Mud Ghecko

By Chandrika Gadiewasam In Sri Lanka which boasts some of the highest snakebite deaths in the world, where snakes are hated and feared, one man daily puts his life on the line to save any snake he can. He has given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a deadly Indian cobra and he  keeps a saline solution and aloe vera tub to help heal snakes who have been attacked using kerosene: a man of humble means, who makes a livelihood from maintenance work, Jeganadan the snake rescuer of Habarana has never in his life accepted payment for the thousands of serpents he has rescued and released, because, he says, 'then people may hesitate to contact me." "I started my rescue work in 2004, with the realisation that snakes are the animals probably treated with the most callous injustice in the world. You will see people and organisations rescuing dogs, birds, elephants, leopards -but there is no one who will stop and help a suffering snake." he points out. Jeganadan has made it his li...

Chandrika Gadiewasam Some of the deprived sad food my whole family has been forced to eat due to my diabetes. Ok you know Im being snarky (Photos courtesy Nadeesha Paulis) Some years ago,  when I was hovering on the magical brink of becoming a symbolic 39, I went in for my annual overall check up and the reports came in with a positive diagnosis of diabetes. Well, yours truly, Chands, was in shock for a while and thought it was some kind of mistake! This was an OLD PEOPLES disease! It was one of those incurable inconvenient things that happened after you are sixty or something! This went along with Alzheimer's, dentures and incontinence, in my list of geriatric issues.   This wasn't for me; I didn't deserve it,  I didn't really do any of the things I imagined would make me into a diabetic. Ok I was rather lazy about the exercise thing although on and off I would try to keep in shape, not for health reasons at all but because I wanted to wear some dress…and I liked havin...

Chandrika Gadiewasam 2008 DIAS-PORAS They are cleaner, shiny and their luggage smells good. Their kids speak alien tongues and burst apologetically into delicate pink bubbles in the evenings, on principle. You know who I'm referring to, it's the Diaspora. That's those Returnees, kalu suddas, pita-rata-kattiyas  or in other words the sweet friends and relations of ours who have managed by hook or crook to land themselves in some foreign country and stay there, and are back on vacation for a few weeks to touch base and prove to us how happy they are. Seriously… we don't need convincing.           I don't know if its just living in the same country as I do that puts them off, but the last time I counted at least a half a dozen of my acquaintances per month were immigrating. This is not about tourism, shopping tours or landing a nice job abroad, these people were withdrawing EPF, divorcing anyone inconvenient, selling their homes and completely and p...

To write the last bit of this book I took a bit of leave from my human rights NGO office and stayed in our village, at my house Jungle Library , surrounded by fields, tall old trees, 3 rude cats, and three thousand books. You can google "Jungle Library Sri Lanka"and see photos of this place and the surroundings (there are even 8 positive reviews from optimistic sri lankan google guides who have never seen the place) beautiful landscapes A hindu Kovila  Jak Fruit Curry  Time for art  A Random Tree I thought was beautiful  Some ancient herioc dude whose statue is in the Hanwella Town centre - it maybe Jayaweeragoda Appu- who was killed by the Portuguese. I dont care, he looks fierce and imposing so I took his photo  It was an interlude I will not forget for a long time: not only did I eat the best of village grown superfoods and walk and hike for miles among pristine paddy fields, brooks, farms and rubber estates, but the exercise, fresh air, and healthy eating made my blood su...

by Chandrika Gadiewasam   ●      Cyber crime a serious emerging threat to young women ●      Sri Lanka's legislation to protect women comparatively strong ●      Women often do not know their rights ●      Sri Lanka as a prime tourism destination could be tarnished by GBV     It is estimated that one in four of Sri Lankan women are victims of domestic violence. It makes little difference if one lives in Colombo, in the rural outskirts of the country or if one belongs to so-called educated diaspora living in "progressive" countries. Marriage in particular, appears to provide a licence for men to abuse their wives with impunity, leading to cycles of violence and ripple effects which brutalise children and lead to generations who suffer from traumatic memories. It is also estimated that half of all women murdered worldwide are killed by their spouse or intimate partner. So how does the violence that begins with a drunken slap go down the ...