Knocked out by the Grim Reaper by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 10, 2023 After evading more than four assassination attempts during his term of office as the President- strong man of Pakistan (2000-2008), Gen. Pervez Musharraf (1943-2023) was eventually knocked out by the Grim Reaper on February 4th. The cause of his death is attributed… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha
Mahatma Gandhi’s 75th Death Anniversary
by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 27, 2023 Gandhi in death-bedJanuary 30th 2023 marks the 75th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. To commemorate the anniversary, first I provide below period items from two esteemed American print sources, announcing Gandhi’s death. Robert Trumbull’s report from New Delhi, with the caption ‘Gandhi is killed by a Hindu; India… Read more »
From Sachi’s File – Chapter 21
On the Sri Lankan Army recruits between Oct 1949 and Dec 1976 by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 14, 2023 After the July 1977 General Elections in Sri Lanka, followed by the August 1977 Sinhala-Tamil riots, I became interested in writing on local politics and establishing myself as a Tamil writer in English. Towards this purpose,… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 69
Power and Personality: Peer Perceptions by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 25, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 68, received on Oct 12th , was as follows: “Read your superb chapter that diligently lists the movies where Sivaji Ganesan shunned Kannadasan. The statistics are brilliant and show the hard work that epitomizes your… Read more »
The ‘Pirabhakaran Phenomenon’ Book
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 25, 2022 Pirabhakaran Phenomenon, by Sachi Sri Kantha, 2005 Seventeen years had passed since my analytical biography ‘Pirabhakaran Phenomenon’ on Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954-2009) was published in a print version. This biography was first serialized in the Sangam site for two years from May 2, 2001 to Feb 19, 2003. Though… Read more »
Revisiting the Academic Fraud of Epigraphist Senarat Paranavitana
by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 5, 2022 Guruge’s conclusion was, “…at some point in the pursuit of this goal of filling gaps in history,…Paranavitana stepped beyond the thin line which separates reality from the imaginary.” Introduction Oct 4th marked the 50th death anniversary of Senarat Paranavitana (1896-1972), renowned Sinhalese epigraphist and the former archeological commissioner… Read more »
‘Parasakthi’ Movie and Tamil Politics
70th Anniversary Remembrance by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 16, 2022 Introduction The iconic Tamil movie ‘Parasakthi’, based on a stage play by Pavalar M.S. Balasundaram, and scripted by Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), then a 28 year old DMK party activist, opened in Tamil Nadu cinema theaters as a Deepavali release on October 17, 1952. In… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 68
‘Navarathinam’ Movie and March 1977 General Election by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 3, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 67, received on July 16th , was as follows: “Thank you for part 67 – focusing on MGR’s belief. MGR was a believer but did not exhibit it until his second term when… Read more »
1981 Visit of Queen Elizabeth to Sri Lanka
From the Pages of Tribune (Colombo), etc. by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 26, 2022 Front Note Queen Elizabeth (1926-2022) died on September 8, at the age of 96. She had visited Ceylon (later to be renamed Sri Lanka) from April 10-21, 1954 and in 1981. I may note here that the only memory of the… Read more »
A Rebuttal from ‘Tangential Tamil Sniper’
aka Sachi Sri Kantha September 20, 2022 Front Note Prof. Michael Roberts (b. 1938), a Sri Lankan historian cum anthropologist with some name recognition, currently residing in Australia, and is a contributor to the scholarship on V. Prabhakaran, LTTE and Tamil militant movement in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he has chosen to specialize in negative portrayal… Read more »
Child Soldiers from Ceylon, before Prabhakaran’s Time
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 6, 2022 One of the chief arrows aimed at Prabhakaran and LTTE by his adversaries (especially by Tamil collaborators of the Sinhalese ruling hierarchy like Lakshman Kadirgamar and the self-serving pretentious clique who tagged themselves as the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) – Jaffna, led by Rajan Hoole) in… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 20
Colombo Diary of Teenage Years (1965-1970) by Sachi Sri Kantha Front Note When my teenage period began (from 1966 May 8 onwards), I was living at No. 10, Government Flats, L-block, Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4, with my family. Then, I was at Grade 10, at Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana. I had been chosen for the honorary… Read more »
Why the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Failed
Rebutting the Biased View of Journalist Jeyaraj by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 7, 2022 Recently, a review by D.B.S. Jeyaraj on the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (appropriately tagged as the Rajiv – Jayewardane Accord) was published in the Daily Mirror (Colombo) on July 30, 2022, under the caption ‘Indo-Lanka Accord 35th Anniversary: How the Tamils Messed… Read more »
Run for Life by a Phony Sinhalese Hero
Gotabhabya Rajapaksa by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 16, 2022 On April 19, 1951, Gen Douglas MacArthur announced to Americans ‘Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.’ But for a phony Sinhalese soldier, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, this was NOT true at all. Gota ran for his life, fearing death, not once – but twice, from the… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 67
Espousing and Exhibiting Religiosity by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 9, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments, on Part 66, received on May 16th , was as follows: “Again a very interesting take on MGR’s autobiography meticulously listing those whom he had called friends and those he addressed as siblings and the few adversaries he… Read more »
Talduwa Somarama Thero
– Hanged 60 years ago by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 9, 2022 On July 4, 1962, Talduwa Somarama Thero was hanged at the Welikade prison, Colombo. His crime: He was framed as the sole assassin of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the then Prime Minister of Ceylon, on September 25, 1959. This tragic shooting event happened at the… Read more »
On Rajiv Gandhi’s Folly of Humanitarian ‘Air Drop’
Of 1987 by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 29, 2022 This is a sequel to my previously posted item of March 11, 2022, ‘On Rajiv Gandhi’s pretense for Eelam Cause: ‘Operation Flower Garland’ of 1987. I provide a 1987 anthology below, consisting of editorials that appeared in the New York Times (June 7, 1987) and the… Read more »
Notable Tamil Sycophants of Rajapaksa Rascals
by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 12, 2022 The dictionary definition for sycophant is revealing, “n. servile flatterer, toady, parasitic person. From French sycophante or from Latin > Greek sukophantes informer.” [The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 7th ed., 1983, pp. 1081-1082] Now that the stars and fortunes of the Rajapaksas have… Read more »
MGR Remembered – Part 66
Recognized Friends and Adversaries by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 9, 2022 Part 65 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments, on Part 65, received on April 1st, expanded a little on the conflict that Communists (CPI) had with DMK, in early 1970s. For the uninitiated, Karunanidhi is referred by his honorary sobriquet among DMK sympathizers: ‘Kalaignar’… Read more »
Public Pummeling of Rajapaksa Rascals
by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 20, 2022 Well, well – you may call this commentary as schadenfreude. Rajapaksa rascals had it reaching their home territory – pummeled from left to right, head to heels and face to derriere for their family plundering in politics, since 2005. For those who have missed, I collect some excerpts… Read more »