God GANESH ‘holed’ by cannon shot ……. a classic ‘shot’ during the course of the Eelam Wars by that intrepid cameraman Dominic Sansoni
Category Archives: wild life
African Wiild Life in John de Silva’s Lens
John De Silva is an Old Aloysian like the Editor Thuppahi. He resides now in Melbourne and is a key member of the small crew sustaining the Old Aloysian Magazine.
Filed under landscape wondrous, life stories, nature's wonders, photography, tourism, travelogue, wild life
Fantastic Predictions: WORLD CUP FORECASTS from Lankan Cricketing Fanatics
A FORECAST by Errol FERNANDO, …. A Piano Player from the Heavens, 19 November 2023
After a long tournament, we reach the final that we all predicted many weeks ago, Lorenz – India vs Australia – with the obvious prediction that India will win. Millions will back India,of course.
Let me take a different path by predicting a win for the Aussies, especially if they bat first. Head, Marsh and Maxwell are dangerous players who can take the game away from India.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, atrocities, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, de-mining, disparagement, doctoring evidence, hatan kavi, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, pulling the leg, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, wild life, world events & processes, zealotry
Revelations within Colonial Photographs of Ceylon: “Veins of Influence”
Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections, by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra
[This book is a pioneering monograph that brings a rich array of early and previously unpublished images of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) into the global discourse of photography, pairing a striking lens of visual appreciation with distinctly humanizing perspectives.
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, Buddhism, commoditification, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, photography, photography & its history, plantations, Portuguese imperialism, power politics, religiosity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, unusual people, wild life, working class conditions
Perfection: The Centipede as Helpmate Pet
From Mervyn Weerasooriya, my old Aloysian Mate
A man goes into a pet shop and tells the owner he wants to buy a pet that can do everything. The shop owner suggests a faithful dog. The man replies, “Come on, a dog?” The owner says, “How about a cat?” The man replies, “No way! A cat certainly can’t do everything. I want a pet that can do everything!” The shop owner thinks for a minute, then says, “I’ve got it! A centipede!” The man says, “A centipede? I can’t imagine a centipede doing anything, but okay… I’ll try a centipede.” He gets the centipede home and says to the centipede, “Clean the kitchen.” Thirty minutes later, he walks into the kitchen and… it’s immaculate! All the dishes and silverware have been washed, dried, and put away. The counter-tops have been cleaned and the appliances are sparkling. Even the floor was waxed. He’s absolutely amazed.
Travails of a Rookie District Officer in Polonnaruwa, 1957-58
Sugath Kulatunga
Fresh from the University of Peradeniya, after a stint of teaching at St. Anthony’s College Kandy, I was selected as an Administrative Officer in the Department of Agriculture in November 1957 with 18 others in a new cadre of administrative officers established in the Department. This cadre was the brainchild of the then Minister of Agriculture Philip Gunawardhane and was operationalized by the then Deputy Director Administration Sam Silva, who Philip called a ‘” human dynamo”. (Sam was also the prime mover in the establishment of the CWE and the Petroleum Corporation).
Sugath
Philip Gunawardena
CP De Silva
c
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, democratic measures, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, transport and communications, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, wild life
Surviving A Leopard Attack in Hill-Country Sri Lanka
Kamanthi Wickemasinghe in Daily Mirror, 12 June 2023, where the title reads “Hill Country Leopard Ordeals and A Survivor’s Tale” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Dusk had already set in when we reached Bogawantalawa last Friday (June 2). What’s unique about the Central Highlands is that by about 5pm the climate turns misty and dark. We were on our way to meet Deva Prasath (39) from Bridwell Estate, Bogawantalawa who is a survivor of a recent leopard attack.
Huituto Children Survival Skills in the Amazonian Jungle
Victoria Bisset and Ana Vanessa Herrero, in Stuff, 11 June 2023, where the title reads “Four children were rescued after 40 days in the jungle. How did they survive?”
Four children have survived 40 days in the Amazon jungle in Colombia after their plane crashed last month, killing all three adults on board, including their mother.
The wreckage of the Cessna C206 that crashed in the jungle of Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia
The children, aged 13, 9, 4 and 1, were rescued Friday (local time) after rescuers spent weeks searching for them in remote areas of the jungle, which is home to jaguars, ocelots and venomous snakes.
Where No Woman is Kota Uda
…. and where one is at ease in the company of the Birds and the Bees
and Where… Continue reading
Leopards in Sri Lanka: Rare Shots of Leopards in Fornication
A letter (reproduced today…….. https://thuppahis.com/2022/11/13/aussie-tourists-give-thumbs-up-for-tourist-scene-in-sri-lanka-today/#more-67980) from an Australian couple presents a Warm Thumbs-up for the Sri Lankan tourist industry today. …. Yes, TODAY. It should perhaps be evaluated in conjunction with a ground-breaking documentary on Sri Lankan leopards by the highly qualified Thivanka Rukshan Perera which is being aired by National Geographic at present (November 2022). This type of encounter, of course, is hard to come by – but Thivanka himself will be envious of the local tourist who watched and snapped a couple of leopards coupling in the wide-open spaces of a wild-life track.
