Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake Archives

A school like no other-By Sanchita Wickremasooriya Spacious setting: The School for the Deaf and Blind and students at activities (below) Have you ever taken the time to think of how dependent you are on sensory information? Think of the time you woke up in the middle of the night and bumped into the table as you tried to make your way to the washroom. Or that time you played ‘pin the tail on the elephant’ or ‘Kana Mutti’ during Avurudu. Or when you couldn’t taste your lunch during a really bad flu season. The ability to enjoy your favourite music, and to see the beauty of the universe is something we have become accustomed to since the day we first opened our eyes. But the thing is, some of us just don’t. We don’t open our eyes. We don’t ever hear the words ‘I love you.’ We don’t get ...

An epic Air Ceylon charter flight in late 1940s-by D.L Sirimanne Source:Island The comprehensive and interesting article written by Capt. Elmo Jayawardena in The Island newspaper of 06 October 2020 under the title, ‘First Pilgrimage to Mecca by Air,’ described the daring flying capabilities of the Ceylonese pilots with limited navigational facilities when Civil Aviation commenced in Ceylon in 1947. The final pilgrimage to Mecca by Air Ceylon was to take a group of pilgrims organised by Adamjee Lukmanjee family and friends not only on pilgrimage to Mecca but also on a tour to Cairo and Damascus. The crew consisted of Capt. Peter Fernando, Co-Pilot. P.B. Mawalagedera, Co-Capt. Ken Joachim, Radio officer D. L. Sirimanne and Flight Engineer G. V. Perera. The Ratmalana Airport was chock-a-block with well wishers, relations and friends. The pilgrims were all dressed in white. The DC3 aircraft had 21 slumber lounge seats for luxury travel. The aircraft ...