About

a random photo of me from Flickr
Indi Samarajiva (CV)
indi@indi.ca

indi.ca
kottu.org
LIRNEasia

Location: Sri Lanka


This is always out of date

My name is Indrajit Samarajiva. My Montreal friends call me Indi. My parents and people in Ohio call me Jit. People in Sri Lanka call me both, but I think I prefer Indi.

I was born in Vancouver in 1982, while my parents were in Grad School there. My family is Sri Lankan. My dad Rohan (who I call Tha Tha) and mom, Sujata (Amma), grew up in Sri Lanka. They worked really hard and got into University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser, and I got born with a Canadian passport.

We moved to Sri Lanka when I was 3. We lived with my Achi for a while, I forgot English and learned Sinhalese, ate some fruit, stepped on the dog’s tail. When I was 5 me (and me two new sisters, one in Amma’s tummy) moved to the USA – Columbus, Ohio. Thatha taught Communications at Ohio State University and Amma worked in the Chemistry Department for a while, then for the Ohio Board of Regents. I forgot Sinhalese and learned English again.

I grew up in a typical US suburb. Rich, white, and boring. but good schools and safe. As soon as I got the hell out of high school I came to McGill University in Montreal, Quebec – which is my favorite city ever. I still love America, especially the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. And the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Boston Red Sox (for Merit).

I graduated from McGill with a degree in Cognitive Science. I’ve studied Psych, Linguistics, Education, Philosophy, and Computer Science. In my last year I learned about DNA and Brains. I also worked full-time for the McGill Faculty of Education (and took breaks for class). I guess I’d describe that job as Office Geek.

I live in my Colombo. I can be contacted via indi@indi.ca


Recent Comments


You’re Nobody Till (45)

Regewaypere2: Asortyment uzupe?nia Outcast przestrzenna uciecha przygodowa i klisza Setnie Speedway. Nu?e na godzin? poprzednio wschodem s?o?ca nieruchomosci odby? wspomnian? z wykorzystaniem Benwolia przechadzk? w gaju sykomorowym mamy w...

Sarath Fonseka And Minority Politics (9)

tastyjujubes: Being more “Tamil 221; is not going to help the Sri Lankan Tamils to be honest. Being even more insular, introverted and ethnocentric is not going to help the Tamil people. The Tamils of Sri Lanka live on an island with a...

Ramesh: Tamils,particul arly those in the norh consider themselves a distinct entity separate from sinhalese people.So if they vote for sinhala political parties, there unique identity gets diluted.When they vote for a tamil party in numbers,they...

New New Kottu (4)

Saj: This looks cool. Without knowing about the upgrade i was accessing kottu from my phone.. Yea it looks like an app. Why dont u think about creating an app? :)

tastyjujubes: Have to say the pink colour used on the dark grey background on the top is a bit of an eyesore. Everything else looks great.

tastyjujubes: I remember the days when Sinhala was basically nonexistent and the blogosphere was dominated by a few folks with narrow minds – look at it now… It’s great.

General Sarath Fonseka Out Soon? (11)

tastyjujubes: I just wrote the above and then went to google news about Lanka and was met with this: Sri Lanka ‘must face war probes’ Sri Lanka must co-operate with any international investigation into alleged war crimes, ex-army chief...

tastyjujubes: Sarath Fonseka is a symbol of division. Even his release has divided society in general (well, at least Sinhalese society in general) and not united it going by the reaction of various people.

Lankan Thinker: I have a suspicion the government will restore SFs right to engage in political activity since his participation will effectively split the opposition votes – and is unlikely to attract any more support from the government&...

Buying Appliances Online (Singer) (5)

indi: Dude, she comes once a week and I pay Rs. 750. It’s a great deal I think.

Recent Posts


Why Does India Suck At The Olympics?: Today on the morning show we talked about the Olympics, namely China’s emerging dominance. For me the bigger question is India. Why does India suck so much? In 2008 the US won 110 medals, China won 100 and India won… 3. India has over a billion people, some economic clout and is by all counts an emerging superpower, but they suck at the Olympics. Why?
New New Kottu: Janith has updated Kottu with rims and shit. Seriously, it looks pretty good. You could say the desktop look is cosmetic, but check out the mobile. Kottu now looks like an app with settings and menus and such. The biggest problem with K2 is me, ie, it now takes me up to a month to respond to emails. OMG I’m scared of my email. But Janith’s done this code and design update all by himself and it looks pretty good. Check it out. There was one bug with the previous page link. Lettuce know if there’s any more.
Miss Travel. Alternately, Mistravel: This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like seekingarrangement.com connects women to ‘sugar daddies’ already. I guess Miss Travel is just taking that trend international. Wait, I checked, it’s the same guy doing both.
Buying Appliances Online (Singer): Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from Singer, ONLINE. I put the online in all caps because it’s pretty awesome. I ordered the thing in like 15 minutes on Saturday and they just delivered it today. It’s pretty awesome, this brave new world.
Future Porn: There’s nothing wrong with pornography, but there’s a lot wrong with porn. Nothing wrong with watching people have sex, but too often that sex is brutal, senseless and coerced. I mean how many couples are coming on each others faces every day? Hence, philosopher king Alain de Botton – after calling for a new atheism, replete with temple – is now calling for a new pornography. One which is “fit for thoughtful, good human beings”. Good idea.