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
Nick Brookes, ... with highlighting imposed by The Editor,Thuppahi
The collective cry of consternation went up from the press box, the stands and living rooms across Sri Lanka, as news filtered through that Dhananjaya de Silva had won the toss and elected to bowl.
The old adage is hackneyed, but perhaps with good reason. At Lord’s, look up not down. Dhananjaya’s eyes were somewhere else. It was a perfect summer’s morning. Any blades of grass which once lived on the pitch had disappeared. All the signs said bat first.
Michael Roberts
A recent ‘rash’ of email messages has indicated that some personnel are searching for copies of my book Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period, 1590s to 1815, published in 2004 by Vijitha Yapa Publications … ISBN 955-809553-2; while a few are not even aware of its existence. It seems that it may be out of print now – an issue for well-heeled Sri Lankans to address in partnership with the Yapa firm.
Be that as it may, this state of affairs indicates that some advertisements for this book should be placed in the digital realm. The book launch in Colombo organised by firm Yapa with GL Peiris as speaker** is one step.
Filed under Uncategorized
NEWS ITEM sent to TPS …. with Comment from “Sarcasm Pacific” …. & highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE TINDAL, Australia — Deep in the outback, a flurry of construction by Australia and the United States is transforming this once quiet military installation into a potential launchpad in case of conflict with China. Runways are being expanded and strengthened to accommodate the allies’ biggest airplanes, including American B-52 bombers. A pair of massive fuel depots is rising side by side to supply U.S. and Australian fighter jets. And two earth-covered bunkers have been built for U.S. munitions.
Filed under Uncategorized
Michael Roberts presenting a Reflective MEMO from Chandra Schaffter in Sri Lanka. Chandra is aged circa 95 and still bowling cutters & swingers.
A: In mid-August this year my exchanges with Merril Gunaratne re his career induced me to send a note to Chandra Schaffter re the ways in which certain career choices and/or job postings had blighted the cricketing careers of many talented guys. Chandra has chosen to deepen the historical gaze and to pinpoint the fundamental ‘structural shortcomings’ of cricket in Ceylon/Sri Lanka in the period 1945-to-1996…. YES, 1996.
THIS is a must read. …. with highlighting emphasis in bold being my action.
Bradman & Sathasivam at the toss, Colombo Oval 1948 …. Ceylon team walks out to field
Coomara
swamy beats Bradman
Dear Michael
I am afraid you have got it all wrong. I will endeavour to set out my point of view – for your agreement or dissent.
Filed under Uncategorized
ITEM presented in reverse chronological order by Sophia Corfield … a postgrad at Adelaide University when this list was compiled, circa 2012
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, demography, devolution, economic processes, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, plantations, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
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Indunil De Silva
With my classmate and friend Lorenz Pereira and wife Kumi at the SSC after the Bradby.
Lorenz was the most gifted Sportsman at College during our generation. He was so gifted that sports came naturally to him. He captained Royal in Cricket, Rugby and Tennis and also was a coloursman in Athletics. Simple to the core with absolutely no arrogance, he is a worthy son of the late Professor EOE Pereira the father of the Engineering Faculty at Peradeniya University who is universally known for his educational skills and on whose shoulders greatness sat lightly
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FROM Creativity Planet on FACEBOOK
The famous Italian diver Enzo Mallorca was diving in the sea near Syracuse with his daughter Rossana, who was on the boat. As he descended, he felt something lightly hit him on the back. He turned and saw a dolphin. Then I realized that he did not want to play, but said something.
The animal dived and Enzo followed. At a depth of about 12 feet, there was another dolphin caught in an abandoned net.
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Rajiva Wijesinha, in The ISLAND, August 2024 …. a review of THE CEYLON JOURNAL ….
Earlier this month I attended the launch of a new journal, the brainchild of a youngster called Avishka Mario Seneviratne. I had been urged to attend by Goolbai Gunasekara, a great patron of imaginative learning, whom I much admire, but in fact I had met Avishka previously, when he turned up at home to look through books from a library that I was disposing of.
All learning seems to be grist to Avishka’s mill, and what he conceived of is a journal that covers a multiplicity of subjects, looking at a range of aspects of Sri Lankan history. For this purpose he got together a brilliant team of writers, ranging from my old Peradeniya colleague Prof C R de Silva to the evergreen Elmo Jayawardena. There is a vivid account by Chandran Ratnam, who has done much to put this country on the map, of the making here of an Indiana Jones film, while Avishka himself has contributed an account of the life and work of Roland Raven-Hart who wrote a great deal about this country. His most famous book in this regard was Ceylon History in Stone, which covers, as Avishka puts it, ‘travel, history, heritage and people’.
Filed under Uncategorized
thuppahi
