Category Archives: landscape wondrous
The Cannonball Tree … How a Mistaken Identification jinxed the 2002 Peace Talks?
Malaka Rodrigo, in Mongabay.com, 27 July 2020, with this title “In Sri Lanka, a South American flower usurps a tree sacred to Buddhists and Hindus”
The cannonball tree, with its red, pink and yellow flowers with a soft fragrance, is native to South America and gets its name from its large, round fruit. The British introduced the plant to Sri Lanka, India and other parts of Asia in the 19 century, and its flower has since been imbued with religious significance by many Hindus and Buddhists, who believe it comes from the sacred sal tree. Continue reading
Filed under ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, wild life, world affairs
Portuguese Colombo in 1662 via the Sketches of Esaias Bourse
Chryshane Mendis, in The HistoryFreek, 4 May 2020, where the title reads “Colombo in Transition 1662: Through the Eyes of Artist Esaias Boursse
This short essay serves as an introduction to a rare collection of sketches of Colombo and its environs in the year 1662.
Sinhalese soldier and labourer
Esaias Boursse was a servant of the VOC who made over hundred sketches of daily life in Colombo, mainly focused on the People and the work they were engaged in. This collection is called the “Tijkenboeck” and is held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This album containing 116 sheets of drawings came into the possession of the Rijksmuseum in 1996. Its value outweighs the poor quality of some of the drawings in that it captures scenes from within a city which was being transformed from its Portuguese outlook to the Dutch; thus some scenes depict street views of Portuguese Colombo- a phenomena never before captured in drawing except for textual descriptions.
Filed under architects & architecture, authoritarian regimes, colonisation schemes, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, population, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, religiosity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
Thomians in Praise of Mevan Pieris
This year the Chief Guest at the annual Thomian Prefects dinner in March was former All-Ceylon opening bowler H S M Pieris (Mevan),a rare sportsman who combined Sports at the highest level with academic brilliance.
Mevan Pieris: Joined STC, Mt Lavinia lower school in 1954 when canon RS de Saram was warden. Won cricket and tennis colours and was a member of the 1964 team which won the Royal-Thomian match. In 1965 made a blistering century against Ananda College in only 86 minutes with 14 boundaries, when the Thomian top batting had collapsed. This innings remains as the fastest century to have been ever made at Mount Lavinia. Was awarded public schools tennis colours having defeated Alan de Costa of St Joseph’s in the semi-finals after a grueling match which made STC public schools champions in 1964. Received the Leonard Arndt memorial prize for the cricketer with the best record in studies and sports. Was head – prefect of Stone House, and a College Prefect.
Eduard Hempel Flourishes in Galle and Lanka
SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, in Sunday Island, 26 July where the title is “ A Seeker after Many Truths, The Lives of Eduard Hempel”
The canoe nudged its way through the deep brown water. It was thick and heavy, like treacle and the boat inched towards a tree trunk on the river bank. The boat sat low in the water, barely a few inches above the river. “Closer, closer,” said the voice at the stern. “I can’t really see it.”
“Well I can,” protested the voice from the bow. “Its close enough, isn’t it?”
” No, its okay. It doesn’t seem to be moving.” All of sudden the tree trunk moved. Coming suddenly to life, it slid down the river bank, crashing into the water.
“Don’t worry, they are much bigger on the Zambezi. It’s probably scared of us. That was why it was rushing into the water. Look they are all doing that.”
There was a series of splashes, each one louder than the other.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, photography, plural society, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tourism, travelogue, unusual people, wild life, world events & processes
A Promising Young Life crushed by an Elephant at Kilinochchi
THE INITIAL REPORT in AFP and Dawn, dated 21 & 22 July 2020 had this title “Elephant crushes scholar to death in Sri Lanka”
A young university scholar has become the latest victim of a deadly wild elephant attack in Sri Lanka, officials said on Monday, after a growing spate of similar incidents across the island nation.
The Pacha-Gaha of Yesteryear in the Heart of Galle
Ruhuna Putra, in Island. 22 July 2020, with this title “Galle’s famous Fibber’s Tree”
It was a giant tree of the Banyan family (Ficus altissima), fairly tall, most of its branches canopied and dotted with many a rookery, while some branches bent downwards to the ground and propagated. It also had several subsidiaries. It was centrally located within the town of Galle in a small section of the large cattle pen of the mighty King Ravana covering vast acres, opposite the present police station and close to the war memorial roundabout.
Filed under cultural transmission, elephant tales, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, press freedom, pulling the leg, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
Porch Frontals at Middle Street Western End
I lived and thoroughly enjoyed my life for ten years or so from the age of Ten at 38 Middle Street in a house rented from a Muslim family. We had two Temple trees in our narrow front ‘patch’ between house verandah wall and a parapet. The street arena had a small triangle of grass with a large breadfruit tree in the centre. THAT is no more …. and No. 38 is abandoned and decrepit — one among a [dwindling?] sprinkling in the Fort in such a state…… Michael Roberts
Filed under British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, world events & processes
Pushing the British out of Ceylon, 1918-1956: Issues
Michael Roberts
My essay on “The Basis of British Power” (July 2020) was instigated by articles from Prabath de Silva and Leelananda de Silva on aspects of the Donoughmore Reforms and subsequent developments. Vinod Moonesinghe has seized on secondary dimensions to press some hoary old strands of Trotskyist thinking and to laud (A) the intervention of SWRD Bandaranaike and the MEP forces for getting rid of British military bases in the 1950s and (B) the radical political messages of the young LSSP politicians who burst onto the scene in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[1] This is linked to the standard Marxist belittling of the achievements of DS Senanayake and associates in the interpretation of the island’s path to independence.
Filed under British imperialism, colonisation schemes, democratic measures, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, Left politics, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, world events & processes, World War II
