A fine read from a fine writer-by Manik de Silva Source:Island Vijaya Chandrasoma, a not infrequent contributor to these pages, has published a selected compilation of his articles, adding an autobiographical section on his own life which the reader will see has had its many ups and downs. A wry sense of humour and an ability for self-deprecation in the pages dealing with his personal life makes the book a delight to read; not only because of his writing talent and ability to tell a good story, no doubt inherited from his father, M. Chandrasoma, a highly reputed Civil Servant from a previous age; but also that he’s had a most interesting life both in Sri Lanka where he was born, schooled and grew up, an interlude in the UK and thereafter in the USA where he emigrated in his middle years and lived for 20 years before returning home ...
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Horse Racing in Sri Lanka-by Vijaya Chandrasoma Source:Island In October of 1987, the government agreed to a visit by a team from the New Zealand Export Import Corporation, to explore the possibilities of the resumption and development of horse racing and breeding in Sri Lanka. Horse racing was a popular sport in Sri Lanka during the 1950s, with a beautiful race course in the heart of Colombo. The Sport of Kings had all but disappeared from the Sri Lankan scene with the banning of the importation of racehorses and laws against gambling imposed by the nationalist purists of the then SLFP government. Laws that were observed in the breach in all other forms of gambling as long as these political hypocrites were duly and handsomely compensated. Our neighbors, India has a well-established racing and breeding industry, with stallions imported from all over the world. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, ...
