my father’s

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

The Embassy of France in Sri Lanka is at 89, Rosemead Place, Colombo 07. It has been there since the year dot, I think. This was once a quiet and shady tree-lined avenue devoid of the high rises and commercial establishments it has today. I was told that, once upon a time, it had played home to rose meadows and hence the name ‘Rosemead’. I don’t quite know its veracity, but I often tried imagining the fragrance emanating from rose meadows fusing with the aroma of cinnamon from the gardens nearby ….. aromathérapie Colombo. The Bonsoir Studio was housed in the French Embassy. The current Cultural Affairs Counsellor, the genial Michel Treutnaere, and his team now occupy what was once our former studio. I still often end up in a time warp and get very nostalgic, whenever I visit him in his office. Ours was a far cry from what

Read more...

May 25, 2021, 9:48p05

It was no fun at all hosting Bonsoir alone. I often felt like an abandoned orphan. It was boring. I needed a vigorous thrust and parry. The French Embassy was thus on the look out for a ‘suitable’ female co-host. The candidate didn’t have to have television experience BUT had to speak fluent French. The search was on … many hopeful probables were interviewed … but no one fitted the bill. Finally one day I was told that the ‘Bonsoir Girl’ had been found. I was jubilant. In walked Yasmin Rajapakse, the dusky, curly-haired lady whom I had very briefly met, and barely spoken to, at the Alliance Francaise at Ward Place. She was the perfect foil. She was variably crazy, rather nutty and ‘tres expérimentale’. Like me, she too had absolutely no experience in television. This was March 1986. She worked with us every morning, sharing her time between

Read more...

May 18, 2021, 9:48p05

Visakha Cooke, ‘Mrs. Cooke’ as I called her, passed away in the early hours of this morning, Tuesday 18 May 2021. I go back to the Subs Desk of the Daily News. This was 1980. I was just after my ALs in August that year and biding time to enter University one year later. It was a grand era at Lake House. JR. Jayawardenehad swept into power three years prior and Ranapala Bodinagoda reigned supreme at the helm as Chairman Lake House. Clarence Fernando was the Editor of the Daily News at that time and at the Subs Desk were Dudley Jansz, Thomas Ramanathan, Rohana Aryaratna, Chandra Silva, among others.   There were the veterans K. Nadarajah and P. Balasingham, both my mentors. Across the room at the Sports Desk were the legendary M.M. Thawfeeq and his son Sa’adi. The ‘raw-est’ of them at the Subs Desk were Muditha Senadheera

Read more...

May 16, 2021, 9:48p05

Inspired by the final journey of Kanishka Perera as seen through the eyes of his son Kavindu. . Dadella cemetery, Galle, Sri Lanka. . The evening of Thursday 13th May 2021 . Dedicated to the memory of all those of whom Covid has taken away . Gasping for breath you clamoured for life through tubes and masks.  It was all in vain. . No words were spoken but tears we shed. And so you went away. . Two layers of polythene in a cheap wooden box, an ambulance, your hearse, and only your car was your funeral procession . No words spoken But tears we shed. And so you went away. . And as the Arch Deacon blessed your spirit at dusk that evening in Dadella, Galle, the winds let lose their fury as the Heavens opened up. . I watched the whiffs of smoke crawl then billow out of

Read more...