Category Archives: sri lankan society

March 31, 2017 · 12:23 pm

Tissa Jayatillka opens the Rotary Conference on Reconciliation

Tissa  Jayatilleka: “Peace and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka,”  28 March 2017

 Opening comments by TISSA JAYATILAKA at a panel discussion held during the 26th Rotary District Conference, Rotary District 3320- Sri Lanka and The Maldives, on 18 March, 2017 held at the BMICH, Colombo. The following served as panelists: Mr. R.Sampanthan, The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Rauf Hakeem, Minister of Urban Development, Water Supply and Drainage, Mr. Mano  Tittawela, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director, The Centre for Policy Alternatives, Prof. Savitri Goonesekere, Former Vice Chancellor and Professor of Law, University of Colombo.

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March 29, 2017 · 1:11 pm

Traversing Lanka: Walking Woman emulates the Bike Man

Devika  Casiechetty matches up to Rob, the British Bike-Man

 Rob as in https://thuppahis.com/2016/03/21/a-british-bike-mans-bike-ride-in-sri-lanka/

Nushka Nafeel: “She stepped in where Angels feared to tread,” Daily News, 29 March 2017

Women today have progressed in a variety of fields and reached the pinnacle of achievement but yet when a girl informs her parents or elders that she would be travelling out of town, or even stepping out of the confines of her home, the first question everyone in Sri Lanka asks is “Who are you going with? Will you be safe? Are you not scared?” The premise is that girls are not safe going out on their own and this is the question that Devika Casiechetty set to answer when she decides to walk around Sri Lanka alone. Her mission is, “A Girl on a Solo quest.”

Casiechetty’s idea was simple as it was to walk around Sri Lanka on her own to prove that Sri Lanka is the safest place to walk around solo as a woman but with the course of time, her initial plan begin to change. “I have now decided to not only explore whether Sri Lanka is safe to walk alone as a woman but also to ascertain whether it is unsafe and how we could make it safer for women,” she said. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2017 · 3:12 am

Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Achchaaru … or Racial Pickle

Michael Roberts

 Re-discovering this chat with Alex Van Arkadie today [2017] I think it is pertinent for all Sri Lankans …. And should be read in conjunction with my recent selection of material n “Sinhala Mind-Set” and “Why Thuppahi” ……. included in efforts to widen the exchanges in the following posts

…… Capped thereafter with a reading of Pon Kulendiren’s lovely tale of “Sinhala Nona”

https://thuppahis.com/2017/03/21/where-music-transcends-ethnic-divisions-sinhala-nona/#more-24614…… perhaps with background baila music such as Dingiri Dingare Le Menachchi!


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March 25, 2017 · 9:59 am

Final Passage for McGuinness and Prabhākaran: Sharply Contrasting

Michael Roberts

 The ‘final’ journeys on this our earth for Martin McGuinness and Velupillai Pirapāharan have been sharply different: McGuinness’ mortal remains were borne in March 2017 by his very own with a massive crowd of IRA and other Irish around; Pirapāharan’s in May 2009 was borne by his deadly enemies with no Tamils present…. and, definitely, no Tamil Tiger fighters.

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March 23, 2017 · 7:35 am

Anguish as Empowerment … and A Path to Retribution

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph where it is presented with a different title ….  https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/histrionic-voice-as-spark-for-ethnic-violence-political-extremism/

Anguish and grief are powerful emotions that can contort and wrack a body. While ‘suggesting’ helplessness, the anguish that engulfs a person can also empower that person … and others connected to that person by commonalities of interest/emotion. In this manner anguish can transcend obstacles, generate waves of bitterness and swell into paths of retributory hate and punishment. The ‘little’ drops of tears can swell metaphorically into ‘waves’ – and even inspire enraged mobs (mostly male) bent on punishing the purported root of the tears, a recalcitrant Other, an enemy family or “community” deemed to be the cause of that expressive anguish or deemed to have transcended local norms. In southern Lanka that community can be a neighbouring caste grouping or ethnic group or religious group (Muslim Moor,[1] Hindu, Buddhist, Christian).

Let me highlight the argument by presenting an unusual juxtaposition.

  1. Expressive Grief displayed by a Sri Lankan Tamil woman at a protest demonstration before David Cameron by persons whose kin have been missing in the course of Eelam War IV

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March 23, 2017 · 6:34 am

John F. Kennedy meets Ceylonese Parliamentary Delegation, 14 June 1961

President John F. Kennedy Meets with Members of the Parliament of Ceylon,  14 June 1961

President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the Parliament of Ceylon. President Kennedy sits in a rocking chair and the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs Walt W. Rostow stands fourth from the left (behind two men). Also included in the President’s schedule: Leader of the Ceylonese House of Representatives, Charles Percival de Silva; Clerk of the House, Ralph St. L. P. Deraniyagala; Members of the House, Sir Razik Fareed, Dr. N. M. Perera, Jinadasa Don Weerasekera; Ambassador of Ceylon, R. S. S. Gunewardene; Director of the United States Operations Mission to Ceylon, James C. Baird, Jr. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.
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March 22, 2017 · 2:44 am

Royal-Thomian Rivalry and Revelry 2017

References courtesy of  SENAKA WEERARATNA  

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March 22, 2017 · 2:29 am

Initiating Marinas in Sri Lanka: Big Plans

Rajkumar Kanagasingam,  courtesy of Daily Mirror, 16 March 2017, where the title is “Establishing first-ever marinas in Sri Lanka“

M “Establishing first-ever marinas in Sri Lankaarina is an unheard name to many Sri Lankans, but not anymore. Dr. Dietmar Doering, a German hotelier based in Marawila in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka, is venturing into establishing a first-ever marina in Marawila.  He pioneered sports tourism in Sri Lanka nearly three decades ago by establishing Asian-German Sports Exchange Programme; now it’s his turn for enhancing nautical tourism in Sri Lanka. Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga also has given the green light to make this marina venture a success. Generally, the Mediterranean region is famous for some of the world’s finest marinas; they are harbouring thousands of yachts and boats which are owned by rich and adventurous boaters around the world. Those boaters are not only cruising around the Mediterranean Seas but crossing the Suez Canal and entering into the Arabian Sea and many of them are venturing towards East Asia.  India and Sri Lanka are getting their importance because of their location but hardly any marinas to serve them other than the recently established Kochi International Marina in the Indian state of Kerala.

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March 21, 2017 · 2:31 pm

Where Music transcends Ethnic Divisions: Sinhala Nona

Pon Kulendiren, courtesy of The Tamil Mirror where the title is “True Story of coincidence: Sinhala nona”

Kaffrinha –Pic from The Localist

It was snowing heavily. A few days were left for Christmas. I was enjoying a sip of Scotch on the rocks and watching Discovery channel on T.V. My wife walked into the sitting room after preparing the dinner for the family. She looked at the clock that showed 5.30 in the evening. With a grimace she turned towards me. It showed that she did not like me having a second drink. Black label bottle was a quarter empty. She quietly took the bottle and disappeared into her room. I ignored her action as I was reluctant to start a fight as she may have a long face while serving dinner. She returned after a few minutes. Continue reading →

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March 19, 2017 · 11:56 pm

A World Event! Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in Test Match

Michael Roberts

Let the cricketing world rejoice in Bangladesh’s triumph in a tight Test Match at the P Sara Stadium aka “The Oval” in Colombo. One can allude to Sri Lankan hands within the resurgent Bangladesh cricketing squad in the tracksuits of Coach Chandika Hathurasinghe and Batting Coach Thilan Samaraweera and trainer Mario Villavarayan. But that would be unfair on the Bangla players because matches are won on the field through application, grit, acumen and performance. Continue reading →

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