November 23, 2023 · 6:10 pm

Just DESSERTS for India at Cricket World Cup …. & Modi’s Curtness

Tunku Varadarajan, in The Wire, 20 November 2023  where the title reads thus: “Cricket Mata Ki Jai: Jingoism Lost in Ahmedabad on Sunday” ... while highlights in blue have been imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

 

That India lost in the final was karmic payback for the BCCI’s sins against the game, and also for the Ahmedabad crowd’s unwillingness to be sporting and civilised.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi walking away from Pat Cummins after handing him the trophy. Photo: Screengrab from video Tunku Varadarajan

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, heritage, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, unusual people

November 23, 2023 · 9:57 am

The Humanitarian Social Commitment of Lakshman Wickremesinghe

Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, item taken from Daily News, 24 October 2023, ….. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

 Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe died on October 23 forty years ago. He was my uncle, and I had a special affinity with him with regard to both intellect and emotions. When I came back from Oxford, where he had studied a couple of decades before me, he was the family member who was most supportive of my resignation on the issue of the deprivation of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s Civic Rights, for unlike most members of the elite he understood early on what that meant for the future of democracy, a blight that has never left us since it was followed by a premature Presidential election, the ghastly referendum, and then the attacks first on Supreme Court Judges and then on Tamils.

one moment during Black July 1983

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, charitable outreach, Colombo and Its Spaces, democratic measures, education, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, racism, reconciliation, religiosity, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tolerance, trauma, unusual people

November 22, 2023 · 8:47 pm

Al-Jazeera Hand Dissects India’s World-Cup Defeat

Kevin Hand, in Al-Jazeera,  19 November 2023, where the where the title runs thus “ICC Cricket World Cu p 2023 final: Five things that went wrong for India”

India were favourites to win a home Cricket World Cup – so how did it all go wrong for them in the all-important final?

 

Hosts India won all 10 games leading up to the final and were heavy favourites to claim the trophy, but fell at the last hurdle. Al Jazeera takes a look at five things that went wrong on the day for India as their winning streak ended at the worst possible time.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, australian media, cricket for amity, cricket selections, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, trauma, world events & processes

November 22, 2023 · 3:35 pm

Michael Roberts Papers at Adelaide University Library

Michael Roberts Papers, mainly on Sri Lanka ……MSS 0031 …. AT = University of Adelaide Library………………………………………………. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/mss/roberts/transcripts%20list

Philip Gunawardena

Edmund R Leach

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, communal relations, cultural transmission, devolution, economic processes, education, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, land policies, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, parliamentary elections, plantations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon

November 21, 2023 · 7:32 pm

Equanimity in Crunch Situations: Glenn Maxwell and His Lady

A Striking Photo sent to Thuppahi by Keith Bennett of Australia 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, unusual people

November 19, 2023 · 3:36 pm

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.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

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

November 19, 2023 · 1:23 pm

From Little Things Big Things Grow: Antonians Who Excelled Beyond Excellence      

Bernard Vancuylenburg & Sisira Weragoda

 

Prologue: As an introduction to the subject of this article I had to choose a title which nails it all in just one line. It is the story of an academic miracle which emanated from a simple school in its infancy, St. Anthony’s College Katugastota, by a group of students who raised the bar of achievement and excellence in the prestigious London Matriculation Examination in 1934, with a 100% pass rate THUS OBTAINING THE BEST RESULTS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. It was a path breaking year for the College and a validation of the school’s excellence. Twelve students sat the examination that year of whom six obtained first division passes, and six obtained second division passes. Their names which should be emblazoned in letters of gold in the field of education will be mentioned in this article. Paraphrasing the title of the book by Rubeih Murray James, we should “Carve their names with pride”.

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, sri lankan society, teaching profession

November 18, 2023 · 11:54 pm

“Our Present and Our Future” –Erudite Reflections on Ceylon’s Situation in 1850

A.C.[1]

“But where the stirring crowd, the voice of strife,

The glow of action, and the thrill of life?”

It may not perhaps be altogether useless to ask, How many of our countrymen have reflected seriously upon their condition and their prospects? How many have cast a thought beyond the events of yesterday or the business of to-day? We fear, not many. We are too content to move in the same mechanical circle of samenesses to-day as yesterday, to square our ideas with those of other men, to believe and to speak according to dictates; that we should entertain the remotest idea of comparing our Past with our Present, so as to arrive at a probable conception of the Future. Our life-time passes with the dreamy knowledge that we are, and but little beyond that. But What may we be? What ought we to be? Are questions which are never engendered in our minds. For any one original thought on the subject which may exist, we may be dwelling in Fairyland.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

November 18, 2023 · 7:53 pm

The Logic behind the Hamas Raid of October 7th 2023

Scott Ritter of Global Research, 14 November 2023, whose chosen title is  “The October 7 Hamas Assault on Israel: The Most Successful Military Raid of this Century” …. with highlighting emphasis in purple being that of the Author; while other highlights in blue  or red are those imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi … who thanks Jayantha Somasundaram of Canberra for leading him to this important essay

There is a truism that I often cite when discussing the various analytical approaches to assessing the wide variety of geopolitical problems facing the world today—you can’t solve a problem unless you first properly define it. The gist of the argument is quite simple—any solution which has nothing to do with the problem involved is, literally, no solution at all.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Islamic fundamentalism, Jews in Asia, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, Palestine, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

November 18, 2023 · 6:11 pm

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.

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

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