Original Title reads: “Australian Specials: A Mosaic of Extraordinary Features”
In case you’ve forgotten, we are special aren’t we? … says a Dinky-die Aussie
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Filed under australian media, heritage, landscape wondrous, nature's wonders, photography, tourism, travelogue
Uditha Devapriya, in Newswire, 19 October 2022, where the title reads “Factum Special Perspective: Culture as diplomacy in Sri Lanka” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi and the title rendered as a long aa
The Malwatu Oya is the oldest and most important of the rivers in Sri Lanka. Its history is woven into the history of the country and its culture. Malwatu Oya Soya, in that respect, is a documentary not merely about the river, but the lives of the people and the society that it touched. Directed by one of Sri Lanka’s leading historians and intellectual voices, Malwatu Oya Soya made the rounds at several film festivals, in Pondicherry, Rome, and the Hague, winning awards and accolades at them all. It will have its first international screening on the 28th of this month at the India International Centre, in New Delhi.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, irrigation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, photography, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tourism, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Sometimes, even an ordinary camera in an ordinary amateur hand can strike pictorial gold. I present here some striking photos taken on spec with an ‘everyday camera,’ that is, an “Olympus Digital camera”,while vacationing in Sri Lanka and elsewhere over the years.
Twilight Catch? Fishermen casting net at sealine near Negombo …. I was at the prow of a hired boat which had travelled along one of the canals towards the sea and took this snap as our boat landed on the beach
Fair Dinkum, an original essay, with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
In August 2022, under coercion from India, the Sri Lankan authorities denied a Chinese research vessel entry into Hambantota port for provisions and refuelling. India falsely accused the vessel of being a spy ship without a shred of evidence. China requested the Sri Lankan authorities reverse its decision and in good faith, China disclosed the activities of the ship to the Sri Lankan authorities, reassuring them the ship was not a spy ship tracking India’s intercontinental missile. Sri Lanka quickly reversed its decision, and a grand ceremony was organized to welcome the Chinese vessel and its crew with Presential staff attending, speeches, and performances of low-country dances, almost like it was the first moon-landing.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, economic processes, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tourism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
David Penberthy in The Australian – “World recognition coming into view for the Flinders Ranges”
It is one of the most ancient and fossil-rich places on earth, its centrepiece the gigantic Wilpena Pound basin, its towering gums the inspiration for Australia’s greatest landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen.
Flinders Ranges tourism operator Kristian Coulthard with visitors to the “gateway of the Outback”. Picture: Tourism Australia
But beyond South Australia, little is known about the Flinders Ranges, which lie just four hours’ drive north of Adelaide at what’s known as the gateway to the Outback.
Orcadian’s NOTES in response to Benjamin Norton’s Revelatory Essay on the Sources of Debt faced by Sri Lanka
A = “NORTON’S article needs to be tattooed on the brains of every mindless Western journalist, every Western academic, everyone at the BBC, over the brains of Mike Pompeo, over Abe’s tombstone, over Morrison and Turnbull’s brain and over the Sri Lankans who repeatedly lie or fail to acknowledge that the vast majority of debt Sri Lanka owes is to the West, not to China. There was NEVER a China debt trap. That was a false narrative propagated by Western interests to disguise the true picture about the vast US and Western debt trap.”
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, citizen journalism, debt restructuring, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, education, governance, historical interpretation, IMF as monster, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
A Shot taken by Siraj Timothy A Joseph in Belair National Park
Indeed, the Kookaburra was seated on the picnic table alongside a family group of three persons near Playford Lake when we arrived by car …. the picture above was taken at the next stage
Michael Roberts
My wife and I indulged in a 3/4 day rrip to Kangaroo island in South Australia with Intrepid Tours –led by ADutch Australian lady. One highlight for me was our exp[osure to an example of sheep shearing served up by an experienced farmer. As the two Kelpie dogs marshalled a cluster of sheep for the sshearing process, I gain some comprehensoion of the grounding of the metaphor “following like sheep” …. & …. “like sheeps for the slaughter.”
BUT it was the act of shearing that grabbed the limelight. Hard work made to look easy by years of practice. Continue reading
Razeen Sally, in an article presented in November 2020 at NIKKEI ASIA, with the title “Rediscovering Sri Lanka through a travel memoir” …. & with highlighting superimposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The Island paradise mixes beguiling charm with an astonishing record of violence. Foreign visitors have for centuries rhapsodized about Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was called until 1972: its seashores and landscapes, its governing religion, Buddhism, and its majority ethnicity, the Sinhalese.
Colombo’s Mount Lavinia Hotel in the 1960s. One of Asia’s legendary colonial hotels, it was managed by the author’s father through the political upheaval of the 1970s. “It was a turbulent time, much of which my father spent in remand and jail.” …… Photo courtesy of Razeen Sally Continue reading
Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, atrocities, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, pilgrimages, plantations, politIcal discourse, power sharing, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, tourism, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Jayantha Jayewardene, in The Island, 20 February 2022, where the ttile runs thus “The lure and the lore of our jungles” **
Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, and even before that as Serendib and Taprobane, has different types of jungle that are of great interest to naturalists. The island has montane cloud forests, wet and dry zone forests – some of which are secondary forests – and savannahs. The coastal areas have a variety of mangroves. The extent of forest-land in the country has of late reduced to a large extent, mainly due to the demands for land from a rapidly increasing population. With three climatic zones in the island, the jungles have different types of vegetation.
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