Romesh Gunesekera

Sri Lanka is an island that everyone loves at some level inside themselves. A very special island that travellers, from Sinbad to Marco Polo, dreamed about. A place where the contours of the land itself forms a kind of sinewy poetry.

An independent state does not pay too dear a price for its independence in accepting the sufferings of war when it cannot avoid them; a state which has lost its independence may find at least some compensation in the fact that its protector procures for it peace with its neighbours.

I remember everyone in my nursery school class getting a carton of milk before the day started. Only, I got mine about 20 minutes later than everyone else because it had to be kept on the radiator for a short while. I liked warm milk when I was small.