• The Morning after pill
  The accent is the small families and how to achieve that goal
• A Frame in Time
  A compliment returned with compound interest
• FORGOTTEN HERITAGE
  The glory of the Dumbara Valley
• High Fashion
  Launching the 'Kandyan Dance' in a throbbing setting
• Second anniversary

• Islet
  

Sri Lanka has been able to implement a successful family planning programme over the last few decades. The success of project is due to the efforts taken by Dr. Sriyani Basnayake.

Emergency Contraception introduced by the Family Planning Association under the able guidance of Dr. Basnayake is a way of preventing pregnancy if you have had sex without using contraception or if you had a contraceptive accident such as a broken condom.

The most common method is Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs), In some cases a copper IUD also can be used as a Emergency Contraception.

Said Dr. Basnayake: 'All Emergency Contraceptive methods must be used within several days of unprotected sex. They are effective and safe for most women. Emergency Contraceptive pill that is available at the Family Planning Association could be taken by both married and unmarried females."

Dr. Basnayake further said: There is a convenient method for unmarried females as they could avoid the hassle of abortions and the social stigma attached to abortions is thus avoided.

Known as Morning - after Pill', this contraceptive pill is indicated to prevent pregnancy within three days of unprotected sexual intercourse.

Including when no contraception has been used.?

When there is a contraceptive accident or misuse including

(A) Condom rupture or misuse

(B) Failed coitus interrupts or not withdrawing in time resulting in ejaculations in the vagina vaginal orifice or external genitalia.

(C) Miscalculation of safe period or failure to abstain on fertile days of the cycle

(D) IUD expulsion and Rape/Sexual assault when the woman was not protected by a reliable contraceptive method.

Dr. Basnayake pointed out that there is no age barrier for taking this pill. She added that in Sri Lanka, more and more people taking into contraceptive methods. With the high cost of living most couples do not want to have many children. Moreover, the Sri Lankans are literate and they believe in the concept of small family units, surmised Dr. Basnayake.

She also emphasised that there are married as well as unmarried couples visiting the clinic to get advice on family planning. Talking about the pill Dr. Basnayake opined that Emergency Contraceptive pills will soon be available at all reputed pharmacies and the pharmacists will be enlightened on how to instruct people to use them.

How does ECP work?
Depending on when use Postinov during you monthly cycle, the pills will either stop the release of an egg, prevent fertilisation of an egg or stall a fertilised egg from becoming attached in your womb.

When can postinov 2 - would be used?

The first pill must be taken within 72 hours or three days after unprotected sex. The second pill should be taken 12 hours after the first dose.

How effective is Postinov - 2
It prevents most pregnancies, but it is not 100 effective. The treatment fails in approximately 2% of women using it correctly.

Is it safe, we queried?
Most women can use the ECP safely. It has no side effects except nausea when taken on an empty stomach.

At times it can cause headaches, dizziness, cramping or breast tenderness. These do not last more than 24 hours.

Dr. Basnayake emphasised that there will not be any immediate sign whether ECP has worked. If the menstrual period comes on time a few days earlier a late. If the period is more than a week later than expected, there should be cause for concern she advised women in such situations should consult a doctor.

There are instances where the ECP does not work, and one could get pregnant, said Dr. Basnayake. She assured that in such cases the pregnancy would be abnormal or the baby hurt.

She advised that one should be cautious not to use ECP frequently. Their chances of becoming pregnant would be much lighter than those who used regular contraceptives.

If you have unprotected sex after using ECPs they will not protect the user. Hence Dr. Basnayake said that a regular contraceptive method is useful to prevent pregnancy in the future.

The gist of Dr. Sriyani Basnayake's advice is that while there is no 100% fool proof method to stave off conception, women who use contraceptive methods as a rule are less likely to conceive and thereby have smaller families, which lead to basketful of socio-economic and healthwise benefits.

by Wilfred Lasz
In the early fifties, I joined a long established British mercantile firm en-gaged in the import/export trade as a rookie clerk in the Tea Department. It was my first job. The firm was begun in 1840s, and today thrives under Sri Lankan ownership and management.

It was a staid British company and European staffed at managerial level. There were a handful of Lankan executives but none at director level. One such executive was Thunagaha, Personal and Administrative Officer, who had incurred the wrath of the Lankan clerical staff. He was more British than the Britisher in matters of discipline and decorum.

Thunagaha came by his elevation to junior executive by accident. He was head of the Produce Department after nearly 25 years of service, under whom worked a Malay youth displaying great potential. He had had a limited education.

The white manage-ment knew a good thing when they saw one, and the youth in question, Ayub by name, had to be promoted a junior executive. But that would be an insult to Thunagaha, who was his boss. So they were both simultaneously promoted to junior executive rank. Ayub went great guns thereafter. But for Thunagaha, his position was a sinecure. After all, he had been a lackey and 'informant' to the European management.

There was also Robert, the head tea boy. Robert was an institution in the company and its environs in the Fort, Colombo. A man who rose to his position by dint of hard work and common sense, it was an invigorating sight to see how he marshalled his minions at the tea tasting counters.

He had a penchant for liquor, an indulgence his white bosses overlooked for the work under Robert's purview worked with clockwork precision. Moreover, the man had wit and humour and director of the Tea Department and its three executives all-Englishmen - pampered the fellow no end.

Robert was also popular with the Lankan clerical staff. In the days when there were no union or just a caricature of one, the clerical staff used his services to obtain medical or other welfare measures. Going with a genuine sob story to Thunagaha to obtain a measure of relief was to confront the Spinx. He was unmovable, nay immutable.

But when Robert approached Thunagaha on behalf of a clerk or service personnel with a request for financial succour, it was readily given hey presto!

What was the nexus between the two men? Robert was no White-man's sycophant. But Thunagaha was. I said at the outset that I was just a rookie clerk, fresh out of school. It was more than that. I was a sheer greenhorn thrown to the world of wolves, having had a sheltered childhood in a middle class family.

I had been pondering over this classic relationship between Thunagaha and Robert, when one day in the lunch room avuncular de Almeida, the clerical head of the Tea Department, with whom I had cordial relations, fortuitously informed me of the reason.

"Thunagaha is scared of Robert" said de Almeida. "Why?" I queried. "Robert knows a lot about Thunagaha, including many skeletons in the cup-board," replied de Almeida.

It transpired that they were from the same far-away village and had been close friends attending the same village school. Both on arriving at age had come to Colombo to seek their fortune. Thunagaha had passed something called the ESLC exam then. Robert had not.

And the British firm had called for junior clerks and tea boys. Thunagaha and Robert applied for the two jobs respectively and both were successful.

As a community of interests bound both, Thunagaha and Robert found board and lodging in a house at Maradana. Being youthful and thrilled by the city and its neon lights in marked contrast to the idyllic life of the rather somnolent village, they gave free vent to milling, raging exuberant youthful passions. That was how Robert shared a lorryload of mutual escapades with Thunagaha.

"Young man," said de Almeida "if I am telling you a lie, just go during the lunch hour to office and you'll see a scene never enacted anywhere else. It is a daily ritual," said de Almeida.

Our lunch room was sited in another street in the Fort. No clerical staff were permitted to be in the office during the one-hour lunch-break. But I smuggled myself in by telling Tuan, the old watcher, that I had come to fetch my purse that I had forgotfully left behind.

The ceiling fans whirred ominously in the 4th storey of the building where the head office of company was housed. The European staff had gone for lunch or were closetted in a privileged room. The tables of the junior executives, in a serried row, were empty, except for Thunagaha, who was having lunch at his table with fork, spoon and knife.

After a few minutes, I watched a scene that took my breath away, ensconced behind file-laden cupboards. Enter Robert, rather shakily, tugging at a smelly cigar. He goes up to Thunagaha's table with a streak of arrogance in his unsteady gait. Then Robert's stentorian voice booms and echoes in the spacious empty office.

"Remember Dharma (Thunagaha's pet name), you cannot sack me. This is McPherson's Ltd. and not Thunagaha & Co."

Thunagaha does not show any emotion and goes on with his meal unfazed.

There had been rumours afloat that Thunagaha wished to get rid of Robert who was a thorn in his side, particularly as he befriended the poor clerical staff and acted on their behalf vis-a-vis Thunagaha.

They were both drawing to the end of their careers, when Thunagaha delivered the coup de grace on Robert in style. The head tea boy was in the habit of purloining the sample teas brought for tea tasting. Tuan, the old, amiable watcher, had gone on leave. Siriwardena, his deputy and a relatively new-comer took his place on that eventful day.

At the entrance, Siriwardena, in connivance with Thunagaha challenged Robert who was leaving for home, with the sample teas neatly packed under his coat, as was his wont. Robert taken aback, roared his defiance at the watcher, when Thunagaha walks up and summons both Robert and Siriwardena to his table.

After a summary hearing, Thunagaha pontificates: "So Robert you are stealing the company's goods, which is an offence."

Those of us leaving for home stayed in our tracks. We knew it was going to be an explosive scene. The European junior executives look up from their seats.

Comes Robert insolent rejoinder. "I have been doing this for the last 45 years, and you can't stop it now." Thunagaha, the wily fellow did not reply, but confiscated the packets of teas.

Whatever their personal preferences and perceptions were, the white men would not tolerate theft. So on the eve of Robert's retirement, disaster loomed large on his horizon.

In the days that followed the senior clerical staff advised Robert to beg pardon from Thunagaha. That was his only chance of escape - at least mitigation in that he would be allowed to retire prematurely with honour or else be dis-honourably dismissed.

Robert heeding the words of the senior clerical staff pocketed his pride and decided to ask Thunagaha pardon on the grounds of immediate retirement.

One evening at close of day, Robert ap-proached Thunagaha, with the letter from the management asking him for an explanation as to why he should not be dismissed for theft of sample tea.

"Dharma (Thuna-gaha), let's forget about this matter. For old times sake, allow me to retire honourably after all these years," pleaded Robert of Thunagaha.

And then came a gem of a sizzling rejoinder from Thunagaha to Robert.

Smirking his face gleefully and pursing his lips with sweet revenge came the thundering, devastating reply.

"Robert, I cannot do a thing in this matter. It has been decided by the Board of Directors. After all this is McPherson & Com-pany, not Messrs. Thunagaha & Company, see!"

(The names used in the article are fictitious though the story is substantially true.)

by Gamini G. Punchihewa
Dumbara Valley in the past was a seat of ancient temples and rock cave hermitages where Buddha statues were sheltered. Dr. Davy in his palanquin tours, in 1817, had stumbled upon some rock cave shelters close to Teldeniya.

In his book, titled 'An Account of the Interior of Ceylon' (1821), gives this graphic account of the cave shelter of ancient times, he had come across:

''...In the evening before sunset, we walked about half a mile to the Bamberagalle vihara, romantically situated on the side of a steep hill, amongst great masses of rock, roof, and walls of the temple, with the exception of the front wall, which was of masonry. The cavity of the rock, very pretilly and gaily painted was divided into two compartments in the largest of which was a recumbent figure of Buddha, about five feet long''.

Flight of steps
Bambaragala Rock Cave Temple could be viewed from the lofty heights of the Dumbara Valley. The old roadway via Henagehuwela is submerged with the Victoria reservoir. Now the access is along the road to the Victoria dam site.

In ancient times, those rock cave hermitages had been the abode of Arahants. A steep flight of stone steps leads to the summit of the rock temple, where half way of its distance stands the Priests Avase (residency of the Buddhist monks).

On its top lies a vast assembly of ancient rock hermitages having prominent drip ledges (Kataran) carved out. The sublime reclaining Buddha statue as described in his book is still there with fine restorations done on it. Below the drip ledges are some Brahmi inscriptions which have been deciphered to say that these rock cave shelters have been donated to the Sangha by a chieftain dating back over 2000 years. During the reign of Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747), a vihara was built, relics of which are still to be seen.

Tamba sannasa scriptures written on copper plates say that the surrounding lands had been donated to the temple. The traditional mat weavers of Dumbara are called Kinnarayas. Robert Knox, in his 'Historical book on Ceylon' had described these Kinnarayas. The traditional mat weaving hamlet coming from ancient times is called Hanavala.

Dumbara Valley is also traditionally well known for its artistic and finely turned out brass lamps and other fine vessels.

by Kirthi Sri Karunaratne
Deshabandu Lalith Kotelawala and Sicille P. C. Kotelawala asked a large crowd from the media and some of their many friends to dinner, to celebrate the launch of the book ''The Classical Dance of Sri Lanka Kandyan Dance'' authored by Sicille.

Sicille Kotelawala

It was a pleasant evening that followed the briefing, where this talented woman paid tribute to the many who guided her, and introduced the dancers resplendent in their traditional costumes. Sicille who I have known for many years, has done Sri Lanka proud in several fields, more so in the dance form she so effectively introduced to the Western world, with her many forays on the most prestigious stages of the world. Strands of jasmines and gokkolla decorations set the theme for this evening. Sicille herself picked on a Kandyan saree in white with the borders and the 'ihe' in a cherry red patterned in orissa style. Her blouse was in the red with fused dots in white on it. A single strand of pearls and a diamond pendant with earstuds to match, created a smart picture.

Among the guests was youthful Nilaisha Fernando in a navy and cerise dress. The waisted top of the dress, in ribbons of navy on net, was lined in the cerise, and the skirt was of a mini length pleated at the waist. A fine gold necklace adorned her neckline. Glenda Marthipan had her saree of a oyster georgette embroidered in a subtle border and pallu in dull gold. Her blouse was of a rich lace in a paler oyster, and she wore a choker necklace of pearls, and a gold pendent on a chain, and white blossoms to frame her chignon.

Sherene Wijeratne had her green saree bordered in the unusual contrast of deep blue, the unobtrusive pattern picked out with little silver sequines. Among those present were many who contributed to her authoritative work. Besides many of the dancers were, Ministers of State and their wives, and Dr. Gamini Corea whose beautiful picture of Sicille adorns the cover of the book, Nalini Jayasuriya who with her painting inspired by Sicille's dance has provided the world with a classic of everlasting beauty, and many others among whom we spotted Punyakanthie Wijenaike, Harold and Gwen Herat and many other personalities.

Annual get-together
It is an event looked forward to at this time of the year by all of Chandra and Shirleen de Silva's friends. Old friends meet and greet, and are hosted by this popular couple in relaxed bonhomie. Fashion takes a leading stride each year on this occasion, and it was exhilarating to see the many styles. Shirleen picked on a tussore silk saree in a lovely shade of aquamarine and grey. The broad irregular border of grey was worked at the hemline in thread embroidery in the aqua and black, and the body of the saree patterned in unusual motifs of grey. Her necklace and eardrops were in aquamarine beads.

In similiar colouring was the saree Ranjinie Wijewardene wore. Shades of mauve and blue made panels of colour on the fabric which was self patterned. From her necklace of gold were drops of aquamarines in a perfect combination with the saree. Striking and very contemporary in design was the saree Pam Marshall wore. The white background was foil to black design and traingles of colour in red, green and black. Her blouse was in black, and she wore a single strand of pearls.

Mavis Gardiner had her long kurtha style dress of navy, embroidered in Kashmiri style around the neckline and down the front, in white and rust red, in a typical Kashmiri design. There were many others that caught our eye, among them Goolbhai Gunasekera and Premila Jayaratne.

West side story Much has been written and much has been said about the Jerome de Silva production of ''West Side Story'' the musical so full of life, colour and movement, besides songs, some of which will remain classics long after the show is forgotten. The first night was a revival of the old days when first night brought a dazzling audience. Among the first nighters this time was Lalitha de Silva in a two peace outfit, the slim skirt of which was in a leopard skin print, she wore with a hip length top in black with markings of the same style on a skin toned foundation. A lovely necklace and eardrops to match in antique silver was studded with red toned corals.

Lalitha de Silva

Simple but smart was the white square necked top and black skirt that Sonali Weerakoon wore. A single strand of pearls and stud earrings were her choice of ornament. Another young woman had her dress in a leaf and flower printed dress, off shoe string straps. The skirt of the dress was slit thigh high.

The costumes on stage designed by Senaka de Silva were colourful and appropriate, and this young group displayed an elegance in their performances which could have vied with most proffessionals. The singing was a revelation, specially that of Jehan Aloysious playing Tony, the young star crossed lover, and that of Samantha De S. Wijeyaratne who was perfectly cast, as Anita, the Puertorican leader among the girls of the Shark Gang. Congratulations to Jerome for a job well done, the proof of which were the full houses on its long run.

Deli Market the up beat restaurant at the World Trade Center will be celebrating it's second Anniversary on Sept. 22. A week long program has been planned from Sept. 20 till the 25th which will include a Kiddies program, special deals and a selection of great food offering value for money.

The Kiddies program will be held on Sept. 20th from 11.00 a.m. 9.00 p.m. with fun rides and popular kiddies movies and a show time matinee from 5.00 - 7.00 p.m. with Rudy the bear and friends joining the kids for songs, a kiddies karaok competition and the finals of the kids painting competition. There's free popcorn for all kids.

There'll be a super deal on the Sept. 21 and 22 with 20% discount on all food and beverage.

The Deli Market continues to serve over 700 clients a day.

Meanwhile new programmes are introduced every day.

ADD - IT - UP - is a customer loyalty program where every rupee spent at the restaurant will be rewarded through the program and all you do is ADD - IT - UP to the set levels of the program and redeem some great prizes from gift vouchers, to home appliances and cruises.

In house advertising with Reuters is another innovative idea introduced to promote products to a captive audience of 700 clients a day within the restaurant during peak hours.

All food kiosks will feature new items every month and health and vegetarian items will be an added choice offered to clients from October. A fat and calorie chart on each item will be given to inform the clients who are weight conscious.

Environment awareness program is being developed to be introduced within the restaurant.