Thuppahi's Blog

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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Michael Roberts 

The Western media’s heavy focus yesterday and this week on the 9/11 attacks on  USA, and especially the dramatic footage of the Twin Towers in New York burning and then collapsing has captured hearts and minds in the West. I was still teaching at Adelaide University then and working at my desk at home when I received a telephone call from one of the University’s media personel asking me to turn on my TV immediately.

I did so reluctantly but, of course, was transfixed by the unfolding media footage. …..suicide killers and suicide bombings were par for the course for any academic studying Sri Lankan political affairs. The Tamil Tiger attack on the  Central Bank on 1996 may not have been as eye-catching that on the Twin Towers, but remains  a good junior “cousin” …. ……….Ask Somachandra Skandakumar who was in the  George Steuart Building opposite the Central Bank and faced the shocks and witnessed the carnage outside.

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Mohamed Atta …. in WIKIPEDIA

  

Atta

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Rex Clementine in The Island. …. where the title is different

The axe is set to fall on Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva following his uninspiring leadership during Sri Lanka’s 1-0 series defeat to India at home last month. Sri Lanka’s next assignment in the World Test Championship is a two-Test series in Pakistan and The Island learns that Dhananjaya is unlikely to lead the side. More significantly, he could even find himself fighting to retain his place in the XI.

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