Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam’s life intersects with both international sport and Sri Lanka’s political history. In 1958, on the day he won the country’s first Asian Games gold medal in Tokyo, communal violence was unfolding in Colombo. Representing Ceylon at the Olympic Games in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956), he secured his place in the island’s athletic record, even as events at home traced a different trajectory.
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam’s life intersects with both international sport and Sri Lanka’s political history. In 1958, on the day he won the country’s first Asian Games gold medal in Tokyo, communal violence was unfolding in Colombo.
Venerable Walatara Sobhita Nayaka Thero serves as chief monk of the Galwadugoda temple, known for its dark stone architecture and long institutional history. He speaks of monastic discipline and meditation practice as daily forms of continuity.
At 105 years old, Veerakathy was widely regarded as one of the oldest men in Jaffna. Born in 1906 in Velanai, he left as a child to work in Galle before returning in 1920 to farm tobacco and coconut.
Bala Tampoe led the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers Union for more than fifty years. Born in Jaffna and trained as a lawyer, he moved through several professions before committing himself to the trade union movement.
Poet and writer Dominic Jeeva reflects on growing up under Jaffna’s caste system and explains why, despite its many injustices, he still proudly calls himself a Jaffna man.