Supun wins bronze medal at IMO

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Supun Samarakoon, of Grade Thirteen from Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala has brought honour to Sri Lanka at the 46th International Mathematical Olympiad by winning a Bronze Medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) world championship mathematic competition held in Merida, Mexico. Buddhi Mahindarathne, a Grade 12 student from Ananda College, Colombo 10, won an Honourable Mention by getting a perfect score for one of the two Number Theory problems. The competition is held for students under 20 years of age annually in a different country. This year 513 students from 91 countries participated at this event.

The Sri Lankan team was selected and trained by the Sri Lanka Olympiad Mathematics Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in the Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo. Supun won the Bronze Medal by scoring 15 points, which included two perfect scores (seven out of seven) for the two Geometry problems. The cut-off for the Bronze Medal was 12 points.

Supun who lost his father when he was 12 years, was born and brought up in Galvanguwa, Narammala; a small village situated about 21 kilometres away from Kurunegala town.

Winning both a Bronze Medal and an Honourable Mention have been the best performance by a Sri Lankan team at the IMO so far.

Selection of the Sri Lankan team was based on the Sri Lankan Mathematics Competition participated by over a thousand of students from Government, Private and International Schools and the Sri Lankan Mathematics Challenge Competition participated by the best 26 in the Sri Lankan Mathematics Competition. The Sri Lanka Olympiad Mathematics Foundation, which conducts these two competitions, is the dream child of the Head of the Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo Chanakya J. Wijerathne.

A number of Faculty members of the Department of Mathematics offered their voluntary services in setting, conducting and marking of these competitions and it was through such a team effort that the Sri Lankan team was able to achieve the honour of winning a Bronze Medal and an Honourable Mention. The Sri Lankan team was funded by the President's Fund.

A recognition ceremony to honour this medal-winning team was held on August 11, at the Senate Room of the University of Colombo, sponsored by IFS Research and Development Ltd. who also gifted a Reference Library of Olympiad material. "A fertile ground should be created for young budding mathematicians. We hope that our two competitions, the Sri Lankan Mathematics Competition and the Sri Lankan Mathematics Challenge Competition, will help create this fertile ground. We have conducted the Sri Lankan Mathematics Competition in the past two years and there has been a significant increase in the number of participants," said Head of the Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo, Wijerathne.

He said IMO is a unique competition and its problems are interesting and challenging even to the professional mathematicians though the mathematics involved is High School Mathematics. Exposing our students to IMO problems is very important and participation at the IMO brings rich dividends to the country even if we do not win anything. The Sri Lanka Olympiad Mathematics Foundation needs support both from the Government and private sector to take our students to IMO arena and have them perform well. "The service rendered by our University to the national development through various academic, research, cultural and community programs have been widened by the activities of the Foundation in identifying and encouraging the most creative secondary mathematics students in the country who may become leaders in the mathematical sciences of the next generation," said Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Prof. Thilak Hettiarachchi.

He said that by organising mathematic competitions annually and reward excellence, the Foundation helps in recognising and celebrating the imagination and resourcefulness of our youth. Moreover, through its voluntary service in the training of such talented students for international competitions, the mathematical capabilities of our youth get further strengthened.

The IMO is the world championship mathematics competition for high school students and is held annually in a different country. The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania.

The problems in the IMO are from topics in Number Theory, Algebra, Combinatorics and Geometry that are usually done at high school level. Though the problems are based on high school material, solving them requires exceptional mathematical ability and thinking. Contestants have to be less than 20 years of age and not formally enrolled at a University or any other equivalent post-secondary institution. Participation in the IMO is by invitation only. Each invited country is entitled to send a team of six contestants.

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Adam's Peak, panorama surpassing loveliness

by Chaminda Perera

The magnificence of nature lightly unfolds before our eyes. Sunshine embracing the green mountains which stretch its arms in an endless way, with thin mists gently stirred by the rising sun viewed from above took our breath away. Only nature could have created such an elegance as Adam's Peak (Samanala Kanda).

Concrete walls, sky scrapers and buildings surpass the cooling greenery. City dwellers living in tenements with inadequate ventilation, the hustle and bustle of vehicles and its pollution make the city a difficult area for dwellers.

To change this monotonous way of life, our team comprising five members began an expedition to Adam's Peak via the Hatton-Maskeliya route.

Buddhists piously ascending this mighty cone of Adam's Peak with the sacred foot print of the Buddha, while Hindus equally claim it as that of God Siva and Moors as that of Adam.

The discovery of Adam's Peak after the Buddha set foot-print at the invitation of God Saman who is believed to have control over the forest, is a wonderful edifice fully dealt with in many native chronicles whose accuracy is attested in many ways.

We were not seasonal visitors and were devoid of pilgrims and wanted to enjoy the beauty of nature peering down at the mountains and silver threaded rivers covered with thin mists.

It was at dawn when we boarded a bus from Maskeliya to Nallathanniya the nearest point one can travel by bus to Adam's Peak. We made our plans to arrive at the peak at sunset.

There were no petty shops, sweet sellers or street vendors to be seen around Nallathanniya where during the season thousand of pilgrims flock to buy sweetmeats, mementos and resting after hours of tedious descent from the summit.

We wended our way to the Wildlife Department office at Dragon Pandol (Makara Thorana).

The Wildlife Department of then Ceylon had declared this forest which spans over 55,300 acres and comes under the purview of Ratnapura, Kegalle and Nuwara Eliya districts as a forest reserve on October 25, 1940.

This forest being a cultural and national heritage inherits high bio-diversity and feeder of three main rivers and many more small canals. Agra Oya is the longest feeder of Mahaweli Ganga (the Great Sandy river) which starts from Horton plains while Belihuloya rising from Kirigalpotte mountains is the feeder of Walawe Ganga.

Forest's flora and fauna is not comparable to other forests in Asia as it is rich in varieties of herbs, flowering and non-flowering plants, mammals, birds and insects.

Mammals living in this forest include leopard, wild boar, species of deer, porcupine and much more. Many varieties of insects are familiar sight. No one has seen elephants roaming in the forest though the foot prints and dung is evident. Pilgrims believe that invisibility of elephants is power of God Saman.

The ecosystem of the forest is endangered by reckless human acts of dumping refuse litter such as polythene bags, plastic bottles, undegradable components by the side of roads leading to the summit. The litter block water ways and destroy the wildlife threatening the balance of forest ecosystem.

The part played by the forest in improving the quality of environment, human life and as a renewable energy is beyond any doubt. But, greed, selfish and careless human acts have created great pressure on forests. Forest ranger, Samanala Wildlife Sanctuary, A. G. Jayathilake said

"This is a big problem for us. We have implemented a series of programmes to remove litter such as plastic bottles and polythene bags without success. A massive heap of polythene bags was visible everywhere by the road side."

The Upper Water Management Project in collaboration with the police launched a programme to provide bags made of cloth to pilgrims during the last season, he said.

Jayathilake emphasised, "the production and importation of polythene should be banned. There is no use of wasting money to make pilgrims aware of this menace."

"All institutions, organisations, come forward for cleaning programmes only during the season. After that no one comes. There is a need to launch a programme to remove litter when the season ends," he said.

The hundred-year-old Wildlife Office at Adam's Peak which housed so many department officials who are entrusted with the greatest task of protecting this national and cultural heritage is in a state of dilapidation.There is a dearth of Wildlife Officers attached to this office and they don't have the necessary facilities to carry out their research.

We were enveloped in damp mists on our approach to the Seetha Gangula, a canal flowing from top of the mountain range which later becomes Kelani ganga in her upper reach. The slow travelling was not at all to my liking and often persuaded my friends to make more haste towards the summit.

Through whirling of birds, murmuring of bees, gusty winds and biting cold mixed with thin mists ever increasing into masses we were able to reach the summit by 5.30 p.m. as we planned.

There, we could enjoy the purest and most invigorating air and nothing is special but the mental and physical change that we experienced.

Karunaratne who is the caretaker of the buildings on the summit warmly welcomed us with hot coffee.

"There are fewer pilgrims at this time. No foreigner is hindered in ascending the summit in the dark," he said.

They are fond of nature and never pollute the environment here. They do not dispose things such as chocolate, biscuit wrappers here, instead they put them into their bags and take them way.

Vendors who provide facilities for ascending and descending pilgrims have been allowed to use gas instead of firewood in a bid to protect the forest and trees during the season. After the dinner prepared by our colleagues with the support of the caretaker, we talked at great length about their life on the summit after the season.

Actually it was a dreamless sleep no sound broke its silence. When we were asleep, two foreigners with their guide had arrived at the summit. We met them in the morning while we were worshipping sacred foot print of Buddha covered with mighty boulder on the top of the summit.

I felt as if I were being taken by the thin mists into mystery. We were looking at the sun sending its first rays on the summit awakening all with vigour and vitality despite biting cold and pindrop silence that prevailed the whole night.

We enjoyed the scenery peering down the endless green forests through which waterways like gleaming silver lines flow, seeking the sea's embrace. We stood for a long time without saying a word to each other.

We started descending by 10.30 a.m. from the top of the summit bidding adieu to Karunaratne and his aide Indika who are looking after Buddhists' interest on the summit. There is no other place in the world that inherits such a synthesis of attraction as Adam's Peak.

It was an enjoyable and exciting experience to see the grandeur of the mountain ranges surrounded by dense forests spanning over three districts Ratnapura, Kegalle and Nuwara Eliya. It is a panorama surpassing loveliness.

Private and corporate sector including non-governmental organisations should be effectively involved in the conservation of this national heritage. This would give new impetus and dimension to Wildlife Department's efforts.

(Special thanks go to the Director Research & Training Wildlife Department).

(Pix by Kumudu Gunasekera and Prasad Namasiri)

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Exhibition of mural wood carvings (bass-relief)

Born and bred in the pristine rural environment of Avissawella where he received his elementary education, Ratnesena Kodikara was moulded as an outstanding artist at the Heywood College of Fine Arts in Colombo in the '70s.

He chose teaching as his vocation, motivating numerous students, both in the remote backwoods and in the cities, to a successful career in the field of Fine Arts, where he taught at Ananda College or at distant Haliella Central College in Badulla.

He has shown a remarkable attitude for presenting the works of his proteges of international exhibition, where they were awarded Gold and Silver Medals for outstanding creations.

Ratnesena Kodikara himself proves his talents and his consummate skills as a creative and extremely sensitive artist at the numerous one-man exhibitions he has held in most of the leading galleries in the country and abroad at Savo Pavlo - Brazil, Paris Bianale, France, Indian International, Bangladesh International winning the recognition and acclaim of critics both here and abroad.

Kodikara who at present is chief Project Officer of Art at the National Institute of Education has had the rare distinction of being invited by educational Institutes in Nigeria and Oman as an Expert Art Educationist. Although Kodikara's forte has always been painting in oils, of late he has ventured afield, investigating and experimenting into how traditional rhythm of ancient drawings of the temple artist could be transformed in to three dimensional works of bass-relief essentially in the medium of wood for the first time in Sri Lanka.