vision-lk
Institute of Fundamental Studies (IFS)
In 1989, I joined the IFS in Kandy as a Pre-University Research Associate. I gained a particularly unique view of the situation at hand. The roads in Kandy were strewn with dead bodies, if you stepped out in the mornings. It was an unsafe climate for anyone, particularly the youth.
The director of the IFS was Professor Cyril Ponnamperuma, the eminent Sri Lankan scientist who lead the team that analyzed the soil samples from the first landing on the moon in 1969. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees at IFS was the President ex-officio. We had two kinds of visitors to the IFS — eminent scientists and academics complemented by a healthy dose of political leaders. When they came, we were assembled at the Auditorium and they gave speeches.
We saw the situation from two angles — one academic and the other political. We saw it from up high on the mountain.