Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

Random Thoughts, Part 4 by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 18, 2018 One of my favorite books in my Kannadasan collection is, ‘Santhithaen Cinthithaen’ – translated as ‘[I] Met and [I] Thought’. It was a collection of thumb nail sketches Kannadasan wrote to the Kumudam weekly magazine in 1979 and 1980. Only 55 individuals were featured… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 31, 2018 Since 2001, I had covered Appapillai Amirthalingam’s life and politics in this website under various themes. Here is a select list of five items which have not been covered by other chroniclers of Eelam. Most importantly, details presented in these five items will hardly appear the Wikipedia version… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2018 Part 1 I provide seven additional cartoons from Thinamani daily’s cartoonist Mathi (b. 1968), compiled in his 2010 book. These cartoons cover M. Karunanidhi’s political deeds from 1998 to 2009. In 1998 (at the age of 74), he was out of power. In 2009 (at the age of… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 9, 2018 The expected death of Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), at the age of 94, saddened me. Make no doubt about this. I have been a strong critic of Karunanidhi’s politics, since 1972, when he expelled MGR from the DMK party. Nevertheless, I have always appreciated his contributions to Tamil literary… Read more »

Nadodi Mannan and Adimai Penn by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 6, 2018 Part 45 In his cinematic career, MGR produced three movies, namely Nadodi Mannan (1958; Vagabond King), Adimai Penn (1969; The Slave Woman) and Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban (1973; Globe-trotting Youngster). The first two movies were released while he was a ranking member of the… Read more »

Random Thoughts, Part 3 by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 28, 2018 Part 2 Recently, I provided the English translation of poet Kannadasan’s powerful 48 line verse on sympathizing with Eelam Tamils during the 1958 anti-Tamil riots. [http://sangam.org/60-anniversary-1958-anti-tamil-riots-part-3/] Kannadasan’s cousin, and assistant cum biographer Rama Kannappan described what many may be unaware of, that, as a… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 8, 2018 Part 2 While Sinhalese polemicists like Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and H.L.D. Mahindapala as well their Indian counterparts Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Narasimhan Ram pollute the Sri Lankan political literature by blaming Prabhakaran and LTTE as the descendants of the Aryan Nazis, Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman Sr. (with his stature as… Read more »

2nd International Tamil Conference in Madras, Jan. 1968 by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 20, 2018 Part 44 My Correspondence with an Indian Plagiarist I ended the previous chapter that I had sent a mail to the blogger Rama Chandran about his plagiarism, on May 8, 2018. As of that time, I had not heard from… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 25, 2018 Part 1 Tarzie Vittachi Version Suppose Tarzie Vittachi’s ‘Emergency ‘58’ book on the anti-Tamil riots in Ceylon has to be written as a play or opera, this will be my listing of the credits: Chief Protagonists: Sinhalese hoodlums (Goondas aka Veerayas) Victims: Tamil civilians Supporting Cast: Maithripala Senanayake… Read more »

Father’s Lineage and Work in Ceylon by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 11, 2018 I wish to express my thanks for the correction note that I received from fellow MGR biographer and friend Mr. R. Kannan, related to previous Part 43 item on M. Karunanidhi’s alleged role in expelling prominent rankers from the DMK party. Kannan… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 20, 2018 In 1958, I was a five year old, living in Mullaitivu town with my parents and younger sister Kanchana. Then, I was in my first grade. That my father was affiliated to the Base Hospital, Mullaitivu, in the government clerical service explains the situation why I was there…. Read more »

Karunanidhi’s Script by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 29, 2018 Part 42 Movie Focus on Attention to the Handicapped  Movies per se, when they originated silently, were primarily 100% visual treats. Nevertheless, when silent movies morphed into ‘Talkies’ with the incorporation of the sound element (with dialogues and songs), it became apparent that even visually-handicapped could… Read more »

A Review of Recent Thinking by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 3, 2018 In my previous commentary on King Elala, I had provided the thoughts of few 19th and 20th century chroniclers of Ceylon. Here I continue to review the recent thinking of Sri Lanka’s five contemporary historians (two Tamils and three Sinhalese, one among them… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 14, 2018 Objective The impetus for this commentary was provided by a ‘Note’ in a 2003 paper written by Buddhist monk Mahinda Deegalle, on violence and Theravada Buddhism. The ‘Note’ appended to this paper was, “When I delivered an early version of this paper at the St. Petersburg consultation, Wesley… Read more »

Importance of Voice and Inspiration of Raja Sandow by Sachi Sri Kantha, Feb. 4, 2018 Part 41 Importance of Voice Nearby, I provide a question and answer item that appeared in the Thuglak weekly (around 1980 I guess, when MGR was Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister), edited by drama-movie actor and humorist Cho Ramaswamy (1934-2016). For… Read more »

Random Thoughts (part 2) by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 17, 2018 Part 1 In this part, I focus on Kannadasan’s productivity: both of, physical and intellectual variety. On physical productivity, Kannadasan had a total of 15 children, from three wives, married in sequence in 1950, 1951 and 1976. Kannadasan’s first wife’s name was Ponnama, from… Read more »

Near Death Experience and its Aftermath by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 19, 2017 Part 40 Front Note by Sachi MGR’s 30th death anniversary falls on December 24. It has been five years since I began this series. Curtain will also fall on MGR’s birth centenary in less than two weeks. To the best of my… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 11, 2017 This is a rejoinder to Amit Barua’s commentary in The Hindu daily (Feb. 5, 2017), with the caption “JR: I was Forced into a Deal with India”. In my view, Barua has cherry-picked some items from the so-called declassified CIA documents. The items recorded by Barua are as… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 25, 2017  Twelve years ago, I wrote a commentary entitled ‘Scholarship on Fools – Inspiration from Orrin Klapp and poet Kannadasan’. In it, I also provided the electronic version of the classic paper of Orrin Klapp (1915-1997), entitled, ‘The Fool as a Social Type’ [American Journal of Sociology, September 1949,… Read more »