Category Archives: transport and communications

October 22, 2022 · 8:24 pm

Galle Face Green in Colombo Over the Decades

Ismeth Raheem and Angeline Ondaatjie, in Elanka, 10 October 2022, where the title runs as “The Changing Face of Galle Face Green”

Galle Face is Colombo’s most-prized open-aired public space, extending over a mile along the Fort oceanfront in Colombo. Over the course of Sri Lanka’s history, it has been the de facto stage for landmark public gatherings. Most recently over the months of April to July 2022, the Galle Face Green was the centerstage of the People’s Aragalaya, a protest movement that arose from economic hardship in Sri Lanka. During those weeks the protestors renamed it GotaGoGama (GGG) and even had a Google marker to prove it. On July 9th 2022, unprecedented crowds from all parts of Sri Lanka gathered in the Galle Face Area breaking attendance records of Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake funeral in 1952, the 1953 hartal, and Pope Francis’s holy mass in 2015.

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Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Colombo and Its Spaces, Cuba in this world, economic processes, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, photography, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, Rajapaksa regime, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue

October 11, 2022 · 7:12 pm

The Russians land on the Moon in Colombo

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.

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October 9, 2022 · 1:26 pm

Debating World Politics: “Human Rights” as USA’s Tool in Power Games

Circa 7^th October 2022, I inserted Natasha Gooneratne’s Memo in Thuppahi on Facebook: “An Exposure: Human Rights as a Tool of US Intervention”. …. ………………………………..So, readers should focus initially on this MEMO = https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/04/an-exposure-human-rights-as-a-tool-of-us-intervention-

THAT Item drew the following two comments in Facebook which I then circulated to Natasha and a select few others by EMAIL.

Comment in FACEBOOK by Arun Devan, October 2022: “If you don’t like USA, then don’t go with the begging bowl to US and West. Sri Lanka can choose to stave or be slave. Little choices – thanks to the brutal war and useless spending on military now.”

Comment in FACEBOOK by Richard Simon, October 2022:“Why does the US want to intervene in Sri Lanka? Serious question.”

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Sustaining Cultural Performance Practices across the Indian Ocean

Shihan De Silva Jayasuriya et al

PREFACE to her new book entitled “Sustaining Support for Intangible Cultural Heritage” (ICH)

Sustaining Support for Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) continues the conversations on cultural heritage which commenced at a virtual conference held on August 3, 2020, at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. The conference was spurred by the screening of my film – “Indian Ocean Memories and African Migrants” – at the Social Scientists Association, Colombo. The interest shown by UNESCO Global Network Facilitators, Dr Bilinda Nandadeva and Dr Gamini Wijesuriya, who attended the screening, was a catalyst to convening the conference. The Covid-19 pandemic further exposed the significance of heritage and the vulnerability of intangible culture. The book is a call to value ICH and an inspiration for academics, researchers, stakeholders, civil society, cultural practitioners and policymakers to understand the threats to sustaining heritage.

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A Rare Photograph of the Old Lighthouse at Galle Fort

Ismeth Raheem ++

Presented here is the stone and concrete lighthouse constructed around 1851-52 at the south-western corner of Galle Fort ………. replacing the cast-iron structure that was specially fabricated in England and shipped to Ceylon. That cast-iron lighting ‘unit’ was burnt down by accident in 1849-50.

The rare image was recently made available to Thuppahi by Bunchy Rahuman — an old Aloysian mate of Michael Roberts and one time resident in the fort.

The image is one of the earliest datable calotype photographs the world has seen. Calotype photographs are partly hand-coloured. Calotype was concurrently invented not soon after the Daguerreotype.

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September 21, 2022 · 9:52 pm

Charles S. Braine: A Rajah of a Planter in British Ceylon

One of the Braine Progeny presenting an Item in the History of Ceylon Tea website, entitled “Charles Stanley Braine (1874-1944) – The Rajah of Mawatte”…. https://www.historyofceylontea.com/ceylon-publications/feature-

Charles Stanley was born in Ceylon on 25 December 1874. He was the eldest son of Charles Frederick Braine and Adeline Mary Becher, who had married in London earlier that year.

Charles Stanley Braine: rajah-of-mawatte.html

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September 19, 2022 · 7:16 pm

From my Mother “Elizabeth” to Elizabeth Truss: Downhill …

Michael O’Leary in Sunday Island, 17 September 2022, where the title reads: “A Tale of Three Elizabeths” … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

England’s Glory: My mother had the same name as the UK’s latest and current (as I write) prime minister. My mother was Elizabeth Jane King and when she married Jeremiah O’Leary, the Irish labourer who helped to build her parents’ house, number 9, Stanway Road, Coney Hill, Gloucester, she became Elizabeth O’Leary. When Mary Elizabeth Truss married Liverpool accountant Hugh O’Leary she became Elizabeth O’Leary, just like my mother.

Queen Elizabeth II at Trinity in 1954

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September 12, 2022 · 12:37 am

The LTTE’s Remarkable Capacities: Its Air Tigers

Compiled by Kumar Kirinde, Retd Officer of the SLAF, whose chosen title was as follows: “The Air Tigers: The Air Wing of A Terrorist Organisation” …… with information and images sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Tigers and Google Images)

Pirapaharan (ext. left) with Anton Balasingham on his left and KP Pathmanathan in front and Shankar on the extreme right in the Vanni jungles circa 2001(?) … Shankar was in effect the Air Tiger chief

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September 11, 2022 · 2:23 pm

Power Balancing Moves in Asia: Displacing USA

Scott Ritter in Energy Intelligence, 9 September 2022, with this title “India And China Eye Asian Century”

As the world lurches through the growing pains of massive geopolitical change, the US’ relationship with India will increasingly take center stage. Washington likes to see itself as providing a geopolitical center of gravity that is inherently attractive to nations like India, especially against regional competitors such as China. As the US is about to discover, however, India and China have a shared ambition about who should dominate the Pacific in the coming century, and it doesn’t include the US.

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Denmark’s Imperialism in the Past: Its Colonies

Thuppahi Editorial Note:

“Amidst the prominent history of imperial expansion by Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France, the imperial intrusions (and outrages) by such European nations as Italy and Denmark during the early modern period can be passed over….that is, missed. Senaka Weeraratne in Colombo reminded me of this dimension of the past by sending me the tales of Denmark’s ‘work’ in this arena…. a world arena…. captured in Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_overseas_colonies

………… and especially the Maps of Danish colonies/or settlements acroos the world.

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Category Archives: transport and communications

Galle Face Green in Colombo Over the Decades

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The Russians land on the Moon in Colombo

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Sustaining Cultural Performance Practices across the Indian Ocean

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A Rare Photograph of the Old Lighthouse at Galle Fort

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Charles S. Braine: A Rajah of a Planter in British Ceylon

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From my Mother “Elizabeth” to Elizabeth Truss: Downhill …

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The LTTE’s Remarkable Capacities: Its Air Tigers

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Power Balancing Moves in Asia: Displacing USA

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Denmark’s Imperialism in the Past: Its Colonies

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