Thuppahi's Blog

Jane Russell, whose essay is entitled “A Response to Roberts and Dharmawardena re “Facing Polarized Extremes in 1973 Simpleton Mode”

 I remember the 1973 Ceylon Studies Seminar. It was held in Colombo in a grand conference centre with more academics present than you could find even by throwing a stone in the environs of Peradeniya and/or Kandy’s riverine or hilltop suburbs.

I remember the very cool lawyer Mark Coorey who chaired several sessions.  I recall seeing Kumari Jayawardene move gravely to the lectern. She wore a simple sari and had long unkempt hair, held back in a straggly ponytail. Her contribution was delivered with serious demeanour.  Months later, Minette de Silva, the architect, part of whose bungalow in Kandy I was renting, asked me if I knew Kumari. I said I didn’t – but I’d seen her at this conference and admired her sincerity. I described her as being unusually lacking in physical vanity. Minette sighed. “Yes, Kumari has let herself go!” On the contrary, I told her I thought Kumari had set a wonderful example of activist feminism.

Continue reading →

Michael Roberts

I cried today and I will be presenting a personal Tribute to GERRY in an essay telling the world about my continuous and profitable interaction with Gerald H Peiris from the year 1957 (?) when I was a fresher at Ramanathan Hall where Gerry was a second-year senior to me and we happened to sit at the same dining table.

Presented here are the titles of the many articles from GERRY presented in my website THUPPAHI –– articles that reached beyond his discipline in Geography and embraced Politics, History, Demography. These articles were invariably incisive and showed the world how skills in geographical discernment could ….. and should…. deepen our social science investigations.

Continue reading →

Dash de Soysa. … with  highlighting being impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi

 Vero Pieris (1909–2001), also known by the names Veronica and Varuni, was a Sri Lankan artist from Kandy who came to London in 1933 to study at The Slade School of Art.

https://gainsborough.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/2576/

https://www.roseberys.co.uk/bidding/A0663-modern-british-20th-century-art-part-i-540/68-grace-englishbritish-1891-1956-miss-vero-pieris-1939oil-on-571440

Varuni Hunt (née Pieris) was born in Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1909 and was first educated in Paris. In 1933, Hunt immigrated to London, England to further her art education, subsequently establishing herself as a painter and and as stained glass artist with a particular interest in religious subjects.

Born: 1909 Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) …. Died: 2001 London, England ……Year of Migration to the UK: 1933 ….

Other name/s: Vero Pieris, Veronica Hunt, Veronica Pieris , Varuni Pieris

Continue reading →

Sri Lankan Reefcomber, responding to  Chandre Dharmawardena’s article entitled “Facing Polarized Extremism in Sri Lanka in 1973 ….” ++

Thanks, Michael.  A thought-provoking essay. The author packs layers of historical grievances, personal academic politics, and comparisons between Sri Lanka and Malaysia into a short space. Many of the author’s arguments are grounded in personal experience. His critique of the language barrier, insular academic circles, and the blindness of the elite to the radicalisation of Tamil youth in Jaffna is compelling.

Continue reading →

Vasantha Wakkumbura presenting an ESSAY entitled  “The Harsh Reality of Sri Lankan Cinema”

Sri Lankan cinema is booming but dull. It feeds audiences fake, feel-good stories to make them believe the world is fair and just. The Kadawatha Mafia Cinema declares that the traditional movie hero is dead. All that is left is a corrupt, ugly reality. This isn’t just a polite request for donations; it is a wake-up call to fund a book that exposes how we, the viewers, quietly accept and support this broken system. Through this book, I introduce the new film genre of “Hyper-Real Anti-Hero Crime-Thriller Cinema” to the Sri Lankan film industry. My book will serve as a handbook for future film-makers who work on crime-thriller scripts.

Continue reading →

Vithushan Ehantharajah, in ESPNcricinfo, 18 September, … England 146 for 4 (Banton 52*, Buttler 30) beat Sri Lanka 145 for 9 (Nassanka 37, Asalanka 31, Dawson 3-32) by six wickets

Tom Banton launches one during his half-century  •  David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images

Continue reading →

Michael Roberts

Arising in part from Prof Chandre Dharmawardena”s critical appraisal of the item in TPS on the Conference sponsored by the CEYLON STUDIES SEMINAR  in Colombo in 1973 (see https://thuppahis.com/2026/09/15/facing-polarized-extremism-in-sri-lanka-in-1973-in-simpleton-mode/#more-101942) and in part by Chamila Talpawila’s article on “The Tamil-Sinhala War”  (see Below), let me place the ABSTRACT of an article that was printed in Contributions to Indian Sociology 35(1):65-96 in February 2001 after the usual process of academic refereeing:

“The burden of history: Obstacles to power sharing in Sri Lanka”

Continue reading →

Rohan Pethiyagoda

Perfect for nature enthusiasts, students, conservationists, and anyone eager to deepen their appreciation of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity. A timeless addition to any personal library, “The Curious Naturalist” encourages readers to see the natural world through the eyes of one of the country’s most respected conservationists.

Published in July 2026 the first print of 1,000 copies sold out in 2 days ….

ISBN 9780997025491

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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

Continue reading →