Thuppahi's Blog

Rajiva Wijesinha, whose favoured title is “Easy Essential Reforms: Planning Buildings for people” … in an article presented in the Ceylon Daily News, September 2026

One of my principal complaints, in the days when I was supposed to advise on reconciliation, was that those in authority thought the way to people’s hearts was through cement. This doubtless was because, as my father once memorably suggested thirty years ago – to be hauled up before parliament for lese majeste in suggesting that ministers wanted to deal in construction to make money– buildings mean commissions.

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Osantha Nayanapriya Thalpawila, whose favoured title is “The Escalation of the LTTE’s Violent Activities and the Civil War in Sri Lanka”

Introduction

July 1983 was another turning point in the polarization of relations between the Sinhaleseand Tamils, with brutal communal riots spreading all over the country [i]. 1 The triggering event for the ―1983 riots‖ was the attack on government troops by a militant group that resulted in the killing of 13 soldiers in the Thirunelveli area of the Jaffna peninsula. This event caused a huge tremor and shock among the Sinhalese in the South. Subsequently, the communal riots spread throughout the country due to the instigation of certain politicians and inaction by the police, resultingin the deaths of about 470 Tamils and with many others injured. More than 70,000 Tamils were displaced in the South and a number of families moved as refugees to the Northern peninsula. According to unofficial reports the death toll was as high as 3000.[ii]2

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Michael Roberts

The revisiting of the  9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in USA and other prominent sites TODAY  has prompted me to revisit a WEBSITE entitled “SACRIFICIAL DEVOTION” which was set up with aid from Jacob Copeman and others in 2010.

“Sacrificial Devotion” is a wide, catch-all concept that encompasses human commitment to a cause in a wide variety of ways.  Mothers pursue their devotion to their new born infants and children throughout this our world. Warriors have displayed devotion to their aggressive goals aand depradations over the centuries. The two World Wars in the 20th century saw such bravery, aggression and horror in numerous contexts and modalities. The Anzacs of Australian legends and Charles Bean’s ‘recordings’ were (are) just one expression of this widespread phenomenon.

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Professor Chandre Dharmawardena, writing now from Canada, Early September 2026, in an essay entitled  “How the 1973 Ceylon-Studies meeting held in Colombo totally missed the bus” … with the highlighting below in BLUE being the work of Michael Roberts [who was one of the organisers of the Ceylon Studies  Seminar conference]. 

Michael Roberts says, harking back to 1973:  “I had a chance of chatting with Bishop Lak for a fair amount of time. It was then that the tale of (some of) his efforts to forge amiable discussions among well-meaning personnel in both the Sinhala and Tamil communities, among them several bhikkhus, unfolded, or rather, was unfolded.”

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A ‘Message’ From One PERRY ….

Dash De Soysa, whose preferred title is “Arrack: A History of Alcohol and Distillation in Sri Lanka aand the Wider World”

Long before the rise of the global trade in brandy, whisky, rum and other European spirits, arrack was the world’s first international spirit and Batavia arrack was the world’s first luxury spirit. The evolution of this trade in Asia is traced to around the 9th century AD. The term was in use in India before the 13th century. The more ancient undistilled liquors like toddy, wine, cider and beer were important commodities of trade with a greater antiquity.

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A REUTERS  News Item, 13 September 2026 ……

SEE https://au.news.yahoo.com/indonesia-passenger-ship-243-people-033315217html

TITLE: At least 129 missing after Indonesian passenger ship capsizes  …

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Srinidhi Ramanujam….  in ESPNcricinfo, September 2026 

Its spin vs spin as India and Sri Lanka battle for Asia Cup title

While there isn’t much to separate the teams when it comes to their spin bowling, India have been the better all-round side, and go into the final as the favourit

If spin is to decide the Women’s T20 Asia Cup final, both India and Sri Lanka have plenty to call upon. India’s spin attack, led by Deepti Sharma, has taken 26 wickets in the tournament, the most by a side. Sri Lanka are next with 25. That makes it seem like a spin vs spin and more spin kind of title contest.

On the plus side for India is that they have appeared well-rounded on the whole. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have scored the bulk of the runs.

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Anila Dias Bandaranaike, in the Sunday Island, 13 September 2026 , where the title runs this: “Remembering Nihal Rodrigo: A friendship extending over 50 years” **

Nihal passed away on 14th August, a few days after his 86th birthday. Nandi, Raffi and Anouk, his granddaughter, had been with him from New York till just a week before he died. In the weeks after he passed away, there have been glowing tributes to Nihal by his professional colleagues and from organisations in which he served. My tribute is personal, of friendship over decades with a multi-talented and kind-hearted gentleman, with a delightful sense of humour, who wore his talents so lightly.

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Michael Roberts

At a moment when the world is reflecting on the extreme impact of Zealotry via tales re NINE/ELEVEN,  a letter from Rajiva Wijesinha in Colombo reminded me of a fighter for peace and justice: namely Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe.  The best epitaph for this good soul as a man of faith trained in the political sciences who was forthright in his confronatations with zealotry is an article I wrote around 40 odd years back when island Lanka was locked within ethnic conflict and its atrocities.

A Man inspired, A Man who inspired: Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe

Father Lakshman Wickremasinghe came into my life in a big way from 1958 at Peradeniya Campus. I was heavily involved in Student Christian Movement (SCM) activities then and Father Lak’s appointment as campus chaplain was a godsend to all of us in the SCM. As firm as energetic, never commandeering, but always persistent and organized, Father Lak, as we called him with some affection, proved an inspirational figure within the campus.

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