DL Sirimanne from Kohuwela has reached his century and proceeded another three years beyond. From the vantage of age, he is quite scathing in his concluding summary …. in the Sunday Observer 22 January 2023 … where the title is “A bit of Ceylon History. Pass it on to you children”
Category Archives: meditations
From Rural Poverty to Peradeniya Professorship: Vale for Prof. N. D. Samarawickreme (1943-2022)
Sachchitra Samarawickreme, in The Island, 7 January 2023
We owe our existence to a string of unforeseeable events, repeated arbitrary fortune. My father was born in a rural part of the country. He was the eldest of ten siblings, who survived the circumstances and transitioned out of the village. The privileged upbringing and opportunities I had stand in stark contrast to his experience. That I exist is a tribute to his journey.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Playing with Puns
From Lakshman & Sanath Jayatilaka: To all connoisseurs of good puns
“My ex-wife still misses me. But her aim is starting to improve”
Experts Urge Debt Cancellation as Essential Road for Sri Lanka’s Survival
Item in Newsfirst: “Experts say only debt cancellation offers Sri Lanka a chance of recovery”
DEBT JUSTICE speaks out …….
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, debt restructuring, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF as monster, island economy, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, trauma, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
A Hymn for Sri Lanka …. On the ‘Lines’ of Danno Budunge
Hymn for Sri Lanka – Produced & Sung by Aglow Generations Choir. – Aglow International Sri Lanka. … Aug 10, 2021
This Song was done during the most hard times in our nations, so we declare a blessing upon our Beautiful Nation of Sri Lanka, may there be peace in the borders, as the Lord reigns over our land we have hope, healing and restoration. This recording was done for the Annual Conference “Anchored to the Rock” August 2021
…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjrzbKPRrnk
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, education, female empowerment, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes
The War Heroes’ Monument of St. Aloysius’ College, Galle
The ceremonial opening of war heroes’ monument on 24 November 2022 was by the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army Major General Jagath Kodithuwakku, … RWP RSP ndu – Chief of Staff (යුධ හමුදා මාණ්ඩලික ප්රධානී), … Colonel of the Regiment Sri Lanka Light Infantry, … President – Army Sports Committee … Chairman – Sri Lanka National/Army Angampora Committee…. President Old Aloysian Military Association.
In a colourful ceremony conducted with the pomp, precision and pageantry that is synonymous with the armed services, the well-designed War Monument dedicated to Aloysians who gave their lives for the country during the senseless ‘war’ was declared open. Congratulations to the organisers and to those who worked tirelessly to establish this monument…. NOTE from the Aloysian Chroniclers
Vale: Preofessor Merlin Peiris, A Classicist Par Excellence
Punsara Amarasinghe, in The Guardian, 18 December 2022, where the ttile runs thus: “Prof. Merlin Peiris: The last of the Mohicans leaves the stage”
The greatest quality that would aggrandize Merlin’s name above the current mediocre scholars in Sri Lanka is his intellectual tolerance towards dissent.
The demise of Prof Merlin Peiris embodies the end of an epoch representing the humanities academia in Sri Lanka as he was obviously the last of those great doyens who lived when the country’s humanities education was prospering in those halcyon days at the edge of the British rule. Prof. Merlin was one of the first students of the maiden batch of Peradeniya University when it was shifted from Colombo in 1950 and began his flair for classics even before he entered the university under the wings of Noel Phoebus at St. Peter’s College in Bambalapitya.
At the Feet of Meeriyabedde Upananda Mahanayaka Thera
Padraig Michael O’Leary Colman, in The Sunday Island on November 27, 2022, where the title reads “The Monk and Me”
On October 13, 2017, we heard the sad news of the death of our very dear friend, the Most Venerable Meeriyabedde Upananda Mahanayaka Thera, the Mahanayaka of Uva Amarapura Nikaya. We knew the Most Venerable Upananda for a long time before we realized how eminent he was. We just knew that he was a special human being. As well as being the High Priest of the Pelgahattene temple, he was also responsible for 56 other temples.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Adolf Hitler’s Logic
Courtesy of Richard Koenigsberg in New York
HITLER: “If I don’t mind sending the pick of the German people into the hell of war without regret over the spilling of precious German blood, then I naturally also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin.” …..
Adolf Hitler raises a defiant, clenched fist during a speech.
circa 1933: German Dictator, Adolf Hitler addressing a rally in Germany. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, disparagement, ethnicity, Fascism, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, military strategy, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, war reportage, world events & processes, World War II, zealotry
Rendered Speechless! England’s Marvellous Victory over Pakistan at Rawalpindi
Errol Fernando in an Email Note to his Bosom Pal, Gavin, early December 2022
Perhaps once or twice in a lifetime there could be a ‘speechless’ Test match. I actually watched it and am totally speechless.
