Srilanka, Feb. 2 -- I got to know Kasun De Silva or rather was privileged to see amazing landscapes, archaeological sites and human-scapes a few years ago through his many posts on Facebook. One photograph in particular spoke to me for personal and professional reasons. He called it 'The Maze' and was one of several in an album he had titled 'Authentic Sri Lanka.' It was a view of terraced paddy fields in the Kalthota area.

It appealed to me on account of a lifelong fascination with agriculture in general and rice in particular. There was a professional reason. At the time I was working at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI). HARTI was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary that year and I planned to pub...