Category Archives: life stories

September 11, 2018 · 2:38 pm

Is the Release of Rajiv Gandhi’s Killers Imminent? Modi Government’s Dilemma

P.K.Balachandran, in News-in-Asia, September 2018,

Following the Indian Supreme Court’s stand that it is up to the Governor of the State of Tamil Nadu to decide whether the seven life convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case should be released or not, the Tamil Nadu cabinet on Sunday  recommended to the State Governor that the convicts be released forthwith.

 Tamil-Nadu-Governor-Banwarilal-Purohit-and-Prime-Minister-Narendra-Modi-will-have-to-take-the-decision-on-the-release.-Photo.Livemint

Given the grave issues involved, Governor Banwarilal Purohit is expected to go by the advice of the Central Government whose representative he is. But the political powers-that-be at New Delhi will be on the horns of a dilemma because the conflict is between Indian nationalism and Tamil Nadu sub-nationalism or Tamil nationalism for short.

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September 11, 2018 · 11:02 am

For Humanity: Sister Aroha, A Kiwi Mother Theresa with a Sri Lankan Twang

Woman leaves New Zealand to become a nun … Philomene Hogan aka Sister Aroha

A NOTE from Myrna Setunga of Battaramulla:Michael, I have been several times to this Home in Moratuwa as well as the Home for elders in Modara. ….. . I have been twice to the Home in Calcutta and the Home in Varanasi. These nuns are the best human beings I have met

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September 9, 2018 · 1:48 am

With A Few Choice Words: Appreciating FC de Saram’s Cricket Career

Eardley Lieversz, a reprint from the Royal Cricket Souvenir, 2005, where the title runs “With a few choice words, Royal cricket under F. C. de Saram’s Tutelage”

Many distinguished old boys have coached Royal at cricket.  Names such as “Chippy” Gunasekera, Dr. C.H. Gunasekera, Barney Gunasekera, Mahes Rodrigo, Gamini Salgadu, H.T. Gunasekera and Channa Gunasekera immediately spring to mind.  To that illustrious list may be added relatively recent old boys such as Nihal Kodituwakku, Vijay Malalasekera, Dilip Somaratne (who coached Royal to successive victories in the early nineties) and Nirmal Hettiaratchy.  All of them were good at their job.  However, none of them had the mystique of Colonel Derrick de Saram (aka FC, Derrick, and Colonel) whose last coaching stint with Royal was from 1968 to 1974.

 young FC de Saram on song

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September 8, 2018 · 11:59 pm

Breaching the Presidential Portals of a Venerable Learned Society: Hema Goonatilake in the RAS

Darshanie Ratnawalli, in Daily Mirror,  August 2018, with the title “Royal Asiatic Society (SL) needs women and diversity” … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

If having a female at the helm is a sign of modernity in an organization, the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) was dragged into modernity in 2015. So late? I can hear you exclaiming incredulously — after all by 2015 the RASSL was 170 years old.

Yet it is true. The society fell into line with its more modern peer societies only when Dr. Hema Goonatilake made her successful bid for the presidency in 2015, amidst an unedifying display of kicking and screaming by a section of its membership.

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September 8, 2018 · 2:12 am

Dayan Jayatilleka in His Element

Dayan accepts his ambassadorial appointment with Sanja, his companion-in-arms, in support in the left background  … and acknowledges his father as inspirational force by a typical essay at this momentous moment

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September 8, 2018 · 1:30 am

Remembering 9/11: Two Australian Tales in 2017

ONE = Mary Lloyd: “The Australian artist who captured the horror of 9/11 on film,” 11 September 2017

Chris Hopewell heard the sound of the first plane collide with the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, but it was his cats running in circles that tipped him off that something disastrous had happened. After the Australian artist opened his curtains and went onto the balcony of his Williamsburg apartment, he saw the damage that had been done to the tower, but had no idea what had caused it.

Pic by Reuters- Sara K Schwittek

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September 6, 2018 · 7:55 am

Pirapāharan’s Thamilīlam, 1990-2009: Aspirations and Achievements

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Daily Mirror, 6 September 2018. where the title reads “The State of Tamil Eelam, 1990-2009″

This article is the second of those preparing the ground for a review of the new data on the last phase of Eelam War IV served up by access to the despatches of British Defence Attache Lt. Col. Gash (the first being my analysis of Pirapāharan’s strategy of assassinations). It concentrates on the character of the state of Thamilīlam­ throughout its period of existence, viz. from 1990-2009. It by-passes the pre-history when the Tamil New Tigers-become-LTTE was an incipient insurgent force competing with other Tamil militant organisations and with the GoSL and/or the IPKF for control of terrain.

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September 4, 2018 · 1:42 am

Taraki’s Strategic Assessments, 2004-05: Some Selections

ONE: “LTTE develops asymmetric deterrence to stall foreign intervention,” 22 May 2004, in http://tamilnation.co/forum/sivaram/040522.htm ….AND Daily Mirror, 22 May 2004

The LTTE’s scenario planning for negotiating the Internal Self Governing Authority (ISGA) with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) would necessarily include, among other things, some clearly thought out exit strategies if talks were to drag on aimlessly beyond ‘a reasonable period of time’. This is only natural because President Kumaratunga’s chief coalition partner, the JVP, went on record this week that it does not agree with the basis on which she has agreed to restart and take forward the talks with the LTTE. (Wimal Weerawansa’s interview with The Island on Monday and Somawansa’s meeting with the Prime Minister on Thursday). Continue reading →

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September 3, 2018 · 2:41 am

Revelations: Oppression of the Dalits in India via A Family History

Tariq  Ali’s essay entitled THE UNSEEABLES  in the London Review of Books Vol. 40 No. 16 · 30 August 2018   …. reviewing  Ants among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India by Sujatha Gidla Daunt, 341 pp, £14.99, May, ISBN 978 1 911547 20 4

  

This is a family biography that encompasses a history rarely told: despite its longevity, caste, and caste oppression, is not a popular theme in India. Sujatha Gidla writes of poisoned lives, of disillusionment, betrayed hopes, unrequited loves, attempted escapes through alcohol and sex. What distinguishes her book is its rich mix of sociology, anthropology, history, literature and politics.

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September 1, 2018 · 1:16 pm

Missing Persons: Q and A with Mirak Raheem

Chathusika Wijesinghe, Daily Mirror, August 2018: “Interview with one of the commissioners of OMP Mirak Raheem who touches on challenges this institute faces and the way forward with regard to serving families whose members have gone missing”

The Office on the Missing Persons (OMP) was established by the Government of Sri Lanka in order to end the suffering of victims and their families. Mirak Raheem, one of the commissioners of OMP, in an interview with the Dailymirror said that OMP possesses significant power and that it is open to the advice of others. However, he said that the number one challenge the council faces is the lack of trust people have in this organisation. Raheem also noted that the OMP will be releasing an interim report. Following are excerpts of the interview.    Continue reading →

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