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.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, military strategy, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, photography, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, prabhakaran, press freedom, religiosity, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, terrorism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people
A Message in Facebook from the Retd Warden, Fr. Marc Billimoria. early March 2026
It is one year this week since I was part of organizing this spectacular sporting event – the blue ribbon and quintessential Big Match, the Battle of the Blues, the Royal-Thomian Cricket encounter, for the last time as Warden. The run up to the event and its aftermath, (particularly in the face of a loss) are equally or even more stressful for those in the ‘hot seats’ at both Mount Lavinia and Reid Avenue, the Warden and the Principal, due to so many ‘behind-the-scenes goings-on’ as well as the expectations of so many different individuals and groups, such as the unfair and unrealistic expectation that amateur schoolboy cricketers will play like professionals or the undue pressure on them to win at any or all cost.
Filed under accountability, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, patriotism, performance, Royal College, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession
Somasundaram Skandakumar
He never lived that down
Upali Obeyesekere, whose chosen title reads thus: “Tribute to ‘Sons of the Soil’ who made a huge contribution towards the Economy and Socio-cultural Aspects of Sri Lanka.”
Summa
Jackson Anthony
Lalith Kotelawela
Sri Lanka lost a few stars of yesteryear recently and it is our bounden duty to recognise these individuals in our popular monthly tabloid – The Sri Lankan Anchorman. They came from diverse backgrounds in terms of birth, schooling, and upbringing. But they all had one mission in life – to excel at what they do to exude a commitment of excellence in their chosen field and bring pride to our motherland – Sri Lanka.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, Royal College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people
Alston Mahadevan is with Johann Gunasekara …. In FACEBOOK …………… https://www.facebook.com/groups/277933739075780/?multi_permalinks=923211474548000&ref=share …………………….. Cricketing dynasties of Ceylon Part 1 – The Gunasekaras
When Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, cricket was nurtured by many outstanding cricketers and administrators including the three cricketing families, the Gunasekaras, the De Sarams and the Kelaarts. They had a significant impact from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1960s.
Michael Roberts
Kumar Sangakkara’s recent step as a front-personage for tourism in Sri Lanka (see https://thuppahis.com/2024/09/29/kumar-sangakkara-for-tourist-trips-to-sri-lanka/) calls to mind his bold steps on behalf of ethnic compromise and reconciliation in Sri Lanka in the 200os. In these efforts he was joined at diferent moments by Murali and Mahela [tsunami relief tours) and his wife Yehali (visit to St Patricks College in Jaffna, 2009).
These instances underline the weight of the messages in an article from my pen which was presented in GROUNDVIEWS by Sanjana Hattotuwa and Co towards the end of THE YEAR 2012.
Standing now in the year 2024 this essays — as well as the comments it attracted — may serve as useful points of departure for meaningful commentary.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, plural society, politIcal discourse, power sharing, press freedom, reconciliation, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
Senaka Weeraratna of Royal College and Sri Lanka has been persistent in his campaign for recognition being accorded to his role in conceiving the revolutonary DECISION REVIEW SYSTEM in cricket matches. On one occasion he even visited me at my sister’s house in Hampden Lane,Wellawatte, Colombo, in order to persuade me about the validity of his cause. I never had any objection to his position; but I have no clout within the ICC and limited capacities in investigating such an issue. All I can say is that SENAKA reminds me of one Anagarika Dharmapala — one of Senaka’s relatives — in the zealousness and persistence devoted to a cause.
Filed under accountability, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, religiosity, Royal College, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, unusual people, world events & processes
Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, in https://scroll.in/where the title reads thus: “Cricket, class and baila: The many layers of Sri Lanka’s celebrated Royal Thomian sports encounter”
With an unbroken 145-year streak, the face-off between two of the island-nation’s oldest schools has become a cultural rite of passage for the nation’s elite.
Prefects leading a cheer at the 144th Royal Thomian, 2023. |
Uthpala & Uditha … in match fervour
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, propaganda, Royal College, S. Thomas College, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, tolerance
Uditha Devapriya and Pasindu Nimsara, whose preferred title is “Kévum, KrÏda, and Kadé: Avurudu in Colombo” … from The Island, 19 April 2024
No Avurudu would be complete without an Avurudu Ulela. It has become part of our national social calendar, an event that must be organised, a tradition that must be kept. Practically every institution, from nurseries to universities to companies to Rotaract Societies, has a shot at holding one. The result is that somehow or the other, an Avurudu Ulela unfolds somewhere every other day until the end of April.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, life stories, literary achievements, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, Royal College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real
Michael Roberts
Recent Email Exchanges with Jane Russell of UK, who has one foot in England and two feet in island Sri Lanka, and a revived focus on George E De Silva (1870-1950) reminded me of the George E. Mss Memoirs in typescript which Jane had given me long ago. This led me to a long list which amounts to a treasure trove for those addressing a variety of topics in the history of Sri Lanka. I present the details before. Those wishing to pursue specifics must write to the Head of the Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library Adelaide University, not to me: samantha.farnsworth@adelaide.edu.au
It is my conjecture that the same corpus of material (or parts thereof) will also be part of the Roberts Collection at the National Library Services Board along Torrington Rd (beside the National Archives) in Colombo. They could initially seek specifics from Mr Welimuni Sunil who heads the institution: viz …
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, Buddhism, caste issues, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, counter-insurgency, cultural transmission, demography, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, irrigation, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, land policies, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, plantations, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, riots and pogroms, Royal College, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, terrorism, transport and communications, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon
thuppahi
