Thrishantha

Image courtesy of Moving Images, Moving People! One day in year 2005, Ray visited the University of Moratuwa as the chancellor. I think it was an official meeting to organize an innovations exhibition showcasing the work done by the students. After the meeting, Ray wanted to visit my laboratory located in the Sumanadasa building . I was a bit scared to show it to Ray, because it was full of junk material bought to make field robots. The research lab had no windows. So it was a bit damp and smelly too. He just smiled when I warned him of such possible disappointments. No sooner he entered; he grabbed a chair, sat, and kept looking at the work in progress of a legged robot like a child being mesmerised by a favourite toy. “Why legs? Why not wheels Thrish?” he asked. I knew that he was trying to test me. I said “simply because they have to move on soft terrains in a typical abandoned minefield”. “So you thought about how legs interact with soft soil to its advanta...

Last year, we were on Easter holidays in a peaceful Scotish countryside cottage when we heard the horrible news of a series of bomb blasts in Colombo mainly targeting churches and hotels. Bewildered, we were wondering who could scoop down to the level of killing innocent devotees of any religion on a sacred day. First, we looked around to see if our Christian friends were safe and were relieved that all of them were in different places at that time. Then we came to know that it was a series of suicide attacks by an extremist group linked to Daesh . In Sri Lanka, about 70% of the population are Buddhists with about 12% Hindus, 10% Muslims, and 6% Roman Catholics. But, if you visit Sri Lanka during Christmas time, you would not think that only 6% are Roman Catholics. The entire country takes a festive mood. Though there have been isolated conflicts and agitations between various extremist religious groups, there has never been a threat of this nature against any religion in peace...