Category Archives: life stories

February 28, 2018 · 10:43 am

London is Brewing: Tamil Tigers, Brigadier Fernando and British Double Standards

Tamils in support of Pirapaharan, the LTTE and Tamil cause TODAY

 Brigadier Priyanka Fernando’s Injudicious Challenge

Two Essayists Lambast the British Government for their Positions on Terror, the Pro-LTTE Tamils and the Brigadier Fernando Incident

ONE = Sara Dissanayake: “Anti-Terror Laws & British Hypocrisy,” in Colombo Telegraph,” February 2018,

The recent incident involving the throat-slit gesture made by Defense Attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando in response to the Eelamist protesters in London has, rightly so, stirred much controversy. Developments following the incident also sparked ample debate, prompting the public to take sides under the prevailing circumstances. Continue reading →

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February 28, 2018 · 10:41 am

Mega-Bucks. Our Politicoes’ Bank Balances

Asian Tribune, 25 February 2018, where the title runs  “President Maithripala Srisena – Third richest politician in Sri Lanka”

According to Forbes Report for the year 2018, Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena the 7th and current President of Sri Lanka – since 2015 to date – is the third richest politician in the country with US Dollar 14 million. Of course, Percy Mahendra ‘Mahinda’ Rajapaksa, the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 19 November 2005 – 9 January 2015, is the top most Sri Lankan richest politician with US Dollar 18 Billion.

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February 25, 2018 · 2:37 pm

Facets of the Islamic Faith are Integral to Jihadism

Denis MacEoin, courtesy of The Gatestone Institute, 21 February 2018, where the title is “Does Jihad Really Have “Nothing to do with Islam”?

  • “National Security officials are prohibited from developing a factual understanding of Islamic threat doctrines, preferring instead to depend upon 5th column Muslim Brotherhood cultural advisors.” — Richard Higgins, NSC official.
  • At the heart of the problem lies the fantasy that Islam must be very similar to other religions, particularly Judaism and Christianity, out of which it was, in fact derived.
  • The use of force, mainly through jihad, is a basic doctrine in the Qur’an, the Prophetic sayings (ahadith), and in all manuals of Islamic law. It is on these sources that fighters from Islamic State, al-Qa’ida, al-Shabaab, and hundreds of other groupings base their preaching and their actions. To say that such people have “nothing to do with Islam” could not be more wrong.

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February 23, 2018 · 1:02 pm

The NOH and Galle in January 1988: Exquisite Images

Joe Simpson’s Lens captures the scenes of this famous hotel and its environs in Galle at a time when Nesta Brohier was holding the reins of this iconic hotel within the Fort of Galle

  The spacious front verandah-cum-lounge of the New Oriental Hotel

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February 22, 2018 · 12:40 pm

Lakpathy Wijesekara and His Passion for Film-Making

Ruwini Jayawardana, in Daily News, 22 February 2018, where the title is “From Real to Reel

He dubs filmmaking as his profession, passion, vision and everything! Other matters else in life falls in second place for Los Angeles-based director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter of Sri Lankan origin Lakpathy Wijesekara.

Lakpathy Wijesekara

His entrance to the digital arena happened at a young age when he got the opportunity to act in ‘Sellam Gedara’ and ‘Kopi Kade’. He was equally intrigued about what was going on behind the cameras and at one point he had actually requested Lakshman Maththumagala of the Independence Television Network (ITN) to let him direct ‘Sellam Gedara’.

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February 20, 2018 · 1:53 am

Cricket as the Prince of Sports in Sri Lanka

Michael Roberts, ‘reprinting’ an article that appeared in The Island on the 7th August 2008  with a note indicating that “An editorially-modified version of this article was published in HIMAL circa 2007.”

Modernity took firm root in Sri Lanka under the imperial aegis of Britain. British rule involved a considerable transformation in the political economy of the island, a revolution in the communication system, the administrative unification of the country and the emergence of new class forces of a capitalist variety. English became the administrative language and one saw the development of an indigenous socio-political elite group, referred to locally as “middle class,” whose mode of domination included a facility in English-speak and a particular life style.

  Ajantha Mendis, center, and teammates wait for 3rd umpire’s decision on a leg before the wicket against India’s captain Anil Kumble during fourth day of the second test cricket match between India and Sri Lanka in Galle (AP) Continue reading →

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February 19, 2018 · 5:41 am

Legends of People, Myths of State

  Bruce Kapferer’s 1988 book has appeared with contributions by Rohan Bastin, Barry Morris, David Rampton and Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne

BERGHAHN, 446 pages, 18 illus., bibliog., index ….. ISBN  978-0-85745-436-2 $34.95/£24.00 Pb Published (December 2011) ………eISBN 978-0-85745-517-8 eBook Continue reading →

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February 18, 2018 · 11:36 pm

The Yahapalanaya Government in Strife: Philips, Hattotuwa and Chandraprema Analyse the Situation

I. Rajan Philips: “The government’s consummate crisis in the face of Mahinda’s unconsummatable win,” Sunday Island, 18 February 2018,

There is no pussyfooting around the political shellacking at last week’s polls, that the President’s and the Prime Minister’s teams got at the hands of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s budding party of old bloomers. Not surprisingly, the shellacking has precipitated a consummate crisis in the so called national-unity government. While the results of the local government elections have created the current crisis in the national government, the same results cannot provide any mechanism or mandate for resolving that crisis. Nor can the impressively lopsided success at the local elections directly enable Mahinda Rajapaksa to replace the government at the national level. Put another way, SLPP cannot nationally consummate its aggregate win at the local elections. It can, however, create havoc for the unity government and it is doing so in spades. The government leaders, on the other hand, are scrambling with no one showing any capacity to take control of the situation and restore even a semblance of order. Continue reading →

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February 18, 2018 · 3:53 am

Encountering Prejudice in Lanka as a Person of Mixed Descent

Krystle Reid, from Groundviews, http://groundviews.org/author/krystle-reid/  where the title is “A Welcoming Nation”

The following is a list of things I’m often asked or told, revealing of Sri Lankan perceptions about the Burgher community.

  1. Are you Sri Lankan?
  2. Can you speak in Sinhalese?
  3. ‘You’re a Burgher? You sure don’t look like one’
  4. ‘Sounds like a Las Vegas stripper name’
  5. ‘They get drunk every Saturday and go to church the next day, no shame’
  6. ‘Burghers? Parents must be divorced then.’
  7. ‘Lansi no? Probably got the job because of her English and the mini skirt’
  8. ‘Burgher…. like a hamburger?’

I could continue but the real point I was trying to make is that 70 years after independence, our ethnicity is still misunderstood. Continue reading →

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February 18, 2018 · 3:07 am

Individual Subjectivity in the Appraisal of 70 Years of Independence: Explorations in Groundviews

What does it mean to be Sri Lankan?

70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule. These divisions have contributed to violence and war, in the years since 1948.

To this day, there are communities who feel that what is commonly projected and defined as the Sri Lankan identity does not reflect their reality, or themselves. Looking at this, Groundviews produced a series of videos exploring identity and belonging in a country emerging from war, but not yet out of conflict.

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