A Tough Apprentiecship: Sri Lanka’s Military against the Tamil Militants 1979 -1987… by Channa Wickremesekera
The Jakana bird lives on floating vegetation in wetlands such as water lilies. Picture by Sanjiv De Silva, IWMI.
A Mountain to Die For: Nanga Parbat
AFP Item in DAWN, 1 February 2018, where the title is “Tomasz Mackiewicz: the free spirit in love with ‘killer mountain’ Nanga Parbat”
Polish mountaineer Tomasz Mackiewicz, whom France’s Elisabeth Revol was forced to leave behind weak and bleeding on a Himalayan peak in Pakistan to save her own life, made a name for himself as a free spirit. “We’ve lost one of the most free and independent men out there,” Polish mountaineer Wojciech Kurtyka said.
Revol was facing death on Nanga Parbat, nicknamed “killer mountain”, when Polish elite climbers Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko scaled part of the 8,125-metre (26,660-foot) mountain in darkness last month to rescue her. But they were unable to save Mackiewicz.
The Disappearing Wetlands of Colombo
Jordana Narin in Daily News, 2 February 2018, with title as “Colombo’s Wetlands at Risk”
There is a breeze in Diyasuru Park that feels distinctly un-Colombo. The air is more lush, the birds more diverse, the grass more green. The park, located near the Parliament building in Thalawathugoda, is 18 hectares of urban wetland. And it’s one of the few the city has left.
Colombo is drying up—literally. Since the 1980s, the city has lost almost 60 percent of its wetland area. Today, on World Wetlands Day, it’s more crucial than ever to consider why all of this matters—and why the fight to save Colombo’s remaining wetlands is one that should involve each and every one of us.
Quaint By-Ways and Nature’s Ways in Colombo in the 1940s
Hugh Karunanayake, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, vol XXI/1, January 2018 where the title is “A Naturalist’s Paradise–Colombo in the 1940s”
Padda boats along the Negombo Canal
Growing up in mid twentieth century Colombo was a fascinating experience to any young person. That was the era when urban growth was taking place at a pace that afforded local fauna to thrive at will without any restrictions. Colombo South with its tree lined avenues and homes with spacious gardens provided sanctuary to a wide range of fauna ranging from avi fauna to reptiles. As a five year old just admitted to Royal Preparatory School I was mesmerised by the “golden beetles” that lived in the Andara trees that stood on the perimeter of the school grounds on Racecourse Avenue. Many of us five year olds fascinated by the shiny green gold sheen of the beetles, with great delight collected the beetles some of them dead and others still alive and took them home. The live ones did not live long, they were away from their natural surroundings, and we innocents knew nothing about their sustenance requirements. Also, keeping beetles was done in secrecy as our parents would not have countenanced it. Looking back on those childhood days I believe that my interest in natural history may have had its beginnings in the school yard. Not long after my interest turned into rearing and breeding tropical fish. That interest was abiding and lasted through my adulthood even into retirement in Australia where I kept koi carp and other tropical fish for many years.
Baththalangunduwa: An Isle Intriguing
Maneshka Borham, in Sunday Island, 28 January 2018
Around 38 kilometers or 20 nautical miles from the town of Kalpitiya off the Dutch Bay lies the island of Baththalangunduwa. A thin strip of an island about a mere five square kilometers in size, it is one of the few inhabited ones off the coast of Kalpitiya. However, despite being a thriving fishing village, the island in its recent times has also become a popular destination for travellers looking for adventure off the beaten track.
Planning for Sri Lanka’s Economic Vitality
Indrajit Coomaraswamy… being the Text of his Gamani Corea Memorial Lecture on 6th November 2017 entitled “Towards a vibrant economy and prosperous country”
- Introduction: The theme of my remarks this evening is going to be Towards a Vibrant Economy and Prosperous Country. I intend to begin by trying to make the case that this is probably the most favourable set of circumstances Sri Lanka has enjoyed for over five or six decades. I then propose to talk about key paradigm shifts which have changed the landscape for policy-making; the frameworks that have been put in place for macroeconomic policy making; the growth model; the policies to strengthen the growth framework; and some of the Government’s major development programmes. These are embedded in the Government’s Vision 2025 document2
Filed under Uncategorized
Cardiologist Kumar Gunawardane of Townsville Honoured
News Item in Sunday Island, 27 January 2017
A Sri Lanka-born cardiologist, Dr Kumar Gunawardane, has been bestowed the most prestigious award – CONSULTANT EMERITUS by The TOWNSVILLE HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICE BOARD. The presentation was made by the Minister for Health, Queensland, Dr. Steven Miles at a glittering staff excellence award ceremony. This was attended by many local dignitaries including the state and federal parliamentarians and the Mayor of Townsville Cr Jenny Hill.
Lanka’s External Debt: 2010 and 2016 in Comparison …. There is no Chinese Gonibilla Monster
Nishan de Mel of VERITE RESEARCH
“There is a tendency for discussion on Sri Lanka’s economy to overstate its dependence on China. It is important to take a look at the numbers. In 2010 China’s part of Sri Lanka’s loan portfolio was 3%. By 2016 it had grown to 9%, with the 6% growth coming from the Chines EXIM Bank. This is less than the loan portfolio held by other bilaterals and multilaterals such as Japan and ADB. The largest growth during this period was in the loan portfolio held by international financial markets. In 2010 it was 30% and by 2016 it had increased to 44% of the loan portfolio.”
SO: one has to ponder this question — which elements and which media outlets have promoted and massaged the fears of China? and towards what goals? Editor, Thuppahi
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, doctoring evidence, economic processes, governance, growth pole, historical interpretation, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Delhi Today and Yesterday: Entangled Urbanism
Sanjay Srivastava’s Entangled Urbanism
Entangled Urbanism: Slum, Gated Community and Shopping Mall in Delhi and Gurgaon
- A timely study of the urbanization process of Delhi
- Analyzes a wide range of issues
- Discusses all aspects of the process of urbanization – from gated communities, to malls, to consumerism
Overcoming Hate: A Lesson for Tamils and Sinhalese from a Holocaust Survivor
Zygmunt Swisrak
“I had so much hate towards the Germans. That hate was killing me. I realised this later when I went to Germany. Three times I have been there. They wanted me to lecture at university, at technical colleges, about what I suffered in the concentration camp in Frankfurt. I just went there to tell them what happened. And I met so many Germans; it started to change me. After I finished one talk, a student wrapped herself around me. She had tears in her eyes and said, “I am sorry for what our fathers and grandfathers have done to you, your family, and your country.” Then I started to get emails from students saying that my survival was not wasted and that to hear from somebody who was there, as an inmate in their country, was a different story. That’s how I got rid of the hate. I didn’t expect that. I have changed a lot. I can’t get rid of the hate altogether but it’s much less than I had and it doesn’t kill me anymore.” …. An Extract from Zygmunt Swisrak’s Last Testament
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, education, ethnicity, Fascism, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, life stories, meditations, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
