ONE: Set in Sydney 2022 = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UiXiKhqj7c
Category Archives: heritage
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.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, British colonialism, 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 affairs
Sri Lankan Tamils & Their English Names: How This Feature Came About
Vinod Moonesinghe, in RoarMedia, 13 January 2023, where the title runs thus: “How Sri Lankan Tamils Came To Have ‘English’ Names”
Many Sri Lankan Tamils have English or otherwise European names, and are often confused with Burghers or Eurasians. How this came to be constitutes a vital part of the evolution of modern Sri Lanka.
Filed under american imperialism, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Engaging CROSSCURRENTS: Young James Sansoni’s Selections from the Book on Sri Lanka and Australia at Cricket
Engaging CROSSCURRENTS: Young James Sansoni’s Selections from the book Crosscurrents: Sri Lanka and Australia at Cricket (1998, Sydney, Walla Walla Press)
James Clifton Tilden Sansoni of Sydney has dipped a selective hand into the pages of Crosscurrents — thereby rendering a service. It prompts me to tell the world about the contributions of Alfred James, an Australian whom I never met, and the supporting hands of both Richard Cashman of the Walla Walla Press in Sydney and Cathy Ashton of Mobitel in Colombo, without whom this book would never have seen daylight. THAT will be in separate tales in Thuppahi. Let Clifton’s input take centre-stage here.
Note that behind an enterprising young one, there is a grandpa: one David Sansoni of Colombo and Sydney.
Manifold Talents: An Epitaph for Peter Colin-Thome
David Sansoni, in The Sunday Observer, 22 January 2023, where the title reads “Peter Colin-Thome: A Multi-faceted Personality”
Peter Colin-Thomé was a buddy of my cousin Dominic Sansoni and of a few of my friends and acquaintances. It was at Dominic’s home, on Anderson Road, Bambalapitiya, we first met, circa 1973.
Peter immediately made an impression. Tall, well-groomed and well-spoken – that sonorous Bass voice. His father, Percy, was a ‘name’ in Colombo circles, as was Peter’s mum, Moira.
Epitaph for Sumitra Peries: A Poet of the Sri Lankan Cinema World
Uditha Devapriya, in Item on 21 January 2023 entitled “Sumitra Peries Obituary: Poet of Sri Lankan Cinema”
Sumitra Epitaph Peries lived a life of travel and adventure before enrolling in film school in Brixton and going on to become one of the major, politically conscious figures in Sri Lankan cinema.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
Sri Lanka’s Remarkable Biodiversity …. Zoom In
Rohan Pethiyagoda to speak on “Serendipity: The Discovery of Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Heritage” … in The Roland Silva Memorial Lecture for the National Trust of Sri Lanka, 26 January 2023, ... 6.00 pm … on Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81249396683
Sri Lanka’s natural wealth—its species, landscapes and ecosystems—are justly celebrated in it being recognized as part of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot. Yet, we rarely stop to wonder how this incredible heritage came to be discovered. This lecture tells the tale of this voyage of discovery: the doctors and the housewives who became botanical explorers; a village lad who rose to number among Asia’s most famous illustrators; a tea planter who went on to become president of the Royal Entomological Society... In the course of his career, the speaker has delved into archives in both Sri Lanka and Europe to piece together the life stories of these remarkable men and women. In this lecture he celebrates their achievements and their all too human foibles: their rivalries, jealousies, eccentricities and not least, their genius. Richly illustrated with portraits, works of art and anecdotes, the lecture will relate the story of the explorations that led to the discoveries that in turn gave rise to the literature upon which knowledge of our living island is based upon. In short, the speaker explains how deserving it is that the phenomenon of serendipity takes its name from the classical moniker for Sri Lanka.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, biotechnology, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, nature's wonders, performance, photography, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Douglas and Estelle de Niese: World-Class Singing Duo in the Mid-20th Century
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.
From Rural Poverty to Peradeniya Professorship: Vale for Prof. N. D. Samarawickreme (1943-2022)
Sachchitra Samarawickreme, in The Island, 7 January 2023
We owe our existence to a string of unforeseeable events, repeated arbitrary fortune. My father was born in a rural part of the country. He was the eldest of ten siblings, who survived the circumstances and transitioned out of the village. The privileged upbringing and opportunities I had stand in stark contrast to his experience. That I exist is a tribute to his journey.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Female Attire in Sri Lanka and AK Coomaraswamy
Laleen Jayamanne, in The Island, 28 December 2022, reviewing Ayesha Wickramasinghe’s ‘The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka’
Dr. Ayesha Wickramasinghe, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Textile and Apparel Engineering, at the University of Moratuwa, has recently published her doctoral research on sartorial styles, The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka (2021), in a handsomely designed hardcover book. The historical information, which spans the colonial and the postcolonial periods, with glances at the ancient past, is presented as a cultural survey, in an engaging manner, with a large number of photographs embedded, in the text, as illustrations. It has been published by The National Science Foundation and has recently received a national award as well.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, photography, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
