Category Archives: landscape wondrous

August 11, 2025 · 1:14 am

Neelan Tiruchelvam: An Appreciation of His Mediatory Politics

Kagusthan Ariaratnam in Groundviews, 8 August 2025, where the title  reads “Neelan Unsilenced …” while highlights here have been added by The Editor, Thuppahi

Photo courtesy of Pitasanna Shanmugathas

NEELAN: UNSILENCED is a compelling and vital documentary that successfully situates the life of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam within the turbulent history of the Sri Lankan conflict. Its greatest achievement is providing a nuanced entry point into the war by focusing on the non-violent, intellectual and pluralistic dimensions of Tamil resistance – a perspective often eclipsed by the narrative of armed struggle. By foregrounding Neelan’s journey, the film illuminates a leader who dedicated his life to constitutional reform and reconciliation.

   Photo courtesy of Pitasanna Shanmugathas

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August 11, 2025 · 12:27 am

Appreciating Ravindra Randeniya’s Multi-Faceted Career

Uditha Devapriya  in SAPNnews,  August 2025, where the title runs thus: “Ravindra  Randeniya: Sri Lankan Actor, South Asian Artist”

 

 Ravindra (left) & Dilip Kumar (right) in New Delhi…Courtesy Ravindra Randeniya

In South Asia, cinema is more than an art: it is a way of life. Sri Lanka is no exception. Despite its size, the small island-state boasts of a film industry that has won renown abroad, even if it is facing a downturn today. At its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, Sri Lankan films travelled to New Delhi, Tehran, Tashkent, even Cannes and New York.

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August 7, 2025 · 8:00 pm

A Tennis Love Match Beyond Imagination

A Web Item sent by one Ramsay and one Eric

They met on the courts, forged in fire and fame. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were more than tennis royalty — they were survivors of pressure-packed childhoods, two athletes who’d once been treated more like machines than children. So when they became parents, something shifted. Not just in their lives, but in their hearts. There was a quiet vow between them — a promise not to repeat the past, not to push, not to mold. They wouldn’t raise champions. They’d raise *children.*

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August 4, 2025 · 9:47 pm

Hara Kiri at Lords Test Match. Or, Was  England ‘Shirajed’?

Michael  Roberts 

It was a thrilling privilege to watch the exciting Test Match  at Lord’s unfold into a  nail-biting  finish with India winning by  just 00 runs. India’s  hero of  the day was the  unlovable  Mohammed Shiraj.** But he was  aided by  some foolish batting from some of England’s men. Both Bethell the  evening  before and Jamie Smith on the 5th morning dismissed themselves  with nervy, ridiculous shots.

THAT, of  course, is a judgement of an armchair critic. IT is easy to slash a sportsman from the ease of a couch. … Ouch! Continue reading →

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August 4, 2025 · 6:36 pm

Deciphering Patriotic Devotion: The Japanese in the 1940s & the Lankan Tamil People For the LTTE

Michael Roberts reproducing an article presented in a popular website during the final stages in Eelam War IV in 2008/09 within the context TODAY of a horrendous war-situation in Palestine and its environs — the website being GROUNDVIEWS: …………….. https://groundviews.org/2009/04/21/ltte-and-tamil-people-i-preamble/ ….. This article was just the first essay in a four-part enterprise.**

“LTTE and Tamil people, I: preamble,” http://www.groundviews.org, 21 April 2009.

This set of essays on “LTTE and Tamil People” submitted to Groundviews is a sequel to the four articles on “Suicidal Political Action” reproduced in http://www.transcurrents.com from 2 April onwards. Both sets of essays are interconnected and involve a measure of repetition because they are set out as separate articles. All of them are a product of a comparative survey that I embarked on about five years ago: namely, reviewing the cultural ingredients which have motivated the projects of the jihadists (holy warriors) and mujahideen (fighters for cause) on the one hand and, on the other, the

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July 31, 2025 · 9:57 am

The Ten Most Attractive Islands in This Our World

Item conveyed to TPS by Charles Schokman & Victor Melder & bearing this title “Sri Lanka ranked the Most Beautiful Island in the World”

image_5969bc57ca.jpgColombo, July 29 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka has been crowned the Colombo, July 29 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka has been crowned the most beautiful island in the world, taking the top spot on the list of “The 50 Best Islands in the World” compiled by global travel site Big 7 Travel.

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July 30, 2025 · 1:26 pm

From Kamburupitiya … Malkanthi’s Multi-Faceted Journey

Fazli Sameer in Those Fuzzy Days, July 2025 … presented in fazli@substack.com with a slightly different title and the sub-title: “A trek through days of milk, honey, and roses”

In the small southern village of Kamburupitiya, nestled amidst the mist-covered hills of the southern coastal city of Matara, a determined teenage girl named Malkanthi prepared for a journey that would alter the course of her life. At sixteen, she was the pride of her village school, a bright, kind-hearted girl who had earned a scholarship to pursue her higher studies in Colombo.

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July 28, 2025 · 2:49 pm

Peradeniya University Convocation, July 2025

The Convocation of the University of Peradeniya; 23 and 24 July 2025

The 86 th Convocation of the University of Peradeniya is organised as a majestic ceremony in the presence of dignitaries and parents to witness the graduation of nearly 4450 graduands looking towards the future with optimism and determination. The convocation ceremony this year will be held in four sessions today and tomorrow in the Gymnasium of University of Peradeniya as a joyous and proud occasion while celebrating 83 years of service par excellence to University education in Sri Lanka.

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July 27, 2025 · 7:46 pm

Facing the Algal Threat in Adelaide: Miller-Frost

Louise Miller-Frost’s Circular, July 2025

The coastline and waters are a great asset to Boothby residents, and many of us very much value the time we spend there walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean, fishing off the jetties or small boats, or just sitting contemplating the spectacular views.

And so the Algal Bloom currently affecting much of the SA coastline is of great concern.

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July 23, 2025 · 1:01 pm

A Pathway to History: Biographical ‘Hits’ in Thuppahi, 22 July 2025

Michael Roberts

Biographical tales and investigations serve as one pathway to historical enquiry.  Because they resonate with readers interest in their own personal journeys this fascination seems to evoke continuous appeal. The WORD PRESS record of readers hits on items in THUPPAHI confirm this fact. Let me, therefore, provide TPS readers with a list of some of the items that drew at least one reader …. that is one HIT …. today/yesterday.

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