Renowned Carnatic musician M S Subbulakshmi died at 11.45 p.m. in Chennai December 11 following “various complications”, according to hospital and family sources. She was 88. Her husband, Sadasivam, pre-deceased her in 1997. A Magsaysay Award winner, Subbulakshmi, popularly known as “MS,” has no children. Born as Kunjamma in the temple city of Madurai in… Read more »
Rebuilding Mullaitivu
by Ranga Jayasuriya, The Sunday Observer, Colombo, December 12, 2004 Mullaitivu is rising from the ruins of intense fighting that lasted for over one and half decades and caused mass displacement. The Mullaitivu Maha Vidyalam, the district’s premier school reduced to rubble during the war has been rebuilt. The road to the coastal town via… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 28: The First Interview
By T. Sabaratnam, December 10, 2004 On the Cover Page Sunday, India’s leading news magazine in 1984, created a sensation in India and Sri Lanka by featuring Pirapaharan’s first media interview in its 11-17 March issue. The cover carried a colour photograph of a wide-eyed, chubby -cheeked Pirapaharan in combat fatigues, sitting behind a desk,… Read more »
Seminar on The Indian Subcontinent: The Global Perspective
World Tamil Organization proudly presents a seminar loaded with much for serious and curious minds on Saturday, December 11th, 2004 All Day Event from 11:00 AM at Center Hall, Busch Campus Center Rutgers University 604 Bartholomew Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Participants: Keynote Address by Durai. Raja, New Delhi Mr. Raja is the current national (central)… Read more »
The Bandaranaike Contribution to the Nation’s Fate
By Wakeley Paul, Esq., December 4, 2004 Anura Bandaranaike’s self-aggrandizing views of his family’s contribution toward the success of a failed nation, published in the Daily News, call for a rational review. His claim that no family has shed its blood for the nation’s advancement like the Bandaranaikes have should read, instead, that no family has… Read more »
A Rigged Dialogue with Civil Society
by Charlemagne, The Economist, London, October 2004 Does any of this sound familiar from the NGOs that comment and try to influence ‘ethnic’ affairs in Sri Lanka? — Editor How independent are the civil-society organisations beloved by the European Commission? THE European Commission knows it has an image problem. To try to fix things, it… Read more »
International Symposium on Semmozhith Thamizh
Tamil Maiyam and ‘Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd’, are organizing an International Symposium on ‘Semmozhith Thamizh’ in Chennai on December 11, 2004. Eminent Tamil scholars and academics from Tamil Nadu and around the world are attending. Distinguished Tamil scholars like Prof. R.E. Asher of Edinburg University, Scotland, Dr. Ka. Pa. Aravanan, and Dr. V.C. Kulandaisamy… Read more »
America and Sri Lanka
by M. Nadarajan, December 4, 2004 Those of us who live in the United States of America, arguably the greatest country in the world and certainly the richest country, take a lot of things for granted. America also claims to be the most democratic country in the world, and preaches to the world about how… Read more »
Pirapaharan 2, Chapter 27: MGR’s Role in the Eelam Struggle
by T. Sabaratnam, December 2, 2004 (Volume 2) Massive Fund In April 1984 Pirapaharan met for the first-time Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran, idol of legions of Tamils. The meeting bonded them and brought about a historic change in the freedom struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamil people. MGR’s benevolence made it possible… Read more »
Interview with Graham Allen MP
for Nottingham North Confluence: You led an all party Parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka recently. Can you give us a broad brush picture of the current state of play in the peace process in that country as you observed it? Graham Allen: We were pleased to see that most political parties are getting involved in the peace… Read more »
Sethusamuderam Project: Economic & Environmental Impact
Reasons for the Construction of the Canal and its Economic & Environmental Impact on Sri Lanka by Donald Jayantha Gnanakone, Los Angeles, December 2, 2004 The past three months has seen such a flurry of activity and controversy never seen before in Sri Lanka, since the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact by Rajiv Gandhi… Read more »
‘Tamils in Independent Ceylon’ Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Ceylon’s Independence The dawn of independence On of February 04, 1948, the year following the independence of India, Ceylon (or Sri Lanka as it was renamed in 1972), was granted independence. Ceylon had been a British colony under a Governor representing the British Crown. The country enjoyed a peaceful transfer of power by… Read more »
‘Tamils in Independent Ceylon’ Contents & Preface
Tamils in Independent Ceylon by S. Makenthiran CONTENTS Chapter 1: Ceylon Independence The dawn of Independence Paradise gained and lost Ceylon Tamils, the original inhabitants Immigrants to Ceylon Chapter 2: Ceylon on the eve of colonialism Childhood recollections My recollections of early politics Second World War recollections Teenage recollections Recollections as an undergraduate Chapter 3:… Read more »
‘Tamils in Independent Ceylon’ Cover
Tamils in Independent Ceylon by Suppiramaniam Makenthiran Tamils in Independent Ceylon A history of the Tamil struggle for survival Copyright: Author All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form without the written permission of the author. Acknowledgment: Some of the pictures in this book are from… Read more »
Score One Again for Karma
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 30, 2024 It is considered somewhat a bad etiquette to speak ill or criticise a deceased individual. This is especially so if that individual suffered a violent death. That the criticised individual cannot defend his or her past deeds seems to be the main reason behind this prevailing etiquette. Should… Read more »
R Shanmugalingam Obituary
About Ramalingam Shanmugalingam 1934 – 2004 [see also 1. US Tamil Activist Dies ; 2. ciRpi cetukkAta cintany Unsculptured Thought by R.Shanmugalingam ; 3. Selected Writings – R.Shanmugalingam] Ramalingam Kichi Yazhan Shanmugalingam was born on September 29th 1934 to Ramalingam Karthiravel and Pakiam, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He was lovingly known as’ Kichi’ by his family and friends. Kichi was… Read more »
Letter from a Youth to the LTTE
Dear Mr V. Prabakaran, Mr S.P Thamilchelvan and the other Officials of the East and North of the LTTE, This is a statement of a student, age 18 (Social Juridical Worker / Low Lawyer) of the Royal Kingdom of The Netherlands. At the first place I want to congratulate all of you with achieving and… Read more »
Rebuttal to H.L. de Silva’s views on the ISGA
I in ISGA is for Interim Self-Governing Authority by Prof. C. Suriyakumaran, Sunday Observer, Colombo, November 21, 2005 sangam.org/articles/view2/670.html H.L. de Silva PC, in his denunciations of the LTTE-proposed ISGA on the occasion of the launching of S.L. Gunasekera’s ‘Abomination’, has allowed the ‘authorship’ of the ISGA and the politics of its follow up, like… Read more »
Hope Dawns in the Vanni
by Dr. Sam Muthuveloe, Sri Lanka, October 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/669.html “Thank you for coming to our remote village, to meet us and give us comfort through your medicines and the gift of spectacles,” said an old lady named Letchumi. It was dusk and as the sun was rapidly disappearing over the horizon and the gentle warm… Read more »
We Have to Live a Language to Use it
by Janadas Devan, The Straits Times, Singapore, November 29, 2004 ‘THO’ I call them Mine, I know that they are not Mine.’ The English critic F.R. Leavis liked to cite that remark of William Blake about his works to point to the essential impersonality of literature: Blake ‘meant that when the artist is creatively successful,… Read more »