Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

Eulogy to My Mother

by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 14, 2024  Front Note Puvaneswary Sachithanantham, my mother, died on March 2, 2024. Born in April 10, 1936, she had lived for 87 years and welcomed four great grandsons. For her memory, I provide excerpts of a 1995 essay I wrote in English. This was the title essay of my… Read more »

Ponnusamy Venugopal Master

Pirabhakaran’s First Mentor by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 28, 2024 Front Note After my visit to Kilinochchi in March 2004, I posted the following profile of Ponnusamy Venugopal Master in this site. Then, he was 60. Now after a passage of 20 years, I’m not sure whether he is still among the living, or he… Read more »

Notes on Reaching 70 Not Out – Part 3

Silent Awards of Recognition by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 15, 2024  I consider that my intellect (not the physical frame) was conceived in Sri Lanka, born in USA and bloomed in Japan. As such, my contributions to research, writing and teaching are filled with tri-partite influences. In this part, I provide snippets of my thoughts… Read more »

In Memoriam: Dr Rajan Sriskandarajah

(1943 – 2023) by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 3, 2024 When I heard the news of death of Dr Rajan Sriskandarajah last November, I felt so sad as if I had lost one of my family members. Though I came to be acquainted with him only in 2001, when I was 48, he was like… Read more »

Looking Back: An Item in Cyril Mathew’s Dossier

by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 29, 2024 35 years have passed since Caludewage Cyril Mathew (1912-1989), popularly known as Cyril Mathew was called to his Maker. A nasty Tamil-baiting politician made a big splash in November 1978 with the infamous ‘Mosquito question’ in a university entrance zoology exam paper to trap the Tamil university academics… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 74

Chief Minister – Phase 1 by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 19, 2024 I provide below the comments received from pal and fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan on Nov. 21st about the contents in Part 73 of this series, and my response. Kannan had written, “…thank you for part 73 of MGR-remembered [series]. Your eye for… Read more »

From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 23

Remembering my Father on his Birth Centenary Year by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 12, 2023 My father (Sivapragasam Sachithanantham, 1923-2003), whom my sister and I called Aiyah was born in Puloly West, Point Pedro, Ceylon, to Vinasithamby Sivapragasam (1882-1936) and Packiyam (1889-1945), as the sixth and youngest child. Ten years ago, I posted Aiyah’s autobiographical… Read more »

From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 22

My meager contributions to Tamil Writing in the Natural Sciences by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 5, 2023 Science writing is an orphan genre among Tamil writers, due to specific conditions needed by a Tamil author. These are, (1) one should have studied natural sciences and/or technology to earn a university degree in any discipline; (2)… Read more »

In Memoriams: Randor Guy and Prof. Robert L. Hardgrave Jr.

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 19, 2023 Madabhushi Rangadorai, aka Randor Guy: DOB – 1937 Nov 8 and DOD – 2023 Apr 23 Prof. Robert L. Hardgrave Jr: DOB – 1939 Feb 6 and DOD – 2023 May 21.  As one of the biographers of M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), an Indian movie star turned a successful… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 73

Notes on the released Final Two Movies by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 9, 2023 About the contents in Part 72 of this series, pal and fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan on Sept 3rd sent me the following comments. “Thank you for part 72. You have pulled together the strands of that momentous period. Even AIADMK men… Read more »

Book Review: Prisoner #1056 – How I Survived War and Found Peace

by Roy Ratnavel, Viking/Penguin Random House, Canada, 2023, 260 pp, US$27.00 by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 28, 2023 This book of memoir by Roy Ratnavel (born 1969), a naturalized Canadian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, has achieved bestseller status in Canada this year. The memoir has 12 chapters altogether, among which the first three (in… Read more »

Notes on Reaching 70 Not Out – Part 2

Andy Rooney’s influence on my letter writing by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 9, 2023 I consider Andy Rooney (1919 – 2011), one of my favorite humorists, as a teacher in English writing for me. Twelve years had passed since his death on Nov 4, 2011. Rooney warned prophetically in one of his columns in early… Read more »

RAW: Canada, India & Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pulls down the pants of RAW rascals by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 27, 2023 As a long term observer of the sins of India’s gumshoes, I’d say ‘three cheers’ for Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau for pulling down the pants of RAW rascals on September 18th. He claimed ‘Agents of the… Read more »

40th Anniversary of Black July 1983

Notes on the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) Editorials by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 2023 Preamble and Inference Though digital writing has many merits, one of its demerits (i.e., disappearance of past published records into the digital black hole, within few years) is a pain in the neck for me. Originally, I compiled this collection… Read more »

G.G. (Kumar) Ponnambalam Jr. (1938-2000) Remembered Again

by Sachi Sri Kantha, September , 2023 Previously I had contributed twice on G.G. (Kumar) Ponnambalam Jr. to this website The first was on the occasion of his 69th birthday in 2007. [https://sangam.org/2007/08/Kumar.php?uid=2505]. The second was in 2008, regarding his 1982 Presidential candidacy.[https://sangam.org/2008/08/Ponnambalam_Candidacy.php?uid=3042] This year, Kumar Ponnambalam’s 85th birthday had passed by on Aug. 12th…. Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 72

From Cinema Screen to Chief Minister Crown by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 28, 2023 About the contents in Part 71 of this series, I received the following thoughts from pal and fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan on June 5th. “I read part 71 of the MGR series with much interest and, as always, found it… Read more »

Bernard Shaw’s Homage to Jaffna

An updated version by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 12, 2023 Front Note by Sachi The original version of this commentary of mine (written under the pseudonym C.P. Goliard) first appeared in the Tamil Nation print edition (London) of August 15, 1991. For digital preservation, it was posted in the sangam site in April 2002. https://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/Sachi04_01_02.htm… Read more »

The Gospel According to the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Army

2022 version by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 21, 2023 This is my review of a book with a very long title -34 words! It is, ‘Prabhakaran’s Ruthless Terrorism in the guise of Liberation – Are the Sri Lankan Security Forces guilty of Genocide? – How the LTTE violated Human Rights by intentionally committing genocide –… Read more »