Category Archives: Sri Lankan scoiety

April 12, 2023 · 1:01 am

Discernment: The Tulana Resource Centre at Kelaniya Fostering Discernment

TULANA is a Sri Lanka Jesuit Province Apostolate mandated by the Superiors and founded in 1974 by its current Director, the Asian Jesuit Theologian, Indologist and Buddhist Scholar, Fr. Aloysius Pieris, s.j.

“The name TULANA has its roots in Sanskrit and means four things taken together: elevation, weighing, comparing and deciding for the weightier things – in short DISCERNMENT.”

Revd Aloysius Peiris, s.j.

 Its primary founding motivation was as a response to two challenges – the challenge of the spirituality and philosophy of Sri Lanka’s major religion, Buddhism, and the challenge of the socio-political aspirations of the highly educated but marginalised rural youth.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, meditations, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, reconciliation, religiosity, self-reflexivity, social justice, Sri Lankan scoiety, teaching profession, tolerance, unusual people, voluntary workers, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs

April 5, 2023 · 12:19 pm

Galle Fort & Its Peoples in Black & White

Gagno’s Searing Camerawork

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, photography, population, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, tourism, travelogue

March 24, 2023 · 3:03 pm

An ODE for Those Who Fought COVID

Rukshan Perera’s ODE in Appreciation of the Frontline Workers who battled and Still Battle COVID

 Thanking the Frontline Heroes in a song – When the world is at a standstill with Coronavirus Covid-19, let us pray for our heroes who are working day and night to save lives and bring the world back on track. This is a dedication to our heroes – healthcare workers, armed forces and all others on the frontline sacrificing their lives to save us from this unimaginable pandemic, Covid-19 Coronavirus.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, education, life stories, medical puzzles, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes

October 24, 2022 · 11:49 pm

The Machinations of Vellala Lawyer Leaders that Deepened Tamil-Sinhala Divisions from the 1920s-to-the-1960s

Sebastian Rasalingam, reproducing an article presented in 2008 in The Sri Lanka Guardian in October 2008 with this title “An Excellent and Timely Feature on the Tamils” **

 Please permit me to make some comments on the recent article on the “Sri Lankan Identity” by R. M. B. Senanayake, continuing a discussion in a previous article by Anne Abeysekera. Both these articles, written by authors who are familiar with the English-educated Sinhalese point of view, deal very inadequately with the issues of Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka and in erstwhile Ceylon. In fact, the modern generation, even the Tamils, are on the whole unaware of the true nature of the present conflict and the role of Tamil nationalism. They are misled and mesmerized by simplistic histories concocted by the great political agenda set in motion by the Tamil leaders of the pre-1956 era. In fact, I will outline below how the battlelines were drawn in the Donoughmore days, by G. G. Ponnambalam (GGP) and others who followed.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, demography, disparagement, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, Sri Lankan scoiety, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, unusual people, world events & processes

July 10, 2022 · 2:46 pm

Vital Requirements for Sri Lanka Today

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, in IDN, July 2022, where the title reads “Sri Lanka Needs a Balanced Economic and Foreign Policy”

A shortage of exorbitantly privileged American Dollars, the global reserve fiat currency, which is not backed by gold, silver, oil or drugs, is the purported reason for Sri Lanka’s compounding crisis and the international media narrative of ‘famine’ in the country.

The upturned vehicle could be siaid to highlight the situaiton of Sri Lanka today ,,,, and yesterday … PIX ‘stolen’ from Al Jazeera  Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, social justice, Sri Lankan scoiety, taking the piss, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

June 26, 2022 · 1:04 am

Senaka Calls for a Ticker-Tape Farewell for the Aussie Cricket Teams

Senaka Weeraratna

Give Aussies a Ticker Tape parade as a farewell gesture by driving them through the streets of Colombo (near Galle Face Green) once this popular Australian cricket tour is over.

This is exactly what the Australians did in Melbourne on February 20, 1961 when they bid goodbye to the West Indian Cricket Team led by Frank Worrell. Australia beat West Indies by 3 to 2 in a close contest which went down to the wire.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, Sri Lankan scoiety, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

June 22, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Passionate Sri Lankan Fans awarded “MoM” Award

Errol Fernando, adjudicating from Melbourne, decided that the MAN of the MATCH Awad should be presented to the awesome, ……….. jolly, …….passionate Sri Lankan fans

From: Errol Fernando
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 10:08 PM
To: sunil perera <sunilp1943@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: 3rd ODI

Apart from giving my ‘Man of the Match’ to a batsman or bowler, Sunil, I have also over the years given it to the umpire, third umpire, groundsman, coach, selector or sports psychologist. Sometimes even to the player’s wife, the Woman of the Match. Recently, in the Lord’s Test, I gave it to the ball because it was the actual change of ball that enabled England to beat New Zealand.

Yesterday, in the series-deciding  game at Colombo there were contenders such as Asalanka who were more than worthy of MOM. However, my winners were  the spectators. They were wonderful   –   passionate, ecstatic, deliriously happy and an inspiration to the players.

Fantastic achievement from Sri Lanka to win the series.  Nice to finish with a 4-1 result tomorrow………………..All the best, …………………….. Errol

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, charitable outreach, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, patriotism, performance, photography, Sri Lankan cricket, Sri Lankan scoiety, the imaginary and the real, travelogue

June 17, 2022 · 4:05 pm

Community Kitchens: New Charitable Avenue in Crisis Situation in Sri Lanka

News Item in Daily Mirror, 17 June 2022

Sri Lanka is seeing the first signs of some sections of the community thinking of whether the ‘neighbour’ had his or her meal. Just the other day ‘Sarvodaya’ together with ‘Singularity Sri Lanka’ organised a ‘community kitchen’ to ensure that people in the Grandpass area had a solid meal for dinner. The food kitchen was held on June 14 at the St. Joseph’s Church in Grandpass and as many as 1700 people were fed. For the record dry rations were also distributed.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, governance, island economy, life stories, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

June 17, 2022 · 12:09 am

Test Cricket of a Different Kind in 1948

Dr. Srilal Fernando in Melbourne, reproducing an essay that appeared originally in The CEYLANKAN, a quarterly produced by the Ceylon Research Society in Australia**

Early last year [probably 2004] I received a call from Michael Ludgrove the then head of the rare book section at “Christies” Auction house requesting help to decipher the names of Ceylonese cricketers who had signed a cricket bat in the 1930’s following a combined India-Ceylon match against the visiting MCC. This led to my keeping an eye out for unusual items on Ceylon cricket. A few months later a set of autographs came up for sale. They were of the visiting English women cricketers who played a match in Colombo, against the Ceylon women in the first “test” of its kind. I was lucky to trace two of the test cricketers from the Ceylon team who now live in Victoria, Beverly Roberts (Juriansz) and Enid (Gilly) Fernando. Incidentally Gilly is called Gilly after AER Gilligan the Australian Cricketer and answers to no other name.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, cricket selections, cultural transmission, Sri Lankan scoiety, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

June 2, 2022 · 11:43 pm

The Lonely Cadet and the Maiden: Leonard Woolf in Jaffna …..

Philip Sansoni
   In “Growing”, the second volume of his autobiography, Leonard Woolf tells us how he lost his virginity. According to him, he was riding down the main street of Jaffna, one evening in 1905, an apprentice representative of the British Empire, when he happened to look into a verandah and saw a burgher girl sitting there. It was a fleeting glance over some blinds but she smiled at him and he smiled at her. A short time later, with a “minute” boy who had chased after him acting as intermediary, she had arranged to sleep with him that night and she did. She is subsequently revealed to have been the mistress of a Jaffna lawyer and is convicted of using indecent and abusive language outside the lawyer’s house. As Woolf tells the story, Dutton, the police magistrate, naively took the young woman’s side and paid the fine, much to the amusement of the people of Jaffna.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, Tamil civilians, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes