Rare Black Leopard Seen at Yala National Park

NOTE  = https://www.dailymirror.lk/dm-videos/Rare-black-leopard-spotted-inYala/111-256838 ….

https://www.dailymirror.lk/plus/Conservationists-urge-public-to-act-with-caution/352-256783

ALAS this .!@#$!! newspaper prevents copying of items! Thuppahi gives the Mirror its blackest marks, 

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Revisiting FIRE & STORM

Michael Roberts

In presenting a Zoom Lecture relating to the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka in April 2021 for Dr. Geethika Dharmasinghe’s class at Colgate University in USA a month or so back,  I deployed the work that went into one of books: that entitled FIRE & STORM.

I now atempt to shock people around the world with pictorial illustrations of some — note “Some” (with all its partialities) — photographs of the political and Eelam War scenarios in Sri Lanka displayed in Fire & Storm.

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The Trinitian Doctor Malcolm Jansze’s Service to Humankind

David Jansze, in Email Letter to Michael Roberts, April 2023 **

Dear Michael,

Malcolm and I were the only members of our branch of the Janszé family of our generation (and those previous) left behind in Sri Lanka at the time of his death. My son has yet to beget an heir.

Our grandfather, who had his secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, was a Lawyer. All five of his sons also attended Trinity College and, in turn, so did the males of the next generation, with the exception of my father’s two sons (my elder brother and I), who had their secondary education at S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia. My dad, too, qualified as a Lawyer at the Colombo Law College and remained in Colombo.

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The Bumbling-Rambling JVP Insurgency of 1971

Janaka Perera, in The Daily News, 5 April 2023, entitled “Oh What A Lovely War for the Colonels of CeylonRemembering the April 1971 insurgency – a reporter’s experience,”   …. With this qualifying Note: This however is not meant to be a reflection on JVP’s present-day politics but only a brief recording of history.”

April 5th marks the 52nd anniversary of JVP’s April insurgency of 1971. It saw the first armed insurrection in post-independence Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). All legally recognized political parties at the time cooperated with the then Government in suppressing the insurgency since they did not consider it a people’s uprising.

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Sri Lankan Performative Dance within Easy Reach in Colombo

News Item in The ISLAND newspaper, 7 April 2023**

There has always been a massive void in Colombo for anyone, local or foreign, to savour a regularly held authentic Sri Lankan cultural show that reflects the diverse dance and drums of Sri Lanka. The Colombo Cultural Show has filled that void with a sleek, professional and highly engaging cultural show encompassing a repertoire of ten dance and drum items that takes the audience on a journey of upcountry, low country, Sabaragamuwa and folk dances.

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The Depth of Meaning in Protocol

X stresses

When Xi met Putin they sat close to each other,  and they had intimate dinners and cosy fireside chats.

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Right Royal Pillage in British India! Now on Display!

David Page & Manisha Ganguly, in The Guardian, 6 April 2023, with this title “India archive reveals extent of ‘colonial loot’ in royal jewellery collection”

File from India Office archive details how priceless items were extracted from colony as trophies of conquest. Five years ago, Buckingham Palace marked its summer opening with an exhibition celebrating the then Prince Charles’s 70th birthday with a display of his favourite pieces from the royal collection, Britain’s official trove of items connected to the monarchy. “The prince had a very, very strong hand in the selection,” the senior curator said.

Among the sculptures, paintings and other exhibits was a long gold girdle inlaid with 19 large emeralds once used by an Indian maharajah to decorate his horses. It was a curious choice to put into the exhibition in light of the violent means by which it had come into the hands of the royal family.

Emerald girdle of Maharaja Sher Singh, c 1840. Photograph: Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2023

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Mayhem in France as Macron courts China

X in Serial Reportage …. with the highlighting being the imposition of THe eDitor Thuppahi

A: Macron is seen here with Xi in Beijing yesterday to inspect Chinese troops.  It doesn’t seem to have registered in the West that Europe is in deep shit economically thanks to Biden and Blinken sabotaging Europe-Russia relations. France is in a deep crisis that may well see Macron out of power this year. Knowing full well how much damage the Americans have done to Europe, Macron is in China to salvage economic ties, because it is the only way out for France at this stage. 

 

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Galle Fort & Its Peoples in Black & White

Gagno’s Searing Camerawork

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Chandra Schaffter: A Sturdy Sri Lankan Sportsman and Administrator For All Seasons

Michael Roberts

Sri Lanka has been blessed with generations of talented cricketers over the decades: from

  • the Kelaarts and Saravanamuttus of the 1920s and 1930s … to
  • the Macarthy’s, de Sarams and Heyns of the 1930s and 1940s …
  • the Gunasekeras of the 1950s
  • the Lieversz, HIK Fernandos and Reids of the 1960s
  • Anura Tennekoon, Michael Tissera of the 1960s-1970s
  • Duleep Mendis and the Wettimuny’s of the 1970s/80s
  • Ranjan Madugalle and Arjuna Ranatunga of the 1980s
  • the Aravinda-Ranatunga-Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana-and-Vaas dynamos of the 1980s and the 1990s
  • the Mahela Jayawardena and Sangakkara duo of the 2000s …..
  • while not losing sight of that unique phenomenon we know as “Murali” in the 1990s-to-2000s.

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