Category Archives: sri lankan society

September 7, 2023 · 5:17 pm

Sri Lankan Women’s Cricket Team trounce England in England

Michael Roberts

The Sri Lanka Women’s Eleven’s win at Chelmsford in England highlights the wonderful improvement in the side and gleaming prospects in the near future. The side may be benefitting from the heat wave in Europe as well as England’s decision to rest one or two experienced campaigners; but the facility and margin of victory was commanding.  Andrew Miller’s account in ESPNcricinfo says it all.

Besides the triumph was not out of the blue. The team won the second encounter  comfortably after dismissing England for 104 runs — then reaching 110 for the loss of two wickets with 40 balls remaining.

Chamari Athapaththu was player of the match after a formidable all-round display  •  PA Photos/Getty Images

So, I encourage Sri Lankan cricket buffs to follow the series and add their thoughts on the events that follow……………………… Michael R

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September 7, 2023 · 1:16 pm

Pissu Percy is Not RIP …. Hodi Heleyi Heleyiaaaahhhh

Michael Roberts                      

The burgeoning news in August that Percy Abeysekera had passed away — news that spread faster than Percy’s sprints around the boundary during his younger days — is FALSE. Percy is merely in hospital.

As an Aloysian who is a tad younger than Percy, let me note that as a 14-year old I was part of the cheering squad marshalled by Percy and Royle Barthelot when the Aloysian cricket team faced opponents at the Galle Esplanade.

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September 6, 2023 · 11:25 pm

VANNI HOPE — Its Multi-Faceted Philanthropic Outreach

 “Enhancing Access to Education for Disadvantaged Children in the Rural Area of Sri Lanka”

Dear Friends, Relatives and Well Wishers, …………………………………………… Thank you once again for helping Vanni Hope to serve under privileged individuals and families in the very remote communities in Sri Lanka. The power of education is what binds the nation, lets come together & contribute to Education.

 

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September 6, 2023 · 1:25 am

Continuing IMF-World Bank Machinations Impact on Sri Lanka

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The Disinformation is ramping up in preparation for the IMF visit this month to review SL’s prograss on the required IMF asset sale of coastal and highland lands of the strategic island, to monitor and surveill the Indian Ocean trade and Submarine Data cable Routes. The IMF assets strip and sale of Sri Lanka targets the same sectors and assets that Washington’s MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact program did – Energy, Telecom, Transport Infrastructure back in 2019.

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September 5, 2023 · 9:11 pm

Rajapaksa Family targeted in The TIMES as Kingpins behind the 2019 “Easter Bombings”

Catherine Philp, in The AUSTRALIAN, 5 September 2023, where the title reads “British Documentary links powerful Sri Lanka family to bombings” ... where the item is from The TIMES

Sri Lankan officials loyal to the Rajapaksa family were complicit in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people, including eight British tourists, whistleblowers have alleged.

Relatives carry the coffin of a bomb blast victim in a cemetery for burial in Negombo after the Easter Sunday bombings….  Picture: AFP.

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September 4, 2023 · 12:33 am

The Limits of Empiricist Reasoning in Analytical Studies of the Past

Michael Roberts …. being a presentation again of an article presented in June 2014 in the Sri Lanka Guardian with the title “Fashioning History in Sri Lanka.” …. http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2014/06/fashioning-history-in-sri-lanka.html

There are several interpersonal exchanges which moulded my thinking before I presented this interpretation. They are all instructive. Some of these exchanges were combative; others unintentionally helpful.  Take one insance when I was discussing the famous tale in the Alakeshvara Yuddhaya about local readings of the strange white-men from Portuguese ships (caravels) with Professor AV Suraweera of Vidyodaya University (who had edited that tome).  As I told my readers when traing my pathway: “when I referred to lime being the smell of the viper and Vasavārti Māraya, [Suraweera’s] eyes had widened and his face had lit up.” This was an ethnographic encounter of the anthropological kind that indicated that I was on a profitable track

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September 3, 2023 · 8:22 pm

The Growth of Police Subservience to Political Overlords in Sri Lanka, 1948-2023

Merril Gunaratne, a Retd Senior DIG, in The Island, 3 September 2023, where the title runs thus: “Police subservience made political interference possible”  …. while highlighting has been imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

This writing was inspired by the topical essay of Kingsley Wickramasuriya, retired Senior DIG, which dealt with the impact of politics on the police, and the pithy observation made by Rajan Phillips in his column in the Sunday Island of August 20 where he has, whilst discussing dangers that may affect provincial policing under the 13th Amendment, stated “Nothing can be done provincially unless everything is reformed nationally”.

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September 2, 2023 · 12:30 am

Lançarote de Seixas and Madampe: A Portuguese Casado[i] in a Sinhalese Village

Chandra R. De Silva, refereed article originally pubd in Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol II/1, 1970, pp. 18-34.

At the end of the sixteenth century[ii] when the Portuguese came into possession of the south-western sea-board, Madampe proper, was a sizeable village inhabited by about a hundred families.[iii] Though situated some forty miles to the north of Colombo, the centre of Portuguese power and activity, Madampe was in some respects well located being within seven miles of the important port of Chilaw and within three miles of the sea, over which the Portuguese still had undisputed control.[iv] The village moreover, had twenty two minor villages attached to it, the whole forming the gabadagama[v] or royal demesne of Madampe, an area of approximately sixty square miles.

Statue of horse at Taniyavalla Devalaya, Madampe (constructed 1894) …… Photo from 2017

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September 1, 2023 · 4:29 pm

Convincing Win for Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh in Asia Cup Encounter at Pallekele

Madushka Balasuriya, in ESPNcricinfo, 31 August 2023 ,where the title of this review reads  “Pathirana, Asalanka lead Sri Lanka to vital opening win” 

Fifties from Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama saw home a nervy chase in sluggish conditions, as Sri Lanka kicked off their Asia Cup campaign with an ultimately convincing five-wicket win over Bangladesh. The result means Sri Lanka have one foot in the Super 4 stage, while Bangladesh face a must-win tie against Afghanistan.

Charith Asalanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama revived the chase after the loss of three early wickets • Getty Images

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August 31, 2023 · 11:23 am

Placing Valentijn’s Book in Its Context

Chandra R De Silva

We should welcome the efforts of Thiru Arumugam to draw attention to the Description of Ceylon by François Valentijn ……………….  (see ……………………. https://thuppahis.com/2023/08/27/francois-valentijns-description-of-ceylon/#more-74805).  That work is a valuable source of Sri Lankan history,  and as Sinnappah Arasaratnam has pointed out, his work has been used by many subsequent writers. However, Valentijn’s work needs to be used with caution. When Arasaratnam writes that ‘Valentijn’s is one of the most accurate accounts of the pre-European period of Ceylon history up to his time’ (p. 33), he is comparing Valentijn’s work only to those of other Europeans. Despite their defects, Sinhalese and Pali historical works written before Valentijn (from which European writers drew information) were certainly more comprehensive on that subject. As Arasaratnam himself comments, ‘it was noted that Valentijn often had only partially published his source and that he was not always the best judge of what was important. . .’ (p. 43).

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