Category Archives: rehabilitation

July 6, 2021 · 7:40 pm

The Old and Sturdy Dutch Fort in Galle

“Everyman” writing for The World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka, with this title “The Old Dutch Town of Galle” 
  Cricket in the 1980s –Pix by Nihal Fernando
Volleyball, it is claimed, is our national sport. However there is no doubt that Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. That popular West Indies calypso ‘Cricket, lovely cricket.’,’ will always be ringing in our ears. From the villages where youngsters from around 16 to 26 or maybe even older, use ‘polpithi’ bats, to the towns where more sophisticated young men use willow bats, it is cricket, cricket and more cricket. Little wonder then that we have been correctly described as ‘ a cricket crazy nation.’ And when it comes to grounds for international matches the Galle International Stadium is the most favored by our cricketers, our coaches and our spectators. The reason is that as at today (03. 05 .21), 34 Test Matches [have been] played on these grounds of which Sri Lanka won 19 and lost only eight. In addition to this, in a press release datelined June 8, 2020, Yash Mittal an avid lover of cricket has listed five of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world. And yes – you have guessed it – the Galle cricket grounds, cradled between the Galle Fort and the Indian Ocean, heads the list!

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June 5, 2021 · 3:51 pm

Today’s Covid Statistics for Sri Lanka?

Daily News Item, 5 June 2021  ………….. http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/06/05/local/250945/covid-19-cases-surpasses-200000-mark-sri-lanka

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country surpasses 200,000. It is at 201,534 and 166,132 of them have made complete recoveries. There are only 31,466 active cases being treated in various hospitals across the country.The country has also witnessed 1656 deaths from the virus.

A NOTE: i have no means of confirming the accuracy of these statistics ….and the figures are presented here to encourage reports from personnel who can documenttheir presentations. Editor EThuppahi

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April 21, 2021 · 7:19 am

The Sigiriya Frescoes and Their Maidens: The Hard Work of Restoration

From Raja de Silva’S book Sigiriya  — as excerpted in the Island, 18 April 2021, with the title “Dangerous and meticulous work copying Sigiriya frescoes in Bell era (1896)

The village of Sigiriya is mentioned in the 16th century book of Sinhala verse titled Mandarampura-puvata. From then on, the site seems to have disappeared from the public record until its rediscovery in the 19th century. Major Forbes of the 78th Highlanders and two companions rode from Polonnaruva through Minneriya and Peikkulam in search of Sigiriya, and reached the site early in the morning of a day in April 1831 (Forbes 1841).

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February 13, 2021 · 1:27 pm

The Old Lighthouse within the Fort of Galle … and More

Michael Roberts

My recent presentation of amateur photographs of the renovations that were being carried out on the Galle ramparts in July-August 2020 encouraged some comments from Bunchy Rahuman and Ashley de Vos amongst others, with the latter objecting strongly to what he terms “the gentrification” of the Galle Fort.[1] That important issue will be taken up soon in Thuppahi; but the exchange has generated a striking photograph of the “old light house” sited on the bastion.at the south-west corner of the Fort — courtesy of Bunchy.

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February 11, 2021 · 9:51 am

Renovations and Pavings for Galle Fort Ramparts Today July 2020

Amateur Snaps from Michael Roberts

Western Wall southern end

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February 7, 2021 · 1:46 pm

Facing the Central Bank Bomb on 31st January 1996

 Somasiri Skandakumar in Sunday Island, 7 February 2021

As the clock moved towards 10.50 am on January 31, 2021, my mind went back 25 years to that fateful day. It was a Wednesday, and having finished our weekly meeting of the Parent Board of Directors in the Board Room on the eighth floor of Steuart House around 10.30 am, we sat around to exchange views on matters of a non-official nature as was customary, before returning to our rooms.

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December 21, 2020 · 2:20 pm

Galle Fort: A Heritage Site under Threat from Gentrification?

Uditha Jinadasa   Interviewed  by Doreen van den Boogaart & Luc Bulten

In the Spring of 2020 Dr. Uditha Jinadasa defended her dissertation ‘Changes in the Cultural Landscape and their Impacts on Heritage Management: A Study of Dutch Fort at Galle, Sri Lanka’ and earned her PhD from the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. The fortified town of Galle is a living heritage city, but this status is threated by gentrification. Dr. Jinadasa researched what has happened to the architecture, demography, economy, and city culture since the Fort has become UNESCO World Heritage in 1988. Luc Bulten and Doreen van den Boogaart, young ambassadors of the Netherlands Sri Lanka Foundation, interviewed her about her thesis and her view on heritage management in Sri Lanka.

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December 1, 2020 · 10:13 pm

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan’s Independent Paths and The Point Pedro Institute

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan completed his postgrad studies in Wales and was attached to the ICES in Colombo when I met him for the first time. When subsequently coming to grips with the contentious political issues associated with the ‘liberation war’ pursued by the fascist organisarion known as the LTTE, I found that ‘Sarvi’ sustained his indepenedence. At thatstage he had one foot in Point Pedro and another in Wellawatte (the later being my home base arena) … so I did meet him off and on. When in late 2011 I decided to question Rohan Gunaratne’s absurdly low figures on civilian Tamil deaths (at a talk at the British Council). it was to such personnel as Saravananthan, Narendran Rajasingham and Noel Nadesan that I turned to for alternative estimates in this nebulous arena…. See “The Tamil Death Toll in Early 2009: A Misleading Count by Rohan Gunaratna,”  23 November 2011, http: transcurrents.com/news-viewa/archives/6285 …. Michael Roberts

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October 28, 2020 · 2:46 pm

Steve Waugh as a Mother Theresa and Cameraman

Greg Bearup, in The Weekend Australian Magazine, October 9, 2020, where the title is “Different Strokes. Life after Cricket”

The office of the Steve Waugh Foundation is up the stairs and down the back of a block of shops on the outskirts of Cronulla’s CBD in Sydney’s south. The office, like the bloke, is devoid of frou-frou. It exists to get the job done and each year it distributes more than a million dollars to help kids with rare diseases. And then in walks Steve Waugh with his famous pout and his thousand-yard stare – the man who led one of the most dominant teams in the long history of Test cricket. Remember those gratifying years when humiliation of the Poms was an annual ritual, like raking up and burning leaves each autumn? “We’re not here to win friends, mate,” he once said, summing up the attitude of the team under his reign.

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October 4, 2020 · 11:33 pm

Hurdling Back Home to Adelaide

Michael Roberts

SYDNEY to ADELAIDE:  Having been informed on Thursday night that I had no Covid and would receive CLEARANCE  I proceeded to pack and on FRIDAY the 1st October confirmed my ticket booking to Adelaide that afternoon on JETSTAR [an airline which permitted extra luggage].

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