Monthly Archives: October 2021

Poet Kannadasan: Autobiographical Notes

Of pre-1943 period translated by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 25, 2021 Front Note by Sachi 40th death anniversary of King Poet Kannadasan (1927-1981) passed by on October 17th. Among his numerous books, two autobiographical memoirs, Vana Vaasam (1965, 376 pp) and Mana Vaasam (1980, 228 pp) stands out. Vana Vaasam covers the period of Kannadasan’s… Read more »

Zero Performance of Tamil Parties

And their leaders N.B. Not to say that Tamil leaders could not do a lot better than their current splintered disarray, but we’d like to quote a frequent comment by a member of our editorial committee – “One can’t blame Tamil leaders for not accomplishing much, since they hold no power.”  — Editor by Thambu… Read more »

Banishment and Belonging

Exile and Diaspora in Sarandib, Lanka and Ceylon (2019) Book Review by Greg Fealy, New Mandala, June 29, 2020 Ronit Ricci, Banishment and Belonging: Exile and Diaspora in Sarandib, Lanka and Ceylon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019, 282pp, ISBN 978-1-108-72724-2. For well over a century, Sri Lanka was the Dutch colonial administration’s main site of exile for… Read more »

Management of the Tamil Diaspora 2006

LTTE’s Primary Function Abroad by Vipula Wanigasekera, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria Virginia, March 2006 Building a CATR Research Agenda, Proceedings of the Third Bi-Annual International Symposium of the Center for Asian Terrorism Research (CATR) March 1-3, 2006, Colombo, Sri Lanka Proceedings_of_Center_for_Asian_Terrorism Research 2006 Management of the Tamil Diaspora–LTTE’s Primary Function Abroad … III-52 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………… Read more »

With Murunga, There Is No Need For Miracles

by Smriti Daniel, Diaspara Co blog, October, 2021 Far from a passing fad, murunga has always had deep roots in South Asian cultures. In Sri Lanka, where it is widely eaten, murunga has helped tide over wartime shortages and graced festive meals, without fuss or fanfare. Sometime in the ‘80s, my husband watched in fascination… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 62

Two Peculiar Thought Balloons: Annaism and Tattoos by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 30, 2021 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s expert comments on the previous chapter Part 61, received by email of July 7, 2021, are as follows: “Sachi, Read your piece with interest. MGR’s use of the interchangeable spelling of his names in the initial… Read more »