Effrontery …. or Bust !!!
Filed under accountability, Al Qaeda, art & allure bewitching, asylum-seekers, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, energy resources, female empowerment, fundamentalism, gender norms, governance, growth pole, landscape wondrous, life stories, medical marvels, performance, psychological urges, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, wild life, world affairs, zealotry
Christian Evocations: Anglican Churches in Lanka to Music
SEE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ3Gl3C5M30 …by … The Church of Ceylon – Anglican Church in Sri Lanka
Trinity College Chapel.
Uploaded on Dec 24, 2011
A selection of photos of parishes of the Church of Ceylon – Anglican Church in Sri Lanka.
Background Music – Wachet Auf (Sleepers wake) – A cantata by J S Bach on the Second Advent of Christ.
Travails at the Indo-Pak Border
Muralidhar Reddy, courtesy of gfiles, June Issue, Vol 11 where the chosen title of this article is “Border Woes”
I was The Hindu Pakistan correspondent from July 5, 2000, to May 25, 2006. It was on May 25, 2006, that I took a flight from Islamabad to Lahore, returning to India at the end of nearly six-year-long meaningful, intense and a truly historic phase in the history of ever turbulent, religious and secular life in Pakistan.
The period was chaotic and terrific for Pakistan after the United States of America made a determination that it was the forces commanded by Osama Bin Laden, supposedly operating from Tora Bora caves inside Afghanistan, that were responsible for bringing down the twin towers in New York. Predictably, Washington stuck a military death blow to the Taliban and the faithful of Bin Laden.
A Historical ‘Cuppa’ of Ceylon Tea
Ceylon Tea: The Trade That Made a Nation
The Colombo Tea Traders’ Association will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ceylon tea on July 20th with the launch of an illustrated history entitled Ceylon Tea: The Trade That Made a Nation. This art-quality large-format illustrated book has been authored by Richard Simon with Dominic Sansoni as Illustrations Editor, while the design has been fashioned by Sebastian Posingis. Continue reading
Filed under British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, gender norms, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Islamic Jihadists and Their Twisted Beliefs
Anthony Bergin, in The Australian, 9 June 2017 — with title “Twisted Beliefs driving Islamic Butchers”
Terrorists operating against Western targets claim their acts are inspired, and in many cases required, by Islam. Federal Social Services and Multicultural Affairs Assistant Minister Zed Seselja should be commended for his plain speaking when he argues we have tolerated extremism too often and that the Muslim community should now do more to call out Islamic extremism (“Minister tells Muslims to call out terrorism”, The Australian, June 8). “Those who believe in this Islamist ideology are a small minority of Muslims, but there are still far too many of them. So it’s on the majority — including the moderate, peaceful Muslims of our world — to rise up against this,” he said. Seselja suggested his colleagues should stop dancing around the issue and “call it for what it is”, saying it was an insult to suggest terrorism wasn’t religiously motivated. “Pretending that Islamist terrorists are simply mentally ill and not driven by an extreme ideology is not only dangerous, it is insulting to all Australians … “We are surely mature enough as a nation to have an open discussion about the inspiration for Islamist terrorism in Salafist jihadist teaching, while acknowledging that most Muslims in Australia are good citizens who reject this extremism.”
Seselja 
Filed under Uncategorized
Kumar Sangakkara’s Many Steps towards Reconciliation and Sensible Institutional Governance
Michael Roberts
In July 1983 Chokshanada and Kumari Sangakkara – in step with some Sinhalese, Malay and Burgher and other Sri Lankan families and in implicit opposition to the actions of Sinhalese people of violence –sheltered a number of Tamils who were in severe danger from the assaults on person and property that was a frightening element of the pogrom that occurred then. Many Sinhalese families in the central and southern districts protected their neighbours and/or friends in this manner. In conjectural manner, one can say that humane considerations and cultural traditions of alms-giving and amity informed such actions — a dimension of riots/pogroms in southern Asia that has been sidelined in historical studies of various “riots” in southern Asia. Perhaps inspired thus and perhaps encouraged also by the ecumenical spirit nurtured by his parents as well as Trinity College, Kumar and Yehali Sangakkara have continued this line of enterprise. In a significant step Yehali was beside Kumar when he visited St. Patrick’s College in Jaffna in April 2011 during the World Cup.
Filed under accountability, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, meditations, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes
Have Cricket. Will Reflect. Sanga in Q and A with Rex
Rex Clementine, in Sunday Island, 11 June 2017, where the title is “Sanga backs Graham Ford, reveals hard times during captaincy” … with highlights being the impositions of The Editor, Thuppahi
Former great Kumar Sangakkara has moved from batting to commentating like a duck taking to water. The transition has been so smooth. Not that he has lost the golden touch with batting or anything Playing for Surrey this year in 2017 he made five First Class hundreds in a row and nearly got a World Record sixth before falling short by 16 runs. Sunday Island sat down with the former Sri Lanka captain for a chat during the Champions Trophy. In this candid interview, he gives his opinions on the state of Sri Lankan cricket, his exploits in county cricket and why Graham Ford is the best man to take Sri Lanka forward. He also responds to criticism of retiring from international cricket in 2015 and reveals the difficulties of leading the team.
Kumar Sangakkara with SLC Board sometime back …http://www.thepapare.com/kumar-sangakkara-to-make-icc-tv-commentary-debut/
A Grand Monument of Dutch Rule in Sri Lanka: The Dutch Reformed Church
Mahil Wijesinghe in Sunday Observer, 11 June 2017, which is entitled “Dutch Reformed Church of Galle: Dutch Period’s Finest Monument”
The Dutch Reformed Church stands inside the Galle Fort. Continue reading
Filed under British colonialism, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes
Stunning One-Day Chase gives Sri Lanka Victory: A Minority outpaces A Majority
Sri Lanka upset the odds to defeat India in one of the finest one-day chases The Oval has seen”
To give you an idea of the magnitude of Sri Lanka’s achievement here, at the halfway stage, you could have got longer odds on them winning than on Jeremy Corbyn becoming the next prime minister. Yet on an overcast election day in south London, it was Sri Lanka who carved out the narrowest of majorities, even if in a packed crowd of over 22,000, their fans were very much the minority.It was one of the finest one-day chases The Oval has seen, and given this ground’s rich history of limited-overs batsmanship, that is not a statement you make lightly. Against one of the shrewdest attacks in the world game, Sri Lanka hunted down India’s total of 321 with guts and precision. Afterwards captain Angelo Mathews, who helmed the chase with a fine 52 not out, dedicated the win to a country ravaged by floods that have killed more than 200 people and left more than 600,000 homeless.
In less pressing matters, a damp fuse of a tournament has quite startlingly caught light. And after Pakistan’s surprise win against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, here was another reminder that at the game’s sharp end, the margins are deceptively narrow.
Flood Disaster in Sri Lanka: A Line of Aid for Pregnant Women
Michael Roberts
ONE: “Age shall not weary them” is an evocative phrase for Australians.[1] Myrna Setunga is from my generation of Peradeniya undergraduates and now lives in retirement in Battaramulla. A veritable dynamo she threw herself into relief aid in the aftermath of the 26th December 2004 tsunami. She identified a special arena of need and developed a scheme supplying a basket of essential supplies for pregnant women.[2] She pursued the same avenue in the IDP camps with aid from friends abroad.[3] She is now embarking on this line of relief aid in selected localities. I endorse the venture wholeheartedly and place this “Set of Notes” in the public realm so that others, not just feminists but one and all, may be encouraged to support this line of aid. Myrna’s desire for anonymity is transcended by the good that is in progress.
Myrna preparing her basket of essential items for mothers and/or pregnant women, 2009
