Ceylon University College Dons in 1933: A Photo that is A Treasure Trove

We are indebted to Thiru Arumugam and the latest issue of THE CEYLANKAN produced by the Ceylon Society of Australia for the two photographs reproduced here. I invite readers and old University personnel to provide pertinent bio-data on any of the individuals here who served the University and society over the next few decades.  I will be initiating this task below as time goes by.

Secular Bulwarks against Religious Fanaticism — Our Urgent Need

Tisaranee Gunasekara, whose choice of title has been “Secularism or Faith” — in an article which appeared in Groundviews as well as Sri Lanka Guardian

“And even here

Lies the other shore

Waiting to be reached.”

Tagore (My Reminiscences)

The blue, red, yellow, orange and white lights are on, as are the makeshift stalls selling lanterns. Yet few pause to see, haggle, buy. Vesak, so near chronologically, had never seemed so far away spiritually. After the Easter Sunday Massacre, fears were raised about Vesak too being turned into a bloody spectacle by the IS, working through its local adherents. As it turned out, neither the IS nor its local adherents were necessary to turn Vesak into a season of violence. The Sinhalese managed the task on their own.

Political Currents and Conflicts in Sri Lanka — Venugopal’s New CUP Book

Benjamin Brown, reviewing Nationalism, Development and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka by Rajesh Venugopal …. at https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2018/12/18/book-review-nationalism-development-and-ethnic-conflict-in-sri-lanka-by-rajesh-venugopal/

Dr Rajesh Venugopal’s new book, Nationalism, Development and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, offers a fresh look at how colonial legacies, nationalist ideology and discourses of development that have combined to shape the contours of Sri Lanka’s current tumultuous politics.

In Honour of Professor Kingsley M. de Silva: Scholarly Excellence

Gerald H Peiris. Island, 3 April 2018,where the title is  “The Pursuit of Scholarly Excellence: Professor Kingsley M. de Silva’s Impact on University Education”

“Honour whom honour is due” (Epistle to the Romans, Holy Bible)

Professor Kingsley de Silva resigned from the academic staff of the University of Peradeniya in 1995. That premature retirement must have been a painful termination of a cherished institutional link, made in the context of those in charge of university affairs at that time making it difficult for him to continue in university service without jeopardising his research commitments.

“What Ails Sri Lanka?” — Daya de Silva’s Scathing Analysis

Jayadeva Hettiarachchi, in Sunday Times, 17 February 2018, where the title is “Genuine desire to find the truth about what ails our country.” .…. a review of Daya de Silva:  Pearl to a Tear Drop”

There couldn’t have been a more opportune time for me to read and review this book written by Daya de Silva: namely, that moment when Sri Lankan parliamentarians were vying for power, pushing and shoving, throwing chairs, chili powder and even attempting to stab their opponents.

ISBN Number

978-955-30-8985-4

We humans have a deep association with our motherland even when we live in other parts of the world. A person born and bred in a given country can be separated from that country, but that country cannot be completely eradicated from that person’s mind as clearly seen in the sentiments expressed by the author of this book about her life in Sri Lanka.  As is always the case, foreigners/expatriates do perceive things quickly and more comprehensively than those who live in a country. Of course, the interest, passion and a genuine desire to find the truth beneath what appears on the surface has prompted Daya de Silva to write this book as I see it.

Understanding Yes People: Ehemai Hamu!!

Michel Nugawela in Daily FT, 8 January 2019, where the title runs thus “Why followers follow bad leaders” … ….. with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi — who has also deployed images at the end in step with Nugawela’s argument

Maithripala Sirisena. Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ranil Wickremesinghe. We’ve had different leaders with the same unhappy results for decades. At the core of this country’s political gridlock and dysfunction is a failed leadership culture and not a few men jockeying for power. Our existing model of representative leadership and behavioural conduct urgently needs fixing, as does fast tracking the empowerment of a new generation of leaders in the UNP. And yet we often forget that leadership is also a two-part equation. Followers have their own identity, just as leaders have theirs. In fact, Michael Maccoby, a leadership expert who has advised, taught, and studied the leaders of companies and governments in 36 countries, says: “Followers are as powerfully driven to follow as leaders are to lead.”

Palitha Manchanayake’s Life and Times

Ubeyasiri Wijeyananda Wickrama, reviewing Palitha Manchanayake’s Interesting Episodes in Life …. with highlighting emphasis imposed in arbitrary fashion by The Editor, Thuppahi

On the basis of positive responses that the author had on his earlier publication ‘Some Recollections and Reflections’ he was encouraged to produce the current episodes relating to his life. This book consists of 32 narratives in the form of episodes in its contents. The author has presented an introductory preface while the foreword is by the H.E. High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia, Mr Somasundaram Skandakumar.