Category Archives: Colombo and Its Spaces

March 18, 2023 · 9:29 pm

People Inbetween: Ethnic & Class Prejudices in British Ceylon

Michael Roberts … Content of His Talk on this topic at the National Trust in Colombo in June 2018 

The National Trust’s brief was for me to present motifs from the book People Inbetween. The Burghers and the Middle Class in the Transformations within Sri Lanka, 1790-1960s, (Ratmalana, Sarvodaya Book Publishing Services, 1989) and more specifically its first chapter viz. “Pejorative Phrases: the Anti-colonial Response and Sinhala Perceptions of the Self through Images of the Burghers” 

Many think People Inbetween is a history of the Burghers. Not so. It is multi-faceted. It describes (a) the rise of the middle class in British times, an influential force within which the Burghers were a critical element and a vanguard in the questioning of British rule; (b) the initial strands in the development of Ceylonese nationalism and (c) the development of Colombo into a metropolitan hub that became the island’s hegemonic centre.

 

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March 6, 2023 · 11:13 pm

Don Bradman at Cricket in Ceylon in 1930 …. Yes, 1930

Rex Clementine in The Island, 5 March 2023, where the title reads  “New book says Bradman played at CCC in 1930”

All of us cricket nerds have heard stories of Sir Don Bradman’s visit to P. Sara Oval. There are a couple of images too; one where he strides out to bat and another where he walks alongside Ceylon skipper Mahadevan Sathasivam for the toss.

 

There are other famous stories as well about how the greatest batsman the game has seen appreciating the scoreboard at The Oval and him finding out the inadequacies of the pitch. Some even believed that P. Sara Oval was the only ground in Asia where Bradman had played.

However a new book ‘An Island’s Eleven’ by British writer Nicholas Brookes reveals that Bradman had played at Maitland Place in 1930 en route to England for the first time. Brookes’ book is a well researched document on Sri Lankan cricket and gives a vivid description of cricket in the island in the pre- Test era. The writer has spoken to many stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket from S. Skandakumar to Kumar Sangakkara and elaborates how the game evolved.

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March 4, 2023 · 7:01 pm

The Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine in Colonial & Independent Sri Lanka

Mevan Pieris serves up a Synopsis of his Book prior to Its Launching

Synopsis of the book on The Community, to be launched at The Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Independence Square, on 21st March, at 6 pm, with Professor GL Peiris as Chief Guest, and S. Skandakumar and Warden Marc Billimoria as Guests of Honour.

‘The Community” is a historical account of the Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine, the existence of which has been already reported by several eminent writers, and about which Michael Dias, the celebrated Law Don of Cambridge, has written to say, “the precise relationship from amongst the complex family affinities that made the extended Community………. defies simple definition”. This work has not only attempted to shed much light on the evolution of the Community, but has also portrayed its Master Spirits to provide a greater appreciation of the stupendous contributions made by them to society in various fields and ways.

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February 3, 2023 · 1:08 pm

“Alfred House”– Its Majestic Nineteenth Century Opulence

Hugh Karunanayake, whose choice of title reads as “Nineteenth Century Opulence: The Story of Alfred House” … presented here with highligting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Nineteenth Century Ceylon boasted of many stately homes such as Queens House, Horagolla Walauwwa, and Alfred House.  Alfred House achieved considerable fame as the venue for a much-remembered dinner in 1870 to the visiting Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred then titled the Duke of Edinburgh.

Alfred House –-by Slimm & Co

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January 31, 2023 · 8:00 pm

Some Presentations on Independence Day in the Past in Thuppahi

Anusha Palpita in 2016: “Independence Day in Black and White Video,” 20 July 2020, https://thuppahis.com/2020/07/30/independence-day-1949-in-black-and-white-video/

Thuppahi 2022: ….. https://thuppahis.com/2022/11/21/eureka-the-film-clip-of-the-1949-independence-day-festivities-secured/

KLF Wijedasa: “A Symbolic Moment of Ethnic Oneness,” 4 February 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/02/04/a-symbolic-moment-of-ethnic-oneness-at-independence-day-4-february-1948/

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January 30, 2023 · 11:14 pm

A Pot Pourri on Buildings, Mechanised Transport, Et Cetera in Old Ceylon

Vinodh Wickremeratne, whose preferred ttile is “Historical Outline of Transport in Lanka” …. while the highlighting emphasis and the photos are additions by Thuppahi

The Island has experienced all types of Transportation at one time or another. The Ancient ports opened the country to Cholas, Arabs, Chinese and Europeans. Subsequently the slashing of jungles created rudimentary paths to link villages, anyhow the need to travel had been only for Emergencies, looking for matrimonial partners, special medications etc.

With Colonisation, the Need for Internal transportation was felt for Military strategies, Plantation core and peripheral needs and to keep the Administration  smooth.                                       Bullock cart transport in the 1840s  … & the Bridge of Boats across the Kelani River in 1820s

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January 25, 2023 · 12:37 am

St. Thomas’ College: A Wide-ranging History of the ‘School by the Sea’

David Sansoni, whose preferred title is “STC – an unauthorised history of Lanka’s greatest Public School”

Richard Simon’s ‘history of Lanka’s greatest public school’, is an epic poem!
Epic, in its reach; poetic, in its lyricism, this towering, magnificent opus is a pearl, of both history and literature. “STC” touches the soul and core, of historophile, linguaphile and bibliophile; Christian, Lankan and, above all, Thomian.


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January 16, 2023 · 6:38 pm

Douglas and Estelle de Niese: World-Class Singing Duo in the Mid-20th Century

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Douglas and Estelle de Niese

Douglas and Estelle, singing duo affectionately referred to as the Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy of Sri Lanka, met while entertaining the troops during the Second World War. 

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December 26, 2022 · 7:25 pm

A Royal-Thomian Cricket Match Remembered Not Only for the Cricket

Hugh Karunanayake

                                               “Oft in the stilly night

                                                Ere slumber’s chains has bound me

                                                Fond memory brings the light

                                                Of other days around me

                                               The smiles, the tears,

                                               Of boyhood years”  

The Royal Thomian match of 1951 will for long be remembered for its nail-biting finish, and for the manner in which the Royal College team led by skipper T. Vairavanathan  extracted a victory from the jaws of defeat. It will certainly occupy a top position in the history of the series, the second oldest school cricket encounter in the world, (the first game being played in 1880).

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December 11, 2022 · 8:34 pm

Working on the Book PEOPLE INBETWEEN

Michael Roberts

The ‘discovery’ of the Lorenz Cabinet in the Royal Asiatic Society in the 1980s led me to combine with Percy Colin-Thome[1] and Ismeth Raheem in working up this material into a plan envisaging a  set of books (four volumes).[2] The first in this projected series was drafted by me and came out in 1989 courtesy of Sarvodaya Publishing Services (within the limitations of book production in that period).[3] This book, People Inbetween,  has been out of print for quite a while.

 

 

 

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