Piyasiri Wickremasekera & Chandrasena Maliyadde with substantive inputs from Sachithra Samarawickreme
The sudden departure of Professor Navaratna Dissanayake Samarawickreme – our Peradeniya batchmate and close friend popularly known as ‘Samare’ – has caused us great shock and profound grief. He was hale and hearty, and it is still difficult for us to reconcile his sudden demise on 13 January 2022 without giving us the opportunity to bid goodbye.
The CEYLON TEAM in 1947
I require aid in identifying all those presented here but begin by naming FC de Saram and M. Sathasivam as the two seated with their pads on.
Quintus de Zylva
Shane Warne reached the magical figure of 700 wickets before he retired from cricket. Murali went past him and then retired. Shane always acknowledged the fact that Murali took more wickets . They were close friends.
Harsha De Silva …. an UNP MP**
The country is in complete disarray today. Fuel is rationed at pumps, daily power cuts across the island, shortage of dollars to import essentials including medicine, food is to be rationed next. Collapse is imminent if we continue to go this way, it is almost similar to a broken car rumbling before it completely comes to a halt.
Michael Whitney, in Global Research, 15 February 2022, … with highlighting in the original article which is entitled “The Crisis Is Not About Ukraine. It’s About Germany”
“The primordial interest of the United States, over which for centuries we have fought wars– the First, the Second and Cold Wars– has been the relationship between Germany and Russia, because united there, they’re the only force that could threaten us. And to make sure that that doesn’t happen.” George Friedman, STRATFOR CEO at The Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs
The Ukrainian crisis has nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s about Germany and, in particular, a pipeline that connects Germany to Russia called Nord Stream. 2. Washington sees the pipeline as a threat to its primacy in Europe and has tried to sabotage the project at every turn. Even so, Nord Stream has pushed ahead and is now fully-operational and ready-to-go. Once German regulators provide the final certification, the gas deliveries will begin. German homeowners and businesses will have a reliable source of clean and inexpensive energy while Russia will see a significant boost to their gas revenues. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, doctoring evidence, economic processes, energy resources, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Sanjeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 27 February 2022, with this title “Ken Balendra’s Impact on John Keells”
Much information is available in the public domain about Deshamanya Ken Balendra (KB), the visionary Chairman of the John Keells Holdings Group (JKH) from 1990 to 2000, who recently celebrated his 81st birthday. For quite some time, I have wanted to pen a tribute to the great man but hesitated to do so as I felt many others ranging from his close friends from school days to those who worked closely with him, are more qualified than I to write about him.
When Mervyn de Silva passed away, many tributes were paid to his contribution to critical writing, to journalism, to literature and the arts, to his scholarly weekly radio commentaries on world affairs, his lone editorship of the Lanka Guardian and the stimulation he provided to popular discussion by his constant and thoughtful, intellectual engagement with whatever was current in the public debate.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, education, female empowerment, governance, historical interpretation, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, unusual people
Captain Robert Knox (1642-1720) of the East India Company
*oil on canvas
*126 x 102.8 cm
*1711
*inscribed b.l.: AEtat: 66
*inscribed b.l.: P: Trampon : Pinx (on the chair)
*inscribed c.r.: R: Knox: (on the quadrant)
*inscribed c.r.: Memoires of my owne Life: 1708 (on the notebook)
Filed under Aboriginality, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Kandyan kingdom, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Filed under ancient civilisations, colonisation schemes, cultural transmission, elephant tales, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, photography, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, tourism, transport and communications, travelogue, world events & processes
Dion Schoorman, in The Island, 17 February 2022, recalling a historic moment under the title “Rekindling memories of Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test – 40 years on”
Today, 17th February, is the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match and marked a special milestone in the history of Sri Lankan cricket. That game against England began at the Colombo Oval on 17th February 1982.
On the day of the inaugural Test, the country came to a virtual standstill, with everyone being at the game, including the then-President J. R. Jayewardene, Senior Minister and Cricket Board President Gamini Dissanayake and almost the entire Cabinet (of course the cabinet was not nearly as big as the present day!). Cricket administrators from around the world and former Sri Lankan ‘greats’ were all assembled in the main pavilion of the Colombo Oval – known today as the P Sara Stadium.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
thuppahi
