Category Archives: sri lankan society

March 9, 2025 · 2:59 pm

Teenager Rambles in the Galle Arena, 1950s

Michael Roberts

‘Arriving’ in this world in 1938, I was lucky to reside within the Fort of Galle as the youngest in a large family.  My father TW Roberts was a retired Ceylon Civil Servant and a respected member of the upper-class circles in town – with his membership of the Galle Gymkhana Club as one mark of this position. This status notwithstanding, we lived in rented houses –first in Pedlar Street and then in Middle Street.

 Galle fort & port in British times … & an Aerial View more recently

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March 9, 2025 · 12:39 pm

A Depressing Assessment of Sri Lanka’s Predicament About Six Years Back

THIS is an old essay that stayed buried in the Thuppahi system. It neverthless provides food for thought and serves as a testimony to its author (a brother of my friend the late Neville Jayaweera). Stanley too has since passed away …

 Sanjeewa Jayaweera

Most living in Sri Lanka feel like they have got into the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali. The ferocious punches thrown regularly are taking their toll, with most either on their knees or on the canvas. The final punch that will knock us out seems inevitable, but the question is when?

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March 9, 2025 · 12:33 am

Ranil’s Responses to Al-Jazeera’s Hostile Questions

Darshanie Ratnawalli 

 

 

 

 

So, have you read Ranil’s Al Jazeera interview?

Has anyone who is expressing an opinion on Ranil’s performance at his interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan ingested the full content of this media circus? Even people like Himal Kotelawala (sympathetic to RW), Lakshan Wickrema (derisive of RW) and Crystal Koelmeyer (sympathetic to RW), whom I have so far read on this subject had not.

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March 8, 2025 · 10:29 pm

Mehdi Hasan’s U-Tube Interview with Ranil Wickremasinghe

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, in Groundviews, …. https://groundviews.org/2025/03/07/sentiment-analysis-of-ranil-wickremesinghes-al-jazeera-interview-with-mehdi-hasan/

Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan interviewed the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on a programme of Head to Head, produced by Al Jazeera. The programme was released to YouTube and first broadcast on March 6.

At the time I studied 5,144 comments in response to it, the video had been watched over 218,620 times and liked over 8,000 times. Comments, views and likes are increasing at pace, which means that by the time this is read, the sentiments, trends and patterns analysed are not going to fully or accurately capture additional sentiment. What follows must be read as a study of the sentiments in the comments published at the time of writing this post.

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March 8, 2025 · 4:56 pm

Developing Hambantota Port: The Controversy in 2019

Michael Roberts

An aerial drone photo taken on March 28, 2024 shows the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. Located in the south of Sri Lanka, the Hambantota Port is one of the signature projects of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. (Photo by Xu Qin/Xinhua via Getty Images)

My Set of Bibliographical References

An Insider: “The Internal Tussles & Vagaries and Scheming that hindered the Development of the Hambantota Port Project,” 15 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/15/the-internal-tussles-vagaries-and-scheming-that-hindered-the-development-of-the-hambantoa-port-project/#more-55017

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March 8, 2025 · 10:36 am

Galle Face Green in Colombo: Pictorials Over the Years

A Thuppahi Journey

Panoramic view of Galle Face Colombo, Sri Lanka around 1880s-1900, looking south from Galle Road (later this path became the Galle Road), ClubHouse & Galleface Hotel (far right) showing in the background……… Lankapura …. https://lankapura.com/2011/04/panoramic-view-galle-face-green-colombo/

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March 5, 2025 · 10:05 pm

The Royal-Thomian: A Message from Revd Marc Billimoria

A Message in Facebook from the Retd Warden, Fr. Marc Billimoria. early March 2026 

It is one year this week since I was part of organizing this spectacular sporting event – the blue ribbon and quintessential Big Match, the Battle of the Blues, the Royal-Thomian Cricket encounter, for the last time as Warden. The run up to the event and its aftermath, (particularly in the face of a loss) are equally or even more stressful for those in the ‘hot seats’ at both Mount Lavinia and Reid Avenue, the Warden and the Principal, due to so many ‘behind-the-scenes goings-on’ as well as the expectations of so many different individuals and groups, such as the unfair and unrealistic expectation that amateur schoolboy cricketers will play like professionals or the undue pressure on them to win at any or all cost.

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March 4, 2025 · 12:52 am

A Searching Dissection of Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Political Career & Its Times

Avishka Mario Senewiratne, reviewing the book by Rajiva Wijesinghe that assesses Ranil Wickremasinghe’s recent political career

Last December, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha released a new book titled Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Emasculation of the United National Party. As the title suggests, the book tackles a contentious and provocative topic and may not be an easy read for everyone. Nevertheless, it presents a highly engaging and insightful narrative that warrants close attention.

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March 3, 2025 · 6:16 pm

The Invincible Thomian Cricket XI of 1965

Somasundaram Skandakumar

That Thomian team in 1965 was like Bradman’s Invincibles. They fielded a superbly balanced side that smashed all records as Barney Reid led their bowling with uncanny control and very late and sharp inswing, while Sarath Seneviratne their skipper and Anura Tennakoon spearheaded the batting.
At Tea on the second day following on with two hours to go we were eight down and the Thomians were celebrating. Wadugodapitiya was joined by our dear Lakshman Thalayasingham and they defended stoutly as the minutes ticked by until a few minutes before close Thalay was out stumped playing on his back foot🤗😂He never lived that down🤗
The last pair held firm and we escaped with an honourable draw.

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March 3, 2025 · 12:57 am

Misunderstanding Manorani Saravanamuttu’s Character in Film

A Critical Review of the Film “RANI” which is entitled “Did Rani Miss Manorani?” with the sub-title “A film that avoids the “Mannerism” of a Biopic” by Rani Bhagya Rajapakshe …. 

“This is only how Manorani sees Richard. It doesn’t have a lot of what Richard did. Although Manorani is not someone who pays attention to the happenings in the country. It was only after her son was kidnapped that she began to feel that this was happening in the country. She had human emotions. But she was a person who smoked cigarettes and drank whiskey and lived a merry life.”  ……     Interview with “Rani” film director Ashoka Handagama by Upali Amarasinghe – 02.02.2025 ‘Anidda’ weekend newspaper, pages 15 and 19

 The above statement shows the key attitude of the director of the movie, “Rani” towards the central character of the film, Dr. Manorani Sarawanamuttu. This statement is highly controversial. Similarly, the statement given by the director to Groundviews on 30.01.2025 about capturing the depth of Rani’s character shows that he has done so superficially, frivolously?

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