Category Archives: welfare & philanthophy

Addressing Audrey Maxwell’s Research on Cross-Cultural Marriages in England

Michael Roberts

My elder sister Audrey’s article on cross-cultural marriages & families in England via detailed interaction with several well-educated families in Oxford in the 1990s has been reproduced in TPS in the full … https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/28/not-all-issues-are-black-or-white-some-voices-from-the-offspring-of-cross-cultural-marriages/. It has the potential to inspire comments from British folk of varied backgrounds; and, hopefully, to promote studies in the today which could mark contrasts – or similarities – now some 20-30 years later.

Audrey in an acting role at Peradeniya Uni, mid-1950s ….  & at a church in Oxford in the 2010s

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Magnifique ….. Ahmed Didi aids Trinity Chapel Restoration

Item in The Island, 25 October 2024... with a different title

The distinguished old boy of Trinity College, Kandy, Ahmed Mahir Didi, recently donated Rs. 5 million for the College Chapel Restoration Project. He is a Maldivian national, now based in the Seychelles and is a well-known businessman engaged in tourism.

Trinity College Kandy _ We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Ahmed Mahir Didi [Old Boy 1968-75] for his incredibly generous donation to the Trinity College Chapel… _ Instagram

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Appreciating Beena Sarwar’s Documentary on Sri Lanka’s Parlous Situation

AUTHOR unknown –An Item sent by  Nandi Jasentuliyana — Ex-Richmond College and long resident in USA

This documentary is by Beena Sarwar….. https://www.dawn.com/news/1864914

“There is a fine line between order and chaos. Its tenuous separation lies at the heart of the grand cycle of oppositional linkages in myth and history, in which fate, humans and nature seek a way out of the turbulence to which they may well have themselves contributed.

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Burning Issues for the NPP Economic Team

Darshanie Ratnawalli, in The Island, October 2024 ... where the title reads ”The recent IMF visit and the new ‘economic team’

A new economic team, representing SL has gone into a meeting with the IMF. A President Media Division release dated October 2, 2024, says that the IMF visit was to hold discussions on the progress of the IMF programme and the release of the fourth tranche and that the following “economic team” has been appointed by the new government for discussions with the IMF.

This is the teamAnil Jayantha, Chair of the NPP Economic Policy Council & Senior Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs & Finance, Duminda Hulangamuwa, Senior Advisor to the President, Sunil Handunnetti, JVP Politician, Seetha Bandara Ranathunga, Sunil Gamage, Nandasiri Keembiyahetti, O. G. Dayaratne Banda and Amarasena Athukorala.

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A Medical & Environmental Puzzle associated with Irrigation Projects in Sri Lanka

Edward Upali

I address the issues raised by Dr. Dharmawardene in his essay ……………… https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/09/the-mahaweli-development-project-in-hindsight/#more-85348.

Dr. Dharmawardene says thousands of lives could have been saved if the planners of the Mahaweli Project had provided pipe-borne water supply to the colonists. In hindsight, similar arguments could also be made with respect to the Second World War 2, such as, if some of the European countries were more decisive and united against Germany, millions of lives would have been saved.

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The Mahaweli Development Project In Hindsight

Chandre Dharmawardena … an original article …with highlighting imposed by The Editor. TPS

It is interesting to look at the agenda of the workshop held at GANNORUWA in August 1974 [see references below] and ask what questions (and topics) should have been raised at that time, in hindsight, in the context of a number of issues where the Mahaweli project went very badly wrong.

Although there are many issues to consider where the Mahaweli project made mistakes, I will here write on just one issue that led to the deaths of thousands of farmers, beginning from late 1990s,  initially mostly in the Mahaweli C project area (I think).

The map is adapted from Balasooriya et al 2020.

 

 

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“Footprints in the Sands” – A Poetic Lament for Sri Lanka’s Politics

Revd Derrick Mendis, S.J.**

Politics in Lanka is a dirty game

Sans sense of honesty, honour or shame.

On election-campaigns that squander millions,

When in power, make illicit billions.

Copyright @CharithMania

Jayatilleka Hall, Peradeniya University … where Derrick & Groucho led the way

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Articles by Michael Roberts presented in Edited Books

ITEM presented in reverse chronological order by Sophia Corfield …  a postgrad at Adelaide University when this list was compiled, circa 2012

  1. Sri Lanka: The power of cricket and the power in cricket. In S. Wagg (Ed.), Cricket and National Identity in the Post-Colonial Age: Following On (pp. 132-158). London: Routledge.

  1. Submerging the People? Post-Orientalism and the Construction of Communalism. In G. Berkemer (Ed.), Explorations in South Asian History. Festschrift for Dietmar Rothermund on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (pp. 311-323). New Delhi: Manohar.

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THE CEYLON JOURNAL is launched: Seeking to Elucidate the Past & the Present

The Ceylon Journal is finally out

On August 2, 2024, the inaugural volume of The Ceylon Journal was launched at the Sri Lanka Medical Association Auditorium. This new publication by Heritage Publications is spearheaded by young historian Avishka Mario Senewiratne, features 15 articles exploring various facets of Sri Lankan history, including politics, architecture, folklore, and more. Inspired by Charles Ambrose Lorenz’s Young Ceylon, the journal aims to deepen understanding of Sri Lanka’s heritage and inspire progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vale PVJ Jayasekera — Historian … Richmondite

An Appreciation within Richmond Viththi in Facebook, 11 July 2024

Renowned Richmondite Professor P V J Jaysekara passed away. He is the one and only History professor produced by Richmond College, Galle. He Supervised Mr Ananda Dias-Jayasinha to write the book titled “Forgotten History of Richmond College”
Professor Jayasekara joined Richmond College in 1944. He was a Prefect of the school and won the most prestigeous award at Richmond, the Darrell Medal in 1954. He obtained an Honours Degree in Arts from the University of Peradeniya in 1959. He was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to Canada where he obtained his Masters degree in History from the University of Manitoba. In 1970, he was awarded the PhD by the SOAS, University of London.

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