Category Archives: Colombo and Its Spaces

December 19, 2024 · 3:37 pm

Beyond Imagination – Chandra Schaffter’s Life of Service

Ravi RUDRA has composed an extensive web-item describing Chandra Schaffter’s services to Sri Lanka,  S. Thomas College, cricket, hockey, the Tamil Union CC’, insurance services in the island and humakind in general. The account includes photographs and is so extensive that it is best presented in segments. THIS is the first instalment. As this segment includes heaps of photographs, it will take me time to insert all of them…. so the present version is incomplete .…. Editor, TPS 

Compilation by Ravi RUDRA …. with this title ‘The Phenomenal Journey of Mr. CHANDRA SCHAFFTER 94* Story of Vision, Resilience, Disappointments and Success” …. 1 December 2024 

Mr. Chandra Thomas Adolphus Schaffter (born 3 April 1930) ‘The Father of Sri Lanka Insurance & Much, Much More’

“If you cannot do something for those who work for you, but you seek to get the best out of them and not worry about them, then, I don’t think life is worth living. What I am today, I owe it first to God and then to my School”– Chandra Schaffter

 Legendary Thomian (Jan 1937–March 1950)

“I was very fortunate to attend S. Thomas’ College because I had a good education and a good foundation. I lost my mother when I was only 3 and my father when I was 11, so I never had real parental guidance in that sense.But my school masters, especially in my early years, and some of my relatives were very helpful in making me find my way around.

S. Thomas’ was a great place to be in, as you learnt a lot of good values which you don’t see in the outside world. This up-bringing has stood me and many Thomians in good stead.”– Chandra Schaffter

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, communal relations, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, teaching profession, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

November 25, 2024 · 1:25 pm

THOMIA now on Sale: A History of S. Thomas’ College in Colombo

Richard Simon to Michael Roberts, Editor, Thuppahi

Thomia, as you know, is a comprehensive history of S. Thomas’ College presented in the wider context of Lankan history and focusing on the influences between the two. In this sense it resembles my previous history of the Ceylon tea industry, which you were kind enough to praise when it was published in 2017. It is very different from a typical school history and its appeal is certainly not confined to Old Thomians.

 Now on sale: Thomia is available for advance purchase from today, 25 November 2024. I hope to finance printing of the book partly through advance sales; I am happy to say I have already received a number of pledges.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes

November 10, 2024 · 12:02 pm

Ranil’s Hand in the Batalanda Killings?

VISIT this item sent to me by a Richmondite Medic residing in Britain with this note: 

 I recently heard Ranil W’s name linked to Batalanda but did not know what it was about.  This blog reveals all, what a murderer R is,as well as what crimes most of the political leaders before him also did. Watch and make your mind up.   Author Nandana [Weerarathne] is an investigative journalist  who had self-exiled himself until  the fall of  RW from power.…………….. Shocking!

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, conspiracies, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom & censorship, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, trauma, vengeance, world events & processes

November 7, 2024 · 10:40 am

Walter Stace in British Ceylon, 1910-1932

Michael Roberts

 Walter T. Stace was a British citizen born in 1886 and educated in private schools in Wales and Scotland before completing his undergraduate degree at Trinity College, Dublin. He was therefore of middle-upper class background. His philosophical leanings did not deter him from signing up for the Colonial Service. He was sent to Ceylon – reaching the island with his wife … and being posted to the town of Galle*** in 1910.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

November 2, 2024 · 7:23 pm

British Ceylon Through A Family Lens 1850-1950

Prof Naren Chitty …. an article in THE CEYLANKAN vol 27/4 November 2024

 Introduction
​British Governors relied on mostly unsalaried Mudaliyars (leaders) from select families who exchanged service for land grants.[1]  Educated in public schools Mudaliyars’ Anglophile sons increasingly inhabited a Jane Austenian lifeworld, particularly as they donned European attire in the middle of the nineteenth century. Unfolding around them was a countervailing Buddhist revival associated with Sinhala cultural resurgence. [2]

Chitty Family in 1899 … Standing L-R = Christian, Wilfred, George Snr, Marian, Charles ….. Sitting L-R = Mitzi, Rose, Maude, Laura, James

 

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, Britain's politics, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

October 8, 2024 · 6:50 pm

Luxury Cars — Typical Extravaganza in Sri Lanka

Bedgar Perera, in The Island, 8 October 2024

In recent days, [a] vehicle display at Galle Face attracted much interest. Most of them were fuel guzzling, power packed automobiles, expensive to run and unaffordable to most unless somebody like the government or a big company picks up the tab. They were lavishly used by political appointees of many sorts at no cost to themselves.

 

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, Colombo and Its Spaces, democratic measures, economic processes, life stories, meditations, performance, Sri Lankan scoiety, taking the piss, transport and communications

September 30, 2024 · 1:19 pm

The Pervasive Spoils System of Yesteryear Rejected in Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections

Merril Gunaratne, …. Senior DIG Police (Retired).. in The Island newspaper …. where a different title is deployed. Note that the highlights here are impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi .** 

The propaganda which possibly helped the NPP leader to overcome SJB and UNP leaders was their capacity to aggressively agitate against many features of an ‘’iniquitous system’’ which people attributed to have been responsible for the bankruptcy of the country. They also exploited the belief of people that members of political groups or traditional parties which exchanged political power in turn, enjoyed perquisites and privileges associated with the “system”, while citizens suffered under the weight of the economic collapse. The “Aragalaya’’ of May 1922 heralded the emergence on a pervasive scale of hatred against the ‘’system”. The NPP took notice, and their campaign against it did not abate till the conclusion of the election.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, democratic measures, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, parliamentary elections, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, vengeance, world events & processes

September 29, 2024 · 3:13 pm

Kumar Sangakkara’s Ecumenical Patriotic Outreach

Michael Roberts

Kumar Sangakkara’s recent step as a front-personage for tourism in Sri Lanka (see https://thuppahis.com/2024/09/29/kumar-sangakkara-for-tourist-trips-to-sri-lanka/) calls to mind his bold steps on behalf of ethnic compromise and reconciliation in Sri Lanka in the 200os. In these efforts he was joined at diferent moments by Murali and Mahela [tsunami relief tours) and his wife Yehali (visit to St Patricks College in Jaffna, 2009).

These instances underline the weight of the messages in an article from my pen which was presented in GROUNDVIEWS by Sanjana Hattotuwa and Co towards the end of THE YEAR 2012.

Standing now in the year 2024 this essays  — as well as the comments it attracted — may serve as useful points of departure for meaningful commentary.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, plural society, politIcal discourse, power sharing, press freedom, reconciliation, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

September 20, 2024 · 1:52 am

BBC Weighs Sri Lanka’s Presidential Options

Samira Hussain, for the BBC, 15 September 2024, where the title runs thus: “Still reeling from crisis, Sri Lanka holds pivotal election”

A rally for Ranil Wickremesinghe in the coastal town of Beruwala – he’s the man to beat but lacks his own big political base

“I thought I’d spend my whole life here, fighting a corrupt government – but the younger generation did something.” Samadhi Paramitha Brahmananayake is looking at the field where she spent months camped out with thousands of other demonstrators in Sri Lanka’s capital in 2022.

She can’t quite believe that luscious green grass has replaced the hundreds of protester tents that filled the field opposite the presidential secretariat. “I feel we’re now more energetic, more powerful,” says Ms Brahmananayake, a 33-year-old banker based in Colombo.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, female empowerment, governance, Left politics, life stories, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, violence of language, world events & processes

September 12, 2024 · 8:01 pm

The Roberts Oral History Project, 1964-1969: Its Conception, Inception & Outcomes

Michael Roberts

In re-establishing communication with two old Mertonians of the early 1960s generation at my College in Oxford, viz, Tony Roberton and Keith Shuttleworth, I have been induced to reflect upon my unusual circumstances as a postgraduate at Merton and Oxford. Apart from being one of the few Sri Lankans in that University,[i] I happened to be (A) engaged in postgraduate work which demanded research at the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane in London, and (B) a colonial visitor with the asset of two sisters domiciled in London.[ii]

 Tony is kneeling on the left upfront; while Keith is on my rght– Merton rugger team c. 1964/65

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, land policies, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, performance, plural society, politIcal discourse, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, teaching profession, world events & processes