'Cause Pigs can Fly

 Editorial of Free Hashtags are a pretty cool way to create trends. During Avurudu time the hashtag #ReplaceMovieTitlesWithKavum was trending and it resulted in many funny tweets and status updates. Recently, a new hashtag emerged from the dark depths of social networking. This hashtag wasn’t funny. It wasn’t cute. It was disturbing. The #AfterSex hashtag made couples around the globe post pictures of themselves just after making love. The pictures gave everyone a look into the private lives of others. Some were of the shoulder-up but clearly topless couple and the hashtag was the only indicator of what they had just done. Other images, however, showed more skin than many of us wanted to see. While there may have been enough people searching for the hashtag #AfterSex, many of us were innocent victims to the content on our home pages. Here’s why the hashtag seemed like a bad idea to many. There are things that you can share on your online accounts. The content is safe. It help...

සිංහල සාහිත්යයේ නිධාන කතා වස්තු ගැන ඉගෙන ගත්තා. ඒ ඉස්කෝලේ යන කාලයේ. දැන් නිධාන කතා ගැන දැන ගන්නේ ජීවිතයේ කොටසක් ලෙසිනි. අප දන්නා, ඇසුරු කරන්නන් ගැන නිධාන කතා අපේ මතකයේ ගබඩා කර ගන්නවා. ඒවා අනුව තමයි අපි ඔවුන්ව කොහොම සහ කොතරම් ආශ්රය කරනවද යන්න තීරණය කරන්නේ. නිධාන කතාවක් හොඳද නරකද යන්න තීරණය කරන්නේ එය ගැන දන්නා අහන පුද්ගලයාය. එහෙත් හොඳ හෝ නරක හෝ, නිධාන කතා අපව විනිශ්යකරුවන් බවට පත් කරවනවා. මේ ලෝකයේදී අපි මිනිසුන් නරක මිනිසුන්ද හොඳ මිනිසුන්ද යන්න තීරණය කරන්න දක්ෂයි. හැබැයි, උසාවියක වගේ, කතාවේ දෙපැත්තම අසා  තීරණයකට එළබෙන්න අපි කැමති නැහැ. කාසියකට දෙපැත්තක් තියෙනවා කියා දැනගෙනත් අපි මිනිසුන් ගැන නිගමනයකට එළබෙන්නේ කතාවක එක් පැත්තක් පමණක්  දැනගෙනය. අපිට අමතක වන්නේ ලෝකයේ සිටින්නේ හොඳ මිනිසුන් හෝ නරක මිනිසුන් හෝ නොව නිකම්ම නිකන් මිනිසුන් පමණක් බව. එහෙත් ඔය නිධාන කතා හදා ගන්නවා. ඔය නිධාන කතා මතක තියා ගන්නවා. එය මනුෂ්ය ගතියකි. අපි කතාවේ එක් පැත්තක් අසා, පක්ෂපාති වී සිටින විනිශ්යකරුවන්ය. කණ්ණාඩි දෙකක් ගෙන අංශක අනුවක කෝණයක් සැදෙනසේ තියන්න. කණ්ණාඩි දෙක අතරට යම් වස්තුවක් තියන්න. වස්තුව තියෙන ...

Nation Free editorial Alone time is a few minutes or even hours all for yourself. It can be spent at home, at a bookstore or library or even in an unknown city. There are no rules or regulations or rituals regarding alone time. Sometimes you just feel you need to be alone and you find a place you feel the most isolated from others. A need for some alone time arises in most of us. It starts like a mild breeze on a hot day and can end like a tidal wave that hits you with great force. This need, when not addressed, could turn into anxiety or depression. Pic by Sakuna Gamage However, many assume needing alone time is a sign of mental weakness; that it is only the troubled who need time away from other people, or in most cases, those familiar faces. This is far from the truth. We can’t continue to spend night and day with the same people and at some point or the other, we need to get out. If you feel like a trapped animal in your own home or school or workplace, plan a vacation wh...

1. Drive away. No maps. No destination 2. Fall in love 3. Write a book 4.  Have at least three tattoos 5. Believe 6. Go to some faraway country 7. Learn how to swim 8. Build my own house 9. Have a pet, take care of it 10. Get a crazy haircut 11. Wear a super weird outfit 12. Live alone 13. Have a roommate 14. Shave my head 15. Get married 16. Get a Masters degree  17. Become the editor of a newspaper 18. Dance in public 19. Sing in public 20. Be friends with someone on the People of the Past List 21. Forgive 22. Be truly thankful for being alive 23. Figure out the way out of the labyrinth of life 24. Write my will 25. Save enough money to buy a house 26. Spend all the money on things for myself 27. Do a really selfless act 28. Try a meat I've never had before 29. Get wasted 30. Give a bear hug to a complete stranger 31. Start my own magazine 32. Go a day without speaking 33. Be completely cut off from the world 34. Have my own library 35. Read a thousand books 36. Vlog 37. Eat...

(I’m bored. And annoyed. Thus the post) The tok tok tok of high heeled shoes. Women, if you can’t walk silently, don’t wear those shoes. It’s annoying and is certainly not music to my ears. Sweet and sour food. Food can’t be sweet and sour at the same time. That messes with my brain. So does food that doesn't belong in that meal. Like pineapple is a dessert. So what is it doing in my rice, pizza or chicken? Weird texture food. Shrimp is not supposed to look like mush, so a big no to shrimp mousse! Long nails. Trim those. Please. It’s disgusting. Especially if your toe nails are long. Short top with leggings. What is wrong with you? Who in their right mind wears leggings with a short top? People who jump the line need to be shot. No, I didn't just stand in the queue in this hot sun just so you can nicely walk right past us to the front of the line. This goes to you whether you a...

As much as school prepared me for the real world, I was never ready. I didn't realize this until I started working at a real office, with real grownups. I was suddenly thrown into this world that made me feel so insignificant. In school, our problems were forgetting do to our homework, trying to understand why that top doesn't work with that skirt, and why that perfect-for-you boy is in love with someone else. When I was in school, I cried because my favorite character in a book died, or because a song was just too sad. We didn't have to deal with grownups issues. And then I was thrown into a world I'm still not ready to deal with. I learned that people are jealous, angry and don't want others to succeed. I learned people actually, shamelessly cheat on people. They lie, they steal and they hurt people. While trying to come to terms with all of this, another issue came up. Not only did I have to live in the adult world, I also had to become an adult. For some reason,...

I grew up believing in that picture perfect life movies and books told me about. I thought life is about meeting the right person at the right time and everything falling in to place. I thought I would know how to deal with things because, how hard could life be, right? Today, I'm twenty, I've lived a bit, seen a bit and I'm questioning all those principles and values I was brought up believing in. Since Amma is a Buddhist, I too, was brought up worshiping the Sanga, reading the Dhamma and seeking the blessings of the Buddha. I've taken a few steps away from religion, and yet, I continue to live by certain principles and beliefs. I was brought up believing in certain things. I was brought up believing that certain things were done, and others were not done. Growing up, I never thought I would have to question if an action is right or wrong. I thought I would know. Today, I can't help questioning various things. I can't help wondering why we be...