Category Archives: self-reflexivity

May 26, 2025 · 12:53 am

Devika Brendon’s AVERSION is Reaching For The Skies

AVERSION is due to be launched in July 2025 …. and there are some special pre-launch offers

‘Aversion’ is a book about a country renewing and rebuilding itself. The main character is an investigative journalist, initially on assignment in Sri Lanka, where her extended family live. Initially overwhelmed by negative news and the chaos she comes into, she witnesses the country reinventing itself after terror attacks, civil war, natural disaster and economic crisis, and reinvents herself in response, reframing her perspective to appreciate the resilience of the country and even in herself.

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May 25, 2025 · 8:11 pm

Malani Fonseka: A Nation’s Farewell

A  NEWS ITEM in The Island, 25 May 2025 …Final rites of veteran actress Malani Fonseka to be held with state honours on Monday, 26th May at Independence Square”

The final rites of veteran actress and iconic queen of Sri Lankan cinema,  Malani Fonseka, will be held with state honours on Monday, 26th May 2025, at the Independence Square.

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – MARCH 05: Sri Lankan actress Malani Fonseka awaded during the Deauville film festival on March 5, 2014 in Deauville, France …… Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage

A discussion regarding the arrangements forthe state funeral was held this afternoon (24) at the Presidential Secretariat, under the leadership of Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. H. M. Sunil Senevi and Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.

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May 25, 2025 · 7:24 pm

Linking Together For Survival: A Lesson from the Ant-World

Harry Solomon’s Item in FACEBOOK, May 2025, entitled “Togetherness For Survival: A Lesson from the World of Ants” … presented by David Attenborough

 Sir David Attenborough opens Woodberry Wetlands on April 30, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Danny Martindale/WireImage)

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Once, waking up in nature early in the morning, I noticed something surprising. Several dozen ants had fallen into a five-liter bottle of water that had been left open the night before. They waved chaotically in the transparent water, as if each one was fighting for its life.

At first, it seemed to me that they were drowning each other, saving themselves at the cost of the death of others.

This thought made me repulsed, and I turned away, deciding not to intervene.

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May 25, 2025 · 4:30 pm

Anguish Without Closure … As Sri Lankan Tamils Lament The Missing

Jeevan Ravindran in Al-Jazeera, 24 May 2025…. where the title runs thus: ‘Need answers’: Will Sri Lanka’s Tamils find war closure under Dissanayake?”

Tamils commemorating the loved ones they lost, or who were ‘disappeared’, during the civil war that ended 16 years ago are still waiting for answers.

Sri Lanka Tamils
Krishnan Anjan Jeevarani and her sister cry as they remember the family members they lost during SriLanka’s civil war, including Jeevarani’s three-year-old daughter[Jeevan Ravindran/Al Jazeera]

Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka – On a beach in northeastern Sri Lanka, Krishnan Anjan Jeevarani laid out some of her family’s favourite food items on a banana leaf. She placed a samosa, lollipops and a large

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May 24, 2025 · 1:41 pm

Generations of Pain: The Zelensky Heritage in Ukraine

Nimal Jayasinha

In June of 1941, Hitler’s Army began a rampage through Ukraine, razing towns, unleashing death squads, and massacring Jews by the hundreds of thousands. In one village, four Jewish brothers enlisted in the military, said goodbye to their parents, and walked off to fight the Nazis.

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May 24, 2025 · 1:29 am

Discerning & Learning from George Keyt

Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 18 May 2025, where the title reads “Searcing for George Keyt”

George Keyt, Sri Lanka’s most celebrated painter, died 32 years ago in 1993. During his life and after his death, he became the subject of several studies by Sri Lankan and foreign scholars. Today his paintings have found their way to some of the biggest art collections in his country, as well as to places like Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

Taken together, these paintings represent some of the finest examples of modern art in Sri Lanka and Asia. They have also become symbols of Asian modernism.

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May 23, 2025 · 9:04 pm

Trump’s Racist Perspectives on South Africa

Robert Rotberg …………………………………………………….. https://robertirotberg.substack.com/p/355-privileging-white-south-africans … which item came to my notice via one of the regular communications from RHODES CONNECT. Highlighting emphasis is the work of The editor, Thuppahi.

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May 23, 2025 · 7:44 pm

“Masquerade” — A Plantation Bungalow in the Hills of Sri Lanka

Item in The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka ... sent by Dushy Perera, a planter … rukrkaganana fellow … & intrepid traveller

Masquerade! Looking more like a mansion than a bungalow, the Talawelele bungalow stands within sight of the Great Western hills. Secluded in th hillside tea plantations are bungalows recalling part of Sri Lanka’s recent past.

Royston Ellis and photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe set out to discover some of them in this monthly series – Plantation Homes

“When you see clouds over the Great Western range of hills”, said the planter, “we know it will rain in the afternoon. That’s why, when a captain wins the toss on the cricket field of the Radella Sports Club, he looks up at the hills. If there are clouds, he makes sure his team bats first.”

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May 23, 2025 · 7:03 pm

Jason Sangha confirms Role as an Adelaide Striker

News Item at ……….. https://www.adelaidestrikers.com.au/news/4255866/jason-sangha-commits-to-new-cricketing-

Jason Sangha has firmly established South Australia as his new home. After joining the South Australia Men for the 2024/25 domestic season, Sangha has now signed a two-year deal with the Adelaide Strikers, further cementing his commitment to the state.

 

 

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May 23, 2025 · 1:57 am

Ian Goonetileke’s PREFACE to THOSE LONG AFTERNOONS

HAI Gonnetileke, Preface to the booklet THOSE LONG AFTERNOONS. CHILDHOOD IN COLONIAL CEYLON, Colombo, Lake House Bookshop, 1989 … reproduction made possible by the work of Oliver Guruge in Lanka.

Evelyn Fredrick Charles Ludowyk Jnr was born on 16th October 1906 in Galle, Ceylon and died on 1st June 1985 in Colchester, England.  He became the Professor of English at the age of thirty and chose early retirement in 1956. He settled in England with his Hungarian wife Edith whom he had married in 1941. His death brought to an end a long and fruitful partnership in which their professional talents, artistic gifts, social commitment and political beliefs made common cause. Edith died on 11th February 1987.

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