Tony Donaldson, …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
In 1926, the Russian poet, singer, composer, and cabaret artist Alexander Vertinsky recorded the song Dorogoi dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною) which may be rendered as “Along a winding road” or “By the long road.” Vertinsky was born in the Ukraine in 1889 and died in St. Petersburg in 1957.
Alexander Vertinsky
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, Russian history, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Global Times Item, 10 December 2021, where the title runs thus “French media pushes anti-China narrative in a monolithic block, but at least one man is fighting for objective views”… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Photo: Zheng Ruolin, a senior Chinese media professional and European studies expert, talks with Maxime Vivas, French writer and journalistFiled under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, China and Chinese influences, cultural transmission, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, education, historical interpretation, life stories, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom & censorship, propaganda, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry
Dr. Sarath Gamani De Silva’s Motivational speech to the law graduates of the University of Colombo **
The Venerable Chancellor, Madam Vice Chancellor, the Dean, Faculty of Law and the Deans of other Faculties, Professors, Lecturers and other tutorial staff, University officials, the new graduates and their parents.
Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen, Let me first thank the Madam Vice Chancellor for inviting me to make this presentation.
I whole heartedly congratulate the new graduates for completing your tertiary education and entering the society as productive citizens of the motherland. Notwithstanding your superior academic capabilities, it is indeed an achievement to have completed your tertiary education at troubled times like these, when education in general had come to a virtual standstill for the majority of the younger generation. I have no doubt that your graduation is long overdue for no fault of yours. The very problems and delays in our system of education make you waste much of your childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. The frustration of such delays, compounded by the COVID pandemic, must weigh heavily on your attitude to life. Most of you I understand will become practising lawyers in courts of law while others may continue in allied fields. Some of you may proceed to engage in politics, a field where many past luminaries in your profession have left an indelible footprint.
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Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 18 December 2021, …. Review of Phantoms of the Night: Wildcats of Sri Lanka, by Thilak Jayaratne, Janaka Gallangoda, Nadika Hapuarachchi, and Madura de Silva ….. Chaya Publishers, 2022,… 160 pp…. with highlighting imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi.
The leopard is perhaps the most photographed animal in Sri Lanka. Slinking through grassy terrains and up sprawling trees, it has acquired a life of its own. Elusive and enigmatic, it tends to avoid human contact, preferring to lay low. This only belies its reputation as one the country’s most fearsome hunters, the undisputed elite among its predators. Indeed, the number of photographs and exhibitions organised every other year attest to its place in our collective consciousness. Although the lion has become the definitive symbol of the country, it is the leopard which has come to epitomise our forests and our parks.
“In 1864 Leonard Tilley was instrumental in naming Canada as Dominion of Canada. He was inspired by Psalm 72:8 of The Bible. This song is composed with the inspiration of the entire psalm which calls for justice and righteous ruling by the king and prayer for it. This is a tribute song for Canada by the Sri Lankan Christians living in Ontario and whole of Canada. Sung in all three languages of English Sinhala and Tamil. A Sri Lankan original in Canada.” ………… JOHN PERERA
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Michael Roberts
I got to know Tamara Kunanayakam and her partner, Jean-Pierre Page, and their dog Umberto[1] when staying overnight with them at their rented house in Battaramulla around 2016[2] during the course of my inquiries into Sri Lankan political affairs on the diplomatic circuit and the UNHRC in particular. Since Tamara was our Ambassador at the UNHRC in Geneva in the years 2011-12, this was a logical step.
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Capt Elmo Jayawardena, whose title for this tale is “Sri Lankans, for better or for worse”
I wrote some articles to the newspapers mainly about Sri Lankan matters and the political climate after Nandikadal. It was just to share my humble thoughts on where we should be heading in search of peace. Many acknowledged my line of thinking, and some asked me why I do not write something about aviation? Not a bad idea, considering I have been around aeroplanes for more than fifty years. But I did wonder who would want to know how I landed through a snow- laden sky in Alaska or how I flew over the Golden Gate Bridge on my way from San Francisco to Hong Kong? At best, it could all be a bit on the boring side. Yes, I do have some unbelievable fairy tales to relate of times I flew VVIPs for Air Lanka, but such involve names and names are a dangerous game. One never knows how far the freedom of expression extends. I like to let discretion be the better part of valour. Let me then change track and tell you some stories I have in connection with aviation and meeting fellow Sri Lankans all over the world. These are true stories, in black and white and not drawn with colourful crayons.
Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 11 December 2021,reviewing Rajiva Wijesinha’s Representing Sri Lanka (S. Godage & Brothers, 2021, 189 pp. Rs. 750) …. where the title is “Downhill All The Way”
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Marie Perera, in The Island, December 2021
Emeritus Professor Chandra Gunawardena, the founding Dean of the Faculty of Education, Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) and one of the finest educationists and a caring human being passed away after a brief illness three months ago, leaving a great vacuum in the field of education.
Michael Roberts
When viewing the Tamil or Sinhala-majority arenas in pre-colonial times in Sri Lanka one can perceive manifest symbols of lordship and hierarchy existing amidst layers of caste and class differentiation. The penetration of Portuguese and Dutch colonial powers in certain coastal areas from the 16th century onwards merely complicated, amplified and strengthened these practices of superordination and subordination. Fortunately, the English prisoner Robert Knox observed these modalities of hierarchical power and provided us with classic ‘engravings’ of King Rajasinha the II’s imposing regality and autocracy in the mid-seventeenth century.
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