Volume 1 Issue 15 - Aug 2009 Web: www.lankaemb-riyadh.org Email: [email protected] Tel: +966-1-460-6906/460-8689 / 460-8232/460-8235 Fax: +966-1-460-0846 Language Water Conservation Week in August 2009 Business Esala Perahera from p2 Ramadan 1430 (also written(رمضان :Opportunities Ramadan (Arabic in English as, Ramazan, Ramzan, Live Tropical Fish Ramadhan, Ramdan, Ramadaan) is the Mr.Rohsan Fernando,Chairman ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It Angel Aquarium (Pvt) Ltd is the Islamic month of fasting, in which No.12,Thumbowita,Piliyandala, SL Muslims all over the world refrain from Tel: +94 11 2614865 eating, drinking, physical marital Fax:+94 11 2615999 relations, and indulging in anything Email:[email protected] that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until dusk. Fasting is meant to Cut Foliage, Cut Flowers, Potted Plants teach the individual patience, modesty, Mr.K.O.Gamini,Proprietor spirituality and the concern of the poor Anuradha Foliage Nursery and destitute. Ramaḍān is a time to A language is a system for encoding No.224,Koswita Gampaha, SL fast for the sake of Allah, the Creator Tel: +94 33 2227782 and decoding information In its most At about 8pm, the Maligawa Perahera and Provider, and to offer extra prayer Fax: +94 33 2234407 common use. the forms of joins the awaiting Devale Peraheras and seek supplication. Email:[email protected] communication considered peculiar to and leads the procession. Whip- humankind. In linguistics the term is World Water Week, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute, crackers and fireball acrobats clear extended to refer to the human Tea, Vegetables, Frusits During Ramaḍān, Muslims ask where various significant topics on water conservation was discussed, ended the path, followed by the Buddhist cognitive facility of creating and using Mr.Sarath Fernando, Director forgiveness for past sins, pray for during the third week of August. Topics discussed were related to the wise use of flag bearers. The first elephant carries language. Essential to both meanings Stallion Plantations & Commodities guidance and help in refraining from land and water resources, balancing competing claims for water, food and energy, the Peramuna Rala (Front Official). He is the systematic creation and usage (pvt) Ltd everyday evils, and try to purify rainfall variability and climate change, water and sanitation, improving access to is followed by Kandyan Drummers and of systems of symbols—each referring Independence Avenue, Colombo 07, SL themselves through self-restraint and water supply in small towns, water governance, of which were also applicable in Dancers who enthrall the crowd, and to linguistic concepts with semantic or Tel: +94 11 4895985 good deeds. the Sri Lankan setting. are themselves followed by elephants logical or otherwise expressive Fax: +94 11 2690923 and other groups of musicians, meanings. Email:[email protected] “There is no water without weather” said Vidya Jyothi Deshamanya Prof.Chris dancers and flag bearers. A group of As compared to solar calendar, the Panabokke. He explained that even before Sri Lanka was affected by climate singers dressed in white heralds the Language has been the primary Fresh Fruits & Vegetables dates of Ramadan vary, moving change, the annual variation of rainfall was somewhere around 9.3 mm, the arrival of the Maligawa Tusker means of communication that man Mr.Lakshman Maralande,Managing forward about ten days each year. highest in the world. Moreover he said that the more than the amount of rain the carrying the Tooth Relic. The second has acquired throughout his existenc Director Ramadhan was the month in which the behavioral change within and between seasons is important. “The change of procession is from the Natha Devale. on the planet since time began. Green Line Lanka Enterprises first verses of the Qur'an were revealed variability of rainfall was the highest in the world even before climate change was The third is from the Vishnu Devale Languages are spread across the globe No.146/10D, Kohuwala, Dehiwala, SL even an issue.” This variability has changed so irreparably that past data can no and the fourth from the Katharagama in their thousands and people, from Tel: +94 777870505 longer be used to predict anomalies. Devale. The fifth and final procession all walks of life, use them effectively Fax:0094 11 4830223 is from the Pattini Devale which is the EDITORIAL BOARD in their daily lives. Without language, Email:[email protected] Honorary Members “Our surpluses and deficiencies will be more marked with the increase of climate only procession with female dancers. man would have surely been a dumb A Sabarullah Khan change.” Prof. Panabokke cautioned that disregarding the effect that climate W A Sarath Kumara animal. change could have on Sri Lanka’s water resources is no longer an option. He Yasantha de Silva M C Rasooldeen J.P pointed out that it is of utmost importance to study water in its natural state The most obvious manifestations are Fazli Sameer ctd on page 3 [email protected] spoken languages such as English or This issue of Insight is sponsored by Spoken Chinese. However, there are Printed at Al Raja Press, Riyadh also written languages and other systems of visual symbols such as sign +966-1-453-8811 (Tel), 470-1167 (Fax) . Mobile: 050-323-1721 languages. PAGE 4 ctd on page 2 Insight – Aug 2009 Insight – Aug 2009 p4 Then there was the hot rice and crab Language ctd from page 1 THE KANDY ESALA PERAHERA Water from p1 THE FORT OF COLOMBO curry place called Jaffna Hotel down Although some other animals make Hospital Street that anyone shopping use of quite sophisticated or working in Fort could never miss. communicative systems, and these are The steaming hot crab that was served, sometimes casually referred to as Jaffna style, was found nowhere else in animal language, none of these are all of Colombo. known to make use of all of the properties that linguists use to define language in the strict sense. Ground water is a significant water source for Sri Lanka, which is When discussed more technically as a GOH Building (Now Hotel Taprobane) unfortunately also very limited, general phenomenon then, "language" especially in hard rock regions like always implies a particular type of Colombo Fort was, always, a memorable Jaffna and in ‘coastal sand’ areas like human thought which can be present place to be, in the sixties and seventies. Nilaveli and Kalpitiya. An ever increasing even when communication is not the The business town was always alive, GPO building in The Fort exertion is applied on this limited and result, and this way of thinking is also kicking, and buzzing with activity from A true five star lunch place in the town, precious resource by coning - shooting sometimes treated as indistinguishable dawn to dusk and even after through in those days, was in the restaurant at of brackish water - and over utilization. from language itself. the midnight hours. Double Decker the Hotel Taprobane, located at the Esala Perahera is the grand festival and pageant of Esala held in Kandy in the buses plied the route from the south on end of York Street facing the Port of He emphasized that human English is a West Germanic language central province of Sri Lanka. It is a very grand parade with elegant costumes, the Galle Road brining in the multitudes Colombo. Previously known as the consumptions needs should always be that originated in Anglo-Saxon drums, dancing and a multitude of ceremonially dressed elephants. Happening of masses to their work places and Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH) during the given priority over agriculture, when England. it has become the lingua in July or August in Kandy, it has become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. There shopping expeditions. old Colonial times it was haunted by considering ground water requirements. franca in many parts of the world. It is are fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan dances and various other cultural the rich, famous and glamorous folk used extensively as a second language dances. The elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments. The festival Fort was the place for banking. Fort was who were always dressed to kill and Water conservation is a tremendous and as an official language in ends with the traditional 'diya-kepeema' or water cutting ceremony. the shoppers dream. Fort was also also had lots of cash to spend. responsibility, not just in the hands of Commonwealth countries and many famous for its variety of food. the governments and authorities across international organizations. The Esala Perahera is believed to be a fusion of two separate but The buildings and structures that are the globe but also in each and every one interconnected "Peraheras" (Processions) – The Esala and Dalada. The Esala Every foreign bank had its head office found in the Fort are also a great legacy of us. How many times do we leave the A working knowledge of English has Perahera which is thought to date back to the 3rd century BC, was a Sinhalese located in the Fort. There was The from the Colonial era as well as faucet running while we brush our teeth become a requirement in a number of Buddhist ritual enacted to request God for rainfall. The Dalada Perahera is Mercantile Bank and Chartered Bank on masterpieces of civil engineering and every morning and night? Do we ever fields, occupations and professions believed to have begun when the Tooth Relic of the Buddha was brought to Sri Queen Street, Eastern Bank (later design in keeping with traditional think that all that water is simply being such as medicine and computing; as a Lanka from India during the 4th Century AD.