Author Archives: thuppahi

About thuppahi

Sri Lankan and Australian nationality; student of Sri Lankan society and politics; sociology of cricket;
August 16, 2020 · 4:56 pm

Norah Roberts: A Letter from Her Past, April 1995

My sister Norah Roberts, I now realise, was a remarkable woman. Further elaborations along these lines will follow in a second “Memoriam.” The present display is via a Letter she sent to Fr Corera of the Vanareeth House for Elders run by the Sisters of Charity in Galle on the 15th April 1995 …. a copy of which has been preserved by Moninna Goonewardena of 15 Parawa Street, Fort, Galle.[1]

The copy of the Letter below will be followed by a commentary on several facets touched on within the letter; while my Ode in Praise in a subsequent essay will present details on Norah Roberts and her difficult circumstances of total deafness from her 32/33rd years on earth.

GalleFort~library~2002

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August 15, 2020 · 3:29 am

Eelamist Movement Rises Again in the North?

Dinasena Ratugamage, in Island, 15 August 2020, where the title is “Wiggy makes vow before LTTE memorial”

Newly elected TMTK (Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani) MP C.V. Wigneswaran, on Thursday (13), vowed before the LTTE memorial at Mullivaikkal that he would fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil people.

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August 14, 2020 · 5:42 pm

The British Planters and Cricket: Supplementing David’s Work

This striking picture of the British planting community in their finery watching a game of cricket has been taken from Palinda De Silva’s collection at http://www.imagesofceyon, No 442 and can also be seen as No. 62 in Roberts, Potency, Power & People in Groups, Colombo, Marga Institute, 2011 ….  Michael Roberts in support and appreciation of the work put in by David Colin-Thome ……………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2020/08/14/ceylon-tea-planting-clubs-and-cricket-over-the-years/ Continue reading →

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August 14, 2020 · 2:29 pm

Ceylon Tea, Planting Clubs and Cricket over the Years

David Colin-Thome: “The History of Tea and Cricket in Sri Lanka,” at https://www.elanka.com.au/the-history-of-tea-and-cricket-in-sri-lanka-by-david-colin-thome-2/

“You will think I write a lot about the scenery, but if you saw it you would not think I said too much” – James Taylor (Pioneering tea planter describing Ceylon in a letter to his father in Scotland in 1858)

In Sri Lanka, the relevance of tea to the game of cricket extends further than that of a twenty-minute break that separates lunch and the end of a day’s play. And while tea to the Western world is but a tiny item in a crowded shopping trolley of groceries, in Sri Lanka, it is the trolley itself.

THE HISTORY OF TEA AND CRICKET IN SRI LANKA - BY David Colin Thome

Source: history of ceylon tea

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August 13, 2020 · 2:43 pm

The Galle Public Library and the Robertses

Mayura Weeraman presents Michael Roberts’ Induction into the August Ranks of the Galle Public Library where his sister Norah ruled the roost way back ….

... with Kamani Abeywickrama the present Librarian

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August 13, 2020 · 1:09 pm

The Ubiquitous Banyan Tree and Galle Fort

Two ‘Monuments’ …. The VOC Crest and a Banyan Giant

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August 11, 2020 · 5:26 am

Bopage’s Pessimistic Assessment of the Sri Lankan Vote and Its Implications

 Lionel Bopage: “The Best and the Worst – 2020 General Elections in Sri Lanka” ….. sent to me by a friend and doubtless due in Colombo Telegraph and/or some local newspaper …. Note: the emphasis in BLUE is Bopage’s hand and that in RED is mine –Editor, Thuppahi

The general elections on 5 August had turned out to be an outstanding victory for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Rajapaksa Family and the Sinhala Buddhist nationalists representing both the elite and ordinary members of the country’s majority community. Despite many allegations made about the corrupt and criminal acts of certain candidates put forward at the election by some of the political parties, the electorate elected most of them. Sadly, the candidates who are known for exposing corruption and criminality in the country – the very people who have demonstrated their credentials to be promising parliamentarians – have not been elected. At the same time, it is heartening to note that some of the candidates who were credibly alleged to be robber barons during the 2015 regime have been outed.

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August 9, 2020 · 2:07 am

Fighting Death and Covid: Mike Ryan of WHO in Straight Talk … and More

Mike Ryan of WHO interviewed by Melissa Fleming

The info-demic can be just as damaging as the pandemic itself, because if people aren’t getting the right information, if they’re not able to trust that information, and then we have a problem. There’s no point having solutions to offer people if they don’t hear about them, or they don’t believe in them,” said Michael (Mike) Ryan in this latest episode.

https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/S3-E4-we-need-to-save-more-lives

 

2 January 2019 – A helicopter transports a wounded health worker with their team including Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme for WHO (far right) and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General (second from right). Dr. Ryan helped attend to the health worker, who had been wounded in an attack against the Ebola vaccination team in Komanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Evacuated for advanced care, he later recovered from his injuries – Photo: ©WHO/Lindsay Mackenzie

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August 8, 2020 · 6:33 pm

Mattala Airport rising from the Dust? …. Maybe

Shehan Sumanasekara, in Aviation Voice, 3 August 2020, with this title “June –July MRIA has Handled More Than 50 International Flight Movements”

Once tagged as the World’s Emptiest Airport; MRIA within months has been turned around with many passenger movements. Four years ago, a news article published in the Forbes magazine titled ‘The Story Behind the World’s Emptiest International Airport’ (May 28, 2016), elaborated how Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) was constructed and failed to position its self strategically. However, under His Excellency, the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s vision: ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’, and the government’s policy to develop international airports in Sri Lanka, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited under the able guidance of Major General (Rtd.) G. A. Chandrasiri developed its short, medium and long term strategies to promote the airport said Director (Operations) Mr. Shehan Sumanasekara Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.

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August 8, 2020 · 4:06 am

Remarkable Voting Results in Sri Lanka … Especially in the North and East

Chandre Dharmawardana, in an article entitled “Tamil speaking voters  decisively reject vengeance-peddling Genocide-Claiming parties in Sri Lanka’s  elections,” –which will presumably appear in digital or print form somewhere

Sri Lanka, a nation troubled by decades of civil strife and a separatist war  has just concluded a parliamentary election bringing back the war-winning government. Western observers have keenly focused on the North, with its Tamil population (5% of the Nations population) previously controlled by the separatist Tigers. Their  “MaVeera”  (suicide fighters  presented as heroes) are celebrated covertly and even overtly by hard-liner Tamil politicians in the North, and in Western diasporas.

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