Laki - Artisan

Laki's Lounge situated at 94th milepost,Mirisgoniyawa Dambulla

Diyabubula in Sinhalese means "bubbling water" This fresh water spring refreshed and quenched the thirst of many pilgrims and travelers to the nearby Dambulla Buddhist Cave Temples. The land was owned by Nimal Senanayake, Laki’s lawyer brother who received it is as a part payment for a brief.

Some vignettes of Laki My first view of laki was almost fifty years ago. Leaning on the gate at home, I saw a jeep park at aunty Rani’s house which was almost opposite. This was at Initum road, Dehiwala. Out got three people one a woman who went in. A little while later two people came out a man with a little baby hugged to his chest walking down to the sea at the bottom of the road.

We used to come to Colombo periodically as Rani & Lali were going to school at Bishop’s. We stayed at 317 Galle road which was across the road from the sea.

A painter, landscape artist, architect, sculptor and innovator are the cascade of titles that trail after the name Laki Senanayake. Yet the artist himself likens his numerous creative accomplishments to “eating ice cream, to indulge in one thing only to move on to another”; a means he says, to keep boredom at bay.

Sri Lankan architect Laki Senanayake first worked with Geoffrey Bawa and later pursued art independently

Although we didn’t have a radio or gramophone in the house, there was music around. My brother Nimal sang ceaselessly and also played the harmonica. He also whistled a merry tune.He gave me a harmonica when I was around 10 years and I soon was able to play any tune that came into my head. I whistled as well and I still whistle. I recall George Siegertz, who was a great whistler in my day.He reached a pinnacle of whistling when he was selected by David Lean to be the lead whistler, whistling the “Colonel Bogie’s march” in his film “The bridge over the river Kwai”

For Eleanor Raheem who was fascinated by the two words “kadey” and “kuday” I left behind my kuday in a wayside kadey, and some feckless fella made off with my old umbrella. So to ease the pain I stepped out singing in the rain, slipped and fell in a drain, and broke a bone in my collar

The Architecture of an Island : The Living Legacy of Sri Lanka: A Thousand Years of Architecture Illustrated by Outstanding Examples of Religious, Public, and Domestic Buildings

Dr. Cholomondely de Silva, Chumley as the name is unreasonably pronounced, and Chummy to his chums was our family physician and friend, and was responsible for safely delivering me and the last two of my seven siblings into the world. My mother told me that I looked quite red when I was born, and three days later when the good doctor visited to check on me, he exclaimed “Good grief, this child has turned black”. This later lead to me being considered the black sheep of the family, and my sister Lalitha still calls me “ Kal” which is an abbreviation of “Kalu” which means black.