Posts Categorized: Book Reviews

Working with illustrator Lindsay Pollock, I am writing an online graphic novel which tells the story of a fictional but representative Tamil family between 2005 and 2012.

  The new book is the author’s continuation of the well-received ”Tamils in Sri Lanka – A Comprehensive History (C.300BC-C.2000 AD).”  The new book is available in both English and Tamil versions. About the Author Dr Murugar Gunasingam has written four research books including the critically acclaimed ‘Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: A Study of its Origins’ and… Read more »

It saw one of the bloodiest conflicts of this century, and yet many still only see it as a tropical paradise. While the south boasted palm-fringed beaches – a picture-perfect destination for cocktail-sipping tourists – northern Sri Lanka was a hell on earth for the Tamil minority as government troops clashed with Tiger insurgents. “Denial… Read more »

The cringe-worthiness continues as Chandraprema strays even further away from the plot to discuss the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunge, The Sunday Leader editor, and the unsuccessful eviction of non-resident Tamils from the city of Colombo; incidents that had nothing whatsoever to do with the course of the war. Unfortunately, Chandraprema’s strategy of distancing the Rajapakses from the more negative incidents that took place under their watch is quite transparent when he suggests that Gen Sarath Fonseka was responsible for the killing of Wickramatunge, and that Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapakse were nothing more than helpless bystanders. He even claims that Gotabhaya’s reasoning for the eviction of the Tamils was quite sound and based on military expediency.

Impressive social changes occurred in the Vanni under LTTE. What Gandhi, Ambedkhar, and Periyaar failed to achieve in India, the LTTE achieved in Vanni. The pervasive caste-consciousness of South Asia was eliminated. Vanni held the promise of progressive ideals for women in the society and of a government oriented toward the well being of the people. Infusing people with the spirit of struggle, it united them as one people. Indeed, it held the promise for many more social changes that would have benefited Tamils and perhaps even the whole of South Asia. This powerful example has now been destroyed. Even if an independent Tamil Eelam state is miraculously born in future, it will not bring back that hope and that promise that Vanni once held.

Impressive social changes occurred in the Vanni under LTTE. What Gandhi, Ambedkhar, and Periyaar failed to achieve in India, the LTTE achieved in Vanni. The pervasive caste-consciousness of South Asia was eliminated. Vanni held the promise of progressive ideals for women in the society and of a government oriented toward the well being of the people. Infusing people with the spirit of struggle, it united them as one people. Indeed, it held the promise for many more social changes that would have benefited Tamils and perhaps even the whole of South Asia. This powerful example has now been destroyed. Even if an independent Tamil Eelam state is miraculously born in future, it will not bring back that hope and that promise that Vanni once held.

Impressive social changes occurred in the Vanni under LTTE. What Gandhi, Ambedkhar, and Periyaar failed to achieve in India, the LTTE achieved in Vanni. The pervasive caste-consciousness of South Asia was eliminated. Vanni held the promise of progressive ideals for women in the society and of a government oriented toward the well being of the people. Infusing people with the spirit of struggle, it united them as one people. Indeed, it held the promise for many more social changes that would have benefited Tamils and perhaps even the whole of South Asia. This powerful example has now been destroyed. Even if an independent Tamil Eelam state is miraculously born in future, it will not bring back that hope and that promise that Vanni once held…

When it comes to the ideal of living free and prosperously, the Eelam Tamil-speaking people have at least learned to never say never.

This is the first memoir of that momentous period that started with the heady hopes following the ceasefire, continued through the efforts to build a new society in the Vanni and areas of the East, and ended so tragically with the killing of untold tens of thousands in 2009 and the incarcerations of hundreds of thousands in internment camps.

Readers of news in English will be familiar with the narrative of 2002-2009 from the perspective of Colombo. Almost nothing has been written in English from the other side of the Omanthai checkpoint that separated government-controlled territory from that controlled by the LTTE. Those who lived there, Tamils who visited and those who read news written by Tamils are very familiar with the narrative that Malathy tells, but nobody in the rest of the world will be.

sangam.org/articles/view2/621.html by Peter Schalk Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala 2004 ISSN 0439-2132, ISBN 91-554-5972-2 (distributed by Uppsala University Library, www.uu.se [use the search engine for Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis]) This is a very important book for the understanding of the relationship of the terms ilam and sihala from ancient times to the immediate present.  Because of the contemporary political situation, this relationship is of… Read more »

Nihal de Silva’s novel The Road From Elephant Pass follows Sri Lankan Army Captain Wasantha Ratnayake and ‘defecting’ woman LTTE cadre Kamala Velaithan on their journey from Elephant Pass to Colombo. When Ratnayake’s assignment to detain, protect, and transfer a Tiger informant turns haywire because the Tigers launch their 2000 attack on Elephant Pass, Ratnayake and Velaithan… Read more »

My Search for Meaning in the Strife of South Asia by Pamela Constable Released: May, 2004 ISBN: 1574886185 Table of Contents: Prologue Introduction Chapter One – Into the Fog Chapter Two – The River Chapter Three – Ashes in the Snow Chapter Four – The Hidden Heart Chapter Five – The Wrath of Allah Chapter Six… Read more »

Mr. S.J. Gunasegaram was born in Chundikuli on the Jaffna Peninsula in 1901 and passed away in Kopay in 1964 after a life of writing prolifically on a wide variety of subjects, both in English and Tamil. Few scholars have had the skills, the urge, the courage, and the dedication that Gunasegaram had for research… Read more »

published June 1, 2004 Anbudaiyeer Vanakkam Attached is an invitation to the release function of the book Thodarum Thavippu written by Poonguzhali. A note on the book: This book illustrates the real-life struggle of a mother to save her son from the death penalty. Perarivalan was arrested in the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case in 1991 at the… Read more »