March 19, 2022 · 11:46 pm

David Heyn’s Sarcastic Responses to the Account of the BCCSL’s Preparations for the 1975 Tour of England

When I sent the draft of the article by HSM Pieris to several of the surviving personnel who represented Sri Lankan on the tour of England in 1975, David Heyn’s reaction was both spontaneous and sharp “Preparing for Cricket in England in 1975 … with Raja Wickremasinghe in Key Role – You must be joking!!! .. . he said.

Preparing for Cricket in England in 1975 … with Raja Wickremasinghe in Key Role

This immediate response was followed up with two other Email notes — comments which embraced the course of the whole tour rather than the more restricted survey by Mevan Pieris and Tennekoon regarding the training sojourn in Nuwara Eliya and Raja Wickremasinghe’s central role in this process (since my initiative today was prompted by news of Raja passing away –– so that the Thuppahi entry was/is also an epitaph for Raja.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, disparagement, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

March 19, 2022 · 11:17 am

Preparing for Cricket in England in 1975 … with Raja Wickremasinghe in Key Role

Michael Roberts

 The recent news conveying news of Raja Wickremasinghe’s departure from this our world prompts me to highlight his central role in conditioning the Sri Lankan cricket squad that was selected to tour England to participate in the ICC tournament in 1975 – itself an important step in the country’s progress towards full Test status (finally achieved in 1981).

His participation in this process was known to me via a photograph in Captain Anura Tennekoon’s stock – one placed before the public in Roberts, Essaying Cricket (Colombo, 2006, Plate 35).

 

 

 

 

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, historical interpretation, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, Sri Lankan cricket, travelogue

March 19, 2022 · 12:02 am

That Fat Bastard Shane Warne’s No Spin

David Runciman, reviewing Shane Warne’s book No Spin in the London Review of Books, 15 August 2019 …. with this title “Fat Bastard”

When​ the Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were exposed tampering with the ball during last year’s test series in South Africa there was, along with all the faux outrage, some genuine incredulity. Why did they take such an insane risk? The subterfuge was so cack-handed – rubbing the ball with lurid yellow sandpaper, perfectly suited to be picked up by the TV cameras – and the potential rewards so slight that they seemed to be putting their careers on the line for next to nothing. Confronted with the filmed evidence, Smith confessed straightaway. As conspiracies go this one barely got to first base, since almost no thought had been given to keeping it secret. They can’t have wanted to be caught. Each of the three culprits looked distraught in the aftermath. But it does appear that they didn’t think getting caught would matter much.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, disparagement, heritage, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, unusual people, world events & processes

March 18, 2022 · 12:38 pm

A Critical Failure in Early 2021 deepened Lanka’s Economic Crisis Today

Shamindra Ferdinando, in The Island, 15 March 2022,where the title reads “Sri Lanka wouldn’t have been in crisis if CBSL had floated rupee in April last year –Dr. Wijewardena”

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. W. A. Wijewardena says the country wouldn’t have been in the current predicament had the Monetary Board floated the Rupee in April 2021, six months before Ajith Nivard Cabraal succeeded Prof. W.D. Lakshman.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, world events & processes

March 18, 2022 · 11:43 am

Chronic Failures in Cricket Selections now ENDEMIC

Rex Clementine in Bangalore, in The ISLAND, 17 March 2022, where the title reads thus “A team mate, a brother and a dear friend”

Decorated Army General Shavendra Silva some time back was appointed as the Chairman of the National Selection Committee. The role of this committee is to oversee the appointments of selection committees to all sports that are under the Ministry of Sports. He didn’t have many issues dealing with the appointments, but when it came to cricket there was a bone of contention. The Cricket Advisory Committee moved full steam ahead backing Pramodaya Wickramasinghe while the National Olympic Committee raised objections.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under charitable outreach, cricket for amity, life stories, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, taking the piss

March 17, 2022 · 6:25 pm

A Tamil Tiger Migrant who Dares to Differ

Sabaratnam Sundaramoorthy

The book, Dare to Differ, is a short account of the long struggle of the Tamils to establish a separate state. It is written from the point of view of a Tamil expatriate living in Australia. The author is well equipped to write this account as he was an active member of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora which was the second front opened by the Tamil separatists. The Australian branch of the Tamil diaspora was a leading contributor to the cause. As a political activist and sympathiser of his people, he had close access to leading members of the LTTE. This has enabled him to give an insider’s view of some of the events that shaped the movement. His interactions with the Tamil leaders are revealing. His narrative runs smoothly. It is a MUST read for anyone interested in understanding the role played by the Tamil diaspora in the LTTE struggle.

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, discrimination, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, language policies, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power sharing, prabhakaran, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

March 11, 2022 · 11:36 pm

Dissecting Sri Lankan History & Politics through Book Reviews

Sophie Roel in conversation with Razeen Sally on “The best books on Sri Lanka recommended by Razeen Sally”

Many visitors to Sri Lanka have been beguiled by its charms, from its hill towns to its beaches, its ancient temples to its friendly people. And yet, for a quarter of a century until 2009, it was torn apart by a brutal civil war. Here, Sri Lanka-born political economist Razeen Sally, author of Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Land, recommends the best books to get a better understanding of Sri Lanka and the complexities that make the country so fascinating to visit and read about.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, plantations, plural society, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

March 11, 2022 · 8:05 pm

The “Endurance” discovered in Antarctica by Underwater Robots

Tom Metcalfe, in Scientific American, 9 March 2022, …. 

The wreck of the steam-yacht Endurance, which famously sank in 1915 during an Antarctic expedition by the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, has been rediscovered by searchers using autonomous underwater vehicles.

 The discovery of the wreck is “a milestone in polar history,” says the director of the search for it

 

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, nature's wonders, performance, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

March 11, 2022 · 7:12 pm

Sri Lanka as A Paradise blighted by Extraordinary Political Violence

Razeen Sally, in an article presented in November 2020 at NIKKEI ASIA, with the title “Rediscovering Sri Lanka through a travel memoir”  …. & with highlighting superimposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Island paradise mixes beguiling charm with an astonishing record of violence.  Foreign visitors have for centuries rhapsodized about Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was called until 1972: its seashores and landscapes, its governing religion, Buddhism, and its majority ethnicity, the Sinhalese.

Colombo’s Mount Lavinia Hotel in the 1960s. One of Asia’s legendary colonial hotels, it was managed by the author’s father through the political upheaval of the 1970s. “It was a turbulent time, much of which my father spent in remand and jail.” ……  Photo courtesy of Razeen Sally Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, atrocities, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, pilgrimages, plantations, politIcal discourse, power sharing, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, tourism, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

March 11, 2022 · 6:20 pm

Nishan De Mel fronts up for SKAL

Item in Daily Ft, 2 March 2022, where the title is “Skal International Colombo holds 68th AGM

The 68th Annual General meeting of Skal International was held recently at the Ramada in Colombo and Travel Talk Asia Managing Director Sk. Dinushka Chandrasena, was re-elected President for the year 2022.  World Link Travels Managing Director Sk. Ahintha Amarasinghe continues as the Vice President.

De Mel is seen here betweenVice President Ahintha Amarasinghe and Vice President Dinushka Chandrasena,

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under life stories, sri lankan society, unusual people