9/11: Remembering the Day, Reflecting on What Followed
Today is 09/11/2026 in the American format of writing the date. Twenty-five years ago, on a day like this, I was in Japan. I had just successfully defended my PhD thesis, and was preparing to go to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, to start a postdoctoral fellowship in human computational motor control. That day I came home from the lab so tired, to receive a phone call from a friend in a distressed voice, asking me to turn on the TV. What was unfolding on the TV screen shocked me. My legs went numb, and I called my wife, Visakha. The unimaginable was happening. I kept getting phone calls from friends. Some planned a fund-raising event in the Irish Pub in the city. Sri Lankan friends got together and cooked some spicy food for the fund raiser dinner in the pub. Folks from different countries living in Saga came together in one thought – that unity will rise above hatred. I felt so much energy in that friendship among people I never had met, but came togethe...