Category Archives: travelogue

August 13, 2024 · 1:34 pm

As Sturdy as Sigiriya: Raja de Silva reaches His Year Hundred

Rajiva Wijesinha, in The Island, 11 August 2024, … where the title reads “Raja de Silva at 100″

I have been privileged to have come to know in the last few years the former Commissioner of Archaeology, Raja de Silva. He was at school with my uncle Tissa and last year he came home – as he used to do in his schooldays – to a celebration of what would have been the latter’s 100th birthday. And before that he had been a source of interesting books, for in downsizing his library he passed on to me several books he thought I might like.

Raja …. Cutting birthday cake

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August 9, 2024 · 7:53 pm

Serenity with Cliff Richard’s Song by Minneriya Tank

Dr Sanjiva Wijesinha, …. whose orginal title reads “Twilight Reflections 19-A Summer Holiday”

We’re all going on a summer holiday

No more working for a week or two….”
-from a popular song of the sixties by Cliff Richard

Isn’t it amazing how hearing a few bars of a song can suddenly trigger the flooding back of a host of memories?

A Serene Scene  … Just the Scenario for “A Summer Holiday” wuth Cliff Richard

I was having dinner at a restaurant with my wife the other day – it was one of those quiet uncrowded restaurants where they have soft music playing in the background. The music is soft enough not to disturb one’s conversation, but just loud enough so that you are aware of the melody being played in the background.

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August 6, 2024 · 7:55 pm

Burghers with Their Belts Unbuckled

Richard Simon …. reviewing the book  Life Under the Palms: The Sublime World of the Anti-Colonialist Jacob Haafner, by Paul van der Velde, trans. Liesbeth Bennink

In 1926, a translation of Reize te voet door het eiland Ceilon (Travels on Foot through the Island of Ceylon) by Jacob Haafner was serialized in the Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon. The translators, L.A. Prins and J.R. Toussaint, included in their work several passages critical of British rule in India that had been left out of the original (1821) English translation of Haafner’s book. The Twenties were a period of intense political ferment in colonial Ceylon, and the author’s fulminations against the British were very much the point of the project.

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August 5, 2024 · 7:12 pm

Of All Places! Lankan Asylum Seekers stranded in Diego Garcia

News Item in The Island , 23 July 2024 … where the title reads “Urgent request to relocate Lankan asylum seekers from Diego Garcia amid escalating crisis”

Facing an urgent and escalating threat of harm to migrant children detained on Diego Garcia, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy requested their relocation to the UK on July 16th, as reported in the Solicitors Journal. This request to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper follows a warning from the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Commissioner, who reported severe living conditions and recent suicide attempts among the detainees....visit The Island web-ref for  photo of  this cluster of refugee boat people

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August 3, 2024 · 2:59 am

Head-Turning: Duplantis’ Pole-vaulting Technique Analysed

What makes Mondo fly? …..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/interactive/2024/mondo-duplantis-paris-olympics-pole-vault-record-technique/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f007&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3e91509%2F66ad011eddc1445f20819d9

https://time.com/7000063/armand-mondo-duplantis-olympics-interview-pole-vault/

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August 2, 2024 · 1:14 am

Pictorial: “Ceylon” in the Nineteenth Century

Presented by  “Ediri” .... and having attracted 709,588 views by Dec 31, 2010 ……

Collection of Photographs of People & their life, taken during British Colonial Era (1815-1948) which downloaded through Internet. With profound thanks to photographers (expatriates for sure), we are able to view how our life in Sri Lanka (Ceylon, Then) had been more than 100 years ago. Please observe what a peaceful life, humble clothing and charming atmosphere enjoyed between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Lets View, conserve and pass them for our next Generations ………….

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July 30, 2024 · 6:36 pm

That Cricket Match in1958: A Bantering Exchange

The THUPPAHI Item re the washed out international cricket match at the SSC grounds in Late 1958  drew this SET of EXCHANGES in July 2024

A=  Skandakumar-Rasiah, 30 July 2024

Sharing a comment of a great follower of the game

Whose Idol was Peter May

B = Rasiah-Skanda, 30 July 2024

Oh yes-wonderful childhood memories

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July 30, 2024 · 5:50 pm

A Ceylon Cricket Eleven in Late 1958 …. Its Ethnic Mix

Michael Roberts

Having come across “a drenching cricket story” from late in the year 1958  in my CRICKETIQUE website,  let me place it within THUPPAHI for reflection because the Cricketique site can be visited and read…  BUT is not readily open for comments or visited much.

The LEAD PHOTO is of considerable significance because of the ethnic mix in Sri Lankan team — inclusive of a Malay man and another with Colombo Chetty lineage roots.

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July 28, 2024 · 8:38 pm

The Dutch Museum in The Pettah after Renovation

Randima Atytgalle, in The Sunday Island, 28 July 2024 where the title reads “A monument to all things Dutch,” … while the photos are his work or that of Prof KD Paranavitana.

The Dutch Museum in Colombo, located at Prince Street, Pettah, was closed for several years for renovation. It was reopened to the public early this month. The conservation project which is nearing completion hopes to restore this archaeologically protected monument to its former glory.

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July 26, 2024 · 2:15 am

China and USA Battle for Popularity on World Stage

Theodore K

An ISEAS report  — Iseas is a semi-government think tank in Singapore — reveals in a recent survey that in Southeast Asia, China is more popular than the US. The report in pdf format can be downloaded at
https://www.iseas.edu.sg/centres/asean-studies-centre/state-of-southeast-asia-survey/the-state-of-southeast-asia-2024-survey-report/

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