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 …
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Michael Roberts
St. Peters College in Adelaide is an elite boys public school that has produced several Prime Ministers of South Australia and schooled many prominent figures in Australian life. The school’s cricket team chose to tour Ceylon in the month of January 1928 and played matches against Royal College, S. Thomas’ College and Trinity; and also against a team of planters at the grounds in Darrawella in the hill country.
Item circulated by Ranjith Sirimanne, a Royalist
If the pipers were playing “Green Hills of Tyrol”, then a group of Sri Lankans would be playing a tune about a Swiss gentleman fighting against the Austrians, composed by an Italian and played on an instrument proliferated from Scotland but left behind by the Romans as a joke…… using Bagpipes possibly made in Pakistan.
Can’t get much more International than that?
Lam Seneviratne, whose preferred title is “100 Years of Royal College at Reid Avenue”
A centenary in the life of an Institution is a very long period and calls for much celebration. However, for Royal College, now 188 years old, a grand celebration to mark 100 years at Reid Avenue may not be appropriate.
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“My Recollections of Cricket at Royal From 1923 to 1929” by DWL Lieversz** …… presented on 1 November 2007 …. with highlighting in this version being the hand of The Editor, Thuppahi
It is generally believed that the older you get, the clearer in your mind become the days of youth and childhood.
When I sat down to write my recollections of the years I played cricket for Royal, I found that the days were clear indeed. The comradeship and team spirit, the excitement of the games, and best of all, the feeling of kinship which Royal has a special way of rousing, all came into my mind.
Sukumar Shan, within a site that says “Ceylon — Sri Lanka / Then & Now! …. “Sri Lanka cricketing star Daya Sahabandu dies”
Daya Sahabandu, became the first Sri Lankan and only the third Asian in cricket’s history to surpass the four-figure mark (1000) wickets in Sara Trophy Cricket. The other two are India’s Bishen Singh Bedi and Pakistan’s Intikab Alam. You must not forget the fact, that both of them played in English county, cricket whereas, tall, lanky, unassuming, soft-spoken, Daya Sahabandu, did not get the opportunity to play county cricket in England.
Somachandra Skandakumar’s Address at the Launch of Mevan Pieris’s THE COMMUNITY,21 March 2023 … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Chief Guest Professor G.L Pieris, Guest of Honour, the Reverend Warden Marc Billimoria, distinguished Guests, Ayubowan ,Vanakkam, Assalam Aleykum, Good evening,
It was three years ago that an equally eminent Thomian Anura Tennekoon invited me to speak at the launch of his book. Today I am privileged again by one of similar standing and must thank Mevan for the opportunity. Such moments merely reinforce the values of our two great Institutions, where the fierceness of competition on the playing fields have led to the strongest of bonds off it .
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Uthpala Wijesuriya, in The Island, 17 March 2023,where the title presented is “The Earth’s Greatest Rivalry” … while the highlighting in this presentation has been imposed by a Thuppahiyaaaaaaaaa.
The Royal-Thomian or the Battle of the Blues, the world’s second oldest uninterrupted cricket battle, will unveil for the 144th consecutive year this week. The encounter pits the boys bearing the crests of the Elephant and Palm Tree against those bearing the Cross and Dove.
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thuppahi
