කැප්පෙටිපොල දිසාවේ හෙවත් වීර කැප්පෙටිපොල

රාජපක්ෂ වික්‍රමසේකර මුදියන්සේලාගේ බණ්ඩාරනායක මොනරවිල කැප්පැටිපොල තමයි කැප්පෙටිපොල වීරයාගේ සම්පූර්ණ නම. ඔහු උපන්නේ මාතලේ මොණරවිල නම් ගමේය.

කැප්පෙටිපොල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අවසාන රජු ශ්‍රී වික්‍රම රාජසිංහ පාලන කාලයේ දිසාවේ කෙනෙක් ලෙස සේවය කලේය. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉංග්‍රීසින්ට යටත් වූ පසුවද ඔහු ඔවුන් යටතේ දිසාවේ කෙනෙක් ලෙස වැඩ කලේය.

1818 දී ඌව වෙල්ලසේ ජනතාව ඉංග්‍රීසින්ගේ පාලනයට විරුද්ධව නැගී සිටියේය. 

මේ කැරැල්ල පාලනය කිරීමට ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුව කැප්පෙටිපොලට භාර දුන්නේය. 

ඒ වුනාට කැප්පෙටිපොල දිසාවේ කැරලි නායකයන් සමග එකතුවී එම කැරැල්ලට නායකත්වය දුන්නේය.

මේ නිසා කැරැල්ල පැරදවූ ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුව කැප්පෙටිපොල ඇතුළු අනෙක් කැරලි නායකයින් වැරදි කරුවන් කොට හිසගසා මරා දැමිය. 

එය සිදුවුයේ 1818 නොවැම්බර් 25 වෙනිදාය.

තමන්ගේ රට වෙනුවෙන් සටන්කර මියගිය නිසා කැප්පෙටිපොල දිසාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික වීරයෙක් ලෙස සලකයි.

My show and Tell about Dr. Pahlagedara Jayathilake in 2012

My show and tell is about a disabled Sri Lankan person. Now he is a doctor researching at National University of Singapore. He is Dr. P Jayathilaka. I will call him Jaya. Jaya had Polio when he was a child. Both his legs were paralyzed. His mum who was a poor lady, thought education was the best thing she could give to her crippled son. When he went to school his mum took him in a wheelbarrow. Somebody donated a wheelchair for him after seeing their courage. Jaya was very good at studies in class. He won many awards at school. He was selected to do engineering in Moratuwa  University in Sri Lanka.

He got a Super First Class in his final exam. Then he was selected to do Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the National University of Singapore. After getting his PhD now he is working as a researcher there.

Jaya was born in Dandu Bendi Ruppa which was a remote village in Sri Lanka. He was born in 1975 and now he is 37.

වෙසක් උත්සවය

වෙසක් උත්සවය

වෙසක් උත්සවය සමරන්නේ මැයි මාසේ පසළොස්වක පෝය දවසේයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පමණක් නොව ලෝකය පුරා විසිරි සිටින බෞද්ධයන් මෙම උත්සවය සමරනු ලැබේ.

වෙසක් පෝය දිනයේදී බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ ඉපදීම, බුදුවීම සහ පිරිනිවන් පෑම යන කාරණා තුනම සිදුවූ බව පොත් වල සඳහන් වේ.මේ කාරණා තුන සමරන වෙසක් උත්සවය බෞද්ධයන්ගේ ඉතාම වැදගත් උත්සවයකි. වෙසක් දිනයේදී අප සමරන්නේ බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ මේ තෙමගුල් කාරණාය.

වෙසක් දිනයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුරා වෙසක් කුඩු සැදීම, වෙසක් දන්සල් පැවැත්වීම, වෙසක් තොරණ පෙන්වීම සහ සිල් සමාදන්වීම වැනි දේවල් සිදු කරනු ලැබේ.

ලිව්වේ: ලසිත් කුලසේකර

Bush fires in Australia

Bushfires

Introduction - Bush fires are wildfires that are caused naturally or by humans. Bush fires usually burn out of control sometimes taking down homes and properties. Australia is a very common place for bushfires to start, since warm air is drawn into Southern and Northern Australia a lot. Many animals get killed by almost every bushfire that is ignited.

Animal (Kangaroo) - Kangaroos could get affected by bushfires when the bushfire runs into their area. Over the last couple of years bushfires have taken away many kangaroos and their homes. If the mother dies, this will have an impact on the young kangaroos. When kangaroos are trying to get away from a fire ground they have to hop along the burnt ground, this may result in them burning their feet, which will make it hard for them to hop around and hard for them to escape. Since bushfires have just become fiercer in the past few years, many kangaroos have disappeared and they are still disappearing. The most devastating bushfires that claimed many lives of kangaroos was in 2008 and 2009, including the Black Saturday bushfires, when many dead corpses of animals were seen lying around everywhere and everything had been burnt.

How Bushfires have an Impact on Towns or Areas Around - Australia is frequently ravaged by many bushfires and they are a huge threat to towns or communities around the continent. Many bushfire attacks from the past few years have taken away hundreds. Bushfires are most common around South-eastern Australia, since the area is filled with forest. The aftermath of bushfires is devastating, especially after everything has burned down. When eucalypts catch fire, they spread very quickly and destroy all the vegetation in their paths, but after a few years have passed trees and plants start to grow back. If my street got attacked by a bushfire, I reckon that by the end of the bushfire, some of the houses would be burned down since the street is around by bush and by the time people had their houses rebuilt, it would have probably been next year.

 

What is a Bushfire? - A bushfire is a wildfire that burns out of control and spreads quickly across bushland or vegetated areas. Most bushfires start when the temperature is very high, especially during the summer months. The conditions also have to be very dry, low humidity and high winds for most bushfires to be present. The most common place for bushfires to start is around South-eastern Australia. Not many bushfires start when heading toward Central Australia since the area isn’t as vegetated as South-eastern Australia. Trees such as eucalypts ignite quickly to bushfires, since the leaves have highly-flammable oil.

How do Bushfires Start? - Bushfires can be caused in many different ways. There are two causes: ‘natural’ and ‘human influence’. The main way that bushfires are ignited naturally is lightning strikes. 26% of bushfire ignition is from lightning strikes. However, a large amount of bushfires are started by humans. Sometimes, a campfire can turn into a bushfire when it is unattended. Some farmers burn land to get rid of crop debris and weeds, but these fires can be pushed by the wind to the nearest trees and then a bushfire starts. Unfortunately, some fires are not accidently started, they are deliberately lit. These fires can destroy thousands of square kilometres of land. Amazingly, fires that are lit deliberately are the second most common way that bushfires are ignited, which is 25%.

An Invention to Slow down Bushfires - Firefighting foam is an invention that can completely slow down areas of a bushfire. It was invented by a Russian teacher named Aleksandr Loran in 1902. His full name is: Aleksandr Grigoryevich Loran. Using hoses, firefighters spray the foam onto the flames to help put the fire out. The foam looks white and bubbly. Firefighters usually spray water, foam, dry chemicals or other substances. The foam usually contains Carbon Dioxide (CO₂ ). Firefighters also use helicopter water buckets to stop or slow down bushfires. The helicopter fills its bucket with water then releases the water over the flames, while fire trucks spray foam from the ground. These days firefighters do planned burns to lower the risks of bushfires during the summer months.

Safest Place to Stay During a Bushfire if You Get Stuck in it –  If you get stuck during a bushfire, the safest place to stay is on a ‘lee-facing slope’ (a slope that is facing away from hot northerly winds), since bushfires slow down as they get to the crest of the slope on the other side. Sometimes the lee-slope can be ignited. This happens when the hot winds have nowhere to go, so they turn back, which ignites the slope (which is called an eddy). The safest thing to do though is to find out whether there is a bushfire coming or not, before it is too late.

Australian History of Bushfires -

Black Saturday (7-8 Feb 2009 VIC) - Black Saturday recorded some of worst fire conditions that have ever been recorded. Record-high temperatures after one of the worst droughts ever recorded in Australia since settlement, easily set the bush alight. Some places reached around 49 degrees Celsius, while the average across the region was about 46 degrees Celsius. These conditions were accompanied by high winds and very low humidity. The fires spread very quickly across the region. 173 deaths were recorded and over 2000 homes were destructed during the fires.

Ash Wednesday (16-18 Feb 1983 VIC and SA) - About 180 bushfires started across South Australia and Victoria. The largest bushfires started near Warrnambool and in the Macedon Ranges. 159,000 hectares of land was burnt in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Before the drought there was a severe drought between April 1982 and January 1983 across Victoria, this impacted on the bushfires starting. The temperature was about 43 degrees Celsius on Ash Wednesday. Accidents and arsonists started most of the fires, which spread very quickly across areas near Melbourne. The Ash Wednesday fires killed 75 people, 48 people in Victoria and 27 people in South Australia. The Victorian fires burnt around 200,000 hectares in total and destroyed almost 1900 homes.

Black Friday (VIC 13-20 Jan 1939) - High drought conditions and high winds also helped start Black Friday bushfires, but the unusual thing was that the conditions were extremely hot, very windy and low humidity. Temperatures reached around 46 degrees Celsius in Melbourne, making it the hottest day in Melbourne for many years. The problems were mainly caused by the conditions itself and planned burns which got out of control when the high winds struck. Altogether 71 people were killed and about 650 houses were destroyed during the bushfires. Around 2 million hectares were burned during the fires and the worst fires came during a firestorm on the day known as ‘Black Friday.’

නුවර පෙරහැර

නුවර පෙරහැර

නුවර පෙරහරට කියන නමක් තමයි ‘නුවර ඇසල පෙරහැර’. නුවර පෙරහැර ලංකාවේ  තිබෙන  පරණම සහ ලොකුම ආගමික උත්සවයක්. මේ පෙරහරේ නැටුම් කාරයෝ, කස කාරයෝ, ඇඳුම් අන්දපු අලියෝ, බෙර කාරයෝ වගේ අය යනවා .

නුවර පෙරහැර තියන්නේ ජුලි මාසයේ. නුවර පෙරහැර තියෙනවා දවස් දහයක් පමණ. හැම දාම රාත්‍රියට පෙරහැර නුවර නගරයේ පාරවල් වල සංචාරය කරනවා. එයට ඇසල පෙරහැර කියල කියන්නේ, සිංහල මාස ක්‍රමයට අනුව එය පැවැත් වෙන්නේ ඇසල මාසයේ දි වීමයි.

 නුවර ඇසළ පෙරහැර බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ දන්ත ධාතුවට ගෞරව කිරීමට සිදු කරනු ලැබේ. පෙරහැර දෙවියෝ සතර දෙනෙක් සැමරීම සිදු කරයි :  නාත, විෂ්ණු, කතරගම, පත්තිනි දේවතාවිය ඒ අයයි. මේ අය සතරවරම් දෙවියන් ලෙස හඳුන් වයි.

 මෙම නුවර පෙරහැර නුවර මාළිගාවේ පිටත සිට පටන්ගනී. පෙරහැරේ අරමුණ වන්නේ බෝග සඳහා වැසි ලබා ගැනීම සහ ඉඩම් සශ්‍රීක කරගැනීමයි.

ලිව්වේ: ලසිත් කුලසේකර

The House of Scary Ghosts and Skeletons

By: Lasith Kulasekara (2013)

Once upon a time, in a dark cellar lived 6 ghosts and 4 Skeletons.

“What shall we do tonight?” said Skeleton 1.

“I know, let’s get our scary monster book and look for monsters that we have not seen before,” said Skeleton 4.

“Come on guys, let’s go,” said Ghost 2.

They went up the dark staircase to the dark street. The skeletons were flying on top of the ghosts. They were looking for a big, three eyed alien. The skeletons and ghosts didn’t know what it looked like.

“We’ve entered a small city,” said Ghost 4.

“There is the alien that we’ve been looking for,” said Skeleton 2.

“Let’s take a photo,” said Ghost 4.

Let’s go home, print this photo and put it in our book of scary monsters,” said Ghost 2.

Where’s our house?” said Skeleton 3.

“I don’t know,” said Skeleton 1.

They kept on going.

They decided to scare someone.

“Roar!” said Skeleton 4.

“Aaargh!” said Jacob and Nick.

“What’s your name?” said Ghost 1.

“Mine’s Jacob,” said Jacob.

Mine’s Nick,” said Nick.

 “Bye,” said Nick and Jacob.

“Bye,” said the ghosts and skeletons.

“Look, there’s our house on the other side of the road,” said Ghost 6.

“It’s almost morning, we’ve got to go to sleep,” said Ghost 5.

We’re nocturnal,” said Skeleton 4.

They went to sleep. During the day, many people, buses, cars, vans, trucks, bikes and scooters went past their house.

At dusk, when the sun was setting and the moon was rising the amount of vehicles and people were getting lower and the ghosts and skeletons woke up at 6:30pm.

“What shall we do tonight?” said Ghost 5.

“I know, let’s go to the park,” said Skeleton 1.

What shall we do in the park?” said Skeleton 3.

I know, let’s play on the swings,” said Ghost 4.

They all played on the swings. A person, a child and a dog came into the park. The skeletons sprayed the dog and the child with skeleton spray. After a while the dog and the child were skeletons.

 “The dog and the child are on our team,” said Skeleton 4 and Ghost 6.

What’s your name?” said Ghost 3.

“My name is Arabelle and this is my pet dog Browser,” said Arabelle.

When they got home they saw a picture of Mt Alan, which was an inactive volcano on the wall. They looked at the time; it was 9:05pm.

“Let’s go to Mt Alan,” said Skeleton 5.

They went up the dark staircase and flew out to the dark street. Mt Alan was 53km away from their house. After 10km they went through a big city.

“We’re almost at Mt Alan,” said Ghost 6.

“Then let’s hurry up,” said Arabelle.

“There’s Mt Alan,” said Skeleton 4.

“Let’s take a picture and write facts about it,” said Skeleton 1.

They took a picture and wrote 10 pages of facts about it.

“Let’s go home,” said Skeleton 2.

There was 53km.

”That was a long trip,” said Skeleton 3.

“Look at the time its 6:35am, we’ve got to go to sleep,” said Ghost 3.

While they were sleeping many cars, trucks, people, bikes, scooters, vans, buses, jeeps and taxis went past their house. When the ghosts and skeletons woke up they realised that this night was a busy night. They had to clean the floor, dust the dust and scrub the roof. They were finished in time.

“That’s a lot of hard work,” said Arabelle.

“It is,” said Skeleton 2.

It was midnight when they looked at the clock.

“I think we’d rather have a rest after all this hard work,” said Skeleton 4.

They had a big rest.

THE END!

BLURB

In this book some ghosts and skeletons take a picture of a three eyed alien. They go to the park and turn Arabelle and her pet dog Browser into skeletons. Arabelle and Browser join the ghosts and skeletons team. They also visit Mt Alan, which is an inactive volcano. They take a photo and write 10 pages of facts about Mt Alan.

The Haunted House III

Chapter 1

“Aaaaaaaargh!” I shrieked, as I heard a loud bang, “What was that?”

I was watching a horror movie, when I heard that sound. “Annie?” I called, “Was that you?”

No reply. I crept up the stairs, as they creaked beneath me. I didn’t hear a sound and there were no lights on in Annie’s room. “Boo!” Annie shouted, as I stumbled back, “Gotcha Jackie!”

By the way, my name is Jackie Caldwell and I have a little sister called Annie. I’m 12 and Annie’s just a few months younger than me. We also have a pet dog called Buster. He’s a big and friendly German Shepherd. He likes to bark a lot, but he never bites.

Now back to the story. After a while, we decided to go to bed since it was late. Mum and dad weren’t back yet so we had stayed up late. I was really excited that Halloween was tomorrow. Every Halloween, I go trick-or-treating around the block, with my friends. We always come back with bags full of lollies. So I decided to get a good night’s sleep, to be ready for Halloween!

Chapter 2

“Aaaaaaah!” I yawned, as I warily got out of bed.

It was a bright sunny day and the sunlight was pouring in through the curtains. I decided to go down for breakfast. For breakfast, I had some cereal. Since Annie wasn’t up yet, I decided to keep working on my costume. This Halloween, I was dressing up as a witch. I think one of my friends, is also dressing up as a witch.

Half a day later…

I was adding the finishing touches to my costume, when my friends turned up. My friends names are: Marley, Lucy and Kathie. “Hi guys!” I exclaimed, as I worked carefully with the costume.

“Sup Jackie!” Marley exclaimed, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

We walked along the neighbourhood streets, like we always do, but then Lucy suggested that we should go to the next block. “Let’s go to the next block guys!” Lucy suggested as she looked through her candy, “We always trick-or-treat on this block!”

“Yeah,” Kathie agreed, “I agree.”

It was then that the trouble started…

Chapter 3

We started walk through the streets of the other block, when we noticed something very odd about it. The neighbourhood seemed to be quite dark and the only thing that lit it up was the pale orange glow of the Jack O’ Lanterns. There were hundreds of Jack O’ Lanterns and the neighbourhood seemed to go on forever.

After a while, our bags were full and we became really tired. The people here seemed to give a lot more candy than the people in our neighbourhood. We didn’t feel like we wanted to stop, but then we hit this strange house, which was hidden away by the trees and shrubs that were leaning over the house.

We slowly walked up to the door and knocked. We waited for a while, but no one came. We knocked again and a strange woman opened the door. “Trick-or-treat!” I exclaimed, as the woman gave us candy.

“Now you must come inside!” she exclaimed as she held the door open for us, “I have a quest for you!”

“Who are you?” Lucy asked curiously, “What do you want?”

“You are my guests,” she replied pleasantly, “I have been waiting for you to come!”

Now I was confused, how could she be waiting for us to come? Anyway, we decided to go inside, since she seemed like a kind woman. “Come sit down,” she stated, “I have some cookies and a cup of tea for all of you.”

She got us some cookies and a cup of tea for each of us, but when I looked back toward her, she had a strange, mean looking grin on her face.

Chapter 4

We had the food, but then she got us to come to a weird, tiny room, which was filled with books and bottles. She looked like she was about to do something quite nasty and evil. “Come sit down guys!” she exclaimed with the same evil grin on her face, “I have something to tell you!”

We sat down around the table, since there was nothing else we could do. Then she opened up a secret cabinet and pulled out a huge, heavy cauldron. She placed the heavy cauldron onto the stove and lit the fire. Uh-oh, I thought, I never should have trusted her!

“Mwahahahaha!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, “You should have never trusted me fools, I’m a witch! But now it’s too late for you!”

Chapter 5

At this stage, there was nothing we could do! We were trapped with an evil witch, who was ready to attack. I always thought witches were fantasy, but now I was face to face with a real one! “Help!” we cried helplessly, “Somebody help us please!”

It was no use. We were trapped and no one could hear us. I had to think of a way to get out of this and now! “I’m going to teleport all of you into a different world!” she shouted; “Now stay still, you’re going to have a great time with your friend Vipor!”

“Oh no!” Kathie yelled, “Not Vipor!”

“Yes Vipor!” she boomed.

Before we knew it, we were somewhere else. It all looked the same, but it was a parallel universe. We were in the same neighbourhood back at my house, how strange. We knew that we would soon face the dreadful things Vipor had planned!

We all walked along the road until we reached of what seemed to be an abandoned cemetery. It was freezing cold outside and the fog clouds were beginning to roll in. It was then that we got separated from each other. “Hello?” I called, “Marley, Lucy, Kathie where are you?”

I was desperate to find them. How could we have gotten separated like that? I guess this cemetery must be enormous. It was so dark and gloomy, I couldn’t see a thing. From the stillness of the night, I heard some kind of weird voice and it seemed to be speaking to me! “Jackie!” the voice rasped, “Jackie I’m coming for you!”

By now I was shaking all over, partly from the creepy voice and partly from the coldness of the night. “Wh-who are y-you?” I stammered, staggering back in fear as the fog tightened around me.

“I am Simon!” the voice hissed.

Suddenly, an arrow hit the wall behind me and a nasty looking figure jumped out of nowhere. As I nimbly, staggered back, I turned around and started running as fast as I could. The figure started chasing me through the creepy, old cemetery. I thought I heard moaning sounds, rising up from the tilted gravestones, but I had no time to focus on that!

Before I knew it, I was falling down an enormous pit, falling down into the blackness of it. “Aaaaaaaaargh!” I wailed helplessly, as I tried to get hold of something.

Chapter 6

Luckily, I landed in some water and I pulled myself out. I saw an old, creepy tunnel leading into deep blackness. I searched my pocket and I found a small torch. Luckily, it had batteries in it. I walked through the tunnel and I saw some nice paintings on the stone walls as I passed.

10 minutes later…

The tunnel leads to a dead end! I was so shocked that I almost threw back my torch. I leaned against the wall in disappointment, but then a secret tunnel opened up.

At once, I thought I heard a voice calling for help. I listened again and I did hear someone calling for help, it was coming from deep inside the tunnel. “Help!” someone called, “Please save us now!”

“I’m coming!” I yelled, as I cupped my hands.

As I got closer, the voices seemed to sound familiar. Yes, they were my friend’s voices. When I saw what had been done to them, I was completely shocked.

Chapter 7

They were all tied up against a post, next to a cauldron of boiling water, which was still on the stove. “Help us!” they called desperately, “Please save us Jackie!”

“Mwahahahahaha!” an unfriendly voice boomed, “I was must destroy your friends Jackie!”

“Wh-who are y-you?” I stammered, as I stood, perfectly petrified in shock.

“I am Simon!” Simon boomed, “I am the minion of Vipor!”

“Oh no!” I yelled in panic, “Not Vipor!”

“Yes Vipor!” he shouted with an evil grin on his face, “I must destroy you all!”

He tried to grab us with his huge hand, but we ducked away. I swiftly untied Marley, Lucy and Kathie, since I was really good at untying knots. We started running down the empty tunnel, along the hard, stone floor as Simon chased us. My feet started throbbing, as we ran through the tunnel, but I saw some kind of portal as the tunnel was coming to an end. “We have to get through that portal!” Kathie yelled as she was gasping for breath, “It’s our only hope!”

As we neared the portal, we saw that there was an enormous hole between the portal and the tunnel ending. We jumped…

Chapter 8

I checked if everyone was here. Yes, we had all made it! Where were we? Everything looked the same as our neighbourhood and there were kids out playing on the streets as usual, so we were in the real world. I decided to go back home, since it was late afternoon and so did everyone else. Before we could leave, I heard a strange noise. “What was that?” I asked in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” Lucy answered, “What should we do?”

Before we could even move, a strange figure popped out of nowhere and blocked our path. “Mwahahahahaha!” a familiar voice laughed, “I see you have met my minion today!”

“You’re Simon!” I yelled angrily, “Aren’t you?”

“I’m Vipor and I’ve come to destroy you all!” he replied in his evil manner, “Since Simon couldn’t!”

This time, there was nothing we could do. No one else was around to help, so it was just us four and Vipor.

Just then, Simon appeared out of nowhere, carrying a huge blaster gun. “This blaster gun will make all four of you disappear forever!” Simon devilishly replied as he fired up the gun, “So you better watch out!”

Chapter 9

This was it; we were all about to be blasted away forever! As Simon pulled the trigger of the gun, he accidently blasted Vipor. He tripped and also got blasted by the gun. “Noooooooooo!” Vipor cried helplessly, “What have you done Simon?”

Vipor and Simon disappeared into thin air and the blaster gun was all that was left. “Hooray!” I yelled as I put my arms up in the air, “Vipor and Simon are both gone!”

“We need to take this blaster gun to a safe place,” Marley replied as she cautiously approached the gun, “If someone accidently presses a button, they could end up in big trouble.”

As Marley, Lucy and Kathie carried the blaster gun to a safe place, I walked home. “See ya’ guys!” I shouted, as I waved goodbye. “Bye Jackie!” they shouted, as they waved to me.

When I got back home, I opened the door and sat down on the couch. What a day it had been, I said to myself, as I was lying on the couch. Annie was in her bedroom and mum and dad weren’t back yet, so I turned on the TV.

“Jackie!” a familiar voice rasped, “Jackie!”

“Who was that?” I asked fearfully, turning off the TV.

“Welcome back Jackie!” the voice hissed, “I am coming for you!”

Blurb

Vipor is back again, but this time he has a special minion called Simon, working for him. Why is Simon stalking Jackie and her friends on Halloween night? Find out when you read about this exciting new adventure…