Courtesy of a Face book entrybya Sri Lankan with good taste…web reference misplaced
Category Archives: elephant tales
Wildlife Wonderland …. Wilpattu in Sri Lanka
Filed under elephant tales, heritage, landscape wondrous, meditations, travelogue, wild life
Sri Lanka’s Prejudiced and Petty Rulers
Rifat Halim in LankaWeb, 22 August 2019, in http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/08/22/three-idiots-and-a-blind-woman/
Three Idiots is a classic Hindi movie that features a group of morons. Sri Lanka has gone one step further by producing three modayas and a blind woman in real life. Future historians would be hard-pressed to explain Sri Lanka’s civil conflict (1983–2009). How could a small section of a microscopic minority terrorise the country for so long? In 1983, Sri Lankan Tamils were barely 10% of the populations and the LTTE (also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a minuscule group
The answer lies in the stupid rivalry of the politicians. Every time the Tigers committed an atrocity, the politicians blamed someone else. They were so transfixed by their petty quarrels that they were blind to the big beast.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, disparagement, elephant tales, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance
Passing Elephants at Kadugannawa Pass
Filed under doctoring evidence, elephant tales, the imaginary and the real, tourism, trauma, travelogue
Australia takes Tough Line on Asylum Seeking Boat People
Asiri Fernando, in Sunday Times, 28 July 2019, where the title is
Five Sri Lankan men who attempted to reach Australian shores by boat were repatriated to Colombo this week. Several attempts by Sri Lankans to sail illegally into Australia the past three months have raised questions if human smugglers are probing Canberra’s resolve to stop such incursions following the federal election in May.
Three such attempts were intercepted by the Australian and Sri Lankan authorities since then, resulting in 66 Sri Lankans being repatriated, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Home Affairs said. Police said all those sent back were adult males. Australian authorities notified their Sri Lankan law enforcement counterparts via the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra prior to deporting the asylum-seekers by air.
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, Australian culture, australian media, communal relations, disparagement, economic processes, elephant tales, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, world events & processes
ALIYO! Aiyyo, Aiyyo! Aliyo: Today’s Anzacs in Lankan Conservation Work
Aussies and Kiwis depict their Conservation Work in Sri Lanka
Nate Bills …. Australia
The location for the project is awesome! You are so close to the national park and the villages where you can see elephants. Everyone working at the field house is so nice and they make it a good atmosphere when you are working or relaxing in between activities. The cooking from Mahinda is the best I had on my trip.
We were really lucky seeing elephants every day, especially at the park where we saw heaps in one afternoon and even saw one of the two bulls with tusks.
The Chinese Way: Two Web Site Observations
COMMENT ONE:
I am an American who has lived in China for three years. (And very much like living here.) My opinion is not as factual, and surely not as broadly informed, as many of the others so well-expressed here. But something I notice, from the inside, is that China usually plays “the long game.” They are bellicose when they see it serving their immediate interests. But they see little advantage in American- or Russian-style braggadocio. They are more likely to exert their influence quietly and economically.
Marie Colvin’s Media Lies about Homs in Syria
Rick Sterling, in off Guardian, 29 January 2019, where the title is “Marie Colvin, Homs and Media Falsehoods about Syria”
n April 2014 I was part of an international delegation which visited Syria for five days. The delegates came from many different countries. Among the notables were the Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, a Syrian-British heart surgeon and Julian Assange’s father. We spent time in Damascus, then traveled by bus to Latakia and then Homs. In each city we had meetings with political, religious and social leaders but also had time to wander about and talk with people on the streets.
In Latakia, I met Lilly Martin, an American woman who married a Syrian and has lived there, raising a family for the past twenty-five years. She told me how wrong the western media coverage was. Contrary to media claims, she said protests in Latakia were violent from the start. After the first outbreak of violence, Syrian police and military were ordered to not carry weapons. Protesters continued to burn and destroy government offices with incidents of knifing and shooting unarmed police. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, conspiracies, doctoring evidence, elephant tales, foreign policy, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, news fabrication, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes
The Kandy Äsala Perahära by Lorna Dewaraja
Tissa Devendra, in The Island, 3 October 2018, with this title “Mirror of Civilisation” being a book review of The Kandy Asala Maha Perahera – by Dr.Lorna Dewaraja (Vijitha Yapa Publications 2018)
In publishing this fine book, Vijitha Yapa has faithfully fulfilled the last wish that Dr. Dewaraja expressed to her family – to hand over to Vijitha Yapa the manuscript of her book on the Kandy Perahera. I now have the privilege of reviewing this publication.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, cultural transmission, education, elephant tales, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, World War II
Visvakarma’s Celestial Manifestatations in Asia and Sri Lanka
Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, in newsin.asia, 17 September 2018, where the title reads “Vishwakarma, the celestial architect who built Sri Lanka”
The Vishwakarma puja, which was observed on September 17, is not restricted to India but is observed in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The puja closely follows the celebration of the Ganapati festival. In some places, it is performed the day after Diwali in October or November.
Vishwakarma puja or Kanya Sankranti is celebrated in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in North India; Karnataka in the south; and Assam, West Bengal Odisha and Tripura in the east, in honour of Vishwakarma – the celestial architect.
Vishwakarma idols of Bengal made of clayFiled under art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, elephant tales, female empowerment, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, pilgrimages, psychological urges, Saivism, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Escaping to Sri Lanka on Holiday
Mal Chenu in Sunday Mail, 15 April 2018 ….. where the title runs “Why Aussies love Sri Lanka Right Now”
Venetian adventurer Marco Polo described Sri Lanka as “the finest island of its size in all the world”. Sure, that was in the 13th century and young Marco hadn’t seen Tasmania but the myriad wonders of this tropical nouveau-paradise are as varied and exotic as the scents in the spice gardens of Matale and Kegalle. In short, Sri Lanka is a potpourri of unpredictable pleasures. Once a flyover location, eschewed by travellers for years because of civil war, Sri Lanka is fast emerging from its travails, posting sharp rises in tourism since the 26-year conflict ended in 2009.
Sigiriya is a World Heritage site
Filed under art & allure bewitching, australian media, Buddhism, cultural transmission, economic processes, elephant tales, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, pilgrimages, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, travelogue, wild life
