Courtesy of Nandasiri Jasentuliyane,** who was known to us then as N. De Silva
Category Archives: heritage
Estelle Fernando nee Roberts: Vale in Sadness & Fellowship
Michael Roberts
Estelle Barbara Roberts was born as the second child from the second bed of Thomas Webb Roberts (1881-1978) on the 2nd May 1929. She was brought up within the Fort of Galle and received her education at Southlands, Sacred Heart Convent and Richmond Colleges; but was then swept off her feet by an earnest young government servant, Charles Hubert Fernando, who played tennis at the Galle Gymkhana Club (where TW was a kind of institution and a regular).
Estelle standing on left at Sacred Heart Convent
SLINGERS: Malinga on Pathirana
Item in CRICINFO in The ISLAND, 28 May 2023
Lasith Malinga, now a bowling consultant with Rajasthan Royals, has been watching Chennai Super Kings’ games with particular interest. Matheesha Pathirana, CSK’s death-overs specialist, not only bowls with the same, unusual round-arm action with which Malinga dominated the IPL for many years, but is also in a sense a protege. Over the last three years, Malinga has worked sporadically with Pathirana in Sri Lanka’s high performance centre, and has advised him on what he needs to do to build a career.
Love Across All Language Barriers
An Item from Wikipedia sent by David Sansoni of Sydney
“Historia de un Amor” (Spanish for “the story of a love”) is a song about a man’s old love written by Panamanian songwriter Carlo
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people
Caste & Politics in the Sri Lankan Tamil World
Robert Siddharthan Perinpanayagam, in Groundviews, 22 August 2011, where the title reads “Caste And Politics” …. An article that drew 19 comments including some responses from “Sid”… reproduced here with highlighting imposed by The Editor in circumstances where my friend “Sid” from Peradeniya days is no longer around to dispute matters … as he surely would have.
Over the years, the claims of the Tamil people for justice, equalty and dignity have been rejected with a variety of specious arguments. It is not necessary to go into these exercises here again. However, the latest attempt in this direction is to raise the issue of caste in Jaffna society. Former civil servants, who spent three or four years being de facto kings of the North, have sought to comment on this issue in many recent hero-stories that they have published in the newspapers. In these hero-stories they report not only how they defeated one departmental head or another or humiliated a hapless village headman, but how they vanquished the evil designs of the Tamils as well. Indeed everything seems to become grist to the mill of Tamil-bashing. Even a casual remark made in a cricket match is used by a famous historian to claim that the Tamils of Jaffna are cravenly caste-conscious. Off-the-cuff social commentators as well as the tribalist pundits in the newspapers have also got into this act. The implication of these commentaries is that the Sinhalese do not have the problem of castism and only Tamils do. One recent commentator is so ignorant of the political history of the island as to invoke Ponnambalam Ramanathan’s castism! It was indeed the fear of Karava ascendancy by the Goigamas that elevated Ramanathan to high stature by making him the representative of the “Educated Ceylonese” in the Legislative Council.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power sharing, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
Studies of Caste in Sinhala Society over the Centuries
The presentation of an essay in the Sinhala language on “Caste in Sinhala Society”[1] in April 2017 within Thuppahi came to the attention of Thomas Fernando in UK recently. Tommy promptly took up the challenge and is now proceeding to address the article and topic. This is his NOTE to me: “however laborious it is to plough through the Sinhala text, I hope to have a good look at this article on caste in SL as I have not read a good description on this important topic which has a very significant impact on life even today in SL.”
Batgam kulayey nivasak
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, discrimination, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
The CR&FC Rugby Side in 1965: A Classic Picture
Presented here courtesy of Dr Deepal Lecamvasam of STC, University of Ceylon & Adelaide
Memories of Peradeniya University Campus Sparked by A Visit in 2012
Rex Olegasegaram, whose favöured title runs thus: “Peradeniya Campus – A Visit Down Memory Lane
In November, 2012 when I drove into the Peradeniya University along with my wife Navaranjini, it was indeed a wonderful visit down memory lane covering my very enjoyable undergraduate spell in 1955/59. Then known as the Peradeniya campus of the University of Ceylon, it has indeed seen a number of physical changes in the interim period with new Halls of Residence, some significant changes to existing buildings (e.g. the old tinned roof of the Economics Department replaced with new modern structures), new approaches etc. Notwithstanding, a number of features that obtained at that time still continue: the older Halls of Residence, some lecture theatres, the library including the “pilloring” area, the gymnasium and the sport venues.
Meaningful Moments at the National War Memorial in Battaramulla, Colombo
Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd] …. with his title being “National War Memorial,Colombo and the National War Heroes Day Commemoration”
The National War Memorial in front of the Parliament complex at Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo is dedicated to all military personnel killed since World War I and police personal killed due to militancy. An annual ceremony to commemorate the velour and gallantry of War Heroes is held at the site on the Remembrance Day unique to Sri Lanka, which is 20th May. This day in 2009 the country’s civil war which went on for 26 years came to an end.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, meditations, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes
