Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, reviewing Bhadrajee S. Hewage’s book “A NAME FOR EVERY CHAPTER: Anagarika Dharmapala and Ceylonese Buddhist Revivalism”
‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ – Socrates.
Rarely has so much been written both in the West and in the East about the work of a ‘revivalist,’ that one would conclude there is nothing left to be revealed of the man or his work. That is until you read Bhadrajee Hewage’s “Anagarika Dharmapala and Ceylonese Buddhist Revivalism.”
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Selva Kanagasabai, whose original title in this essay presented in 2005 [before Larry passed away] runs thus “Larry “Evergreen’ Schokman now foliates Florida” …. while highlighting emphasis has been imposed here and there by The Editor, Thuppahi
During the 1950s, changes began to appear in the management of tea estates in (then) Ceylon: Although most of the planting jobs were still the preserve of British expatriates, political realities and foresight opened opportunities for young Ceylonese to enter this challenging and rewarding occupation. Initially, it was mostly Trinitians and some Royalists who were selected (probably due to a perception that Rugby players were better suited for the outdoor life on plantations). The presumption was “if you played hard, you worked hard!”
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Asela Atukorala, in The SBlog,26 December 2017 …. ………………… https://aselaatukorala.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-case-for-metric-land-measurements_26.html
Sri Lanka adopted the metric system in the 1970s, yet (with the exception of square kilometres) land is usually measured the imperial way of square feet, perches, roods and acres instead of the metric way of of square metres and hectares. In this article, I will say why I think Sri Lanka should use metric units for land measurements giving its benefits. I will also give information on the sizes of square metres & hectares and list the metric land sizes of famous landmarks in Sri Lanka.
A. S. Wirasinha
It was an important day in 1914 when two brothers E.A. and E.R. de Silva left the Wesleyan Mission Boys’ High School at Ambalangoda and enrolled as pupils at Richmond College. Galle. Arthur, the older brother, proved a quiet and steady worker and later worked his way to posts of high responsibility in the postal department of Sri Lanka. It was the younger brother, Richard, who was to make a vital contribution to the school.
... with DS Senanayake
Mahendra Amerasekera, in Daily Mirror, 2 November 2020
Recently, when a popular television quiz show asked to name the first Sinhala novelist, theanswer was erroneously stated as Simon de Silva, and the novel as ‘Meena’. The host however was doubtful of the accuracy of this answer, and said as far as he could recall it was a writer from Moratuwa whose name he could not remember, and that the novel was ‘Wasanawantha Saha Kalakanni Pawul’. But on another quiz programme aired by the same channel on October 18, 2020 it was correctly stated that the first Sinhala novel was in fact ‘Wasanawantha Saha Kalakanni Pawul’.
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The student of the colonial history of Sri Lanka has undoubtedly come upon the name of S. G. Perera in their studies. Fr. S. G. Perera, a Catholic Priest of the Society of Jesus, was an exemplary scholar of the last century and whose parallels are unheard of. Publishing over a dozen books and over 300 articles in journals, his contributions to the history of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and the history of the Portuguese, Dutch and British periods of the island have aided the development of historical knowledge to a great extent in Sri Lanka; what could be called his magnum opus, the translation of the ‘Conquista’ of the 17th century Portuguese historian Fr. Queyroz, is the single most important Portuguese literary work which is the basis for any historical study on the Portuguese period. His proficiency of the Portuguese language gave him access to numerous original sources which he has translated and made available to the public is part of the wonderful legacy of this great historian of Lanka.
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Daya Lelwela, in Sunday Island, 2 May 2010
Having lived past the biblical span of three score years and ten, I thought it opportune now for me to make this reminiscent journey back in time to my days in school [viz. S. Aloysius College] before my fading, patchy memory were to rob me completely of those golden moments that I have cherished all my life and wish to share with you.
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Michael Roberts
Apart from experiencing life in my old beats of Galle Fort when I sojourned there in late July-early August 2020, I took in the work at ECSAT. This was during an abnormal period when the handicapped personnel attending classes at the ECSAT centre in Wackwella, Galle, were miniscule because of the covid-pandemic and government regulations. My amateur photographs (some in other Thuppahi postings) will nevertheless provide readers with some sense of place, scale and personnel.
A teaching session (which happened to have as many teachers as students) displayed the practiced vigour and unison with which the teaching staff engaged the students with lessons via song. Elsewhere there were one-on-one teaching processes. I was particularly impressed by the totally engaged joy with which an autistic young man (a tinker by trade as I gathered) was pursuing his tasks at a table whenever I visited that arena.
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