Ayurveda integrates with tourism in Sri Lanka

In some western countries, there is a growing enthusiasm on alternative medicinal treatment in addition to western medicine particularly for chronic and long lasting diseases like paralysis.
"Some tourists wish to get Ayurvedic treatment for their chronic diseases and visit Sri Lanka," said Dr.Kamal Serasinghe, Ayurvedic practitioner at the press conference held at Ministry of Tourism yesterday.
In Sri Lanka residential treatment facilities are available for chronic diseases. For such diseases, Ayurvedic medicine has specials drugs and treatment.
"There are millions of such patients in the western world. So we hope to attract them to Sri Lanka and treat residentially’" said Dr.Serasinghe.
Ayurvedic practitioner Dr.Danister Perera said that they were hoping to integrate tourism and Ayurvedic medicine for mutual benefits.
They explained their plan of integration under eight programmes. Firstly, under data collection, they hope to understand the level of integration of Ayurvedic medicine with tourism. Secondly they hope to standardization of Ayurvedic medicine treatment because many are concerned about standards. We hope to prepare a resource base, under which they will prepare an inventory of resources available such as the number of Ayurvedic doctors, number of herbal treatment centres available and so on. We also hope to implement awareness programs in western countries to disseminate knowledge on these facilities. In addition, marketing and promotions, strengthening of legal framework and institutional structure and improving the qualities of services have been included in their program.
K.A.D.George Michael, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Tourism, S.S.P.Maxi Proctor and Ayurvedic practitioner Dr.Ranjith Abeywardena were also present.

Source: The Island

11th October 2007

It was my last day in Al Jassim Group. It's really being sad after working long 6 years have to leave. I had to leave my colleagues, like Muthiah(who was with me last 4 years), Aneesh, Praveen, Binu, Ram, in our department, from the front office Sabina, Melanie, as well as Aby & Haridas, who worked with me very friendly until end of my service. This was my last message to them;

"The time has come to say goodbye to you all as I am leaving the Company for good on 14th Oct. 2007. It has been a pleasure to have been here in the Al Jassim Group with you for the last 6 years, during which time I have learned a lot.

My thanks to everybody for everything, and, should I inadvertently have done anything untoward at any time, I hope you will forgive me.

I shall miss you all and hope you will keep in touch with me,

Thanks & best regards"

Don Herman

The Bank of Ceylon won four prestigious world awards for its 2006 annual report at the annual international 2006 Vision Awards and the Annual International ARC Awards, which were held recently.
The Bank won three major awards including top platinum at the annual international 2006 Vision Awards, competing against 2,500 entries from 21 countries. In the annual international ARC Awards, the bank won a top Gold Award, competing with 1,900 entries from 26 countries, submitted by 800 different companies representing over 200 industries.
Deputy General Manager (Corporate and Offshore Banking) of BoC W.A. Nalani said that these four awards
Awards: Chairman of the BoC Gamini Wickramasinghe and the team with the awards. Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa
will help them to strengthen the bank’s international recognition. Bank is working with nearly 1,000 corresponding banks in the world and this will be an ideal opportunity for us enhance our international operations and boost our corporate image internationally, she said.
The International ARC Awards were created to honour overall excellence in annual reports, in terms of contents and designs. It is the most recognised award ceremony in the world. All the wining entries of ARC awards including a copy of the BoCs annual report will be exhibited at the Museum of Art and Commerce in Hamburg, Germany, from October 23.
“This is the first time that bank has received four international awards for an annual report. In 2006 we had targets for developing this annual report. Many reputed companies in Europe, Asia and US applied for these awards. However the BoC was able to compete with those,” she said.
In overall competition in all categories, the bank won the Bronze Award for the best report in financials and won the 37th position in the world’s top 100 annual reports of 2006.
Chairman of the BoC Gamini Wickramasinghe said that the bank could have more recognition in international arena and this will help us to develop our international businesses with our overseas partners.
In the 2006 annual report, bank has included sustainability report which featured CSR projects of the bank. Special sections such as Compliances and Risk Management were also included in 2006 annual report.

International recognition for Sri Lankan CSR initiativeHemas ‘Piyawara’ project wins Award of Excellence in Asia

Piyawara, the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) initiative launched by Hemas in 2003, recently won an Award of Excellence for Support and Improvement of Education in Asia region as an outstanding, innovative and sustainable project in Asia, at the annual Asian CSR Awards 2007 held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The award was presented by the Asian Institute of Management.
"This is the very first time that Sri Lanka has won an award of this nature and demonstrates the success of this CSR initiative. Piyawara has touched the lives of thousands of children from all parts of Sri Lanka, from North to South and East to West, thereby resulting in a better quality of education for the pre-schoolers", Hemas’ Manager Corporate Relations / CSR, Shiromi Masakorale said.
Principal hosts of this event were the United Nations, Actionaid and the Asian Institute of Management. This year’s awards saw 186 entries from 117 companies in 14 countries, including Sri Lanka, vying for the prestigious awards. Ten awards were presented in five categories. All the other winners were Fortune 500 companies, Multinationals and INGOs. The awards were presented at the Gala Dinner Ceremonies of the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility in the presence of over 580 CEOs from world multinationals, UN representatives, NGOs, international organisations and businesses from the region, and the media.
CEO Hemas Holdings Husein Esufally said, "This award is an endorsement of the success of the Piyawara initiative and a singular salutation to the numerous people who have played a pivotal role in this project over the past five years. In the macro perspective, this is also an award for Sri Lanka’s endeavours to successfully uplift the standards of pre-school education across the geographical divide".
Minister of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Hon. Ms. Sumedha G. Jayasena said "This award is a pride for our country. I appreciate the initiative taken by a large private sector company like Hemas in understanding the national needs and focusing its CSR programmes to uplift the standards of pre-school children in Sri Lanka which is a need of the hour. This also shows the effectiveness of government and private sector partnerships in addressing national issues. This is an example for many to follow".

ICICI Bank brings ‘FINO’ to Sri Lankan market

ICICI Bank will introduce ‘Financial Information Network and Operations Limited’ (FINO) to the Sri Lankan market.
FINO is an organization incubated by the Bank almost a year back with the sole purpose of providing cutting edge, smart card based multi functional/application solutions to the unbanked, bottom of the pyramid masses.
According to Country Head, ICICI Bank, Prem Thampi, "Financial Information Network and Operations (FINO) has been working since its foundation on July 13, 2006 with the single objective of building technologies to enable financial institutions (FIs), banks, micro finance institutions (MFIs) and governments to serve the underserved and the unbanked sector at very affordable cost, thereby increasing their outreach and to bring more transparency in their business."
FINO itself is not a vendor of technology, but a sectoral resource of technology professionals focussed on integrating a robust technology solution, which would meet the requirements of above entities.
FINO implements modular solutions/ services based on a robust core banking solution that offers low risk and quick launching of new products and services for its clients in key sectors such as micro finance, banking, insurance and government.

‘World Spice Food Festival’ - to set your taste buds aflame

The much-awaited World Spice Food Festival, which is undoubtedly the biggest food festival of the year, is back again by popular demand.
Organized by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board, this event has become an annual fixture that enlivens Colombo with a veritable jamboree of unique culinary experiences. Encouraged by the tremendous response and positive feedback from visitors to the fair in the past, this year, too, the event is organised by the Corporate section of the Tourist Board, together with the five-star hotels and top restaurants in the city.
Scheduled to be held from October 18-28, 2007, the ‘World Spice Food Festival’ promises all the excitement and culinary delights that have endeared it to visitors in the past. The Sri Lanka Tourist Board will formally open the event on October 18, 2007 at the Hilton Colombo to mark 10 days of a thrilling culinary extravaganza.
Each participating hotel and restaurant will conduct a food festival for one week in one of their restaurants, where world class specialist chefs will be flown in from abroad.
Spurred on by the past success of the festival, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board has envisaged the upcoming festival on an even more extravagant scale in a bid to promote Sri Lanka as a vibrant destination. Renton de Alwis, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board, is confident of the successful outcome of this year’s ‘World Spice Food Festival’ and is taking a personal interest to ensure that every aspect of the event is a success.
A spectacular highlight of the main event of the festival is the ‘Hawker Street’, to be held on October 19 and 20, 2007 at the Nomads ground, allowing visitors to the festival the ease and facility of browsing through the food stalls along with friends and family. A live band will add to the festive air with foot tapping melodies, while spectacular dance items will be another highlight. An attractive Kiddies’ Corner will provide endless fun for children, allowing parents to browse through ‘Hawker Street’ at leisure.
A surprise also awaits visitors to ‘Hawker Street’, where every hour a lucky recipient will win a free dinner voucher from one of the participating stalls ther, drawn on the entrance ticket. The organizers have ensured that there is no dearth of excitement at this one-of-a-kind event.
Specialty chefs flown from various parts of the world will work their magic at this event, thus making the event a truly global one. Visitors to ‘Hawker Street’ will find pleasure in sampling a mouth watering array of dishes made to perfection by master chefs revelling in their culinary skill. All the chefs in attendance are internationally renowned culinary experts with many awards to their credit.
The participating 5-star hotels and leading restaurants will showcase 15 different cuisines from around the world at ‘Hawker Street’ and are pulling out all stops to ensure that visitors to the event witness a gourmet experience like no other.
HSBC, one of the largest banking institutions in the world, has once again generously offered to support the ‘World Spice Food Festival’ as the main sponsor in a bid to bring Sri Lankans global cuisine at its best - right here to them in Sri Lanka. This event mirrors HSBC’s vision to be one with its local customers no matter which part of the globe they may belocated as well as to bring them a taste of world class standards – be it international banking or global cuisine.
Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry has risen to the occasion as always and some city hotels are enthusiastically involved in ensuring that the master chefs will be on hand to showcase culinary delights from their part of the globe.
Participating hotels, cafes, and restaurants that will don the chef’s hat at the ‘World Spice Festival’ are: Hilton Colombo, (Mexican) Taj Samudra, (Italian) TransAsia, (Singaporean) Cinnamon Grand, (Japanese) Holiday Inn, (Jaffna food) Ceylon Intercontinental, (Indonesian). Mount Lavinia Hotel, (Thai), Galle Face Hotel, (Austrlalian), Galadari; (Chinese), Water’s Edge, (Malaysian), Raja Bojun, (Sri Lankan),The Mango Tree, (Indian), Sakura, (Japanese), Han Gook Gwan, (Korean) and Siam House (Thai).

Source: The Island

IOC to invest Rs 37 billion to expand pipelines

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), a state-run oil refiner, plans to invest around Indian Rs 14.8 billion on expanding pipelines carrying crude oil and petroleum products.
The company is also involved in the Sri Lankan fuel business for sometime and has diversified into other businesses like lubricants and bunkering.
Lanka IOC Managing Director R. Ramakrishnan said that IOC India has an interest in Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka is also going for oil explorations in the near future.
IOC intends to increase pipeline capacity from 61.718 million tonnes to 75.480 million tonnes by the end of March 2008.
The company will invest Rs 11.78 billion in the 11 million tonne Paradip-Haldia crude oil pipeline, and Rs 2.25 billion in the 2 million tonne Koyali-Ratlam pipeline for transport of petroleum products.
It will invest another Rs 458 million in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) pipeline from Chennai refinery to Air Force Station in Chennai city, and Rs 286 million in the augmentation of Bongaingaon-Siliguri section of the Guwahati-Siliguri pipeline.
IOC is also considering building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. ‘IOC is in the process of negotiating with various prospective LNG suppliers for long-term supply of LNG,’ the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas said.
Ramakrishnan said that participating for oil and petroleum related conferences and exhibitions like StocExpo will help to share konwledge and techonology since Sri Lanka is into oil explorations.
‘Singapore is not a oil-rich country but it is now positioned as Asia’s leading oil trading and blending centre. Therefore Sri Lanka has all potentials but it does not make use of its opportunities with all its resources, he said.
IOC India is a fourtune 500 company and having its presence in Sri Lanka will bring a lot of advantages with the starting off oil explorations.
Pristine Oil (Malaysia), an oil and gas consultancy firm will invest RM1.8 billion (372 million) to build Malaysia’s first crude storage complex.
The Kedah crude storage complex in Yan, Malaysia will serve the Straits of Malacca tanker traffic.
Work on the site will begin in 2008 and is due for a 2010 completion. The complex will be built on a 100ha site at the Yan Petroleum Industry Zone, with a planned 52 crude storage tanks amounting to total capacity of 1 million tonnes.
Siemens Malaysia will build the complex. The company will also help to develop Pristine Oil’s electrical, fire protection and security, water and waste water systems for the storage complex.
Pristine Oil is negotiating with Royal Vopak for custom.
Its first customer is Turkish company Alarco. Malaysia is now developing rapidly and it would become one of the richest countries in the world by the year 2020. Malaysia has also imposed a number of power and energy saving programmes to face the increasing oil prices.

SriLankan Airlines launches flights to Coimbatore

SriLankan Airlines will launch services to Coimbatore on 29th October 2007, making the south Indian city the airline’s 11th destination in India.
Coimbatore, sitting near the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, provides an ideal gateway for travellers from east Kerala to fly to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. A major industrial city, Coimbatore, is the second largest metropolis in Tamil Nadu.
Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan, said: "SriLankan Airlines has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India, and we are continuously increasing our services there. This includes the addition of more and more cities across India to our route network, and we are proud to add Coimbatore to this list."
The airline will initially operate four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday using Airbus A320 aircraft. It already has services to three major cities in Kerala – Trivandrum, Kozhikode, and Kochi; and two in Tamil Nadu – Chennai (Madras) and Trichy.
Manoj Gunawardena, Head of Worldwide Passenger Sales, said: "Our new service to Coimbatore will provide convenient access to and from all regions in our international network. We are confident that the new service would be useful to many segments particularly the business traveller, leisure traveller, those travelling to visit relations and friends and for employment."
Senaka Fernando, Regional Manager, Indian Subcontinent and the Maldives, said: "SriLankan Airlines is very familiar with the travel requirements of South Indian passengers, and we take great care in providing the best facilities to them."
A short 70-minute flight would bring travellers to Colombo, where the airline has rapid connections to its global network of 54 destinations in 28 countries. Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport has earned a reputation as the finest in the South Asian region following its recent expansion, with its modern terminal and aerobridges, comfortable lounges and well-stocked duty free shopping complex.
SriLankan carried a staggering 1.1 million passengers to and from India in the 12 months from April 2006-March 2007, 32% of the airline’s global traffic. Sri Lanka is a popular destination among Indian tourists for its excellent value-for-money shopping, diverse climates and landscapes and ancient cultural sites. It is also a favourite among business travellers, especially with companies that prefer Colombo for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE tourism).
SriLankan has won many awards for its operations to India, including the Galileo Indian Express Award for Best East Bound International Airline. Its global and regional accolades include "World’s Best Airline" in a survey of Economy Class passengers; "World’s Friendliest Cabin Staff", first runner-up for "World’s Best Cabin Staff", "Best Overall Inflight Entertainment (small fleet)", Best Airline in Central Asia for four consecutive years and Best Airline in South Asia, three times.

Lanka cranking up export level to Turkey

The Sri Lankan exports to Turkey has been recorded to a sum of USD 34.3 million during the first eight months this year and it was only USD 34.5 million during the last year.
This was revealed at a programme held yesterday to promote economic, trade and investment relations between Sri Lanka and Turkey with the participation of the local business community. The event was organised by the Confederation of Business and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON).
In the first eight months the total imports from the Turkey to Sri Lanka was recorded as USD 31.8 million and in 2006 it was USD 37 million. According to the TUSKON Turkey is among the top 20 economies in the world.
Minister of Enterprise Development Mano Wijeratne said that trade between Sri Lanka and Turkey gradually increased but there are several areas that country need to focus.
Last year tea exports from Sri Lanka to Turkey has been dropped and the country need to regain the lost market through exporting more tea to Turkey, he said.
Turkey is one of the largest cement manufacturers in the world. Since there is a huge boom in the local construction industry and this is one of the areas country could focus, minister added.
Minister also invited Turkish investors to explore the investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.
TUSKON aims to turn the enterprises and the entrepreneurs into the part of global business world by developing scientific and rational methods. TUSKON today represent 9500 businessmen who involve in activities in 124 organizations.

Lanka professors, Burundi cop win Swiss human rights prize

Two university professors from Sri Lanka and a policeman from Central Africa have been named as the top human rights defenders for 2007 by a Swiss-based rights group.
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a former policeman turned human rights activist in Burundi, will share the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders with Rajan Hoole and Kopalasingham Sritharan, who have set up a project to monitor rights abuses by all parties in Sri Lanka’s conflict.
The trio are “key actors for human rights and democracy in their countries, where dramatic struggles for peace have made their work extremely risky,” said Hans Thoolen, chairman of the 10-member jury which awards the prize each year.
The award was set up in 1993, with the jury comprised of representatives of human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the World Organisation Against Torture and the International Commission of Jurists.

Activists win ‘alternative Nobel’

Activists from Sri Lanka, Kenya, Canada and Bangladesh on Tuesday were named winners of the 2007 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the ‘alternative Nobel,’ for their efforts to promote peace, biodiversity and renewable energy.
The winners share the USD 310,000 award, founded by a Swedish-German philanthropist to recognise work he felt was being ignored by the prestigious Nobel Prizes.
Non-profit company Grameen Shakti was honoured for its work to promote solar energy among rural households in Bangladesh.
The company was created in 1996 under the Grameen Bank, which was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize together with its leader Muhammad Yunus for efforts to help the poor through tiny loans called micro-credits.
Sri Lankan legal scholar Christopher Weermantry, a former vice-president of the International Court of Justice, was cited for his efforts to "strengthen and expand the rule of international law," the award citation said.
The prize also honoured Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, a Muslim peace activist from Kenya, for her work to bridge religious and cultural differences, and Canadian farmers Percy and Louise Schmeiser for defending biodiversity and farmers’ rights.
The couple has been embroiled in a legal battle with US agribusiness giant Monsanto Co over the use of the company’s genetically engineered canola plant.

SLT partners with PC House to distribute Broadband Internet

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the country’s only integrated telecommunication service provider, recently signed an agreement with PC House, a leading IT Solutions provider in Sri Lanka, to expand its sales distribution channel for the company’s Broadband products. Through this initiative SLT will be able to offer Broadband products to its customers via 41 PC House branches, including North and East, in addition to SLT teleshops and Regional offices island- wide.
PC House will serve customers with SLT Broadband products such as Entrée Package, Home Express Package and the Office Express Package on ADSL technology, which provides download speed up to 2Mbps connectivity. Any customer can purchase equipment such as PCs/Laptops, ADSL modems and routers from any PC House branch with the technical support for the configuration. Also with this initiative, PC House will accept new applications for the SLT Broadband products.
Speaking on the significance of the tie-up, Shoji Takahashi, CEO of SLT said: "I am proud to go forward with this venture with an innovative company such as PC House. Their support will go a long way in helping us to popularize Broadband service in urban and rural areas of the country equally."
This partnership will expand SLT’s sales outlets for its Broadband products through PC House branch network and their Mobile PC buses becoming the authorised dealer of SLT Broadband services.
"We have tied up with SLT in order to go to rural areas and provide connectivity via ADSL through the company. The partnership ensures that PC House provides the hardware component while SLT provides the software component to supply Broadband connectivity. This will enable potential customers from rural areas to be able to access the Internet. We will be going for a joint marketing venture with SLT and we will take this forward through synchronizing the strengths of both companies," said S H M Rishan, Chairman, PC House.
The business partnership between the two companies will help the customer by giving the opportunity of purchasing PC/Laptop, ADSL modems, ADSL Routers as well as supply for a SLT Broadband connection under one roof. It is also convenient as there would be more sales outlets through authorised dealers. SLT is ready to cater to future demands on broadband services such as IP TV, which will be available in the near future. The company looks forward to delivering more products and services through business convergence between business partners.
PC House is renowned for offering customers the best options in computers and accessories with an innovative product portfolio and an unparalleled after-sales service. Today, PC House is the business partner in Sri Lanka for a wide variety of prestigious international brands such as Intel, Philips, Gigabyte, US Robotics, Logitech/Labtec range of products, Power Tree Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems and Philips PC Peripherals. PC House also boasts of their own branded PC ‘PANORA.’ Furthermore, they are also business partners for the IBM range of Computer Solutions and Gold System Builder for Microsoft.
Sri Lanka Telecom (www.slt.lk) is one of the country’s most valuable blue chip companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. Whilst NTT Communications Corporation of Japan owns a 35.2% stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), 49.2% is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and 15.3% is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company was also awarded an AAA (sri) rating by Fitch Ratings Lanka followed by a BB- international rating by Fitch International.
SLT Group has a customer base of over two million, including multinational corporations, large and small corporate, retail and domestic customers. Today with NTT Communications of Japan as a strategic partner, SLT provides facilities and services: Voice, data, video and mobile to its customers, which are unmatched in scope. These services range from domestic and international voice, advance data transmission services, which include internet services on leased lines, broadband [on ADSL] and dial up, data circuits, frame relay solutions to IP services such as IP-VPN based on IP-MPLS technology, total corporate solutions of multiple services, satellite uplink services and mobile telephony through the fully owned subsidiary, Mobitel.

Putting waste material to productive purposes

Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Dr Sarath Amunugama held discussions with the management of the Golden Sunrise Company, Greenlink Enterprises Inc. and Global Environmental Technologies Inc. and confirmed the support of the Government of Sri Lanka for this important project.
It has to do with the collection of waste material, initially, and use it for the production of organic fertilizer. Still later, waste material will be used for power generation.
Gamini Karunadhara, Chairman of Golden Sunrise, Mike Fernando President of Greenlink Enterprises Inc., Canada, exclusive representative of GET and coordinator of the project, Jo Mihalj, President of Global Environmental Technologies Inc, Canada and Joseph Mihalj (Jr) - Construction Consultant, Veljko Matic, Technician/ Engineer, handling wastewater, discussed the project with the minister.
Prof. Dr. Haschemi – Domestic Waste Expert, Vladimir Banfic and Prof. Dr. Vice Soljan, form the experts of the GET team.
Global Environmental Technologies, Inc. and Golden Sunrise (Private) Limited which have BOI approval will invest Euro 30 million on the project which will contribute considerably towards improving the environment in Sri Lanka.
The company will collect waste material initially and use it for the production of organic fertilizer, and at a latter stage this will be used for power generation.
Gamini Karunadhara, Chairman of Golden Sunrise Company said that his company would be using advanced German technology in this waste transformation. The company plans to process 500 tonnes of garbage to make 100 tonnes of organic fertilizer per day. In the second phase, the process will be used for electric power generation and initially they will produce 9.8 megawatts of electricity. The contribution of Golden Sunrise to the national grid has been approved by the CEB.
Due to the pressing problem of garbage, which is a consequence of urbanization, the Ministry and the BOI have taken steps to encourage investments by companies engaged in sanitation and environmental projects.
A series of meetings were held at the Ministry dealing with these problems resulting in some companies obtaining approval to start. Action was also taken to address the issue of garbage produced at the BOI’s Zones, notably at Katunayake and Biyagama.

Lankan 'Dosa Man' is top NYC street cart vendor

For Thiru ‘The Dosa Man’ Kumar, the third time is the charm.
The Sri Lankan, who runs NY Dosa, a vegan food cart in Manhattan, won the third annual Vendy Award, given to the city's top street chef vendor.
Kumar, who had competed unsuccessfully for the two previous Vendy Awards, won for his specialty Pondicherry dosas, a type of filled crepe. He accepted the large silver Vendy cup Saturday night.
Kumar, who operates his cart at Washington Square Park, beat out four other finalists, including carts for tacos and falafel.
The public whittled several hundred entrants down to the five finalists. A panel that included former Food Network host Sara Moulton selected the winner after a cook-off.
Kumar said he learned how to cook in his native Sri Lanka, where his family owned a restaurant.

Thiru "Dosa Man" Kumar from NY Dosas Washington Square South and Sullivan StreetSri-Lankan style vegan fare Thiru makes super fresh Indian food-- mixed in with his own influences from Sri Lanka. All under the constraints and philosophy of veganism. He's always exceptionally nice and professional. Everyone knows that if money is scarce, you can get a meal from him and pay later. He's a great guy, humanitarian and environmentalist all while being one of the most legit chefs in the city. And his food is cheap.

First one-dayer against England today: Lanka hoping to maintain impressive record

CRICKET: Sri Lanka will be hoping to maintain their impressive record against England which they have had in the recent past when the two teams clash in the first of five one day internationals at the Rangri Dambulla International Stadium today.
The Lankans have simply been outstanding against their old rivals during the last few months and are fresh following a historic five nil drubbing at the backyard of their opponents last year.
Even then sipper Mahela Jayawardena feels that his team will need to be at its best if they are to come closer of producing a repeat performance.
“Two years ago we had a goal set for us, that’s the World Cup and there after we had a few changes in the set up. But now we have to start all over again. If we stay in dreams of the past the other teams might roll you over” he said.
The Sri Lankan captain believed that the present England team is much stronger than they faced them last year and this was quite clear when the islanders cruised to an exciting two run victory in the ICC World Cup fixture in the West Indies in April.
Jayawardena noted that England have got some really talented all rounders coming through even though they will badly feel the absence of Andrew Flintoff. The star all rounder was forced to pull-out of the series due to a troublesome left ankle and he also missed the last one-day series between the two teams in 2006.
Jayawardena said that with Flintoff in the England side they have a more balanced attack because he is a batting all rounder who bowls really well. “He is a matchwinner and his absence is obviously an advantage for us.” added Jayawardena.
“We met them in the World Cup and it was a very close game. England will be a good challenge for us. It’s a big season ahead and we need to make sure we start on a very good note.
“They also have some quality batsmen who play different roles, some we haven’t seen. We need to understand what those are and try to counter-attack them.”
Skipper Jayawardena said that they should now forget the negative aspect of the Twenty20 version of the game and try to pick up the positive things that they gained in South Africa.
He noted that 50 overs are a lot of overs and it is important for them to bat the full distance which they have done quite successfully in the past.
Sri Lanka’s only concern of course will be the absence of off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who has been ruled out from the first three one day internationals as he is still recovering from a strained right bicep which he sustained while bowling long spells during his county stint with Lancashire.
Skipper Jayawardena said that this will be a good opportunity for Kaushal Lokuarachchi to make an impact in the absence of Muralitharan. Lokuarachchi is one of the two spinners named in the Sri Lanka squad along with Dilruwan Perera.
“It’s good for us to try a few things right now, see what Lokuaachchi has to offer and how we can have different combinations going forward” added Jayawardena.
The major concern England are facing is the heat and the unpredictable wickets which are expected to take some turn and bounce.
In fact both teams are unfamiliar to the conditions because there have not been many first class matches played in the recent past.
England of course have a bitter record at this venue where they were bowled out for 88 runs in their previous appearance here in 2003.
But they will be going into this series having recorded a morale boosting home series victory against India at the back of their mind. In addition they have quickly got their act together well and piled up over three hundred runs in their only warm up fixture ahead of the series.
The teams:
Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardena (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Upul Tharanga, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Gayan Wijekoon, Dilruwan Perera.
England (from): Paul Collingwood (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Alistair Cook, Chris Tremlett, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pieterson, Paul Mustard, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Asoka de Silva.