Today, I sort of mused about  my days of working for the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka — the rush before 4th of July to supply articles to the newspapers for their supplement, and all the people that I got to know at that time.  This post is a little memento of a lasting friendship forged with Delores Boyer during that period and stregthened through the years  that followed .   It barely suffices for the many summer days of meandering through museuems, art galleries and the time and effort she took to introduce me to a variety of art and artefacts.

 

She knew where to go, what to see, I gladly followed imbibing as much as I could .  There was the newly opened Newseum, (there is a half written blog piece somewhere) , the Afghan Treasures exhibition.  the Dega’s little dancer, the Washington Cathedral, the American Indian museum  etc– the question was to select–what shall we see, what are the must see exhibits come rain or sunshine, when and how do I catch the light for a photograph, admire an archetectural feature etc, etc. Of all the images and the photos taken,  here’s a few that stand out…

Dale Chihuly’s hand blown glass in a boat at the National Garden, Washington DC, 2007. Photograph copyright Chulie de Silva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2007, She introduced me to Dale Chihuly and his hand blown glass – left on a boat in the open air at the entrance to the National botanical garden !!! Later I learned that he had been doing these since 1995, inspired by Finnish children who would gather the blown glass he had thrown into the Nuutajoki river.

Last year, I was introduced to the world of Martin Puryear  –  a Washington-born artist who works with wood that he apparently coaxes into various forms and shapes.  Many weeks after my return to Colombo, Delores sent me a catalogue from another exhibition of Puryear’s work  and I saw that he uses unconventional materail such as tar, wire, mesh, rawhide and rattan for his sculpture.

This is his Ad Astra  that I saw –   The body  of the wagon is made from various woods, a sort of a fusion of ash, sitka spruce, hickory and pine, says the catalogue and a large handle spike reaches out to the sky.   A sort of wagon that might have suited Jack  for going up the beanstalk.  And as always I marvelled at the positioning of objects  of art at American museums and  how they optimize and create the  display space — one can view this piece from two floors at different angles.  Viewed from down it looks as if it reaches out to the sky.

 

Ad Astra 2007, Martin Puryear Photograph@ Chulie de Silva

 

Delores reading near the Ad Astra 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there was Leonardo’s portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci– one of the “must sees” as it is the only one of his work in America.

Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci 1474/1478. Photograph@ Chulie de Silva

 

 The caption said the rather standoffish looking young Florentine lady was much admired by her contemporaries for her culture, beauty and character.  “She sits beside a juniper bush, an evergreen that not only provides a dark foil to enhance her pale features but also alludes to Ginevra’s name: the Italian for juniper is ginepro.”

 

Interestingly the back of the portrait frame is also on display.  The back panel has  a wreath of laurel and palm branches encircling a juniper sprig .  Entwined around the palm branches is a scroll with a Latin inscription meaning “Beauty adorns virtue.” 

Back of the Ginevra Portrait. Photograph@ Chulie de Silva

Together the plants and the text are supposed to present an emblematic portrait of Ginevra;. We are told that the laurel and palm are common symbols for intellectual and moral virtue, and it is the latin word for beauty that artfully twines about the juniper.

 

 

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Text & Photographs@ Chulie de Silva

 

Mother and baby in Ampara photogrpah copyright Chulie de Silva

 

 

Today reading the story of Sri Lanka’s emergence as a success story in safer childbirth with a remarkable decline in maternal deaths, I mused about how I took for granted that childbirth would be safe when I had my children way back in the early 70’s.  It was joy unlimited as I breezed through pregnancies always under the stern but very caring eye of my GP, Dr. Navaratnam.  The news today that Sri Lanka should be held up as an example for other South Asian countries makes me very grateful for the high quality of medical care that was available to us in  the Sri Lanka system.  

 Presenting a paper at  the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, UK, South Asia Day, Dr Hemantha Senanayake, from the University of Colombo, said the “ mortality ratio of Sri Lanka has declined dramatically as a direct result of the availability of midwives and trained assistance. “In 1960, the child mortality was 340 per 100,000, however, it was lowered to 43 per 100,000 live births in 2005.”

 Dr. Senanayake attributed it to Government policies adopted in the past few decades and among these the decision to increase the number of midwives. The number of women in Sri Lanka having a minimum of 4 antenatal visits has reached 99 percent in Sri Lanka, said a news report on this conference on the Sri Lanka Government’s Official website.

Visiting the Mahiyangana Base Hospital supported by the World Bank assisted Health Sector Development project last year it was a lovely sight to see young mothers with their babies in an attractively decorated waiting room.  There were a fair number of twins, and this was the regular Friday baby clinic.  There were also fathers and grandmothers, aunts and uncles—holding, helping, coo-cooiing and going ga-ga over the offspring .  Babies usually bring out the best in families here, and  this  was proof indeed. But was even more amazing was that there was not a single mother with a baby bottle.  All babies were breast fed and they were there with their babies for regular health checks and immunization.

Sri Lanka has encouraged breast feeding and discouraged home births (1 percent in 2006) and the availability of comprehensive emergency obstetric care is being expanded. Presently, 85 percent of births take place in facilities that have the services of a specialist obstetrician.

We did visit also a smaller clinic run by a midwife in Moneragala too on that visit. But she said she had only one delivery for the whole year!  Most of her work is on pre natal and post natal care.

Midwives like her are recruited from villages close to Maternal Care Centers where they are meant to serve, which ensures minimal geographic and cultural barriers to providing a service we can deservedly be proud of.   

 The midwife is known, if not related , and tends to bond easily with the mothers to be. As was the case with Dharshini Perera, a health nurse I met at an Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp at Nannadan in the North of Sri Lanka.  Dharshini spoke  fluently in Tamil, her mother’s tongue.  Caring and tender, I watched her as she checked on the children and had a following like the Pied Piper in a little while. She is a fine example of  the hallmark of the service — low-cost and indigenous.

Going back to the time when I was born many many moons ago, and an oft repeated story by my father springs to mind. Father to be was waiting at the railway station to meet the Midwife who was coming from Colombo for my  birth .  For no apparent reason on that New year’s day, the train whizzed past the Hikkaduwa station to Galle, leaving my father gaping in disbelief.   My father’s Colonial relic “ clerk” came to the rescue of his panic stricken boss and a local midwife was rounded up. The rest as they say is history. But the fact is that even way back then it was a hallmark of a good service.  Thank you Sri Lanka, we owe much to you .

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All images and text in this site is copyrighted. No material from this blog may be used except as a direct reference to this site.

Text & Photographs@ Chulie de Silva

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Istanbul the capital of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, located on the two  sides of the Bosphorus  is steeped in history. There was a fascinating collection of magnificent religious and civil structures.  But first it was a visit to the Grand Bazaar and a walk around the streets to absorb the ambience. Mind boggling the sights sounds and smell of kebabs etc.    

 

 

Trade and bartering is a way of life. Among the carpets, the ceramics, lamps  (not only the Aladdin type), belly dancing costumes, jewellery, spices, almonds, dates, figs and fruits of all kinds was the famous Turkish Delight. Right next t to it we found small bottles of yellow liquid which looked suspiciously like the honey jars at the breakfast table and  a little board that said Turkish Viagra.  The price  was 20 Turkish Lira.  Not interested we walked away — the price dropped down to 5 Lira and in addition there was a special offer for my pretty young colleague — not a story to be told here.

  

All images and text in this site is copyrighted. No material from this blog may be used except as a direct reference to this site.

Photographs@ Chulie de Silva

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  Lass incognito: Photograph taken with consent but the rest of the beauty and the name remains a secret.

Photograph@ Chulie de Silva

All images and text in this site is copyrighted. No material from this blog may be used except as a direct reference to this site.

The web has apparently over 3 trillion photographs so what are the chances of one of yours being picked  – or maybe the correct phrase is ”lifted  without permission” from the few you have on your blog — and then seeing it on the front page of a Sunday paper? 

I would have said pretty slim, till I heard the popular “Mul Pituwa” program Sunday before last (15 March, 2009) host Bandula Padmakumara talking about a front page article on the Sunday Times article “Lost treasures to be brought home” and the photograph of Tara Devi.

Having written the blog post “Goddess Tara time to come home?” my ears naturally picked up. The photo glimpsed on the TV screen looked suspiciously like mine on the blog. Having had one more instance when another Sunday weekly carried a photo of mine without any credit. I did a dash to town to buy the paper and voila! there was my photo from my blog adorning the front page — not so much as a please, not even the much maligned phrase “courtesy of” - that is used blithely by most newspapers here. 

Infuriating was a mild term to describe how I felt, cheated is more like it, considering this photograph was taken by me during a short stop in London in 2008 when this statue was on display at the British Museum.  I had made a special visit to the British Museum for the sole purpose of seeing this statue, take this photograph and write the story.

My first letter to the editor went unanswered and no correction was carried last week.  Are we surprised?  Well, yes , since the other paper was quick to apologize and cartried a correction with a thumbnail photo. Today, after my second letter I got an e-mail response admitting that the Sunday Times obtained the photograph after a Google search but said ” We may have copied the picture from your website, but the website gave no credit line to the picture, and therefore, we could not have known the ownership of the photograph. As a practice we have no qualms in giving credit to an article, graphic or photograph, and would have been happy to give you the credit-line had we known it belonged to you,” and expressed “regret if we have caused you any inconvenience or pain of mind.”  Obviously, sending an e-mail to get copyright clearance didn’t cross their mind. And they missed the © Important: Copyright Notice: All images and text in this site is copyrighted. No material from this blog may be used except as a direct reference to this site

Of course as bloggers all of you know from the blog stats I can say how many people accessed the site prior to 15 March and how many came via a Google search and as for the missing credit line – it is there clearly displaced.  Further, a blog is your own personal diary and from what I learned during my graduate study days is that photographic works are protected by the mere fact of their creation. This is a fundamental basis of respecting works of authors . 

When I talked about the lack of knowledge on copyright issues among the media here with another media colleague and the need to educate the journalists here he had this to say:  “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is  good journalism.  For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead.”

“So there comes a time when intellectual property of journalists, that maybe the work of accredited journalists or a 14 year old kid doing a blog has to be respected.”

On that debatable note let’s open the space for discussion – Are print newspapers as we know them dinosaurs in an age when most of us get our news from the electronic media and if they need to go foraging blog sites for free photos etc  how important are our blog spaces and citizen journalism sites. 

That brings us to the question what are our rights as bloggers and photographers — or do we not have any rights in this age when anyone and everyone copies everything possible.  see an interesting well written piece Copyright is for Losers by Rupert Gray on Shahidul Alam’s blog

Of course print newspapers can argue that they have gate keepers to ensure quality unlike us bloggers who write without editorial supervision but then again dinosaurs were big and powerful too at one time. … As I write my radio is playing quite appropriately the famous Belafonte song  “There’s hole in the bucket, Dear Lisa, Dear Lisa…”

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Life is never a smooth glide as it is for these duckies — well not for long.

Now that it is safe to take the mobile off the silent mode and you are trying to wean yourself away from the leftover stollen and the breuder comes this question from a friend: what are your plans for 2009?  Plans? New Year resolutions? – ouch!  Well, let’s see — I could start by cooking less,  over stocking my fridge, more time at the gym, more blogging — a list can be produced. …

No you idiot, think!! Take a leaf from where you work — have a concept note, get a strategy team to work out the strategy, talk to the experts. …  Ah, but count and see with all that work how many went phut!!! When the only place top keep your money is looking more like under the pillow or in the rice jar – the world has changed buddy.

 So the strategy me thinks for 2009 is not to have a strategy-living on the edge of chaos has its own thrills – maybe just one resolution — look after that bundle of thoughts and maybe who knows I might just catch some moments of that happy, comfortable and yearned for life at ease. …

 

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Sunset at Galle Face Hotel 31 December 2008.

Growing up in Hikkaduwa we would watch the sun go down and the catamaran boats push out to sea. When you were very young, the sun sinking into the water was fascinating mystery — Where does it go?  How does it come back from the other side in the morning? What does it do — go to sleep? and is the Moon the Sun’s friend/sister?

As the light faded  with sinking sun the kerosene lamps on the fishing boats would dot the horizon  flickering like a band of  fireflies. If we were lucky, we would spot a spouting whale or catch a glimpse of a sea turtle.

Often soothed by the salty breeze this was a time I would talk to the sea, tell my worries,  reflect on the year that was passing and ask the sea will the new year when I would be officially one year older, be a better one.

Today, at the posh Galle Face Hotel, the tables were being set with black table cloths, the coconut trees had bands of small lights, and possibly the band, the singers were already at the tables.  Some tourists were out with the cameras.  There were no boats out at sea, only two ships in the horizon. Colombo is getting ready to party all night.

Looking at the fast disappearing ball of fire, the mind was on reverse gear recollecting many 31 December evenings in Hikkaduwa. I would kneel on the window sill, press my nose to the window and watch the lights form the boats, listen to the sea and wait for the Seth Thomas clock to strike at midnight.

Today,  at Galle Face I asked the same questions and got the same reply from the sea.

Somethings never change.  … some do for eternity. 

And

Tomorrow is another day,

                                                     another year,

                                                                                            and another birthday.

Photographs © Chulie de Silva

 According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report 2008 we in Sri Lanka have moved a little closer towards equality between women and men. 

 Sri Lanka holds a no.12 ranking for 2008 in this report and has made significant gains, moving up 3 places ahead of UK (13), Switzerland (14), France (15) and is the Only South Asian country in the top 15.

Philippines, is the only other Asian country in the top 15 places and is ranked at no.6. The Index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities.

See Sri Lanka report at http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/ggg08_sri_lanka.pdf

 Photograph © Chulie de Silva:  On a late afternoon drive back to Colombo from Galle after an almsgiving on the death anniversary of my father, I couldn’t resist the shiny fresh bala and alagoduwas at a fish stall in Beruwela.  Chatting to the owner I was pleasantly suprised to learn he had the same name as my father “Benny.”   Chuckling quietly was his pretty wife Onitha who looks like an equal partner in the business.

Security Guard Weerasinghe

He is the first person I see when I get to office as he checks my driving when I reverse into the parking lot, and invariably the first person I greet.  Working long hours he is often there when I leave even late at night.

 

Last week he was in a new uniform. Harindra , my colleague shouted “See his new uniform, Weeray has got a double promotion.”  So with the congratulations out came the camera. …

Photo© Chulie de Silva

Twilight in Colombo

Photo© Chulie de Silva

Heavenly shades of night are falling, it’s twilight time
Out of the mist your voice is calling, ’tis twilight time
When purple-colored curtains mark the end of day
I’ll hear you, my dear, at twilight time

Deepening shadows gather splendor as day is done
Fingers of night will soon surrender the setting sun ….

 

 

( From the Lyrics of Platters – Twilight Time)