News Item in Sunday times, 7 July 2019, with this title “Sri Lankan Railway revealed as one of most beautiful sleeper trains in world”
Travelling by sleeper train has long been a glamorous and exciting way to see the world – allowing one to fall asleep in one country and wake up in another feeling refreshed and ready to explore. But which sleeper trains are the best value?
Sunday Times News Item, 7 July 2019, where the title is “Stage II of Galle Fort development project under way”
Work on Stage II of the proposed ‘Galle Fort Development Project’, has commenced. The project funded by the World Bank is estimated to cost rupees 217 million. The project will be jointly handled by the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development, the Department of Archaeology, the Galle Heritage Foundation and the Sea Conservation Department. Stage I of the project which commenced in January this year is nearing completion.
Arjuna Ranawana reviews “Upon a Sleepless Isle” by Andrew Fidel Fernando
Fans of Andrew Fidel Fernando will be surprised, and those who are new to his writings, delighted. The well-known Cricket writer, a returnee to Sri Lanka, has written a book, “Upon a Sleepless Isle,” in which he travels through the country, crisscrossing the island on buses, tuk-tuks, scooters and bikes. In doing so he reveals a deep love for this land and its peoples as well as its most exasperating idiosyncrasies.
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, citizen journalism, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
Hugh Karunanayake, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN from Sydney, Journal 86, Vol XXII, May 2019
Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then called, had hardly any commercial or mercantilism during the nineteenth century when it was gradually emerging from a peasant society into a plantation economy. There were two major factors which contributed towards the commercialization of Colombo as a city. The first was the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 which made a tremendous impact on trade relations between the occident and the orient.
Filed under British colonialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, plural society, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, tourism, transport and communications, working class conditions, world events & processes
General HMHA Herath, in Island, 15 May 2019, where the title is “Who was behind the Easter terrorist attacks?”
While the Islamic State has claimed responsibility, the real story is a bit more complicated than that. To millions of Sri Lankans the Easter Sunday tragedy must have seemed a nightmare come true, a frightening déjà vu of the rampant violence this island nation has known for thirty years of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terror. The horrific attacks in which an estimated 253 lost their lives and many hundreds were wounded, signaled that the decade’s calm that prevailed after LTTE’s 2009 destruction by Sri Lanka’s Army is over.
1 What went wrong?
At the time, victory over the LTTE inspired confidence and heady optimism. A 2012 defense seminar in Colombo heralded “Peace and Stability” as its core theme and the five ‘Rs’ (Reconstruction, Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Reconciliation) as the imperative agenda for Sri Lanka. The mood at the time was upbeat and the country’s future seemed bright. The safety of the post-war period brought to the country millions of tourists (2.1 million in 2017 alone), and the reconstruction of Sri Lankan economy and infrastructure commenced apace. With the horrific Easter disaster, this process has come to a grinding halt. And the troubling question is what developments allowed it to happen. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, arab regimes, communal relations, cultural transmission, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, tourism, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
Jericoacoara National Park …. in Brazil, located in the municipality of Jijoca de Jericoacoara, state of Ceará. On its seashore is located the famous Jericoacoara Beach….. https://www.bing.com/search?q=Jericoacoara+national+park+Brazil
Filed under landscape wondrous, tourism, travelogue
APPEAL from Jayantha Pathikirikorale, President, Federation of Sri Lankan Organisations of Queensland Inc.
Dear friends, ….. You will be aware of the terrible events in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, April 21. A wave of terrorist bombings of churches and hotels claimed the lives of 253 people and injured more than 500. The island nation, its people and indeed the world has been left in shock by these senseless acts. Sri Lanka has had more than its share of horrors and sorrows in the past three decades. The country endured a 26-year civil war that had a heavy death toll; the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami claimed more than 35,000 lives, and this latest atrocity has shattered its spirit.
A relative of a Sri Lankan victim of an explosion at a church weeps outside a hospital in Batticaloa [Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP]
How much more can one country bear?
As the world rallies to help, we in the lucky country, Australia, are called on to do our bit to support the families of victims. As in the past, the Federation of Sri Lankan Organisations of Queensland (FSOQ) is initiating an appeal for help. In consultation with the Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Queensland, Anton Swan, and the founder of the Foundation of Goodness, Kushil Gunasekera, the FSOQ will support affected families in Batticaloa, in eastern Sri Lanka – one of the terrorist targets. Immediate past president of the FSOQ Bill Deutrom will oversee the project in Sri Lanka. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, patriotism, photography, politIcal discourse, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, terrorism, tourism, trauma, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Jake Wallis Simons in Daily Mail, 25 April 2019 …..
Suicide bomber brothers Inshaf Ibrahim (left) and Ilham Ibrahim (right) calmly walked into the luxury Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels on Easter Sunday morning and detonated their vests, killing guests having their breakfast
Filed under accountability, atrocities, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, life stories, martyrdom, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, tourism, transport and communications, trauma, world events & processes
Juliet Coombe … SRI LANKA NEEDS YOU!
If you really want to make a difference in the world right now, book or support someone else who was planning a trip to go to Sri Lanka or extend your stay if already in the country. By this act of solidarity with other peace loving people, you will be breaking the cycle of global violence, showing the terrorists, whoever they may be affiliated to, that they have totally failed to create fear, hatred and far wider spiritual destruction than the bombs themselves. As someone who has faced fear since early childhood as an Old Bailey Judge’s daughter and having the honour of marrying into the Sri Lankan Muslim Community during the civil war years, I can honestly say, hand on heart, that these people had nothing to do with this. However, it is easy to raise a red flag and blame them, playing directly into the invisible bully’s megalomaniac plans, which are to create maximum chaos, blow lots of innocent people up and blame others, so the real ‘extremist monsters’ get away with it, repeatedly, as they fool us with their clever deceptions.
thuppahi
