Category Archives: sri lankan society

September 18, 2018 · 5:49 am

Visvakarma’s Celestial Manifestatations in Asia and Sri Lanka

Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, in newsin.asia, 17 September 2018, where the title reads “Vishwakarma, the celestial architect who built Sri Lanka”

The Vishwakarma puja, which was observed on September 17, is not restricted to India but is observed in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The puja closely follows the celebration of the Ganapati festival. In some places, it is performed the day after Diwali in October or November.

Vishwakarma puja or Kanya Sankranti is celebrated in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in North India; Karnataka in the south; and Assam, West Bengal Odisha and Tripura in the east, in honour of Vishwakarma – the celestial architect.

Vishwakarma idols of Bengal made of clay

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A Sinhala Cartoon depicting Lanka’s Present Situation

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September 18, 2018 · 1:37 am
September 17, 2018 · 2:18 pm

DEMONS IN PARADISE renders filmmaker Ratnam as a Tamil Traitor

Item in MSN.COM, 17 September 2018, with this title  “I wanted ‘my side’ to lose the war”

By his own admission filmmaker Jude Ratnam is a “traitor”. A Tamil himself, he blames the Tamil Tigers for many of the atrocities carried out in Sri Lanka’s civil war. The director told the BBC’s Nalini Sivathasan why feels the way he does.”When the war was coming to an end, I wanted the [Tamil] Tigers to lose the fight. I wanted it to end, even if my own people had to be killed,” Ratnam says.

Warning: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find upsetting.

© Getty Images Formed in 1976, the Tamil Tigers said they were fighting for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka

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September 16, 2018 · 2:18 pm

Rejuvenating Lanka: A Good Governance Plan for 2020

SWR de “Sam” Samarasinghe, in Sunday Island, 16 September 2018, where the title reads “A strategy and programme for Yaha Paalanaya 2020″”

Many Sri Lankans are frustrated with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for having failed to deliver good governance (Yaha Paalanaya – YP) and competent economic management. But lack of success with YP2015 is not a reason to abandon the concept of Yaha Paalanaya. We need a YP2020 to make a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka.

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September 14, 2018 · 3:04 pm

A Legal Minefield: The 20th Amendment

Neville Ladduwahetty, in the Island, 14 September 2018,

The JVP has presented to Parliament the 20th Amendment to the Constitution under provisions of a Private Member’s Bill. The primary objective of the 20th Amendment is to abolish the Office of an Executive President being elected by the People as stated in Article 4(b) of the 1978 Constitution. It is reported that several petitions have already being filed in the Supreme Court.

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September 13, 2018 · 2:38 am

Anagārika Dharmapāla: In Search of a Rounded Evaluation

Michael Roberts, courtesy of The Sunday Island 16 September 2018

Recently an anonymous hand writing as “A Dharmapala Devotee” presented a sarcastic opinion piece in the Island of the 5th September targeting myself, Gananath Obeyesekere and HL Seneviratne. My immediate response was short and rushed. This essay is a more considered set of comments.

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September 13, 2018 · 1:22 am

No Way Out of Lanka: Refugees stymied … Contrasting Tales

ONE = “Deported Lankan asylum seekers arrested,”  Item in Daily News, 12 September 2018

The CID had arrested nine Sri Lankan men yesterday when they arrived in the country having been deported from Australia. They were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The Police Media Spokesman’s office told the Daily News that the nine men who had gone to Australia at various stages and had claimed refugee status had been deported by the Australian Government on a special charted flight yesterday. Upon their arrival, the CID had taken the men into custody. They are in the age group of 27, 29, 36 and 48 years and are residents of Munalama, Kochchikade, Udappuwa, Chillaw, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, the police said.

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September 12, 2018 · 1:19 pm

Modi Government in Balancing Act with Mahinda Rajapaksa

Padma Rao Sundarji, in AsianAge, 12 September 2018, where the title is “At Last Delhi asks Mr Rajapaksa for a Dance”

A 10-member parliamentary delegation from Sri Lanka has begun an official visit to India, but another group under the man it fears the most has quietly checked into a five-star hotel in central Delhi at the same time. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, current leader of the Joint Opposition (JO), and the near-certain winner of Sri Lanka’s next election in January 2020, is in the Indian capital on a three-day visit.

Mr Rajapaksa is the man widely credited with ending the country’s 30-year-long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). His newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna has won provincial elections and is on a roll. Mr Rajapaksa is slated to return as PM, an office now endowed with greater powers than the presidency and with a President of his own choice. Continue reading →

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September 11, 2018 · 11:02 am

For Humanity: Sister Aroha, A Kiwi Mother Theresa with a Sri Lankan Twang

Woman leaves New Zealand to become a nun … Philomene Hogan aka Sister Aroha

A NOTE from Myrna Setunga of Battaramulla:Michael, I have been several times to this Home in Moratuwa as well as the Home for elders in Modara. ….. . I have been twice to the Home in Calcutta and the Home in Varanasi. These nuns are the best human beings I have met

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September 9, 2018 · 1:48 am

With A Few Choice Words: Appreciating FC de Saram’s Cricket Career

Eardley Lieversz, a reprint from the Royal Cricket Souvenir, 2005, where the title runs “With a few choice words, Royal cricket under F. C. de Saram’s Tutelage”

Many distinguished old boys have coached Royal at cricket.  Names such as “Chippy” Gunasekera, Dr. C.H. Gunasekera, Barney Gunasekera, Mahes Rodrigo, Gamini Salgadu, H.T. Gunasekera and Channa Gunasekera immediately spring to mind.  To that illustrious list may be added relatively recent old boys such as Nihal Kodituwakku, Vijay Malalasekera, Dilip Somaratne (who coached Royal to successive victories in the early nineties) and Nirmal Hettiaratchy.  All of them were good at their job.  However, none of them had the mystique of Colonel Derrick de Saram (aka FC, Derrick, and Colonel) whose last coaching stint with Royal was from 1968 to 1974.

 young FC de Saram on song

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