Presented here courtesy of Dr Deepal Lecamvasam of STC, University of Ceylon & Adelaide
Category Archives: S. Thomas College
Chandra Schaffter: A Sturdy Sri Lankan Sportsman and Administrator For All Seasons
Michael Roberts
Sri Lanka has been blessed with generations of talented cricketers over the decades: from
- the Kelaarts and Saravanamuttus of the 1920s and 1930s … to
- the Macarthy’s, de Sarams and Heyns of the 1930s and 1940s …
- the Gunasekeras of the 1950s
- the Lieversz, HIK Fernandos and Reids of the 1960s
- Anura Tennekoon, Michael Tissera of the 1960s-1970s
- Duleep Mendis and the Wettimuny’s of the 1970s/80s
- Ranjan Madugalle and Arjuna Ranatunga of the 1980s
- the Aravinda-Ranatunga-Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana-and-Vaas dynamos of the 1980s and the 1990s
- the Mahela Jayawardena and Sangakkara duo of the 2000s …..
- while not losing sight of that unique phenomenon we know as “Murali” in the 1990s-to-2000s.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cricket for amity, Eelam, ethnicity, Fascism, historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, meditations, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, unusual people, world events & processes
Chandra Schaffter at Hockey: For School, University & Ceylon
Chandra Schaffter, responding to a request from The Editor, Thuppahi** …. with the highlighting being the latter’s imposition
For obvious reasons, my association with hockey was not so important although I was possibly a better hockey played at national level, than I was at cricket. I started playing hockey at the age of 8 or 9, on the road with my father’s walking stick. We could not afford buy a hockey stick at that time. However, when I got a bit older, in school we had access to hockey sticks; but then war intervened and for 5-6 years from ’41 until ’46, I had no hockey at all, never touching a hockey stick.
A Cricketing Saga Extraordinary
Chandra Schaffter ... responding to an earnest request from Michael Roberts**
I started playing cricket from the age of five. My father who was also a good cricketer in his time, gave me great encouragement. Unfortunately, he died in 1941 when I was 11 years old. Thereafter I had nobody ever interested in my cricketing career.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, vengeance
Serving Sri Lanka: Skandakumar on Mevan Pieris
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 .
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, politIcal discourse, Royal College, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society
The Royal-Thomian Cricket Match: Its History
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.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, Royal College, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people
Don Bradman at Cricket in Ceylon in 1930 …. Yes, 1930
Rex Clementine in The Island, 5 March 2023, where the title reads “New book says Bradman played at CCC in 1930”
All of us cricket nerds have heard stories of Sir Don Bradman’s visit to P. Sara Oval. There are a couple of images too; one where he strides out to bat and another where he walks alongside Ceylon skipper Mahadevan Sathasivam for the toss.
There are other famous stories as well about how the greatest batsman the game has seen appreciating the scoreboard at The Oval and him finding out the inadequacies of the pitch. Some even believed that P. Sara Oval was the only ground in Asia where Bradman had played.
However a new book ‘An Island’s Eleven’ by British writer Nicholas Brookes reveals that Bradman had played at Maitland Place in 1930 en route to England for the first time. Brookes’ book is a well researched document on Sri Lankan cricket and gives a vivid description of cricket in the island in the pre- Test era. The writer has spoken to many stalwarts of Sri Lankan cricket from S. Skandakumar to Kumar Sangakkara and elaborates how the game evolved.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, S. Thomas College, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people
The Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine in Colonial & Independent Sri Lanka
Mevan Pieris serves up a Synopsis of his Book prior to Its Launching
Synopsis of the book on The Community, to be launched at The Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Independence Square, on 21st March, at 6 pm, with Professor GL Peiris as Chief Guest, and S. Skandakumar and Warden Marc Billimoria as Guests of Honour.
‘The Community” is a historical account of the Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine, the existence of which has been already reported by several eminent writers, and about which Michael Dias, the celebrated Law Don of Cambridge, has written to say, “the precise relationship from amongst the complex family affinities that made the extended Community………. defies simple definition”. This work has not only attempted to shed much light on the evolution of the Community, but has also portrayed its Master Spirits to provide a greater appreciation of the stupendous contributions made by them to society in various fields and ways.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people
St. Thomas’ College: A Wide-ranging History of the ‘School by the Sea’
David Sansoni, whose preferred title is “STC – an unauthorised history of Lanka’s greatest Public School”
Richard Simon’s ‘history of Lanka’s greatest public school’, is an epic poem!
Epic, in its reach; poetic, in its lyricism, this towering, magnificent opus is a pearl, of both history and literature. “STC” touches the soul and core, of historophile, linguaphile and bibliophile; Christian, Lankan and, above all, Thomian.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, British colonialism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world affairs
The Cricketer Athletes of Ceylon: 1940 and Thereabouts
Michael Roberts
The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket 1832-1996, edited by SS Perera for the Janashakthi organisation of the Schaffter family (Colombo, 1999) has an invaluable photograph within page 206 of the Athletes who represented Ceylon in “what was then an annual contest” (p. 205). This shot has been ‘rekindled’ for digital presentation by David Sansoni of Sydney.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, photography, plural society, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, world events & processes
