Chandra Fernando informed Thuppahi that on the 21st September 2019 “30 Solar Powered Lighting Packages were distributed at Udagaldebokka. The first two  photos show the packages being carried  to village and the trail….

Thuppahi Comment: The pictures are not only significant in displaying some facets of the terrain; but also in underling the cultural practices within (in this instance) Sinhala society inclusive of class differentiation.  This set of illustrations should be treated as an essential appendage of the item by SWR de Samarasinghe entitled  “The Variation in the Diffusion of Electrical Power” …… https://thuppahis.com/2019/09/27/the-variation-in-the-diffusion-of-electrical-power/

Click to view MAP prepared by Gerald Peiris =  Udagaldebokka environs (1)

let THUPPAHI repeat an email note from Professor Gerald Peiris, dated 8th September 2019: 

Michael, …..I am glad to learn that Udagaldebooka has benefited from this solar power project. I am familiar with it because many years ago (probably early 70s) I introduced a student whom Gananath [Obeyesekere] had sent from the US to SL to study 19th century village life here; and Udagaldebokka had been identified for that because of its remoteness. Sudath Gunasekera had found for us a guide. When we went there (7 mile walk across mountains and valleys, I was quite disturbed by the fact that there was only one house in the entire village with tile roofing, and except in that house, no other dwelling had a latrine. Since the area also had quite a large serpent population, I wouldn’t have dared to stay there even one night. This girl however remained there for about 9 months as the adopted “daughter” of a “respectable” family and did her field work. When she came to Peradeniya in the company of her foster mother (quite an impressive woman) and a brother before her departure she was quite fluent in Sinhala. ………………For solar electricity to be made available to that village this year (it now has road access), there must have been quite an improvement in its conditions………………… Regards, Gerry