Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published April 13, 2004 Much to the dismay of his local and international handlers [stinking skunks, media-bite specialists and prattling wordsmiths included], Col.Karuna’s war chariot collapsed abysmally. These agents had derived much schadenfreude [a German word, which doesn’t have an appropriate equivalent in English; i.e.,malicious joy in the misfortune of others] pleasure during the… Read more »

by Fr. Costanzo Beschi; published April 9, 2004 The Stories of Guru Paramarta: Second Story of the Purchase of the Horse’s Egg by Fr.Costanzo Beschi [aka, Veera MaMuni] Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Now that Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga has anointed a new prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, for her government, foregoing the opportunity of… Read more »

by Fr. Costanzo Beschi; published April 7, 2004 The Stories of Guru Paramarta: First Story of the Passage over the River by Fr.Costanzo Beschi Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-c.1746) was a Jesuit missionary, born in Castigione, Italy, who landed in Goa, India, at the beginning of the 18th century and spent… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published April 6, 2004 Sour Grapes Sangaree: The Psyche of a Lone, Fence-sitting Fox First to a brief news item which appeared on the first day of March. “Mar 01, Colombo: Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree has rejected the TNA’s claim that the LTTE is the sole representative of… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published April 1, 2004 The RAW Factor in Col.Karuna’s Revolt Soon it will be a month since Col.Karuna publicly parted ways with the LTTE. Did India’s stinking skunks play a role in Col.Karuna’s decision to break ranks with the LTTE? Though evidence (positive or negative) will mount with time to prove or… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published March 29, 2004 Venugopal Master: a 60th Birthday Tribute to Pirabhakaran’s First Mentor Words most often mutate when they get borrowed by another language and one among the many meanings which they imply gain precedence over other meanings. A good example is the English word ‘master’ [whose root was from Latin, magnus,… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published March 21, 2004 Tamil Cogs that Service the Harkara System of News Supply Front Note Following the appearance of my commentary on Col.Karuna [The Tamil Hero turned into a Zero] in the sangam website, one reader requested additional information on the harkara system prevalent in India – to which I have… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; March 15, 2004 Col.Karuna: The Tamil Hero who turned into a Zero By fortuitous circumstances, I found myself a guest of Kilinochchi people for a little over four days (March 2nd to 6th and again on 8th), when the Col.Karuna affair flared up in the open. Thus, unlike the contemporary hacks of… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published February 27, 2004 The Macartney Maneuver: a No-nonsense Straight Lesson from a Cricket Great I’m a subscriber to the Lancet medical journal and the first page I check in a newly received issue is the one which features the humorous column ‘Jabs and Jibes.’ The Feb.21, 2004 issue of Lancet carried a feature… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; originally published February 24, 2004 [an up-dated version of what originally appeared in the Tamil Nation website, 24 January 2001] I have a message to posterity in Sri Lanka. If 100 years from now, someone wants to know what was the situation in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the 21st century,… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; originally published February 22, 2004 On February 11, 2004, President George W.Bush delivered an address on Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation at the National Defense University, Washington DC. His revelation on the activities of a high-profile Sri Lankan Muslim middleman tied to the leak of nuclear secrets by the Pakistan nuclear scientist… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, originally published January 27, 2004 Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Graham Greene (1904-1991) was one of the 20th century’s most versatile story tellers in English literature. This year marks the centenary of his birth, as well as the 50th anniversary of his short story ‘The Destructors.’ When I read this short… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published January 21, 2004 Tolstoy’s War and Peace thoughts and Pirabhakaran Parallels Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Recently, I located an interesting essay by environmental scientist David Ehrenfeld (Rutger’s University) which appeared in the Conservation Biology journal in 2000. Ehrenfeld had served as the first editor of this journal from 1986 to 1993. In this… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published January 18, 2004 Man from Maruthur and Malai Naadu (Mountain State): a Birthday Tribute to legendary MGR [Front Note: This is a revised and extended version of my tribute, which first appeared in the Tamil Nation (London), January 15, 1992, under my pen name C.P.Goliard. I have a reason to present this. In the internet literature, the… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha; published January 8, 2004 This year, in November, Velupillai Prabhakaran – the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) reaches 50 years. Come November, there will be cautious appraisals, left-handed compliments, snide editorials and even vapid curses from his political adversaries and critics who prostrate at the feet of these adversaries…. Read more »

Hans Christian Andersen’s Tale ‘The Swineherd’ Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the Danish story-teller, is internationally known for his delightful stories such as Thumbelina (1835), The Emperor’s New Suit (1837) and The Ugly Duckling (1844). One of his lesser-known stories was The Swineherd (1842). I see parallels between this story and the events in contemporary Colombo. Readers are… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 18, 2003 Revisiting That Unusual Playboy magazine Interview of Nehru Introductory Note by Sachi Sri Kantha I was a bit amused to read recently a column by Gouri Chatterjee [The Telegraph, Calcutta; November 6, 2003] in which she had made passing reference to that unusual Playboy magazine interview by the then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal… Read more »