Michael Roberts
ONE: The Theme Tune and George Siegertsz
The mainline tale about the production process in Ceylon in the composition of the outstanding film The Bridge on the River Kwai – a film based on an actual wartime commando operation involving the destruction of a bridge being built with POW labour by the Japanese war machine in Thailand – can be read at https://thuppahis.com/2021/08/02/kitulgala-and-the-classic-movie-bridge-on-the-river-kwai/
Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, photography, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon
Michael Roberts
In my reading, the spirit of cricket was spiked and shattered at its iconic home-ground of Lords yesterday. Not only yesterday –the fifth day. IThe “spiking” occurred throughout the match with (A) tailenders’ bombarded with headhigh short-pitched bowling by both sides; (B) verbal badinage and assualts — camouflaged as “badinage” and presented with smiles — from both parties; and (C) the spiking of the ball by Jimmy Anderson [according to one report] among the events on the ground.
Kumar Oh Kumar …. what future for “The Spirit of Cricket” talk you delivered during the famous COWDREY LECTURE some years back!
… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/kumar-sangakkara-s-mcc-spirit-of-cricket-lecture-522183
News Item in The Island, 14 August 2021, with this headline “Kumar Sangakkara opens new Compton and Edrich stands at Lord’s”
Unknown Author** … in https://www.elanka.com.au/portuguese-sri-lankan-surnames-and-their-meanings-2/
The Portuguese arrived in Ceylon, or Ceilão, as they called it, by chance. In 1505, a fleet commanded by Lourenço de Almeida—the son of Francisco de Almeida, the first viceroy of Portuguese India—was blown into Galle by adverse winds. It was thirteen years later, in 1518, that the Portuguese established formal contact with the Kingdom of Kotte, ruled by Vira Parakrama Bahu, and were permitted to build a fort in Colombo.
Filed under centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, Portuguese imperialism, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Anoma Pieris, with highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor of Thuppahi
Architect Valentine Gunasekara passed away peacefully at sunset on Monday 4, September 2017; and I felt it was important that his passing did not go unnoticed. The ebook version of Imagining Modernity: The Architecture of Valentine Gunasekara published 14 years after my 2007 book is an effort at ensuring he would not be forgotten. He mirrored the struggles of my parent’s generation across the hard years of import-substitution and Socialist policies when every bag of cement was purchased with a special permit. In fact, even attempting to build with concrete appeared foolhardy. However, he persevered, leaving a small coterie of buildings that are comparable to the works of Van Molyvann (1926-2017) in Cambodia or the Malayan Architects Co-Partnership (1960-67) in Singapore. These buildings have not garnered the attention and care that is afforded mid century modernism elsewhere, largely because their attempts at design synthesis are overlooked. The tropical climate is also hostile to pristine architectures and plastered concrete surfaces are high maintenance. But if one is willing to look beyond everyday tolerances to the aspirations behind the aesthetic responses that surround us in our rapidly growing cities, one needs to engage with Gunasekara’s repertoire.
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, self-reflexivity, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricketers assembled together
QUESTION FOR Aficianados: In what way are they different from Today’s Cricketers in the 2010s and 2020s?
MY TRUMP-CARD ANSWER = They are all clean-shaven and beardless …. and distinctly better-looking as a result.
A FOOTNOTE: When one of the World Series matches pitted a combined team against the West Indies Squad at the huge football stadium at West Lakes in Adelaide in January !978 (or 1979?), Michael Roberts was one of the mere 800 or 900 spectators in that giant arena.
I consider WHAT WE the few WITNESSED to be a privilege that I shared with that small cluster of cricket fans: we were seeing great cricketers in action within a form of televsion documentation that was revolutionizing the format–notably by having cameras at both ends and others cameras for special side-shots …. besides drop-in wickets, et cetera, et cetera.
A MESSAGE for ONE and ALL
Kindly take note of the following practical advice by Dr. Zhong Nanshan (China’s top authority on Covid-19)*.
Dr Zhong predicted that, sooner or early later, the widespread community infection of Covid-19 will be inevitable. This is because there now is increasing numbers of infected people who are asymptomatic but with varying incubation periods moving around undetected. As the above scenario is almost uncontrollable and unavoidable, it’s now crucial for us to prime our own immune system first.
Qadri Ismail, in Groundviews in 2015 with this title “The Import Of Sri Lankan Muslim Names”
My name is Mohamed Qadri Ismail. Mohamed Qadri Ismail is not my name.
The statements may prompt a wtf. (The acronym, btw, of the World Taekwondo Federation.) Surely one cannot affirm a position and its contradiction. Yet I do. The second sentence doesn’t necessarily negate the first.
Filed under Aboriginality, accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan scoiety, teaching profession, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry
Chandra R. de Silva, aka “CR”, being the Inaugural Tessa Bartholomeusz Memorial Lecture, Department of Religion, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, delivered on March 4, 2002
Let me begin by thanking the Department of Religion and Florida State University for inviting me to deliver the inaugural Tessa Bartholomeusz Memorial Lecture. As many of you are aware, Tessa and I worked together in two academic projects in the last few years and we were part of a group that worked hard and successfully to set up an American Research Center in Sri Lanka. I miss her both as a scholar and a friend and thus, my appreciation for all you have done in her memory is immense.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, paintings, politIcal discourse, Portuguese imperialism, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, world events & processes
thuppahi
