Michael Roberts
Let the cricketing world rejoice in Bangladesh’s triumph in a tight Test Match at the P Sara Stadium aka “The Oval” in Colombo. One can allude to Sri Lankan hands within the resurgent Bangladesh cricketing squad in the tracksuits of Coach Chandika Hathurasinghe and Batting Coach Thilan Samaraweera and trainer Mario Villavarayan. But that would be unfair on the Bangla players because matches are won on the field through application, grit, acumen and performance. Continue reading
Click to access Somasundaram-Suicide%20bombers%20of%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf
Daya Somasundaram … http://repo.jfn.ac.lk/med/bitstream/701/1011/1/Somasundaram-Suicide%20bombers%20of%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf
: 
ABSTRACT The phenomena of suicide bombers in Sri Lanka share some similarities with but also have some marked differences with what is seen in other parts of world today. Increasing discrimination, state humiliation and violence against the minority Tamils brought out a militancy and the phenomena of suicide bombers. The underlying socio-political and economical factors in the North and East of Sri Lanka that caused the militancy at the onset are examined. Some of these factors that were the cause of or consequent to the conflict include: extrajudicial killing of one or both parents or relations by the state; separations, destruction of home and belongings during the war; displacement; lack of adequate or nutritious food; ill health; economic difficulties; lack of access to education; not seeing any avenues for future employment and advancement; social and political oppression; and facing harassment, detention and death. At the same time, the Tamil militants have used various psychological methods to entice youth, children and women to join and become suicide bombers. Public displays of war paraphernalia, posters of fallen heroes, speeches and video, particularly in schools and community gatherings, heroic songs and stories, public funeral rites and annual remembrance ceremonies draw out feelings of patriotism and create a martyr cult. The religio-cultural context of the Tamils has provided meaning and symbols for the creation and maintenance of this cult, while the LTTE has provided the organisational capacity to train and indoctrinate a special elite as suicide bombers. Whether the crushing of the LTTE militarily by the state brings to an end the phenomena of suicide bombers or whether it will re-emerge in other forms if underlying grievances are not resolved remains to be seen.
KEY WORDS: Altruistic suicide; Ethnic conflict; Insurgency; Sacrifice; Sri Lanka; Suicide bombers Continue reading
Filed under cultural transmission, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, meditations, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry
“The more players are allowed to say on the field the greater the likelihood something personal will be uttered at the wrong time In that case the administrators will do well to remember that one player in this duel has a bat. If things boil over, something could go seriously wrong” Ian Chappell in “Tough Task for Smith’s side to halt India’s Momentum” in Sunday Advertiser, 12 March 2017
Continue reading 
Carl Zimmer, courtesy of the New York Times, where the title runs “How Did Aboriginal Australians Arrive on the Continent? DNA Helps Solve a Mystery”
Human skeletons and archaeological remains in Australia can be traced back nearly 50,000 years before the trail disappears. Before then, apparently, Australia was free of humans. So how did people get there, and when? Where did humans first arrive on the continent, and how did they spread across the entire landmass?
Answers to some of these questions are stored in the DNA of Aboriginal Australians. A genetic study of 111 Aboriginal Australians, published on Wednesday, offers an interesting — and, in some respects, unexpected — view of their remarkable story.
Alagu Subramaniam, courtesy of Rajiva Wijesinha, An Anthology of English Poetry and Prose, Godage & Bros, 2016, … see http://www.godage,comas Addendum to the item on professional mourners in Thuppahi, viz https://thuppahis.com/2017/03/03/professional-mourners-in-ceylon-and-southern-india/#more-24442. The Original Title of this Essay is “Professional Mourners”
My grandmother died late at night on a Saturday while my sister, brother and I were fast asleep. We were wakened in the morning by the cries from grandmother’s house and the sound of drums. We dressed hurriedly and ran to her place. A large gathering was there, and the space between the boundary fence and the outer verandah was lined with people. We pushed our way through the crowd to the centre of the hut in search of our mother. We were feeling afraid because it was the first funeral we had attended.
Michael Roberts
My interest in the topic of disappearances in Sri Lanka over the past decade and the allegations presented by one “Floyyd” in his comments on my central frontispiece named ”Sinhala Mind-Set” on the 25th November 2013 led me to supplement my posts and inquiries on that topic with a serious question I sent to several friends and personnel on the 9th December 2016 and the week that followed. Only a few responded to my inquiry in the course of that month. It is of some significance that most of those whose information is presented below are of the older generation and, like me, in the age-bracket seventies. For that reason they are calling upon their younger days in supplying ethnographic information that is of considerable value. For this reason I refer to “Ceylon” in my title because the data seems to refer to practices before the name change in 1972. However, this does not mean that the practitioners of mourning and the capacities for lamentation on cue have been totally buried.
Women in oppari lamentation in southern India — cf Balachandran’s note below 
From https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellbredkannanclicks/14228110375
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, caste issues, communal relations, cultural transmission, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance, zealotry
Tony Donaldson. in a Vale for the Late Tony Peries of Colombo & Sydney, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, 2017 edn , where the title is “Remembering Tony Peries” … with emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi.
My first encounter with Tony Peries took place in 2003. By chance, I stumbled upon a meeting of the Ceylon Society in Melbourne one Sunday afternoon at which Tony was giving a talk about his book George Steuart & Co Ltd 1952 – 1973: A Personal Odyssey, published in 2003, a copy of which occupies a prominent position on my bookshelf. He made an immediate impression on me as a gifted speaker with a natural stage persona that drew audiences into his world.
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, historical interpretation, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Frances Ferdinands, in Sunday Island, 19 February 2017, where the authors’s chosen title is “Becuase I Care”
As a Sri-Lankan born Canadian Artist, I have had the privilege of spending time here in Sri Lanka within the last two years. From January – March 2015 I was here on a Canadian Government sponsored project geared towards exploring my artistic heritage and incorporating this experience into my own art practice. I was mentored in the traditional arts and crafts of Temple painting, and Beeralu Lacemaking. I recently returned in early January of this year to study the traditional craft of mask making. Continue reading
thuppahi
