By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando The Red Carpet at Buckingham Palace at the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning Queen of England, rolled out on the 6 August 1993, to allow for the first time in the history of England for more than 400,000 people to get a glimpse of the Royal Abode […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Recently a Sri Lankan woman from Australia made an online booking in a ‘grand’ hotel prior to her arrival in Colombo. Her flight landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport much earlier than the scheduled time. When she approached the hotel reception in Colombo she was informed that her […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Human beings would always like to have an appreciation of their identity, either from institutions or politically as members elected by the public. Socially, of course such identification could be in the form of fathers, children, teachers and others. Culturally they could be seen as social groups such as black, […]

Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Constructive criticism can easily be taken for granted as being intolerable and odious. In reality, of course, independent voice of the people needs to be heard whether it is bared through the media or by an independent journalist’s scoop or even coming out from the odd person in society, […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando As an extension to my ‘Feedback on Uropathy and Gau Mutra’ article which appeared in Ceylon Today newspaper on 13 April, just three months after a diabetic patient from Kalutara was referred to Dr. Mass R. Usuf, President of the National Association of Homoeopaths and Affiliates and Sri Lanka’s former […]

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Politics and politicians have become a pet topic nowadays. Cambridge English Dictionary describes the word politics as ‘activities of a government, members of law making organization or people who try to influence the way a country is governed’. Urban Dictionary, however, defines it differently viz: “Politics derived from […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Modern bookshops and news stands are inundated with a multitude of magazines of all kind with topics including general health, beauty, royalty, medicine, yoga, and international politics. Some of the most interesting and educational ideas are buried in small but less significant news reports and narrow classified advertisements, […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando A journalist’s main function is to gather ideas. Here, the journalist is faced with a big question mark … ..  ‘Where to find them and the facts to support them’? This can be one of the biggest headaches for the beginners to journalism – the cub journalists! A glance at […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today 2016-07-09 The style of writing has to be candid, factual and forthright, but it should not be regarded as threatening or hostile. As with most public assignments, it is best to choose the type of words by getting a clear idea on the following aspects: (i) what is […]

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Many tend to believe and accept that violence is a complex issue influenced by many factors such as racism, poverty, drug abuse, domestic issues, thuggary, guns, mental disorder and terrorism, which can ultimately lead to aggressive behaviour and violence. Current news bulletins are generally classified into two main […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando It does not mean to say there aren’t many successful humorous article writers at all (continuing from the thread on ‘humorous articles and humourist writers’ in my previous column), but those are experienced journalists who have gone through the journalistic ‘mill’. Perhaps they might have started as cub reporters or […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today In a broad generalization the word ‘public’ simply denotes openness. This feature can be associated with the community, social responsibility and also becomes applicable and helpful on discussion and debate. In terms of the media, it serves the function of bringing out information and various issues to the […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando The internal conflict that lasted nearly three decades has disrupted the harmony and camaraderie that existed among the three major communities in Sri Lanka for many centuries.  Yet, even after seven years of obliterating the terrorist menace, the burning issue remains whether the authorities have been able to successfully bring […]

By L.K.N. Perera (LLB, Cey) Courtesy Ceylon Today The Leader of the Opposition, Sambandan’s recent justification of the LTTE’s struggle to form an Eelam State and the unanimously passed resolution in the Northern Provincial Council, to form an autonomous State in the Northern and Eastern Provinces needs the immediate attention of peace loving members of all […]

By L.K.N. Perera (LLB, Cey) Courtesy Ceylon Today Before delving into the question of whether Eelam is a myth or not, I would like to pose the under mentioned questions to Messrs. Sampanthan, Wigneswaran or any other high ranking officials in the TNA, TULF; Any other learned member of the Tamil diaspora, or even directly to […]

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today A drastic social and cultural revolution has taken place in Sri Lanka over the past few decades; with peoples’ attitudes, culture, the calibre of the rulers and politicians, school teachers, parents and students alike, have taken a three hundred and sixty degree turn towards the depreciation of the […]

By Dr.Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy  Ceylon Today The modern mass media undoubtedly blend with three things: economics, money and profit. For a start, any media organization needs to inject a huge amount of money as an investment to establish from its infrastructure up to the operation level, plus the wages and salaries to permanent staff and […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Various institutions within a society, be it the government, political or any other group, have the power to shape media material to a particular viewpoint. The other side of the coin would be that the media is quite capable of inspiring society as much as the institutions, simply […]

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando 2016-06-13  Ceylon Today Gayathri lives in Dehiwala at her sister’s house, occupying the upper floor, since her husband deserted her. Her own personal story is long and tragic, but she has been leading an independent life ever since by sharing her sister’s accommodative house with her brother Prasanna. Prasanna suffered […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:  Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air” When Thomas Grey penned the above mentioned four lines, perhaps he would never have imagined in his wildest […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today  Media is the creation of just about anything in an organized society which encompasses experiences and sensations at different social levels where discrepancies and dissimilarities create or expose of media institutions, media industries or individuals. Its ultimate character is influenced by the interaction of the media organisation with […]

BY Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Previous Rajapaksa Government had a strategic beautification plan to develop the metropolis first, and then gradually extend to other major towns in the country. The ‘planner’ behind the programme was Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, who was also in charge of the Urban Development Authority […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Media, press freedom and journalists have become a pet topic currently in Sri Lanka. Of late various accusations have been levelled against newspapers and newspaper owners with particular emphasis on certain journalists and ‘rechristening’ them with indecorous names. In normal life the majority of humans tend to encourage what is […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Queen Elizabeth II, who has been the Head of Britain for several decades, turned 90 years old on 21 April 2016. As a ruler, she is an exceptional woman of strength and stamina who still chooses to reign and shine by living a simple life for many heads of States […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando A friend of mine submitted the following story of his own experience, as a feedback, after reading my articles on supernatural experiences of various kinds. My friend’s father Jim (imaginary) had died at the age of 66 years and 6 months to be precise, at an integer of 666! There […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando  A literary Festival is generally recognised as a gathering of both authors and readers, held annually to afford an opportunity to authors mainly to feature and demonstrate a variety of their work thus stimulating and inspiring. Such festivals bring both the books and the reader together without creating a street […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today Death is generally referred to the instance at which life ends. The public uses many euphemisms for death such as ‘passed away’, ‘expired’, ‘deceased’ etc. The dead body is denoted as the corpse in a polite reference. It is estimated that about two-thirds out of 150,000 people who […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Angela was in her fifties, happily married and settled down comfortably in a middle class family in Moratuwa. Hailing from a pedigree of a well-known entrepreneurial family, she had three sons. The eldest graduated and became a high-ranking government official, second worked as an architect and the youngest known as […]

CEYLON  TODAY “HOW TO BRING UP YOUR CHILD FROM THE DATE OF CONCEPTION UP TO ONE YEAR”. English Translation by Dr. Tilak S. Fernando The late Dr. Buddhadasa Bodhinayake, was attached to Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in Colombo as a senior Paediatrician and worked for many years in the UK for the National Health […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Once Susantha drove all the way from Kandy to Kohuwela with his family to attend a social function his mother-in-law had organized. On the following morning he left the family in Kohuwela and went back home. In Kandy he had dinner at the Lyon Café and went to his empty […]