Stefan D’Silva
Rukshani Weerasooriya, in RoarMedia, 4 December 2016, where the title is “The Paynter Behind Some Of Sri Lanka’s Finest Art”** … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Category Archives: the imaginary and the real
Presenting the Portuguese Burghers of Sri Lanka: Today and Yesterday
Earl Barthelot, in Ceylon Digest, 22 February 2020, where the title reads “The Portuguese Burghers of Ceylon”
Sri Lanka is well known for its diversity with over 22 numerically small communities and majority communities such as Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. Burgher community is one of the numerically small communities. Large proportions of the Burghers do live in the Batticaloa District and a small proportion live both in Trincomalee and Ampara District. At the same time there are Portuguese Burghers living in all parts of the country in small numbers.
Filed under Aboriginality, Afro-Asians, ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
The Nomenclature and Lineaments of White-Brown Cohabitation in British Ceylon: A Puzzle
MEMO from Michael Roberts, October 16 October 2021
Moving from BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI to the Greet and Paynter lineages in British Ceylon-and-thereafter has raised a query in my mind: how is it that the category “ANGLO-Ceylonese” did not take root in Ceylon and Lanka in contrast with British India where the label “Anglo-Indian” became well-entrenched[1] and therefore was carried over to the era after India secured Independence in 1947? As we know,[2] Revd Arthur Paynter was an Anglo-Indian missionary who established the Paynter Homes in the Himalayan region of India and then set up the Paynter Home in Nuwara Eliya. He had also married a fellow-missionary in the Salvation Army who was pursuing her commitment in India, one Miss Weerasooria from Dodanduwa … and together sired a talented lineage.
Photograph on display at the Paynter Home of the Paynter family. David Paynter stands at the centre, behind his mother Agnes
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David Paynter: Consummate Painter, A Ceylonese and A Trinitian
The Transfiguration. Image credit: shehansilva.wordpress.comThe chapel at S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia is, without exaggeration, the finest feature of the school premises. Displaying Byzantine (Later Roman) architecture, the limestone structure is both stately and imposing. But anyone with even a little exposure to S. Thomas’ College will know that it is the contents of the Chapel, and not simply its structural elegance, that gives it its value. Dedicated in 1927 to the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Chapel, with its high and wide nave, its great roof-beams and solid pillars, is known as the ‘Chapel of the Transfiguration.’ The word “transfiguration” means to be spiritually transformed or metamorphosed. It is a phenomenon which is hard (if not impossible) to describe in words, much harder still, to depict in art. But when you walk through the great arched doorway of the Chapel of the Transfiguration and into the sanctuary, you will be faced with a vast and powerful image, spanning across its east wall, behind the altar, which captures, by its astonishing simplicity, the essence of the transfiguration.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, paintings, patriotism, pilgrimages, religiosity, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Malaysia Challenges Australia’s AUKUS Smokescreen
Yiswaree Palnasamy in Malay Mail, 12 October 2021, where the title reads thus “Hishammuddin: Aukus can potentially disrupt South-east Asian peace; Malaysia won’t stand by”
Malaysia has made it clear to Australia that it won’t stand for any external threat to the peace and stability in South-east Asia, Parliament was told today.Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the federal government’s position has been very clear and consistent regarding the three-way security pact Australia has with the United States and the United Kingdom in the Indoe-Pacific region, better known as Aukus. “The latest stance of the Malaysian government on Aukus remains consistent with the stance affirmed by the prime minister, that the formation of Aukus raises concerns as it has the potential to disrupt peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Okt — Menteri Kanan Pertahanan yang juga Ahli Parlimen Sembrong Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein ketika Mesyuarat Khas Penggal Ketiga Parlimen Ke-14 di Parlimen hari ini.?–fotoBERNAMA (2021) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, Australian culture, australian media, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, press freedom, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes
An Ostrich-Horseman as Robber ….Medindie, South Australia
Stephen Corby, in TRAVEL, 23 July 2021, where the title runs thus “Statue stands and delivers a curious tale”
Standing beside Lake Albert in Meningie, South Australia, is a statue of an emu wearing a saddle, with little footrests to encourage visitors to climb aboard. It’s a bizarre tribute to the wildest, bearded-boy bushranger you’ve never heard of, John Francis Peggotty. A man who allegedly never grew larger than a seven year old, Peggotty is said to have terrorised the Coorong in the late 1800s, robbing and occasionally murdering people while riding a getaway ostrich; he was often shirtless and draped in stolen jewellery.
Child Soldiers in the LTTE, 2009 …. Eelam War IV
Matt Wade, in The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 May 2009, …. where the title runs thus “Kill or be killed: 11-year-olds forced to fight for Tamil Tigers”
IT IS hard to imagine Christine* in combat. But the diminutive 14-year-old with a cheeky smile and dancing eyes knows how to handle a Kalashnikov and detonate grenades. A Tamil speaker from northern Sri Lanka, Christine says she was abducted by Tamil Tiger cadres in March and forced to undergo military training. She performed drills using dummy weapons in preparation for battle and, as with many female recruits, her hair was cut short.
No place for a child … (left) Young fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, and (right) a 14-year old conscript at the Kegalle district centre.CREDIT:AP/GEMUNU AMARASINGHE/MATT WADE
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Revd Ernest Poruthota in Q and A on His Life’s Work
Avishka Mario Senewiratne in Q and A with Fr Poruthota (1931-2020) ………… Interview in May 2018 and originally published in the Messenger, May, 27, 2018.
Today the Messenger carries a very special and exclusive interview with one of the most senior and popular priests in the Archdiocese of Colombo, Rev. Fr. Ernest Poruthota. Since his ordination in 1957, Fr. Poruthota has served in ten parishes in different parts of the Archdiocese. As Asst. Parish Priest in Kotahena (1957-59), Moratuwa (1959-60), Pamunugama (1960), Dehiwala (1960-62) and Parish Priest in Dehiyagatha (1962-66), Kelaniya (1967-74), Kalamulla (1974-82), Kotte (1982-87), Wattala (1991-1997), Dehiwala (1997-2004), Kirimatiyagara (2004-2011). Apart from Parishes he has served as the Chaplain of lay Apostolate (1966-67), Director PMS (1971-74), Chaplain YCW, CWM (1983-87), Dean of Colombo (1987-91).
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Scilla Alecci’s Scurrilous Failure
Gerald Peiris
What causes more surprise than all else in the recently published ‘Pandora exposures’, supposedly produced through intensive investigations conducted worldwide by a Washington-based outfit named the ‘International Consortium of Investigative Journalism/ICIJ)’ on shady transactions by those at political and business elite levels is that, among many thousands of such exposures, there is only one from Sri Lanka, attributed to a relatively minor political leader having kinship ties with the two Rajapakshas – Mahinda and his brother Gotabhaya, presently at the apex of the government of Sri Lanka – and her husband, a person who, despite being wealthy, has somehow maintained relatively low profile in Sri Lankan affairs.
Filed under accountability, communal relations, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, news fabrication, paintings, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes
The Lineage “Hoolsema” – Nazi Europe to Sydney
Michael Roberts
My story here begins in Colombo in mid-2020 where I stubbed by big toe badly as I walked into the National Archives. The injury turned septic; and I was treated … I would say rescued …. by a Richmondite, Dr Sarath Gamani De Silva.[1] He ensured that I was fit to fly to Australia in mid-September 2020. This entailed extra airfare and quarantine for two weeks at another cost of 3000$. The toe became a godsend because it meant that my enforced stay was at a hotel run by the Health Department and not that run by the Police.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, coronavirus, discrimination, European history, Fascism, female empowerment, historical interpretation, Hitler, life stories, martyrdom, politIcal discourse, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes, World War II
