Veteran radio announcer Ramya Sriani Pathirana has passed away today (18).

She was aged 64 and was hospitalised due to a brief illness.

Ms. Pathirana, whose remarkable career which spanned over 30 years, started work at the SLBC in 1979 as a radio drama artiste and went on to be become one of the most prominent and  distinguished announcers at the SLBC.

Her remains are currently lying at No. 304/2, Arawwala Uswatta Meda Paara, Pannipitiya. Funeral details are to be announced later by the family.

“Father for a Buddha”, the story of King Suddhodana, a novel authored by the renowned writer Ajantha Seneviratne, is to be launched tomorrow (September 19), 3.00pm, at the Indian Cultural Center with the presence of the High Commissioner of India as the guest of honor. 

Ajantha’s newest work of literature deals with a “theme of permanent and universal interest”, since the story is webbed around the monarch Suddhodana, one of the greatest personalities in the history of mankind.

The Great Monarch Suddhodana, the Lord Buddha’s Father, who faced numerous blows in life because of his overflowing love for his son, finally won the Samsara despite all the setbacks he faced. As an adept narrator, Ajantha has collected and arranged in proper order the material pertaining to King Suddhodana’s character and re-created it into a highly readable narrative of artistic acumen blended with creativity and skills of fine craftsmanship. And the ultimate outcome is a historical personality immortalized in literature. The author has beautifully transformed the character of Suddhodana from a mundane position, culminating step by step into a higher level of spiritual attainment.

Ajantha Seneviratne authored the Sinhala translation of the internationally famous book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spenser Johnson. In the area of Buddhist literature, he is known for two historical Sinhala books written on Rahula Thera (the son of Prince Siddhartha) and King Suddhodana. He has already authored twenty Sinhala books ranging from fiction to non-fiction, and “Father for a Buddha” is his first English novel. This is a Sarasavi publication.

Prabhu Deva, the versatile Indian artist known for dance, direction, and acting, arrived in Sri Lanka.

He had traveled from Chennai, India via Sri Lankan Airlines.

It is said that Prabhudeva is in Sri Lanka to shoot song for his upcoming movie “Musasi”, in which he will play the lead character.