Photographs by Michael Roberts during visits to his old stamping ground
the lighthouse and mosque on the southern side Continue reading
Galle Fort in British Times
Filed under British imperialism, heritage, life stories
Renovations of the Dutch Hospital within Galle Fort add further lustre to this magical place
Dhaneshi Yatawara, in the Sunday Observer, 25 May 2014, where the title reads “Galle Dutch Hospital restored to former glory”
Galle has always been a great attraction of local and foreign tourists since ancient times. The place of great historic value is a compulsory visiting point for all travellers and during each tourist season it becomes one of the most crowded tourist locations. Over a period of time and change, Galle still retains – as few other towns in Sri Lanka – an atmosphere of the past. The Galle Fort, which is the main attraction of the city, is a well preserved monument due to the efforts of the Archaeological Department. The heritage value of the fort has been recognised by the UNESCO and the site has been inscribed as a cultural heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort has a colourful history, and today has a multi-ethnic and multi-religious population. Within the Fort itself there are several preserved ancient buildings and few others remain in a dilapidated situation. Among these buildings the old Dutch Hospital remained unique and demanded special attention. Continue reading
The Modi Phenomenon in Sri Lankan Eyes: Some Selections
A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY from May 2014
Sunday Leader: “Mixed Reactions To Modi,” in May
Sunday Leader Editorial: “Modi’s First Hurdle Over Sri Lanka,” Sunday Leader, 25 May 2014.
Malinda Seneviratne: “Modi as gonibilla and maverick’s plaything,” Nation, 25 May 2014.
Shenali D Waduge: “Modi’s balancing act: Hindu Nationalism vs. neo-colonial corporate agenda,” Daily News, 31 May 2014.
Lucien Rajakarunanayake: “Modi and the Aspirations of the Tamils,” Sunday Island, 1 June 2014,
Lucien Rajakarunanayake: “Modi’s comprehensive victory,” http://thuppahis.com/2014/05/17/modis-comprehensive-triumph-lucien-rajakarunayakes-review/ Continue reading
Products from the northern Tamil districts impress visitors at Colombo ‘fair’
Courtesy of the Daily News, May 2014
A variety of products from the Northern Province made an eye catching display at the newly built market stalls at the Diyatha Uyana, close to the Diyawanna Lake in Kotte on Thursday. Products showcased by over 250 individuals representing various villages in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar and Vavuniya districts at the Diyatha Uyana premises were a major attraction among the local and foreign visitors. The government facilitated the opportunity with the financial and organising support of several organisations, including the USAID and Nucleus, to allow these producers to promote their products, and make commercially viable interactions. Continue reading
Ominous Facets of the Indian Elections: Modi and Beyond
Rajesh Venugopal, courtesy of http://groundviews.org/2014/05/23/brassed-off/ where the title is “Brassed Off. and where comments will be found.
In 2014, the year when Bollywood’s most popular ‘item’ song featured an Indo-Canadian porn star lip-syncing a song called ‘Baby Doll’, India elected a conservative Hindu chauvinist as its prime minister. Narendra Modi’s extraordinary ascent to power from humble party worker to a national icon of communal violence to hyper-efficient developmentalist leader is intriguing and revealing in itself, but let’s leave that aside for now.
The poll surveys and election data shows that the demographic most responsible for placing him in harm’s way came largely from young upper caste North Indian Hindus. Draw a line from Mangalore in the south-west to Darjeeling in the north-east – and with the exception of tiny pockets in Punjab and Kashmir, the saffron wave swept the vast majority of parliamentary seats to the north and west of that line. Continue reading
About Ceylon: Arthur C. Clarke, Pablo Neruda & Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
Jane Russell and Ruth Allaun** … Foreword to their essay on Leonard Woolf
“When I’m in the Strand or 42nd Street, or at NASA Headquarters or the Beverley Hills Hotel, my surroundings are liable to give a sudden tremor and I see through the insubstantial fabric to the reality beneath…” These words by Arthur C. Clarke, the sci-fi writer, are quoted at the end of Roloff Beny’s photographic chronicle Island Ceylon. But where does Clark’s reality reside? He writes, “No other place is so convincing as Sri Lanka.” As he spent almost fifty years there, we are tempted to believe him. Continue reading
Leonard Woolf: His Political Vision – From Innocent Imperialist to Pragmatic Internationalist
Jane Russell & Ruth Allaun**
Leonard Woolf went off to Ceylon in 1904 as innocent as a present-day wannabe writer who goes off globe-trotting in search of adventure and creative sustenance in his “gap “year. Woolf joined the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) because he needed a respected pensionable job which would satisfy his family’s requirements, yet also feed his imagination and make him interestingly exotic to his Cambridge friends. It was a happy accident (the very definition of serendipity) which brought him to Ceylon. Both gained immeasurably.
But if Cadet Woolf cut a shine in his green collars at welcome parties in Colombo, he didn’t reckon on the dark and miserable side to his job – the “dirty work of empire” as Orwell called it – of supervising floggings, hangings, and the taking of witness statements from the nearly dead. Continue reading
Skewed Advancement Patterns in Public and Private Sector Employment: Women and Minorities disadvantaged?
Verite Research, courtesy of The Island, 7 May 2013, where the title is “Do women and minorities in Sri Lanka face glass ceilings in employment?”
Should economics be able to explain divorce rates amongst married couples? Normally that is something that would be left to the techniques of psychology and anthropology. But surprisingly enough Gary Becker won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992, and one of his most celebrated papers was precisely in explaining divorce. What enables economists to venture into such unlikely terrain? It is the legitimizing power of their tools of trade: and in this case, it was the legitimising power of carefully examined data. Scrutinizing data for the hidden stories is an important pastime of Economists.
Scrutinising some of the employment data in Sri Lanka, in the public and private sectors also seems to reveal a hidden story: this time it is not about divorce, but about discrimination. Continue reading
Charles Haviland’s Farewell Political Travelogue on Sri Lanka
SEE Sri Lankan journey at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-27494822#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa…..20 May 2014 Last updated at 17:24 BST
About 300 miles separate the old Dutch fort of Galle on Sri Lanka’s southern tip and Mullivaikal, the strip of land in the north where an army assault on Tamil rebels ended a civil war five years ago. The BBC’s Charles Haviland travelled up the coast passing fish markets and seaside resorts, eventually turning inland towards the ancient capital and ending up in a desolate former war zone. These are the stories of the people he met on the way.
