Life usually stops in Sri Lanka's capital during April's holiday period, but with an economic crisis derailing traditional home celebrations, Colombo's city centre is instead teeming with frustrated crowds. Sri Lankans ritually boil milk on the first day of the island nation's New Year, but the commodity is one of many in short supply -- along with the liquid gas and kerosene used to heat stoves in many Colombo households, and rice to serve family members. Demonstrators this year brought the custom out of their homes and instead heated clay pots over makeshift bonfires outside the capital's Presidential Secretariat, highlighting the plight of households now forced to cook with firewood. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES