bunpeiris Sri Lanka Holidays

2015-09-13T23:18:00.000+05:30

Lesson: introduction to phrasal verbs, a very complicated yet fascinating & colourful aspect of English language
Time duration: 1 school period of 45 minutes, Class: grade 12

Task A : Develop a mind map indicating your PLAN to conduct a learning-teaching session of a single period, for a selected topic, in a selected grade. It should include the subject matter covered as subtopics [1], learning objectives [2], learning experience linked with related resources [3], and methods of assessment [4].
Learning objectives:
[a] To be able to briefly understand what a phrasal verbs are. [b] To be able to identify phrasal verbs. [2]

Image 1 (Jocelyn, n.d.)

Inclusive needs of students

ENGAGE : 15 minutes RESOURCES: White board & 2 sets of sticky notes[3]

particles ( prepositions+ adverbs) Key word: LOOK definitions of phrasal verbs with look

PHRASAL VERBS Image 2 (Talk Campus Center, 2013)

Inclusive needs of students

STUDY : 15 MINUTES Resources – a set of cartoon cards and a set of text cards-literal & idiomatic meanings of phrasal verbs [3] – Not all phrasal verbs have multiple meanings, but many do!

Literal meaning [1] idiomatic meaning [1]

ACTIVATE :15 minutes Resources for written activation: Pc & smart board classroom screen display [3]

Inclusive needs of students

[a] Written activation: written exercise [b] Verbal activation: Question & answer session on [a]
Formative Assessment [4]

[This is only the introductory lesson of phrasal verbs] – Can the students identify whenever they see phrasal verbs?

A paragraph of a story is given to the students for them to identify [2] and underline the phrasal verbs.

Task B: Selecting appropriate resources and methods of assessment when planning a learning-teaching session

Resources
The range of learning & teaching resources being varied in form and diverse in scope, it is crucial to select resources that would suit [go with] [a] the nature of the subject, [b] demands of the lesson plan & [c] needs of the learners.
While focusing upon the needs of the learners, it would be a good idea to speak to the learners to discover [figure out] their needs.
This 45 minutes lesson on introduction to phrasal verbs is planned [laid out] upon the teaching methodology of ESA: Engage [fit together], Study[delve into], and Activate [turn on] with the default approach: the Straight Arrow.
Session 1: Engage - resources
In order to engage the students right away, two sets of sticky notes are given: one set having prepositions and other set having definitions of phrasal verbs.
Session 2 : Study resources
In order for the students to learn that there could be two meanings for some of the phrasal verbs, i.e. idiomatic meaning & literal meaning, first, a set of cartoons are distributed & secondly another set of cards each having a fill in the blank sentence is distributed.
Session 3: Activate - resources
For the activation, no resources are used with the exception of copies of a small paragraph of a text. [P3. 1]

Sticky notes with definitions of the phrasal verbs are given so that, the students could pick up spelling, grammar, tense and punctuation. Whatever in the sticky notes could be easily absorbed by the students. Still, there could be complications.
Even in grade 12, there could be a student with learning difficulties & disabilities centering around spelling, grammatical errors, tense and punctuation.
In an effort to meet the inclusive needs of such students, text only part of the lesson is left to the last session. [Idea is to engage the students with learning difficulties and disabilities in reading & speaking during the 1st -ENGAGE & 2nd sessions – STUDY.]
Generally for the purposes of effective teaching [“Children are wired for sound, but print is an optional necessary that must be painstakingly bolted in”- Steven Arthur Pinker] and specially for the sake of students with learning difficulties, text only part is withheld till the third session: ACTIVATE, until they get used to the words and sentences.

In the event a student with learning difficulties & disabilities still finds it a task too difficult, he would be given the opportunity to make use of an electronic word processor with built-in spell check, grammar correction, word prediction & abbreviation expansion.

Session 1 : Engage - resources
Activity based : 15 minutes
(a) On the board is the word “Look”
(b) Students are given sticky notes: each piece contains a preposition
(d) Each student stick his sticky note close to the world “LOOK” on the white board
(e) Each student is given another set of sticky notes, each one containing what seems to be a definition
of a word.
(f) Each student is asked to stick his paper having a definition next to the appropriate preposition that pairs with the root word to make a phrasal verb.
Session 2 : Study- resources

A set of cartoon cards and a set of text cards are used, once again making the lesson easier for the students with inclusive needs. Students work in pairs: they search [comb out] for corresponding text card for each cartoon card.
Once they locate [track down] it, each pair of students collect it from the other pair that held it. And their card is given to the pair who thought [figured out] it is their corresponding card.
An example: one of the set of cartoons & its corresponding card.

image 3 (McCarthy, 2010)

Once above is done, teacher lays down the third set of cards having literal and idiomatic meanings of the phrasal verb on a desk, so that the each pair could select the corresponding card, discuss & get the hang of the meanings. Then they compare with other pairs.

Session 3: Activate- resources
In view of the students with learning difficulties & disabilities, text only part is confined to the last session. Since by now, they have read the phrasal verbs and got used to those and still having access to all the cards, the inclusive needs are well taken care of.
[a] Verbal activation: students are paired: question & answer session with the phrasal verb “look”
[b] Written activation: written exercise on [a] [P3. 2]

Technology
Modern digital technology provides [brings in] numerous tools that teachers could make use of in and out of the classroom to enhance student learning. Technology can support [buoy up] student collaboration on creating new knowledge, reflecting on what they are learning, or working together to achieve a deeper understanding of course material.
On this lesson of phrasal verbs, perhaps electronic word processor with built in spell check, grammar correction, word prediction & abbreviation expansion would be given to a student with inclusive needs. [P3.3]

Methods of Assessments
Assessment method in this lesson: formative: process oriented & diagnostic

[a] In the session 1 [ENGAGE] existing knowledge of the students are assessed.
[b] In the session 3 [ACTIVATE] knowledge following the lesson is assessed.
[c] Oral activation: question & answer session with the phrasal verb “look”
[d] Written activation: fill in the blanks written exercise on [a].
[e] Comprehension activation: read a paragraph and identify [underline] the phrasal verbs therein.

Group assessment: assessment by the class: [a], [b] & [c] as above
Individual assessment: assessment by each student: [d] & [e] as above
This lesson being only the introduction to the complicated subject of phrasal verb, only formative assessment is made. At the end of the allocated number of classroom periods, a summative assessment will be made. [P4.1]

Strengths & weaknesses of assessment
Objectives of this lesson are
[1] students ought to be able to briefly understand what a phrasal verb is.
[2] to be able to identify, as Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester Institute of Technology., 2013), narrated [put it] native English phrasal verbs from their French, Latin, or Classical Greek counterparts. Assessment on existing knowledge of these grade 12 students is done in the first session-ENGAGE
Then again assessment is done in the last (third) session: ACTIVATION
Therein oral and written skills based upon the lesson are assessed.
Furthermore, a paragraph of a story is given to the students to identify & underline the phrasal verbs. Therein identification of phrasal verbs is confined to written form.
The weakness in this assessment is identification of phrasal verbs, while listening, hasn’t been tested.
As such another passage studded with phrasal words from the same story or some other story needs to be played upon a PC. [P4.2]

Keeping Records of assessments
Teacher needs to maintain [keep up] tabulated records of each student on daily basis since
[a] the progress of the students can be monitored.
[b] next lesson can be developed [built upon] based on the extent of the knowledge gained by the
students in the previous classes.
[c] weak areas (following diagnostic tests) of the students as the whole class or as groups can be
addressed.
[d] weak areas (following diagnostic tests) of individual students can be addressed.
[e] for the record of achievement of students
[f ] opportunities to provide learner with feedback
[g] for the review [look through] of study course at the end of the year
[h] for the study course development at school/institute [P 4.3]

Evaluation for improvements
Evaluation: summative; product oriented & judgmental

Following the evaluation of the lesson plan on phrasal verbs based on ESA: Engage, Study, and Activate [default approach: the Straight arrow], depending upon the effectiveness, perhaps this lesson on phrasal verbs could be shuffled up & dealt in with E.A.S.E [The Boomerang approach] or Patchwork such as S.A.E.S.
Even if the significant progress is made with the original lesson plan of E.S.A, a shuffled up lesson plan could give way to still more improved performances of the students. [P4.4] END

Works Cited

Jocelyn, T., n.d. Phrasal Verb Look. [image online] Available at: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/jocelyn/others/phrasal-verb-look/ [Accessed 13 September 2013].

McCarthy, C., 2010. Phrasal Verb - Get Over. [image online] Available at: http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/phrasal-verb-get-over [Accessed 13 September 2013].

Talk Campus Center, 2013. What is a phrasal verb? [image online] Available at: http://www.talk.edu/campuses-blog/what-is-a-phrasal-verb-could-you-please-provide-examples/ [Accessed 13 September 2013].

Above essay is a condensed version based strictly upon the mind map & the planned lesson, as I guess, such is the requirement. As such, all GENERAL COMMENTS, which also required references, originally written in the above essay are deleted and appended below.

P.3. 1 Analyse how to select resources to meet the needs of the learners
IN GENERAL:
While focusing upon the needs of the learners, it would be a good idea to speak to the learners and get to know some vital facts beforehand.
[a] the number of learners
[b] level of the learners on the subject
[b] of their needs: subjectwise needs, for eg. ESOL needs; cultural needs; physical, visual, auditory needs
[c] perhaps even to have some ideas on their predominant learning styles: visual, auditory & kinesthetic
[d] if any learners with audio or visual support needs
so that resources could be selected in such a way that no student would feel himself missing out on the lesson.

Resources varying in form and diverse in scope
[a] Tangible: white board, study course books, as handouts, cards, equipment such games, art materials, tutorials etc.
[b] Technology: Computers, projectors
[c] Multi-media: audio-visual resources

On selecting learning & teaching resources, Saskatchewan Ministry of Education of Canada narrates [put it] succulently (Education, 2013): Quote. Learning resources play a significant role in shaping students’ views about themselves and the world. Therefore, it is important that these resources portray respect and dignity for both genders, for those in specific cultural groups, for people with varying physical and intellectual abilities, for people of various ages, and for people of differing sexual orientation. Unquote

P3. 2 Explain ways in which resources may be adapted to meet the inclusive needs of learners
IN GENERAL
Lucy Melbourne (Melbourne, 2012) writing on a blog suggests some easy solutions to some issues that could most often be missed out by the teacher.
Quote
[a] For learners with visual support: larger font, different coloured papers
[b] For learners having hearing difficulties: hand outs and power point presentations.
Unquote
For the learners with additional educational needs (AEN) in a classroom, it is a common practice to call in a teaching assistant in the school.
For the learners suffering from dyslexia, David Imrie (a biology teacher and special educational needs co-ordinator at Aschcraig School in Glasgow) (Imrie, 2013) shares his techniques and insights. Bold underlining is mine.
Quote
When planning your lesson, take into consideration the following points to help students with dyslexia in their tasks:
• Layout
Teachers should ensure that documents given to students with dyslexia only contain instructions needed for the exercise without any unnecessary detail as these could be distracting. All materials for students with dyslexia should have a clear layout, short sentences and an uncomplicated structure.
• Illustrations
Images that exemplify sentences or unfamiliar words are really useful. By spacing out the instructions and adding a diagram, students can follow it without having to understand every word – this is called 'reading for meaning'.
• Fonts and background colours
Software that is regularly used in schools, such as Microsoft Word, is a good resource for fonts and background colours. Changing the background colour to green, for example, can help with reading as can wearing green glasses. Fonts can also enable reading and understanding; teachers can download free specialist fonts, such as OpenDyslexic, which are free and can run on Microsoft software. This font adds gravity and weight to the document and is thicker at the bottom as shown in the image below. Students who find characters invert or swim should try using this font.
Again, one size does not fit all and you should test it with your students to see what works best for them. I personally use the Verdana but there are schools in Glasgow that use the ClearType font and Arial is a good all-rounder.
Unquote

P3.3 Review the use of technology as a resource for learning & teaching
IN GENERAL
Most possibly, one of the most effective hi-tec equipments is Interactive white board in which the students and the teacher can collaborate [close ranks] in learning and teaching.
And of course, as technology based resources, we have computers with software packages and internet & intranet, VLE, CR-ROMS, audio and visual aids etc.
Then again depending upon the subject matter, numerous on-line tools can be made use of.
Carnagie Mellon institute (Carnagie Mellon, 2013) writes:
Quote
Information Visualization Tools: the term “information visualization tools” refers to a broad range of digital tools and resources that allow users to view, analyze, manipulate, and/or communicate complex information, such as historical, spatial, and statistical data.
Information visualization tools range from freely available tools that produce [turn out] simple visual representations of small data sets to proprietary tools that can manipulate complex data.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): allows users to capture, manage, analyze, and display geographically referenced information.
Gapminder.com: represents statistical data in graphically dynamic ways.
JMOL: allows users to view the chemical structure of molecules in 3-D
Google Earth: allows users to view geographical space from different angles and distances through the use of superimposed satellite imagery. It also allows users to import publicly available datasets and map them geographically.
Unquote

P4.1 Review the types and methods of assessment used in own specialist area
IN GENERAL
If literature is my specialist area (if I may say so, and should you relent [give in] & accept [put up with], eh!), I would say that I am bound to have complications in the assessments, since the same lesson or rather work can be interpreted in numerous ways. Remember Achebe calling Conrad a racist and the eternal dark classic “Heart of Darkness” is "a book which parades in the most vulgar fashion prejudices and insults from which a section of mankind has suffered untold agonies and atrocities in the past and continues to do so in many ways and many places today”? Achebe would have won the Noble Prize for literature (much lesser writers of African origin have won), hadn’t it been for the irredeemable sin of calling the supreme humanist Conrad a racist.

If above is the problem, here is the solution. Once again to quote Saskatchewan Ministry of Education of Canada (Education, 2013): Learning resources are fair, equitable, and supportive of the belief that each individual has value as a human being and should be respected as a worthwhile person. Some resources, however, contain an inherent bias. For example, many classic works of literature and historical documents reflect viewpoints and biases of the era in which they were written. These resources can be used to aid in the development of critical thinking. Lessons can be structured to help students recognize the bias, to interpret it within a historical or cultural framework, and to relate it to the world of today. Unquote

P4.4 review ways to use evaluation to inform practice and indicate areas for improvement
IN GENERAL
The main purpose of evaluation is to gather [draw together] information for the improvement of teaching & learning.
Assessment on the students performances guide the teacher to make adjustments to lesson planning
Depending upon the current standard discerned following the evaluation, the teacher may set standards for improvement.
Once the standards are set, the students as well as the teacher is motivated to reach the goal.

Works Cited

Carnagie Mellon, 2013. Information Visualization Tools. [Online] Available at: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/technology/tools/informationvisualization/index.html [Accessed 13 September 2013].

Education, S.M.o., 2013. Learning Resources Evaluation Guidelines. [Online] Available at: http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/learning-resource-evaluation-guidelines [Accessed 13 September 2013].

Imrie, D., 2013. Supporting students with dyslexia: tips, tricks and tech for teachers. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/sep/09/supporting-students-with-dyslexia-teachers-tips-pupils [Accessed 13 September 2013].

Melbourne, L., 2012. How to Select Resources that Meet the Needs of Learners. [Online] Available at: http://lucymelbourneptlls.blogspot.com/2012/04/h2-how-to-select-resources-that-meet.html [Accessed 13th September 2013].

Rochester Institute of Technology., 2013. Synonyms of English Phrasal Verbs. [Online] Available at: http://www.rit.edu/ntid/rate/sea/processes/phrasal/grammatical/synonyms [Accessed 13 September 2013].

British In Ceylon

2014-04-01T08:43:00.001+05:30

How the British Exploited Sri Lanka

By J.B. Müller
Posted on May 26th, 2012
The Sri Lankan Diaspora overseas (mainly in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) eagerly and indiscriminately absorbs everything appearing about their Motherland in the international print and electronic media. All what is done is done in the naïve belief that there isn’t a spin on the news and that it is completely unbiased and objective. Nothing could be further from the truth! Of course, expatriates would like to believe that the BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle, and CNN, and others are feeding their hungry and even curious minds with the unadulterated truth.

It might be useful for those in the Diaspora to know, understand and acknowledge that Sri Lankans are no longer Eurocentric Anglophiles having at long last seen through the various Anglo-Saxon-Celtic ploys to continue their domination and exploitation by other, indirect means. No longer are Sri Lankans willing to regard their erstwhile masters as ‘superior’ beings with a ‘higher’ civilization to which they should slavishly defer. Those ‘good old days’ are gone and good riddance!

Sri Lanka is a very old country with a long history of civilization and a matured polity unlike some ‘Johnny-come-lately’ countries with hardly 500 years of history. The latter period of its history was marred by 443 years of European exploitation, each European power building on its predecessors to refine its instruments of exploitation. The British were the worst and the bloodiest when it came to merciless brutality as is evidenced by the manner in which it quelled the uprising of the Kandyans between 1818 and 1822. It committed genocide before that word was coined by slaughtering every man, woman, and child (including babes suckling at the breast!) in the Uva Province .

That province comprised of the present Badulla and Moneragala Districts is yet to recover and is just now being developed by government. The Colonial Office 54 series of documents available at the Public Records Office in London holds all the General Orders issued by Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Brownrigg, governor and c-in-c, to Maj. General Hay McDowall and the correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Bathurst. (The Great Rebellion of 1818 by Prof. Tennekoon Vimalananda, Five Volumes, Gunasena Historical Series, Colombo, 1970)

In 1823 the British began selling Crown Land at two shillings an acre to British entrepreneurs—first, to cultivate cinchona [from which quinine is obtained], then coffee, then tea and rubber—from which they made huge profits for 149 years—and Mincing Lane and the members of the London Stock Exchange prospered beyond the dreams of avarice. (Land Reform Commission Report by Colvin R. de Silva, tabled in Parliament)

They created a huge ethnic and social problem by transporting indentured labour from the Ramnad district of Madras Presidency (present day Tamil Nadu). These helpless people were auctioned off at Matale like the African slaves at Charleston, SC, and families were cruelly torn apart. They reached Matale walking over 100 miles from Talaimannar along a route that came to be known as the ‘Skeleton Road’ because of the numbers that had perished by the wayside from hunger, thirst, snakebite, attack by wild beasts, cholera, dysentery, and what-have-you.

Their tragedy has been carefully documented by Donovan Moldrich in his ‘Bitter Berry Bondage’—the story of the 19th century coffee workers in Sri Lanka . Another Burgher author, Lorna Ruth Wright, OAM, wrote “Just another shade of Brown” which graphically details the sexual exploitation of the women plantation workers and the creation of the Eurasian Community (disowned by their very prim and proper British fathers!) Many authors domestic and foreign have written about what colonialism did to Sri Lanka (Ceylon up to 1972) and it is a wonder that the people of this country tolerated what was done to them for so long, so patiently. (‘Bitter Berry Bondage’ by Donovan R. Moldrich and ‘Just another shade of brown’ by Lorna R. Wright)

Father Paul Caspersz, SJ, head of Satyodaya, Kandy, has been labouring amongst the Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin for decades and has written extensively about how these human beings have been mercilessly exploited. They have lived in sub-human conditions for over one hundred years and their emancipation has been a long and hard struggle to restore to them their intrinsic dignity as human beings. (Satyodaya Centre, Kandy, Sri Lanka)

When I was working at the then Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation as a Relief Announcer on the Commercial Service I distinctly remember reading a sign affixed to the gate of a British Club facing the Dutch Burgher Union headquarters which said: “Natives and dogs NOT allowed.” This was in 1969! I phoned friends working on the ‘Ceylon Daily News’ and they sent a photographer round to snap a picture. It was published and shortly thereafter the Government ordered the Club to take down the offending notice. Do any self-respecting people endowed with inherent dignity have to tolerate such barefaced arrogance?

Britain was one of the most ‘successful’ imperial powers on earth and they created a worldwide empire (on which the sun never set because it was everywhere on the globe) and bled its colonies. London is such a magnificent city despite its foul weather because it has risen, literally, on the blood, sweat and tears of countless millions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Australia. In their imperial schema of things Australia produced the wool, New Zealand the milk, Malaya the rubber, Ceylon the tea, Rhodesia the tobacco, South Africa the diamonds and gold, Mauritius the sugar, West Africa the cocoa and so on—to the great delight of those who sat in London and counted their pounds, shillings and pence.

They didn’t mind exploiting their own in the textile mills of Lancashire and the coal mines of Scotland . [Charles Dickens]. The exported their poor Scots, Irish, and Welsh to all these colonies to supervise the black, brown and yellow natives [and the ‘half-caste’ Eurasian offspring known as Burghers, Anglos and even bastards]. The slightest rumble from their workers and the Redcoats (now Khakied) were there to shoot their b***s off!

Look at the Burghers. The British looked down on them with great disdain classifying them as ‘half-castes’ and included them amongst the indigenous population. In 1796 they issued the Burghers an ultimatum—learn English or leave. Many who had the means went to Batavia (modern Jakarta). The others stayed and learned the new tongue. Very soon, these Burghers knew better English than the British themselves and were therefore enlisted in that great corps of clerks that they employed. These Burghers also learned how to play cricket and challenged the British to a one-day on Galle Face Green.

They were superciliously asked what the name of their ‘club’ was to which a Burgher sharply retorted: “Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sir!” The name stuck. The club still exists (from 1889). So do the ‘nondescript’ Burghers. The entire British establishment including the ‘shoppies’ turned out one fine Sunday morning to watch these half-caste upstarts being licked. The imperial governor himself came and occupied the clubhouse that now stands before the Taj Samudra Hotel.

Well, to cut a long story short, the Burgher ‘nondescripts’ beat the British who were ‘hoist with their own petard!’ They were learning, ever so painfully, that other people were not only their equals but could also better them in many spheres and they learned this lesson on this Island.(People Inbetween by Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheem, Percy Colin-Thômé, Sarvodaya, Ratmalana, 1989).

There is no land on the globe that the British touched that has not been left with a wholly untenable legacy of problems: India with Pakistan have Kashmir; the Holy land has Jewish Israel contending with Arab Palestine; the Cypriots are divided between the Greeks and the Turks; Africa is an indescribable mess. Glaring problems were created on the North American continent with the marginalization of the native Amerindian and Inuit peoples not to mention the stand-off between Blacks and Whites. In Australia the original inhabitants, the aborigines were decimated and then marginalized whilst their land was robbed from them by white colonists.

It is a despicable record of man’s inhumanity to man carried forward on the specious premise that ‘White is Right’ and because they had a head-start in the practice of barbarism! What is even more despicable is that their so-called ‘Christianity’ condoned their barefaced discrimination and unfettered brutality.

Today, these Anglo-Saxon-Celts pontificate to the whole world about human rights—yes, fundamental human rights which they denied millions from the 16th to the 20th centuries of the Common Era. They sanctimoniously presume to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that attempt to stand-up to their bullying (amply exposed by Wiki-Leaks). The ongoing bloodletting in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate their manifest hypocrisy.

They left behind what were basically alien concepts, structures, systems, and constitutions that have confused and confuted the peoples they formerly ruled. They uprooted and deliberately destroyed indigenous systems that had endured for millennia and which the indigenous people were comfortable with. Today, the peoples of these lands are divided into innumerable factions and cliques contending bloodily for command and control in the name of the ‘democracy’ they left behind. They are happy with what they see because it is a continuation of their ‘divide et imperia’ or ‘divide and rule’ policy. It is easy to manipulate and exploit those who are divided!

Sri Lanka’s problems which some expatriates gleefully point out (as a justification for their living overseas) is a damaging inheritance bequeathed by the departing British to a class of indigenous people brainwashed and nurtured by them in their own image: the English-speaking Middle Classes represented by several leading families of Low-country upstarts and Up-country traitors. These families have lick-spittle hangers-on who have attained some upward social mobility and the privileges that go with that mobility and occupy the second and third tiers of governance. Whether they inhabit the governing party or the Opposition or their sundry and various coalition cohorts they have become the ‘corrupt of the earth.’

The decent and law-abiding majority are a patient, tolerant and hospitable people (sometimes referred to as the ‘broad masses’) who have taken much abuse. If you believe the many travellers who passed through, they are a giving and forgiving people. If we are to trust the historical record, these gentle, hard-working people have been driven to and fro by the Pandyans, Cholas, Cheras, Pallavas and Javakas; then, by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British—each, in turn, more subtly brutal than the previous.

Ever since 1186, when the indigenous polity began disintegrating with the breakdown of central authority [and fissiparous tendencies manifested themselves], there has been a traumatic crisis that is yet to come to a conclusion. We know that history works in cycles and that that conclusion will come, perhaps unobtrusively or dramatically to sweep away the detritus of several centuries.

True civilization does not consist of the worship of science & technology or the tinsel and glitter of modernity or of roads, railways, harbours, airports, and the frenzied rush one might be bemused by. It consists of the maturity and wisdom gained through the practice of virtue, the development of good moral character, to decent family life and values, the unswerving commitment to social justice and equity. This also means and implies the practice and active pursuit of harmlessness and a belief in the sacredness of all life—all mankind is of one blood.

The serene tranquility of spirit thus attained is a universal norm that needs no sectarian labels. This is the civilization that grew and was nurtured on this Island for centuries until rudely and repeatedly disturbed. It is yet the goal of those who appreciate the intrinsic beauty of Nature rather than that of soulless concrete, glass and steel.

Let’s discuss this further if you are minded to,

jb.muller@gmail.com

Romeo & Juliet

2014-03-30T23:04:00.001+05:30

Romeo & Juliet

Marginal Comments by bunpeiris

It all catches fire with insanely wagging tongues of a couple of slapstick cowards, minions: not at all by steel of the masters. A brawl among the bawdy & rowdy from the houses of Montague and Capulet equal in dignity, succeeds in setting ablaze an unknown ancient feud between the two merchant families. Amiable Benvolio, a cousin of Hero Romeo, true to his name, seeks to make peace. Yet, peace that he seeks, is a bridge too far. He is drawn into the fray by Fiery Tybalt, a nephew of Lord Capulet, hastening the friends & citizens of fair Verona too throwing their weight into the brawl. The Prince rushes in time to disperse the rioters. He forbids further outbreaks of violence, on pain of death. Yet the violence wouldn’t be arrested: swords are drawn, blood is spilled. In no time, that who is given to peace as well as that who is bent on the sharpest steel falls. Grace & rude will do battle within the human psyche. A frantic pace & frenzy set in: immediate banishment; wedding arrangements in great haste; burial of the fairest maiden alive; outbreak of Black Plague; a letter undelivered & returned to the sender; poison dear yet not too dear; a rival wooer in mourning; a duel at a grave.

“Then I defy you, stars” Romeo screams against the fate that he believes is thwarting his desires (5.1.24). The world has no sanctuary for him, but with Juliet in the same grave for eternity: “Well, Juliet,” he says, “I will lie with thee tonight”
The darkest night of all takes over. The most passionate hearts ever are put to the potion & dagger: double suicide of Juliet & her Romeo.

The beauty of love that is so threatened and so fragile is intensified by the brevity of the experience. A tragic outcome therefore affirms the uniqueness and pristine quality of youthful ecstasy. The flowering & fading of a joy “too rich for use, for earth too dear’ [1.5.48] does not so much condemn the unfeeling world as welcome the martyrdom of reality dying for love.
David Bevington & David Scott Kastan: Romeo & Juliet, The New Bantam Shakespeare

In spite of the tragedy, the drama never seizes to overwhelm the spectators or readers with its supremely passionate romance, no matter the form & medium in which it is witnessed, wherever the nook [imagine bunpeiris here in the south western coastal town of Mortuwa, Sri Lanka, far away from the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England] of the earth that one live, with its heart rending, when it’s not heartwarming, narration: it is for all times & all cosmos.

If the scene in the feast where Romeo first set his eyes upon Juliet and falls head over heels is the juiciest introduction in paying homage [“If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss”(1.5.94)] to your love at first sight, the balcony scene reveals in the most delirious doctorate on the concept of Declaration of Love. No lover, who has resolved to pour out his heart to his heartthrob, should venture to do so, unless the romance of the Balcony Scene is mastered. Master the language of the master: throw the dictionary through the window to the yard & read on.

Make a move towards unraveling top layers of meanings of the words & phrases, till the inner layers of deeper meanings are revealed, so that you would fish in the richness & complexity of the Master’s streams, forever flowing. Marshal all your cognitive faculties. Muster all links with all the knowledge, i.e. fiction & real you can recall & recollect. [Even the tragic tale of Monica & her lover, Upendre who, hand in hand, jumped over the escarpment of World’s End, at the edge of Horton’s Plains, Health Triangle, Central Highlands of Sri Lanka in the early sixties.] Then go for the dictionaries, commentaries, analytical essays and critical reviews.

Romeo & Juliet [1591] is for all cosmos, for all times: Ramleela Starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, inspired and based on work of William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet’. [2013]

Balcony scene in a nutshell

Romeo leaves the feast, but not Juliet. Longing to see Juliet once again, he climbs a wall bordering the Capulet property and leaps down into the Capulet orchard. And to his delight, in no time, Juliet appears at a window close to him. Romeo compares her to the morning sun, far more beautiful than the moon it banishes. He is in two minds whether to address her, yet stay quiet.

Juliet, unaware that Romeo is in her garden, gives voice to a monologue.
She asks why Romeo must be Romeo—a Montague, and therefore an enemy to her family. She says that if he would refuse his Montague name, she would give herself to him. Or else if he is unable to forsake his name, she would forsake her surname: Capulet.

Romeo, being unable to stay quiet responds to her plea. Juliet is taken by surprise since she thought she was all alone. As to the question of Juliet how he found himself in their orchard, Romeo tells her it was with the light wings of god [allusion to traditional portrayals of Cupid as a winged boy] that he found his way in. As to the consternation of Juliet, that he would be killed by her kinsmen, should he be caught, Romeo replies that his life coming to an end is better than being deprived of her love.
Juliet admits she feels as strongly about Romeo as he professes he loves her. Juliet confesses she would have been more reserved, but now Romeo has already overheard her, forgive her & do not deem her yielding in love to him as frivolous. Romeo begins to swear but Juliet would have none of it. Romeo reassures Juliet of his love and in return Juliet asks him to marry her. Romeo agrees and part with sweet sorrow till tomorrow.

Romeo & Juliet [1591] is for all cosmos, for all times: PHOTO: Dream wedding: Luca Ceccarelli kisses his wife Irene Lanforti after getting married at Casa di Giulietta in Verona A modern-day Romeo finally got his girl when the northern Italian city of Verona opened up the balcony where Juliet supposedly pined for her lover as a venue for weddings. 2 Jun 2009

"Shakespeare not only invented the English language, but also created human nature as we know it today" Harold Bloom

Shakespeare [Is he Seekuperuge from Hambantota?]

Balcony scene as the master narrated

JULIET

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

ROMEO
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

ROMEO
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

JULIET
What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel?

ROMEO
By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word.

JULIET
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

ROMEO
Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.

JULIET
How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

ROMEO
With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.

JULIET
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

ROMEO
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.

JULIET
I would not for the world they saw thee here.

ROMEO
I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
And but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

JULIET
By whose direction found'st thou out this place?

ROMEO
By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;
He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.

I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far
As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

JULIET
Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,'
And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st,
Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries
Then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,
And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,
My true love's passion: therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

ROMEO
Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops--

JULIET
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

ROMEO
What shall I swear by?

JULIET
Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

ROMEO
If my heart's dear love--

JULIET
Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart as that within my breast!

ROMEO
O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

JULIET
What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?

ROMEO
The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

JULIET
I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
And yet I would it were to give again.

ROMEO
Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?

JULIET
But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

Nurse calls within
I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu!
Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little, I will come again.

Exit, above

ROMEO
O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard.
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above
JULIET
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout the world.

Nurse
[Within] Madam!

JULIET
I come, anon.--But if thou mean'st not well,

I do beseech thee--

Nurse
[Within] Madam!

JULIET
By and by, I come:
To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief:
To-morrow will I send.

ROMEO
So thrive my soul--

JULIET
A thousand times good night!

Exit, above

ROMEO
A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.

Retiring
Re-enter JULIET, above

JULIET
Hist! Romeo, hist! O, for a falconer's voice,
To lure this tassel-gentle back again!
Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud;
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine,
With repetition of my Romeo's name.

ROMEO
It is my soul that calls upon my name:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!

JULIET
Romeo!

ROMEO
My dear?

JULIET
At what o'clock to-morrow
Shall I send to thee?

ROMEO
At the hour of nine.

JULIET
I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then.
I have forgot why I did call thee back.

ROMEO
Let me stand here till thou remember it.

JULIET
I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,
Remembering how I love thy company.

ROMEO
And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.

JULIET
'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no further than a wanton's bird;
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

ROMEO
I would I were thy bird.
JULIET
Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! parting is such
sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Exit above

ROMEO
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell, His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.

Exit

Notes
Wherefore art thou Romeo?: ‘Why are you a member of the Montaue family?’ Juliet is already aware that this will be a barrier to their love
She wishes that Romeo could renounce his parentage, or if that cannot be, and yet he loves her, that she could renounce her own.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague: ‘What you are really like has nothing to do with the fact that you are a Montague.’
Owes: owns
doff: remove (as one takes off clothes).
counsel: private thoughts
if either thee dislike: ‘if either is displeasing to you’
And the place death: ‘being found here would be fatal for you.’
Love makes a man hold enough to attempt anything that is possible however dangerous.
sweet: affectionate, gracious
And but: so long as
prorogued: put off, delayed
I am no pilot… farthest sea: Romeo here uses an image that would spring naturally to the minds of the Elizabethans in an age when great voyages of exploration were taking place, he says that, though not an experienced sailor, he would undertake a voyage to the end of the world if Juliet were his prize.
Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face… …….which the dark night hath so discovered
This whole speech gives us a vivid & sympathetic picture of a young girl, very much in love, wh is afraid of her behavior being too light but who is nevertheless anxious to make her love known.
Fain would I dwel on form: ‘I should like to behave in a proper lady-like fashion.’
but farewell complement!: but away with the restraints of formality.’
lovers’ perjuries: lovers’ lies
Jove: The King of the gods used various disguises in his amorous adventures
too fond: too foolish
Light: wanton, frivolous. Maidens who yielded too easily were referred to as ’light’.
Cunning to be strange: skill at seeming distant, aloof
My true love’s passion. ……….. yielding to light love: Do not believe that my showing my feelings is due to being too easy, or lacking seriousness.
Light Love: love lacking in the weightiness of truth and sincerity.
inconstant moon….changes in her circled orb: The moon is thought inconstant because it visibly waxes and wanes.
Or, if thou wilt, swear…. God of my idolatry: ‘I am like a heathen (i.e non-Christian) worshipper and you are my idol.’
Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee………….. Come to thy heart as that within my breast: Is Juliet worried by the suddenness of their love? Or is this already a shadow of what is to come?
This bud of love…..when we next meet: Their love which isn’t yet developed, may become mature by their next meeting
And yet I would it were to give again: I wish I could give it to you again
frank: generous
afeard: afraid
bent: inclination, feeling

Romeo & Juliet [1591] is for all cosmos, for all times: Ramleela Starring Ranveer Singh and
Deepika Padukone, inspired and based on work of William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet’. [2013]

To be continued. bunpeiris

Greater Israel

2014-02-10T13:03:00.003+05:30

United Nations & the beginning of Chaos by bunpeiris

The Beginning of Modern Chaos.

The world is in chaos. The body of United Nations has no mandate to create states. Yet it did on 29th November 1947, based on the Balfour Declaration of the British.
The Arabs rightly contend that a nation which left its land more than a couple of millenniums ago had no right to return. In spite of the holocaust, that is. The juggernaut of collective power of United Kingdom, United States of America and the United Nations is the Origin of Disunited World Today. No county must take it upon itself to play god & form another country.

But, then was it by their own will that the Jews left? Or were they driven out? And if they were driven out, do they have a right to return 2500 years later? Does it matter at all? Now the country has been established and what was done therein yesterday cannot be undone today at all. Once the situation is understood, all would realize Palestinians too ought to have a state. Such is the cause of the Jews, in the end, not only a country for themselves, but a country for Palestinians too will have to established. Give a home to the homeless Palestinians too.

The beginning of the Chaos: The Balfour Declaration of United Kingdom

Foreign OfficeNovember 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.Yours sincerely,Arthur James Balfour

The Undying American Love
While the support that has been extended to Israel by the successive regimes of United States of America is politically motivated, in search of a foothold in a land rich in oil, a significant percentage [63 percent, according to the Pew Research Center] of the American populace are of the belief, it is their biblical responsibility to support the modern states of the Jews. This view has now taken a face: Christian Zionism. It holds dearly that the return of of Jewish people since 1948 from all four corners of the earth, the remainder, following the holocaust of 6 million [may god forbid another] at the hands of Adolph Hitler in his unsuccessful "Final Solution" during 1939-1945, is a miracle like fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham.

While one could hardly grudge a home for a homeless nation, which had been suffering for millenniums ["If you prick us, do we not bleed" :Shakespeare puts one of his most eloquent speeches into the mouth of this "villain"], in spite of the biblical prophesies ought it had to be a land amidst the Arabs themselves?

What Israel Means To Natalie Portman

Where I was born. Where I ate my first Popsicle and used a proper toilet for the first time. Where some of my 18-year-old friends spend their nights in bunkers sleeping with their helmets on. Where security guards are the only jobs in surplus. Where deserts bloom and pioneer stories are sentimentalized. Where a thorny, sweet cactus is the symbol of the ideal Israeli. Where immigrating to Israel is called “ascending” and emigrating from Israel is called “descending.” Where my grandparents were not born, but where they were saved.Where the year passes with the season of olives, of almonds, of dates. Where the transgressive pig or shrimp dish speaks defiantly from a Jerusalem menu. Where, despite substantial exception, secularism is the rule. Where wine is religiously sweet. Where “Arabic homes” is a positive real estate term with no sense of irony. Where there is endless material for dark humor. Where there are countless words for “to bother,” but no single one yet for “to pleasure.” Where laughter is the currency; jokes the religion. Where political parties multiply more quickly than do people. Where to become religious is described as “returning to an answer” and becoming secular “returning to a question.”Where six citizens have won Nobel prizes in 50 years. Where the first one earned an Olympic gold in 2004 for sailing (an Israeli also won the bronze for judo). Where there is snow two hours north and hamsin (desert wind) two hours south. Where Moses never was allowed to walk, but whose streets we litter. Where the language in which Abraham spoke to Isaac before he was to sacrifice him has been resuscitated to include the words for “sweatshirt” and “schadenfreude” and “chemical warfare” and “press conference.” Where the muezzin chants, and the church bells sound and the shofars cry freely at the Wall. Where the shopkeepers bargain. Where the politicians bargain. Where there will one day be peace but never quiet.Where I was born; where my insides refuse to abandon.

"So do Palestinians".

Is the worse yet to come: Greater Israel as prophesied
Geneis 15:18 reads: “To your descendants I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates.”
Moses announces to the Jews in Deuteronomy 11:24, that “Every place where you set the soles of your feet shall be yours. Your borders shall run from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.”

Should the biblical prophesied ever see the light of the day, it would swallow major land mass of the Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria. Should such a day ever dawn, perhaps in a couple of centuries, if not in a couple of decades, the present [21st century] chaotic political landscape of this countries, in due time in history, would 21st century well be identified as a landmark turning point in destabilization of the Middle East & resulting destabilization of the Third World by the West?

Today Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen are in choas, thanks to the United Kingdom, United States of America and the United Nations. Iran is their next target.

The other side of the midnight: Expelled or escaped Palestinians too have a right to return to their land in Palestine

Here is a Jew who advocates South African model following the Reign of Apartheid

Sustained occupation of other peoples land by the Israel

http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/01/27/beautiful-picture-from-1968-of-israel-celebrating-the-reunification-of-jerusalem/

Mojo and Suzanne

2013-12-13T00:53:00.001+05:30

Mojo and Suzanne
Written by bunpeiris

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Suzanne and her Mojo.”

An absolutely stunning angel in a swaying short skirt and a Cashmere sweater floated into the lobby just as a butterfly would. She seemed incredibly light on her feet. I couldn't take my eyes off. Our eyes met, she held the gaze and she began to float towards me. Is the gravity off, where she tread? Lovely black curls framed a fairest prettiest face. Just blinked and she was at my table. She was sultry and serene at once, incredible. Never seen anybody so exceedingly pretty. That's slightly sharp double chin. She smiled: full lips fluttered; doe eyes twinkled. And the dimples on cheeks appeared in a flash. Am I dreaming, by god if this is dream, please don't wake me up ever. Let me die in my dream, please. Jesus, I can't take my eyes off her. oh! god is this real? Please say this is real. Who is this? Please say this is real, please , please, please.

Hello, is it me you are looking for?
I guess so, You are Mojo, I presume.
[That's the most melodious voice I have ever listened to]
Like hell, I am Mojo, and you just made a discovery.
Oh! yea, I have doubts on that matter.
Oh! another doubting Thomas, if you don't believe, I'll take off my T-shirt and show you the hole where the nail pierced.
Oh! Myee! then you are really him! The man with a Rupee size scar of a bullet wound, oh! sweet Jesus , how could have I imagined it was you?
I am sorry, please sit and share my breakfast till we get what you would like.
Oh! I just have had breakfast.
Never mind, let's go for the second breakfast since we will be having late lunch.
Are you suggesting, we...
No, angel, insisting
Insisting, insisting on what dear?
We are going to the worlds End?
Who are we?
[She is sharp, she need to make sure whether there is anyone else too]
Before you floated in my lovely butterfly, it was me, now we, no more me, all we, from now onwards and don't tell me you are married, I would jump over the escarpment of Worlds End.
In that case, I would accompany, if not for any interest, at least to save a life, you rogue.
[Christ, she is so gorgeous, so easy going, I am never going to leave you angel]
So you aren't married?
I was.
[I gasped, she giggled merrily]
Then?
Divorced last week
[ I gasped again, unable to utter a single word]
Hey, I got you now, for the first time you have no words to cut me down.
[She is a tease, a vivacious, bubbly tease]
Yes, I have no idea what to say. I am sad you are ... I don't know what to say... then I am happy too..
[ She glanced at the glossy periodical I had been reading and remarked]
She is so beautiful, isn't she? She had set a eyes on a photo of Hedy Lamarr
Very true, but as not as beautiful as you are.
From where did you learn to flirt like this?
Well, I used to read my father's love letters to my mother.
How mean you were? Are you still the same?
If I am the same, you are the savior of mine. Hey, just a second, what's your name? And you are gorgeous
[she giggled like a bell, yet softly.]
No, I am not gorgeous, I am Suzanne De Mel.
Sure, you are Suzanne. So you are the adorable sister of my boss.
That's right.
So you are supposed to look into the welfare of mine.
No, I am not told to do so, I am afraid.
Well, my boss said something to the effect his adorable sister would extend her helping hand if needed, But I want your hand for eternity.
Oh! God, I am still sunk in my rudderless despair, Are you earnest? Or are you just flirting? Are you mocking at me?
I have never been so earnest in my life.
We have only met. We know only next to nothing about each other, apart from that story of lucky bullet. But then, on the flashback, now with you face to face, that reveals loads about you. But then again, not much outside of the episode. Could we go slow?
Yes we can.. I am sorry if I seemed to rush you. So let's make a move.
[She frowned and recovered. Now, the twinkle in her eye returned] What do you mean?

Would you come with to Horton Plains ? Worlds End?
Too late now, mist would have gathered by the time we get there.
True, we can wait till the mist gets cleared in the mid day?
Oh! That's why you said we will be having late lunch. How scheming you are? Why don't we take a couple of lunch packets from the hotel there?
Oh! yes, that's a brainwave.

steward landed with a couple of egg and jaggery-solidified Kitul Palm Honey hybrid hoppers. " Here you are sir." "Two more for us" "Very well, sir, straight away sir"]

How do you know I love hybrid hoppers.

I didn't darling. I ordered a couple just before you descended from the heavens

[ She looked at me one eye winking; other eye twinkling, Such a lively girl she is!]

oh! ya, how is that you ordered two more without a blink, you said for us and you didn't even pay me a glance.

Well, either of us can think for both of us, I guess, we are one.

[this time, both her eyes shot to the heavens; her lips curled.]

You are an impossible tease, Mojo!

Not exactly, could be half teasing.

Then the other half?

Always from the first thoughts of mine to your impossible probing, questioning. The original thinking.

Well, that doesn't make matters any easier.

You said we can go slow. So if you fail to decipher me today, we can try tomorrow

Hey, cowboy, look at me and tell that if I need you to answer any question of mine without teasing, you will do it at once.

Yes, my darling, I will

Thank you, sweetheart.

Hey, angel, you called me sweetheart

Delighted?

Absolutely delirious

To be continued
bunpeiris

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching

2013-06-25T06:56:00.000+05:30

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching

Gateway Graduate School, Negombo has few more slots open for Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching. Enrollments are still open as at 25th June 2013. Call Nilanthi (Kurana, Negombo) – 0716492935, 031 222 0029 today.nilanthi.gunathilaka@gateway.lk Gateway Graduate School, Bambalapitiya already has 25 students
Enrollments are closed at Bambalpitiya.

Designed in partnership with the London examining board Edexcel, initially Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching is a one-year level 4 course (i.e. the equivalent of the first year of a degree). Thereafter it takes off to level 5 (HND) next year, and then again in following year leads to a B.A degree in education in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, UK. The final year also allows specialization in primary or secondary education.

The first intake began training in June 2011 and the study course was completed in May 2012. Since June 2011 Gateway Graduate School has taken in 8 batches in Colombo, Negombo & Kandy.

Vivek Govil - CEO Pearson India and Dr. Harsha Alles – Director, Gateway Group at the signing of the Agreement to offer the Edexcel Teacher Training Course in Sri Lanka. Patrick Casey - Director, Edexcel International, Premila Paulraj Canitius – Edexcel Territory Manager India Subcontinent, Suriya Bibile – Business Development Manager Edexcel, and Michael Dobson – Head, Gateway Graduate School were also present at the launch.

Isabelle Sutcliffe, Director of Regulations, Standards and Research of Edexcel awarding the Diploma to a successful candidate

Ms. Sutcliffe, Director of Regulations, Standards and Research of Edexcel during her visit to Sri Lanka mentioned that Edexcel was pleased to offer this qualification through Gateway Graduate School due to the confidence they had in Gateway's passion and the commitment to quality education. She said that by offering this internationally recognized qualification in Sri Lanka, it is not only the teachers of Gateway Schools that will benefit but that it will contribute towards the professional development of all teachers in Sri Lanka.

The Gateway Graduate School Director Dr. Harsha Alles, exchanging the MoU signed with the Nottingham Trent University UK Por-Vice Chancellor (International) Professor Nigel Healey.

Gateway has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nottingham Trent University, UK. that the current level 4 course lead on to a level 5 HND and then to a Bachelor of Arts in Education.

Right behind Gateway Graduate School is Negombo lagoon. Enjoy sitting tight and relaxed on the grassy bank.

Ref.

http://www.gatewaygraduateschool.com/index.php/teacher-training

http://www.gateway.lk/

http://www.edexcel.com/Pages/Home.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/GatewayGraduateSchool
http://www.gatewaygraduateschool.com/index.php/teacher-training

BLACK TEA

2013-05-28T12:00:00.000+05:30

BLACK TEA: HEALING POWERS

The tea plantations in the salubrious Central Highlands of Sri Lanka [High Grown Tea] produces the finest Black Tea in the world that still goes by the British Colonial brand name of Ceylon Tea, in spite of the ancient tropical island has now been called Sri Lanka, i.e. the Sanskrit prefix of "Sri" meaning resplendent being added to the most ancient name of the island "Lanka".
During your Sri Lanka Holidays visit Ceylon Health Triangle of Sri Lanka to enjoy Ceylon Tea, the finest Black Tea in the world and rejuvenate in the highland sanatariums of Sri Lanka Holidays Nuwara Eliya or Ella or Bandarawela or Haputale or Diyatalawe

The healing powers of Black Tea run back to 2737 BC in China. In ancient Indian Ayurveda medical science, Black Tea was identified as a medicament belonging to the class of “Rasayana” promoting good health, raising resistance to diseases & assuring full life span. Rasayana do not belong to the category of medicaments that are put into work following the onset of a disease. Though Black Tea was known to Europeans since 16th century, became popular among the affluent society since the 17th century, became an essential commodity of the life of western world since 19th century, it was not till the 21st century that Europeans began to grasp the medicinal value of the beverage Black Tea made of the Eastern herb Camellia sinensis. Black tea took root in the western lifestyle as an invigorating beverage that would bring in instant cheer & gear up the tired mind & body. Black Tea was also to become the centerpiece of social gatherings.

Recent scientific studies on Black tea have begun to unravel the specific beneficial effects on the human body & mind.

Black tea is rich in antioxidants
Black Tea, Green tea & Oolong tea are excellent sources of Antioxidant called polyphenos: catechins, flavonols, the flavins and the arubigins. Antioxidants are substances that reduce, neutralize, and prevent the damage done to the cells of human body by Free radicals.
Highly reactive Free radicals- atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons- are borne out of oxidation process of our being. Left to its own killer sway, the Free radicals could injure surrounding cells & cause damage to DNA, resulting in cancer.While human body regulates a complex system of multiple types of antioxidants, low levels of antioxidants results in damaging or killing human cells, the building blocks of the system.

Black tea helps prevent type 2 diabetes
That Black tea (the same green leaf Camellia sinensis is processed into Green tea, Black Tea or Oolong tea by controlling biological oxidation) may help to combat type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease is discovered at the laboratory stage by a group of scientists led by Dr. Graham Rena of Neurosciences Institute of the University of Dundee, Scotland in March 2008. The discovery was made on a research to locate compounds with a potential to replace insulin in treatment of patients of diabetes 2. Diabetes 2 is a medical complication in which patient’s body cells become resistant to insulin, an essential regulator of blood sugar.

Dr. Rena found Black Tea antioxidants theaflavins and thearubigins to mimick the insulin action on proteins known as foxos (forkhead transcription factor family O). Now it has been increasingly recognized that obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance & cardiovascular diseases are varied manifestations of a multifaceted medical complication: metabolic syndrome. It seems, at last, the western medical science has stuck a cord with ancient Ayurvedic treatments which boils down to three root causes with respect of all maladies & deceases: vata (wind/spirit/air), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm). So called metabolic syndrome is an aspect of Pitta (bile).
Publication: journal Aging Cell. March 2008
Lead scientist: Dr Graham Rena, Caledonian Research Foundation Fellow & Lecturer.

Black tea helps prevent Heart strokes
American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California was presented with human observational results of 9 studies across 195,000 individuals & 4378 heart strokes. The research was carried out by UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) & sponsored by The Unilever Lipton Institute of Tea funded this study.

"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude," "By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was Green tea or Black tea” said author Lenore Arab. Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of Green tea or Black Tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke- blockage of an artery in the brain. It has been speculated antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine is responsible for the effect.
Publication: online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, February 2009.
Lead scientist: Dr. Lenore Arab, a professor of biological chemistry.

Black tea helps reduce the risk on breast cancer
Based on a case-control study across 5000 women aged between 20 & 74 who had been treated for breast cancer & 4500 healthy women, it was claimed reduced risk of cancer in women under 50 who drank three or more cups a day. Younger women who consumed large amounts of Black Tea each day cut their chances of developing any type of breast tumor by about 37%.
Publication: online edition of Stroke: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a peer-reviewed medical journal January 2009.
Lead scientist: Dr Nagi Kumar of the Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida

BUDDHA'S LIGHT TEA

2013-05-24T10:03:00.000+05:30

BUDDHA'S LIGHT TEA
On this Vesākha (Pali; Sanskrit: Vaiśākha, Sinhala: Wesak or Vesak) day (another anniversary of birth, enlightenment and the final extinction of Gautama Buddha, it brings me, living in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, a Theravada Buddhist (though not a good one at it), immense joy to present you all guys and dolls with one of those accessible and appealing tales and anecdotes of a book titled “Where is your Buddha Nature?”- stories to instruct and inspire written by renowned Venerable Master Hsing Yun, a whole-hearted Mahayana Buddhist, the founder of Fo Guan Shan monastery, Taiwan published by “Buddha Light and Living Private Limited.
Though Sri Lanka has been the custodian of Thervada Buddhism since the ancient times, it has also been enriched with some Sri Lanka Holidays cultural attractions of Mahayan Buddhism too. Among the most popular Buddhist sites featuring colossal Buddha statues in Sri Lanka, the statues in Buduruwagala, unlike others depict the concepts of Mahayana Buddhism.
So, following is the gleaning from “Where is your Buddha Nature?” ISBN 978-93-82017-09-7., of course with the exception of images and blushing (they are reddening, aren't they?) labels.

Main hall of Fo Guang Shan [Chinese: Buddha's Light Mountain] in Kaohsuiung. Fo Guang Shan is the largest Buddhist monastery & the largest charity organization of Taiwan.

Buddha’s Light Tea

Ding Sumei lived in Taichung. Before she became a Buddhist, she had no religious belief whatsoever.

Several years ago, during a very hot period in the middle of the summer, Ding came to Fo Guang Shan as a tourist wanting to see sites. As she strolled around around the mountain top looking at the statues and buildings, she gradually became quite warm. Pretty soon she began to perspire and feel thirsty. As she passed the Buddha Hall, she was received to be approached by a lay worker who asked if she would like to come inside for a cup of tea.

“Please try a cup of Buddha’s Light Tea,” the young woman said to her.

Since its inception in the year 1967, Fo Guang Shan of Mahayana Buddhism has evolved from bamboo forest to the largest monastery in Taiwan. Ven. Master Hsing Yun has inspired selfless devotion of over 1,000 monastics as well as the ardent support of many lay devotees to preach Buddhist way of living.

Ding went inside, and immediately her head was filled with the delightful aroma of tea steeping. Other people in the room were happily passing the time, conversing and then took out one hundred yuan to give to the young woman who asked her to come inside.

When the young woman saw what Ding was doing, she waved he hand I polite refusal.|

‘We have a rule here,” she said by way of explanation. “We don’t talk about others, and we don’t take money from anyone. We just talk about the Dharma [1] and drink tea.”

Ding laughed when she heard that and asked why the monastery would make such a rule like that.

“Master Hsing Yun made the rule over ten years ago,” the young woman explained. “ At the time, he noticed that people wo came to our monastery needed a pace to just rest and enjoy themselves for a while, so he set aside this room for that purpose. Since then, Buddha’s Light Tea has become pretty famous. People. People who come here now expect to have tea. So many people want tit, in fact, we have set up several other rooms here where you can also get Buddha’s Light Tea.”

Founder of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Ven. Master Hsing Yun has dedicated himself to propagating the ideals of "Humanistic Buddhism" and being "a global person" in which the spirits of joy and harmony, integration and co-existence, respect and magnanimity, equality and peace are widely disseminated.

“It is a good tea,” Ding said

“I am glad you have enjoyed it, & I hope you will be like others & come back for more very soon.

Ding really did enjoy the tea. After that first visit she began returning almost once a month to Fo Guang Shan. Whenever she came, she always brought friends or relatives with her, and the first thing she always did was go straight to have some Buddha’s Light Tea.

Once someone asked her, “What’s so great about Buddha’s Light Tea? Taiwan has many great teas. Why do you think that one is so special?”

‘Other teas are good, that’s true,’ Ding said, ‘but only Buddha’s Light Tea carries the flavor of the Dharma in it. One sip of that tea can change your whole life.”

The Finest Black Tea in the world
is produced in Sri Lanka: Ceylon Tea

Sri Lanka's Central Highlands is the main Ceylon Tea producing zone of Sri Lanka. During your Sri Lanka Holidays visit the Ceylon Health Triangle in the Highlands to enjoy the finest tea in the world and rejuvenate in the highland sanatariums.

[1] For practicing Buddhists, references to "dharma" (dhamma in Pali) particularly as "the Dharma", generally means the teachings of the Buddha, commonly known throughout the East as Buddha-Dharma.

Priceless ancient Sinhalese sculptures to England

2013-05-03T08:29:00.009+05:30

Priceless ancient Sinhalese sculptures to England
Following is a gleaning [with the exception of images and labels] off the paragraph titled “Life in Colombo” in Pablo Neruda’ s [1904-1973] “Memoirs” ISBN 0 14 00 4661 5. Pablo Neruda, who went on to win Noble prize for Literature in the year 1971, was Consul of Chile in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] during 1928-1929. The preceding paragraph titled “Ceylon” begins: In 1929, Ceylon, the most beautiful of the world large islands…

A garden doorstep at a home in Devon in the UK has been identified as a rare Sri Lankan artefact expected to fetch more than £30,000 ($47,500) at auction.

The auctioneer Bonhams says the carved granite step is a Sandakada Pahana - or moonstone - similar to those found in temples dating from Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura period (c400BC-1000AD). 22 January 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21137743

Moonstone at Polonnaruwa vatadage, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Life in Colombo

In Colombo there seemed to be no visible symptoms of revolution. Its political climate was different from India’s. Everything was engulfed by an oppressive calm. The country supplied England with the finest tea in the world.[1]
The country was split into sectors, or compartments. The English, who occupied the tip of the pyramid and lived in large residences with gardens, were followed by a middle class much like that in South American countries. They were and may still be called burghers [2] and were descendants of the former Boers, the Dutch settlers of South Africa exiled to Ceylon during the colonial war of the last century.

Below them was Buddhist and Moslem population of Ceylon, which numbered many millions. And still further down, making up the worst-paid working ranks, and also running into the millions, were the Indian immigrants, all from the southern part of India; they spoke Tamil and professed the Hindu religion.
In the so-called “polite society”, which paraded its finest clothes and jewels in Colombo’s exclusive clubs, two famous snobs competed for leadership. One was a phony French nobleman, Count de Mauny, who had a group of devotees. The other was an elegant and devil-may-care Pole, my friend Winzer, who dominated salons there were. This may was extremely witty, quite cynical, and a source of knowledge about everything in the world.

He had a strange profession-“preserver of the cultural and archeological treasures”- and going along with him one of his official expeditions was an eye-opening experience to me.
Excavations had brought to light two magnificent cities the jungle had swallowed up: Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. Pillars and corridors gleamed once again in brilliant Singhalese sun. Naturally, everything that could be shipped was carefully packed and went on its way to the British Museum in London.

My friend Wizer was pretty good at his work. He went to remote monasteries and, to the enormous satisfaction [3] of the Buddhist monks, he loaded the official van with marvelous stone sculptures, thousands of years old, that would end up in England’s museums. The look of contentment [4] on the faces of the saffron-garbed monks was something to see, when Winzer would leave them some painted-up celluloid Buddhist images, made in Japan, as replacements for their own antiques. They would look them over with reverent eyes [5] and set them up on the same altars from which the jasper and granite statues had smiled [5] for centuries.My fiend Winzer was an excellent product of the Empire; that is, an elegant short-change artist.

Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] The Finest Black Tea in the World is produced in Sri Lanka: Ceylon Tea.
[2] Burghers in Sri Lanka are descendants of Portugusese [1505- 1640] & Dutch [1640-1796] invaders of Sri Lanka
[3], [4] & [5] Winzer would have hoodwinked Buddhist monks that the priceless sculptures would be returned to them once the exhibition in Colombo comes to its glorious end. There was no exhibition.

[5] Such is the craftsmanship of most of ancient Buddha statues, each of them seem to wear a veil of a smile. Children are quick to note the smile as bunpeiris has done decades ago at Sri Lanka Holidays Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa.

In eternal love with Gal Vihara since the discovery of it at the early medieval lost city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Nearly a century and a half following the wild flight, the great escape from the natural fortress of Kandy surrounded by wooded hills and River Mahaweli Ganga (Sinhala: Great Sandy River), through Anuradhapura,"a world of hewn stone pillars" of Sri Lanka Holidays by British sailor Robert Knox Jr. (1641-1720) (An historical relation of the Island of Ceylon) in the year 1679, Lieutenant Mitchell Henry Fagan of the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, forcing his way through almost impenetrable undergrowth in the year 1820, encountered-face to face-a colossal statue gazing out at him from the foliage: Gal vihara. A colossal figure of Buddha cut from a granite wall was most serenely gazing at him from out of the foliage. "I cannot describe what I felt at that moment," he wrote.

"Neither could I when I first saw the great statues at the tender age of 8. It was like dream that you dream when just about to wake up. And you wake up with the dream & still on a cloud. But the upright Big Buddha most definitely smiled at me. Am I dreaming? No, Big Buddha smiled again." That's bunpeiris. There sprang up an eternal love on the spur of the moment: Gal Vihara was no longer a rock temple of rock carved statues. It is the heartthrob. If it was the flow of the sculptor's heart then, since then, it has been the stream that wash and cleanse the minds and the hearts of all those who stand in front of it. Stand, kneel or sit in front of the great statues. The sweeping serenity of the statues would breeze-open your heart and inflame it with eternal love.

Sri Lankans First

2013-04-14T21:03:00.000+05:30

WE ARE SRI LANKANS FIRST
Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

The defining statement of how, we Sri Lankans, i.e. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan Muslims, Burghers, Sri Lankan Chinese and other citizens ought to view ourselves, has now arrived from a most unlikely source: Muttiah Muralitharan. Muralitharan, by profession, isn't one of those so called intellectuals. He is a Sri Lankan Cricketer, a member of the 1996 World Champions. Most of all Murali, as he is adoringly called by the Sri Lankans, is a patriot, a son of the soil, a man worth his salt.

Today is 2013 Sinhala & Hindu New Year Day. No community of ours in Sri Lanka has a right to attempt to push down its culture, even in a form of a spicy hot beef steak, down the throats of other communities with a label or without a label. Then again no community of ours ought to be too loud, too vociferous on the slaughter of animals for meat, not to mention what others of ours shouldn't eat.

Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.

Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

We are one country, one nation. After three decades of terrorism and war, now we have peace. Let's secure it tight.

“I am a Tamil. But I’m a Sri Lankan first. I can assure you that there has been immense peace all around Sri Lanka since the war ended and the Tamils are living very happily here. They are treated equally well.” 28th March 2013, Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972), is a Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. He retired from Test cricket in 2010, registering his 800th and final wicket on 22 July 2010 from his final ball in his last Test match.
On 10 January 2008, the Parliament of Sri Lanka felicitated Muttiah Muralitharan for his world record breaking feat of being the highest wicket taker in Test cricket. That was the first time that a sportsman has been honoured in the country's Supreme Legislature.

Those who are unable to follow Murali, too still has an option: just pick what that Indian Murasoli Maran had said.

“I am Tamil first, but I am also an Indian. Both can exist together, provided there is space for cultural nationalism.” Murasoli Maran

Murasoli Maran (August 17, 1934- November 23, 2003) was a prominent Tamil politician in India, and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which is headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for 36 years, he was made a Union Minister in three separate central governments, in charge of Urban Development in the V.P. Singh government, Industry in the Gowda and Gujral governments, and finally Commerce and Industry under Vajpayee. Apart from being a politician, Maran, was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too.

Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.

Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

Written by bunpeiris of Moratuwa http://www.mysrilankaholidays.com/

DON PERCY

2013-04-13T12:34:00.001+05:30

23 April 2009
Mennon calls Gota [1] on his personal mobile phone
Gota, the Tamil Nadu problem is hoting up. Things are very sensitive here
OK, I’ll call you back
Don Percy M. R.: Tell them to come tomorrow morning for breakfast
The northerners speak briefly: southerners were laboring under the delusion their brethren were being massacred.
Gota, Don Percy M. R. and Weere listen attentively
Don : Even if you invade my country, I am not going to stop this. We are just a few weeks away from eliminating terrorism in this country.
Don then reminds the neighbors of previous military intervention [2] and loss of two decades of development.
Mahinda puts his hand gently on Shiv.
Look, my friend, short of stopping this thing, what do you want me to do?
At least you can stop using heavy guns- heavy artillery. And no air strikes
Don agreed. The neighbors sigh..

29 April 2009
At a house at Embilipitaya Don had the two Europeans fed with Sinhalese Milkrice kiribat and hoty hot red chille pepper lunumiris paste for the breakfast.
Silliband [speaking with force] : This massacre needs to be stopped immediately.
Don [ losing his cool temper] : We are trying to free these people from the terrorists Do you think we are still a colony of yours?
B. Nard Kouch: We are your friends, we want to help
Don [still in bad mood]: I know who my friends and enemies are.
Later on Wikileaks revealed that Silliband spend 60 perecent of his time on Sri Lanka’s war in his campaign to win Labour-held seats in which Tamils [ from Sri Lanka & Tamilnadu] had the say.

Footnotes
[1]
It was certainly a privilege to be part of the Troika that dealt with the Indian bureaucracy – another aspect during the period of 2005 to 2009 which needs to be highlighted and it is so well written in this book. Mr Basil Rajapaksa, Minister today, at that time a Member of Parliament, led the troika that included Gota and myself. Chapter 70 is all about the Troika. The unique experiment in foreign relations that brought Sri Lanka-India relations to a new high from a very low in the early 80s. The author says of this, “this was a groundbreaking arrangement and probably unique in the annals of bilateral diplomatic relations at least in South Asia.”

[2]
It is during this famous operation that many claim could have liberated Sri Lanka from terrorism saw the high handed interference of the then Indian envoy, Mr J N Dixit. Mr Chandraprema describes this in a very lucid manner. “While the Vadamaarachchi Operation was on, the Indian envoy, J N Dixit had met President Jayawardene and bluntly told him that India will not stand by idly and allow Jaffna to fall into the hands of the Army. And if the military operation continued there could be unforeseen consequences. Asked to explain what these unforeseen consequences could be, Dixit had told Jayawardene that military aid may be given by India to the LTTE leading to the possible dismemberment of Sri Lanka.”Let me tell you, my dear friends, bluntly that Mr Dixit was lucky because it was not President Mahinda Rajapaksa to whom he threw this threat
India meddled & muddled with peace keeping force, defeated by the terrorists and withdrawn back to India.

China’s Elder Brother: India

2013-04-03T17:51:00.000+05:30

CHINA'S ELDER BROTHER: INDIA

Marginal Comments by bunpeiris are followed up with gleanings
Once upon a time India was a great land that made timeless contributions to the Heritage of the World that no other land, since then has ever matched up, far from exceeding: India was the birth place, cradle and home of sages, philosophers and scholars since time immemorial; India gave the world ultimate epic poems of Mahabharata and Ramayana [both of which refer to ancient Sri Lanka then called Lanka], which pushes the ‘The Iliad”, a cornerstone of the Western Cannon to the distant third in the world of literature; India gave birth to the most serene emperor of world, Emperor Asoka; India gave the birth to Prince Siddhartha who went on to become the supremely enlightened Gautama Buddha; India gave the pidgin world the language of Sanskrit [which gave birth to Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, in addition to Hindi] and Pali [ in which Sri Lanka's Great Chronicle Mahawamsa was composed]; most of all, India gave the pagan world Buddhism [Theravada cannon of which Sri Lanka became the conservator] and Hinduism. And the world was nourished. The ancient land of India was the mother to the rest of the Asia. It was the mother: Mother India. Then.

Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article170899.ece

“Om. May Brahman protect us both! May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of Knowledge! May we both obtain the energy to acquire Knowledge! May what we both study reveal the Truth! May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other! Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!”

Wen Jiabao, sixth Premier of China [2003- 2013] quoting Upanishads to express the strong desires of China to realize good neighborly relations with India.

Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74

"I do not know why but as soon as I alighted on the land of China, I felt that I have come home. I have come to China not to observe the sceneries as a tourist, nor to bring some gospel as a missionary, but to seek the way as a pilgrim and pay homage to China’s cultural community. I have come to China for some invisible emotion: to be general, my mission is to repair the bridge between China and India which was broken more than a thousand years ago"

Rabindranath Tagore

Then, as the heart rending reversal, the roll back of such supremely distinctive, peerless heritage took place, Free India [with the departure of the British, to the times of Rajiv Gandhi via the regime of Indira Gandhi] would, beginning its march of folly, aligned with communist Soviet Russia. Such uncalled for alignment resulted in partisan politics, and on occasions, led to military interferences, interventions and invasions upon its neighbors. India’s foreign policies with respect of its smaller neighbors can be easily summed up in mere two words: meddle and muddle.

One of the most unfortunate victims of this policy of meddle and muddle has been the little island of Sri Lanka, which itself is a golden pearl of the necklace of ancient India’s heritage: Sri Lanka has been the custodian of Theravada Buddhism originated in India; Sri Lanka has been the land of the Sinhalese, the descendents of the Aryans arrived from Bengal, Eastern India in 543 BC; Sri Lanka has been the home of the language, Sinhalese or Sinhala an Indo Aryan language influenced with Sanskrit. Destruction of Sri Lanka is a destruction of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the heritage of the world itself.

Today Modern India [in this era of micro technology] has aligned or rather malaligned with the most fearsome human rights violator of the world, the only country to drop nuclear bombs upon another nation, the bomber of Vietnam continuously for two decades, now to prosecute this little ancient island of Sinhalese Buddhists and other patriots upon the dubious grounds of western styled opportunistic human rights. When it’s the turn of irony, it could hardly ever get better, or worse than this.

Destabilization of Sri Lanka battered with 30 years of terrorism and war would result in destruction of Sri Lanka, a loss of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the Heritage of the World itself.
One has to read History of the Sinhalese, who arrived from Bengal (Vanga), East India in 543 BC to learn of milenniums in which it had suffered at the violent hands of marauding Dravidian invaders hell bent on pillage & plunder, rack & ruin, mass murder an mayhem from Southern India during the first capital city of Anuaradhapura & the second capital city of Polonnaruwa, Today both cities of preserved ruins, restored ruins and irrigation reservoirs are Sri Lanka Holidays attractions-UNESCO World Heritage Sites. bunpeiris.

Modern India has aligned or rather malaligned with U.S. A. [which will not be forgiven by Sri Lanka’s history to unfold in the next couple of millenniums till the arrival of Maitreya Buddha] to prosecute a little island at peace. Much more than any other country, in this dark fall from grace, in this fathomless depths of depravity, India, being the most important neighbor of Sri Lanka, though reluctantly [in view of the political pressure from opportunistic Tamilnadu politicians], closing ranks with U.S.A, has shown how deep it has sunk on selective justice upon singular circumstances.

Selective justice since Sri Lanka has been selected by U. S. A. solely in view of Sri Lanka’s Chinese connection and not for its human rights record at all. Where is the gun; where is the death pit; where is the corpse. And the country is at peace now, there is no war now. And the Tamils in Sri Lanka themselves have appealed to the Tamil diaspora to let them live in peace in their island.

“I am a Tamil. But I am a Sri Lankan first. I can assure you that there has been immense peace all around Sri Lanka since May 2009 and the Tamils are living very happily here. They are treated equally well." Muttiah Muralitharan, 31st March 2013

Singular justice, since U.S.A. has conveniently set aside the 30 years of terrorism and war only to focus upon the last battle that lasted no more than a couple of months.

“So I call upon the U.S. to find a better way forward rather than using UN resolutions to de-stabilize developing nations like Sri Lanka while ignoring human rights abuses in nations like Indonesia where our geopolitical interests supersede our human rights agenda. The U.S.-led UN resolution also should be withdrawn for focusing only on the last few months of the war and failing to acknowledge that for almost 30 years the Tamil Tigers hacked to death innocent men, women and children – Sinhalese and Tamils alike – and carried out over 378 suicide attacks – more than any other such organization in the world.”

American congressman Eni Faleomavaega of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. February 26, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0ogJ7MfBrc

At this juncture the country is at peace; the war ravaged areas are being reconstructed at a faster clip than the rest of the island. Destabilising Sri Lanka by way of arousing the communal fears of Sinhalese and Tamils would ultimately, result in destruction of Sri Lanka. Destruction of Sri Lanka would be a destruction of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the heritage of the world itself.

What’s the purpose of your visit [ to India], sir?
Oh! Just visiting some friends in Nerul.
You came all the way to visit friends?
That’s right.
You aren’t allowed more than 2 liters of spirits.
Yes, I noted that only on arrival. But these for my friends.
Ok, go and enjoy with your friends.
Mmm., that’s nice. Thanks a bundle.

The marginal comments above are written by My Sri Lanka Holidays bunpeiris.

Following is a gleaning from a booklet titled "Talks in China: Rabindranath Tagore" [ISBN 81-7167-926-9] that I bought in Mumbai while visiting Lewises in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, a decade ago. This would testify to greatness of the land of India in the ancient times.

Rabindranath Tagore in China

Liang Chi Chao

(President, Universities Association, Peking)

The Great Indian sage & poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore will arrive very soon and meet our students to the number of several thousands. I take this opportunity, therefore, of preparing a welcome for him.

First of all, I want you to understand that all great personalities are many-sided. They are like the seven colored Mani, which presents different aspects of brilliance to different observers. You all know that I am fond of treating things from a historical point of view; you know too that I have deep faith in Buddhism. As the proverb says: ‘No man can speak three words without disclosing his craft.’ So what I am going to tell you today is but my own impression as a historian and a Buddhist. I cannot give a proper introduction to Rabindranath Tagore, still less can I pretend to give adequate expression to the enthusiastic welcome of all sections of our people.

Rabindranath Tagore has visited Europe, America and Japan. Whenever he goes he receives a tremendous welcome. You will recall that outburst of enthusiasm in the Chien Men Station, on the day he arrived, such as never been corded to any other foreign guest, so warm it was, and so sincere.

The meaningless idolatry of here-worship is common amongst the peoples of Europe and America. We, Chinese, have not yet acquired this fashionable habit. We, who welcome Rabindranath Tagore, may each have our several reasons,-it may even be that, like the Europeans and Americans, some of us are merely hero-worshipping him; but we must all recognize the one great central idea, that he comes to us from the country which is our nearest and dearest brother,-India.

To say that the country of India is our brother is not mere matter of courtesy to our guest. It has its foundation in history.

In ancient times China did not enjoy that facility of communication which was the privilege of the races bordering the Mediterranean Sea.We suffered from the disadvantage of being shut up in one corner of eastern Asia without any means of communicating with other great races and cultures. The islands in the eastern and southern oceans were populated by savages. America, on the far side of the Pacific, gave no sign of civilization. Beyond our western and northern frontiers there were those barbarous and ferocious races, whose business it ever was to threaten and devastate, but never to help us.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna receives a memento from his Chinese counterpart s, Yang Jiechi, in Beijing on .
8th June 2012Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.thehindu.com/news/india-china-look-to-expand-ties-in-new-areas/article3502039.ece

It is well for us to remember that this little privilege of culture, which we possess today, has been handed down to us by our ancestors, who labored long within secluded boundaries, unaided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion, un aided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion of its environment that our culture gives the impression of being monotonous and conservative to an extraordinary degree.

But across our south-western boundary, there was a great and cultured country, India. Both in character and geography, India and China are like twin brothers. Before most of the civilized races became active, we two brothers had already begun to study the great problems which concern the whole of mankind. We already accomplished much in the interests of humanity. India was ahead of us and we, the little brother followed behind. But nature had not been kind. She had placed between us a vast area of unfeeling desert and two great ranges of cruel snowy peaks, which separated us for thousands of years. It was not till two thousand years ago that we were given gradually to know that we had good elder brother on the earth.

Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74

When did these two great countries begin to communicate with each other?

According to Indian history, King Asoka sent a number of missionaries to propagate Buddhist ideas. Probably come of them ha d travelled as far as China. Our own tradition says that in the time of the famous Can Sze Huang (who built the Great Wall), there were already more than ten Hindus, who had been to Chang-an and who were imprisoned and killed by him. Asoka and Chin Sze Huang were contemporaries and therefore this might have been true. But we need not worry over half fairy tales.

There is goodwill between India and China at the Nathu-la border Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-china-relations-after-50-years-of-sino-indian-war/1/224707.html

What we historians are able to vouch for is that the first communication between us as brothers occurred in the first century of the era of Christ. From the tenth ear of Hang Yung Tsian to the fifth year of Tang Chen Yuan (67-789 AD), roughly during eight hundred years, the Hindu scholars, who came to China, numbered twenty-four, to which may be added thirteen from Kashmir (which in Tang times was not recognized as part of India) thus making thirty-seven in all, not counting those who came from other countries on the eastern and western side of Chung Lin (Turkestan). Our scholars, who went to India to study, during the period from the western Tsin to the Tang dynasties (265-790 AD) numbered 187, the names of 105 of whom we can ascertain. Among the most famous from India were Tamolosa (Dharmaraksha), Chu Shien (Buddha-bhadra), and Chen Ti (Jina-bhadra) and from China, Fa-Hien, Yuan Chuang and I Tsing.

During the period of 700 or 800 years, we lived like affectionate brothers, loving and respecting one another.

Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.china.org.cn

And now we are told that, within recent years, we have at least come into contact with civilized (!) races. Why have they come to us? They have come coveting our land and our wealth; they have offered us as presents cannon balls dyed in human blood; their factories manufacture goods and machine which daily deprive our people of their crafts. But we two brothers were not like that in the days gone by. We were both devoted to the cause of the universal truth; we felt the necessity for cooperation. We Chinese specially felt the need for leadership and direction from our elder brothers, the people of India. Neither of us was stained in the least by any motive of self-interest-of that we had none.

During the period when we were most close and affectionate to one another, it is a pity that this little brother had no special gift to offer to its elder brother, whilst our elder brother had given to us gifts of singular and precious worth, which we can never forget.

With the India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, India and China could potentially join forces and foster economic power. This dialogue could lead to gaining high-speed Chinese trains and to having Indian information technology experts working in China. This dialogue would also open up more opportunities for foreign direct investment between the two countries. The India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue aimed to achieve $70 billion of trade by the end of 2012 and hopes to achieve more than $100 billion of trade between the two countries by 2015. This could even strengthen their strong trade relationship. Currently, China is India’s biggest trade partner. Photo: AP

Now what have we received?
1. India taught us to embrace the idea of absolute freedom,- that fundamental freedom of mind, which enables us to shake off all the fetters of past traditions and habits as well as the present customs of a particular age,- that spiritual freedom which casts off the enslaving forces of material existence. [1] It was not merely that negative aspect of freedom, which consists in ridding ourselves of outward oppression and slavery, but that emancipation of the individual from his own self, through which men attain greater liberation, great ease and great fearlessness.

2. India also taught us the idea of absolute love, that pure love towards all living beings which eliminates all obsessions of jealousy, anger, impatience and disgust, which expresses itself in deep pity and sympathy for the foolish, the wicked and the sinful,-that absolute love, which recognizes the inseparability between all beings, ‘The equality of friend and enemy,’ ‘The oneness of myself and all things.’ This great gift is contained in the Ta Tsang Jen (Buddhist classics). The teachings in these seven thousand volumes can be summed up in one phrase: to cultivate sympathy and intellect, in order to attain absolute freedom through wisdom, and absolute love through pity.

3. But our elder brother had still something more to give. He brought us invaluable assistance in the field of literature and art. In the first place, these came indirectly through Si Yu; and then directly from the Indian sages, who came to China bringing with them as gifts for presentation to our Emperor, their pictures, sculptures and books. Thirdly, they were brought by the Chinese scholars on their return from India; for instance in the biography of Tuan Chuang, besides his observation on the classics, there was a list of articles in which were included all kinds of works of art. Lastly, we learnt from the translated classics not only of India’s wisdom, but also of its art.
UNQUOTE Liang Chi Chao

In the speech Liang went onto enumerate of minor gifts from India to China
Indian influence upon on Chinese music, Architecture, Painting, sculpture, drama,, poetry and Fiction, Astronomy & colander, medicine, literary style, educational method 7 social organization

Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] Liang Chi Chao seems to refer to the concepts outlined by Buddhism and not the customs and traditions that still being practised in the Indian society to date.

TAGORE & CHINA

Following is an extract from the speech of You Jianhua, at China-India People’s Dialogue in December, 2011. You Jianhua is the Secretary-General of China NGO Network for International
http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74
QUOTE
The year 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), the famous Indian writer, artist, philosopher and social activist. In 1913 Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first laureate from the Oriental for his anthology of poems – Gitanjali. During those days under Britain’s colonial rule, he was the pride of India, and a hero in the Oriental world that was suffering from humiliation by western powers. Tagore is a big name in China. During China’s New Culture Movement, he and many of his works were introduced to China, influencing generations of Chinese readers. Tagore had always been very friendly with the Chinese people.

In 1881, a young 20-year-old Tagore harshly condemned British imperialists for dumping opium on China and forcing the Qing government to cede territory and pay indemnities. In his famous article China Maraner Elyabasay (The Death Trade in China) in the Bengali Magazine Bharati, he wrote:

“Britain sits on the chest of the biggest Asian civilization, dripping poison into her healthy body and soul, driving her to death. One makes a killing while the other suffers tremendous loses. Such cruel robbery is indeed unprecedented.”

Tagore made a speech in Japan in 1916, condemning the malefaction of Japan’s invasion of China’s Shandong Province.
After China’s War of Resistance against Japan broke out, Tagore published letters and speeches several times to condemn Japan’s atrocity. He also took the lead in raising funds to support China in the war at his best. He once said with all emotion, “I believe I was a Chinese in my previous life!” In the International University of India, where Tagore served as the President, he established a China Institute for Chinese students. At the invitation of two great Chinese scholars, Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei,

Tagore paid his first visit to China on March 21, 1924. While setting foot on China, he couldn’t help but say,

“I do not know why but as soon as I alighted on the land of China, I felt that I have come home.” He added, “But I may put it this way, India feels that it bears an extremely close alliance with China. China and India are both very old and beloved brothers.”

He also said, “I have come to China not to observe the sceneries as a tourist, nor to bring some gospel as a missionary, but to seek the way as a pilgrim and pay homage to China’s cultural community. I have come to China for some invisible emotion: to be general, my mission is to repair the bridge between China and India which was broken more than a thousand years ago; to be more specific, I want to get sincere sympathy from you—the youth of China.

Let us work together, Chinese and Indians. We shall not be afraid of difficulties for we have the hoes on our shoulders to root out misunderstanding, and we have fresh seeds in our pockets that will bear fruits of humanity. Sun or rain, let us clear the land and sow the seeds, while singing loud new songs to encourage sprouts to grow out of darkness.”

His words are remembered even today.
UNQUOTE You Jianhua

Daffodils

2013-03-21T04:41:00.000+05:30

The Daffodils ["I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" ]

When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up -- But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road.

I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed and reeled and danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here & there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one busy highway -- We rested again & again. The Bays were stormy & we heard the waves at different distances & in the middle of the water like the Sea.

—Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal Thursday, 15 April 1802

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" [“The Daffodils”] is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth.Wordsworth born in 1770 is considered one of the two fathers of the British Romantic Movement. In 1789 William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a collection of poems titled “Lyrical Ballads” which emulated the romantic poems that were becoming increasingly popular in Germany and France.

According to the theory, the poetry originated in "emotions recollected in a state of tranquility"; the poet then surrendered to the emotion, so that the tranquility dissolved, and the emotion remained in the poem. Inspired by the beauty of northern England’s Lake District the poems of William Wordsworth attempted to capture human emotions in words. The explicit emphasize on feeling, simplicity, and the pleasure of beauty over rhetoric, ornament, and formally changed the course of English poetry replacing the elaborate yet regimented classical forms of Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744) and John Dryden (1631 – 1700) with a new Romantic sensibility. Wordsworth's most important legacy, besides his lovely, timeless poems, is his launching of the Romantic era, opening the gates for later writers such as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly and Lord Byron in England.

Following the success of Lyrical Ballads and his subsequent poem The Prelude, a massive autobiography in verse form, Wordsworth moved to the stately house at Rydal Mount where he lived, with Dorothy, his wife Mary, and his children, until his death in 1850. Wordsworth became the dominant force in English poetry while still quite a young man, and he lived to be quite old; his later years were marked by an increasing aristocratic temperament and a general alienation from the younger Romantics whose work he had inspired. Byron—the only important poet to become more popular than Wordsworth during Wordsworth’s lifetime—in particular saw him as a kind of sell-out, writing in his sardonic preface to Don Juan that the once-liberal Wordsworth had “turned out a Tory” at last. The last decades of Wordsworth’s life, however, were spent as Poet Laureate of England, and until his death he was widely considered the most important author in England.

The plot of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is simple. In the 1815 revision, Wordsworth described it as "rather an elementary feeling and simple impression (approaching to the nature of an ocular spectrum) upon the imaginative faculty, rather than an exertion of it.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Pamela Wolfe notes "The permanence of stars as compared with flowers emphasizes the permanence of memory for the poet."

Continuous as the stars that shine

and twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

in such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

what wealth the show to me had brought:

Andrew Motion notes that the final verse replicates in the minds of its readers the very experience it describes.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Whenever the poet is in his ‘pensive mood’ and being ‘vacant’, perhaps emotionally and physically, the good memory of the daffodils flash back to him as a ‘bliss’ and ‘pleasure’, which release him for a while out of the loneliness and ‘solitude’ that he is experiencing. Every human yearns for such locations where they could experience such inspirations. The ancient tropical island of Sri Lanka is abound with such natural attractions, well trodden as well as off the beaten track. Nuwara Eliya of Sri Lanka Holidays Health Triangle is such a location, a highland health sanatorium where you could spend few days during your touring holidays in Sri Lanka.

Daffodils at Hakgala Botanical Gardens in Sri Lanka Holidays Nuwara Eliya.

Hakgala Gardens, the highest set Botanical Garden in the world

The Hakgala Botanical Gardens was first established in 1861 under the curatorship of William Nock, JK Nock and JJ Nock. It lies under the Hakgala Peak, between 5000 - 6000 feet in elevation - the highest set Botanical Gardens in the world. It boasts 100 year old Monetary Cypress trees from California, Japanese Cedars, Himalayan Pines and English Oak.

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

2013-03-20T01:50:00.000+05:30

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport enables Sri Lanka Holidays tourists to enjoy touring the island beginning in the southern province. The new airport opens up the possibility of a new route:
off at Mattla, Hambantota
begin at Tissamaharama cultural site, enjoy Ruhuna Yala Wild Life Park in the southern coast;
revel in the sunny beaches from Arugambay to Nilaveli, Passikudah and Kalkudah at Trincomalee in the Eastern coast [off season in western coast is the main tourist season in Eastern Coast] ;
reach into the north Central Plains from Trincomalee to tour the ancient capital cities of Polonnaruwa [UNESCO World Heritage Site-WHS], Anuradhapura [WHS], and visit Mihintale, Sigiriya [WHS] and Dambulla [WHS] of Sri Lanka Holidays Cultural Triangle;
make way into the central province to enjoy the sights and sounds of the medieval city of Kandy [WHS];
ascend the hills, the one and only mountain mass of the ancient tropical island from Kandy onwards to the Central Highlands to cool off in the salubrious climate of Sri Lanka Holidays HealthTriangle;
descend from the Central Highlands via Wellawaya close to Budurawagala;
return to Hambantota for the last night till the departure from Mattala next day.

The development of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is to bring belated justice to Silindu of Beddegama (Sinhala: The Village In The Jungle) of Hambantota district, the peasant, the semi-fictional incarnation of the suppressed, the downtrodden masses of Sri Lanka then called Ceylon, who suffered under the merciless jackboot of British Colonialists during the period of 1815 -1948.

Silindu was brought into the court of justice that was conducted in an alien language called English. The court case was heard and the verdict was given:guilty. Silindu knew not a single vowel of English language. So had been the masses of the colonial Sri Lanka. In the year 1956, with the emergence of the Supreme Leader of the nation, S. W. R. D. Banadaranayake, Sinhala Language was promptly and justly made the language of the state.
Written by bunpeiris

Following is the speech by H. E. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of the Republic of Sri Lanka made on the opening of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport on 18th March 2013.

Today is a significant day for us here at Mattala and the entirety of Sri Lanka. I have been given a very special task today which I will perform at the outset. Accordingly, I hereby declare that this March 18 on which day the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport was handed over to the people in keeping with the commitment of the Mahinda Chinthana to make Sri Lanka an aviation hub in Asia as part of the five - fold hubs of development and thereby enhance the service towards the people by inaugurating the first international airport built since independence through our own strength, is declared as Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Service Day.

Today we mark a new international airport on the world map. What we have built here in Mattala is an airport where even the largest aircraft flying today could land.

First ever touchdown on 18th March 2013 at HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

After aviation was introduced to the country in 1912, aircraft landed at places such as the Colombo Race Course and Ratmalana airport. Subsequently, due to Second World War, the Katunayake airport was launched in 1940s.

The national carrier prior to the infamous sale to Emirates had been named Air Lanka and had a logo of stylized ‘Dandu Monara’ [ Sinhala: peacock styled 2-seater aircraft made of wood ] the aircraft of mythological Ravana of Hindu epic Ramayana.[Ramayana has no place, no siginificance at all of Sri Lanka's recorded history that began in 543 BC] The loveliest logo was discarded to embrace the absurd current logo of Diya Baria [Sinhala: water snake] by Peter Hill, then Emirates appointed CEO of Air Lanka. It was Peter Hill who denied the seats to President Rajapakse and his entourage back to Colombo. Following the re acquisition of the National Carrier Peter Hill lost his job, wasn’t hired by Emirates. He went on to open a restaurant. bunpeiris

Although 50 years have been completed since elevating Katunayake airport as an international airport, we were so far unable to build our own international airport in the country.

Sri Lanka is a country that believed in the ‘Dandu Monara’ said to have flown thousands of years ago. We saw a depiction of the ‘Dandu Monara’ at the performance of the Ravana story today. We are a nation that had an awareness of flying machines long before others.

HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

However, what we saw in the past decades was to insult that great thinking. During the Second World War Colombo and Trincomalee were bombed from the air.

The Tiger terrorists made repeated attempts to destroy our air power internationally and to stop our aircraft from flying. On several occasions in 1986 and 2001 they carried out bomb attacks on stationary aircraft at Katunayake.

Tiger terrorists in 1986 and 2001 carried out bomb attacks on stationary aircraft at Katunayake

The Indian intervention - Parippu Dhal bombing marked a new chapter in our history.

Now we know . Click the following blue link to read more written by an Indian writer.

Also in 1987, there was a “parippu” drop from the air on Sri Lanka. The LTTE carried out damage costing many millions at Katunayake airport. In addition, the LTTE aircraft bombed Colombo having come from Iranamadu. At that time, there were many warnings from abroad that Sri Lanka was not safe for the stationing of an aircraft leave alone build an international airport.

That was an era when there was so much underestimation of our aviation services that the then leaders of our country even sold our national carrier Air Lanka.

We were ridiculed in the aviation sector. I recall how, when I had to be in the country to present a budget I could not obtain a ticket to fly back to the country.

That was the situation we were in. I recall declaring to the whole world, from this my Ruhunu birthplace, that through the 2005 Presidential Election, I would bring an honorable peace to the country. Within a few years we were able to bring this honorable peace to the Motherland. Similarly, through the Mahinda Chinthana - Forward Vision, we announced that this country would be made a naval, energy, commercial and knowledge hub as well as an aviation hub to make Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia.

Accordingly, we have taken the correct path and built an international airport to dispel the darkness that prevailed in the air and illuminate the skies.

Friends,

This is the first time an airport is being built solely targeting the development of the country.

Therefore, when aircraft touch down at Mattala we are able to land development for our country. The value of the corn pods of Wellassa to the sands on the beaches of Magampura will rise because of this airport.

The Yala sanctuary will more value in the world. This international airport through enhancing the international image of the country will give us added strength to conduct modern sporting events and holding of international conferences.

This brings the Passekudah beach even closer to the world. We are now developing a country where one can travel to Ampara on one side and Nuwara Eliya on the other within a couple of hours from Mattala. I wish to say that when aircraft take to the sky from Mattala, it is not only value of the South and Uva that will rise but that of Sabaragamuwa and the entire country, too.

It is not possible to build internationally important development projects such as this solely from internal revenue. It is true that we launch most development projects from the revenue of our own country, but we need international assistance, too. Just as the government of China gave the port, it also assisted in building this beautiful airport.

Work on constructing huge reservoirs such as Moragahakanda, Weheregala, Rambukkan Oya and Deduru Oya was begun with this country’s own revenue. However, we obtained international loans for completion of this work. We had no hesitation about it and will not hesitate to do so.

This is a practice followed by other countries too. Even powerful countries do this. It is necessary to obtain loans to build a country. We too obtain such loans and assistance and build many things for the development of the country. Therefore, I express the gratitude of our people and our country to all of you.

You must be aware of the cart roads that carried salt from the salterns at Hambantota to Badulla.

I first came to this area with Mr. Lakshman Rajapaksa through the wild elephant populated forests. We came here during the time of last election campaign too. I think the Hon. Speaker also spoke about the situation that prevailed at the time.

There was no water to drink. There were no proper roads. I think the people who have lived in this harsh climate and are able to withstand it, are able to withstand any difficult clime and face up to the most difficult conditions.

It is in such a place that we cut the first sod to lay the foundation stone for this airport. That was done at the invitation of the Honorable Speaker who was then the Minister of Ports. I ask whether the value of the land today is the same as it was at that time.

We did not take loans purely for consumption, but for works such as this. It is worth considering the income received through projects such as this hundreds and thousands years in the future.

Revenue obtained from projects such as this are used to bring relief to the people of this country. We should have more such constructions. Having constructed five ports, the Kerawalapitiya, Norochcholai, Upper Kotmale and Sampoor power stations, expressways, airports and huge irrigation projects the income of these are used for the welfare of the people.

We have not forgotten the rural cultivators of this land. I think we give a bag of fertilizer at the lowest price of the world. We also provide free health, free education and pay the salaries for more than 1.4 million public servants of this country through our own revenue. One must understand this reality. As I said earlier, we are not ready to take these funds for wasteful consumption and mortgage the land. There is much propaganda when development of this nature takes place. It is now being told that Katunayake will be closed and the material at Katunayake will be brought here. I must make one thing clear. It is that we will not close down anything to build something new. What is stated in the Mahinda Chinthana is to develop what we already have and build what is new.

Friends,

We do not build this country according to development methods followed so far.

We have planted a tree for every tree felled to build this airport. The pattern so far has been for villagers to come to the cities because of the absence of facilities such as power, water, roads, employment and education. Such migration to the towns deprives us of the respect and the freedom we enjoy in the village.

The Buddha has preached Pathiroopa Desa Vasocha (domicile in a suitable locality). To us the city is not a suitable place to live in. What happened was to leave the respectability of the village to be confined in to a concrete jungle. This is what happened in the name of urbanization.

We have now brought all facilities in the city to the village. You now have water for drinking, electricity, roads, airport and ports. We have built schools and hospitals. Today you can enjoy the facilities of a city and live with the inherent respect of the village. Wherever we carry out development work in the country spread out in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Anuaradhapura, Trincomalee or Batticaloa there is only one request we make of you.

It is that you protect your freedom, our oneness and our culture. You must protect more and more the ethics and culture that bound us together in our villages. It is my belief that when changes such as this take place in our country we must be aware of new forces that can emerge, and decide to live a qualitative urban livelihood.

Friends,

Just as we brought cities to the village we must also take values of the village to the city. The trees and greenery and clean environment of village should be taken to the city. Look at the city of Colombo today. We design the village in keeping with the environment. We develop the country in this manner taking the facilities of the city to the village and the values of the village to the city. This is the best service you could provide for those living in cities.

Friends,

Those who never expected an airport to be constructed in an area such as this now see their dreams come true. We will have critics.

The future generation will answer them. This is an area full of people who are friendly and cooperative. I am very familiar of life among the people in this area, of their hardships and their capabilities.

We have to carry out major development on our land, sea, and in our skies. The whole world should be brought closer to Sri Lanka.

The victories of the people of the world could be made even greater in Sri Lanka.

Friends,

Although the Air Force camp of the British government handed over to Sri Lanka in 1950, it was a very small number who could enter to the aviation sector. Just as we have built this international airport there will be several domestic airports built in places including Palali, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Iranamadu, Amapara. Then the children from areas such as Monaragala, Hambantota, Sabaragamuwa, Jaffna and Kilinochchi will become pilots and fly above us in the sky.

Just as the Sri Lankan heroes who carried out dedicated work undergoing great difficulty to build this airport working from a tree house, the expectation of the mothers carrying children and my own is to see our children flying above us.

What we all seek is to see our children rise above us in their lives.

My dear daughters and sons,

We did all this to achieve that goal. I trust you will make full use of this.

While repeating my gratitude to the government of China for assisting us in this project and sending a special representative for this event, I also extend my good wishes to the new President of China.

I also extend my thanks to all Chinese and Sri Lankan engineers, staff and all workers who assisted in this task and to the Minister in charge.

Wish you all a prosperous future.

May the noble triple gem bless you!

Sinhalese

2013-01-25T17:15:00.002+05:30

The Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, the People Of the Lion

Sinhalese, the endangered nation of Sri Lanka has been under threat of being swept off the planet earth for its 2559 years glorious history: since the ancient times of recurrent invasions by the marauding Dravidian forces hell bent on plunder and pillage, slaughter and sack, ruin and rampage, murder and mayhem; through the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial eras; through three decades of terrorism and war; to the twenty-first century modern powerhouses of the west.
Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, the People of the Lion are the descendants of the Prince Wijaya and his 700 followers who arrived from Bengal, east India in the year 543 BC.

India's Ajanta Cave No 17: the 'coming of Sinhala'.The prince is seen in both of groups of elephants and riders.

Numerous races have their origins wrapped in the mist of mythology and legends of prehistory or unrecorded histories. Nourished by wolves, Romulus and Reemus went onto found Rome; empowered by the Excalibur King Arthur went on to found England. In a similar vein, Sinhalese too recognize their ancestry to Prince Wijaya, the son of King Sinhabahu, whose father was the most ferocious beast and whose mother was most beautiful and most amorous Princess Suppadevi of Vanga [modern Bengal] of India.

India's Ajanta Cave No 17:The consecration of King Sinhala (Prince Vijaya)

Sri Lanka’s peerless chronicle-the uninterrupted narration of [since 543 BC to date] unbroken Aryan Sinhalese civilization-called Mahawamsa [Sinhala: the great genelogy][corroborated by archeological (1), epigraphical (2) and numismatic evidence] of which the first part was written by Buddhist monk Thera Mahanama [uncle of King Dathusena, father of King Kasyapa, who built Sigiriya Rock Citadel and Sigiriya City- today a UNESCO World heritage Site and a Sri Lanka Holidays Cultural attraction conveniently located within Sri Lanka Holidays Cultural Triangle] about 500 years after the arrival of Prince Wijaya records “The Coming of Wijaya”:

Quote Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Ceylon Translated by Wilhelm Geiger, Ph. D. ISBN 955-8540-83-8
In the country of the Vangas in the Vanga capital there lived once a king of the Vangas. The daughter of the king of the Kalingas was that king’s consort. By his spouse the king had a daughter, the soothsayers prophesied her union with the king of beasts.Very fair was she and very amorous and for shame the king and queen could not suffer her.
Alone she went forth from the house, desiring the joy of independent life; unrecognized she joined a caravan to Magada country. In the Lala country a lion attacked the caravan in the forest, the other folk fled this way and that, but she fled along the way by which the lion had come.
When the lion had taken his prey and was leaving the spot he beheld her from afar, love (for her) laid hold on him, and he came towards her with waving tail and ears laid back. Seeing him she bethought her of that prophecy of the soothsayers which she had heard, and without fear she caressed him stroking his limbs.
The lion, roused to firescest passion by her touch, took her upon his back and bore her with all speed to his cave, and there he was united with her, and from his union with him the princes in time bore twin-children,a son and a daughter. Unquote

Quote Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Ceylon Translated by Dr. Ananda Guruge
The hands and feet of the son were like those of a lion. Hence he was named Sihabadhu; and the daughter Sihasivali. The son at sixteen years of age questioned the mother on the doubt. “Mother, why are you and our father different?’ She told him everything. He asked “Why don’t we go?” She told him, “Your father blocks the cave with a rock.” He carried the rock blocking the great cave on his shoulder and covered on one day fifty yojans up and down.
When the lion had gone out in search of prey, he dparted speedily with the mother on the right shoulder and the younger sister on the left. Covering themselves with the branches, they reahed a border village. At that time, the cousin of the princess was the general of the Vanga-king, stationed to baclam the border. Seated at the foot of a banyan-teee overseeing the work, he saw them & questioned them. They replied “We are forest-dwellers.” The general had clothes given to them. They turned splendid. He had rice given to them on leaves. By their merit, the leaves turned into golden vessels.
Amazed by this, the lord of the army asked them, “Who really are you?” the princess apprised them, “Who really are you?” The princess apprised him of her family and clan. The general took his uncle’s daughter, went to the city of Vanga and lived with her.
The lion returning to the cave in haste did not see the three people. Afflicted by grief over the son, he neither ate nor drank. Searching for the children, he went to the border-villages. Every village he went to, the dwellers deserted. The inhabitants on the border went to the king and informed him “lion ravages you country. Prevent it. Your Majesty.”

Quote Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Ceylon Translated by Wilhelm Geiger, Ph. D. ISBN 955-8540-83-8
Since he found none who could ward off 9this danger) he had a thousand (pieces of money) led about the city on an elephant’s back and this proclamation made: ‘Let him who brings the lion receive this! And in like mannar the monarch offered two thousand and three thousand. Twice did Sinhabahu’s mother restrain him. The third time without asking his mother’s leave Sinhabahu took the three thousand gold-pieces (as reward) for slaying his own father.
They presented the youth to the king, and the king spoke thus to him: ‘if thou shalt take the lion I will give thee a once the kingdom’. And he went to the opening of the cave, and as soon as he saw from afar the lion who came forward, for love of toward his son, shot an arrow to slay him. [3]
The arrow struck the lion’s forehead but because of his tenderness (towards his son) it rebounded and fell on the earth at the youth’s feet. And so it fell out three times, then did the king of beasts grow wrathful and the arrow sent at him struck him and pierced his body.

Quote Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Ceylon Translated by Douglas Bullis ISBN 955-1266-09-9
Taking the lion’s head and man, Sinhabahu went into the city. Seven days before the King of the Vangas had died. As the king had no son, his ministers, rejoicing over Sinhabahu’s deed and learning that he was in fact the king’s grandson, assembled and told him, “You may be our king.”
Sinhabahu accepted the kingdom and handed it over to his mother’s husband Anura, the Commander of the Army. Taking Sihasivali with him, Sihabahu returned to his native Vanga. Then traveling south, he established a city called Sihapura. In the forest for over a hundred yojans around he founded village.
King Sihabahu reigned in Sinhapura, having made his sister Sihasivali his chief consort. As time passed, she bore twin sons sixteen times. The elder was named Vijaya………

Quote Mahavamsa, The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka. An annotated new translation with prolegomena. Translated by Dr. Ananda Guruge ISBN 955--20-8963-8
The Prince named Vijaya, the valiant, landed in Lanka, in the region called Tambpanni [4] on day the Tathagata [5] laydown between the twin like sala trees to pass into nibbaana [6].

Professor Ediriweera Sarchchandra, Ph. D. Western Phiolosphy, London University

The unparalleled Literary breakthrough in Sri Lanka that went unnoticed by the literary world at large
The legend of Sinhabau was made into a stylist play titled “Sinhabahu” [ year 1961] by Sri Lanka’s greatest modern literary light, the foremost dramatist, the peerless novelist, Ediriweera Sarachchandra [3 June 1914 - 16 August 1996]. Such was the literary [not merely dramatic] effect of the drama, Sinhabahu makes the audience bewildered, being unable to make up their mind over the right from wrong: the Lion who loved his children to the death, nourished, protected and wanted them to live with him till his death; the human son, knowing the humans couldn’t dwell for ever, devoid of human contact, closed in a cave with a beast, wanting to save the land being ravaged & villagers being killed by the Lion, resorting to kill his own father.
Who was right? Who was wrong? What was the truth? Ediriweera Sarachchandra took the literary world to the realm of grey: the perceived right and wrong was brought into disputation. Has anybody else in the wide world of literature achieved the same to the extent Ediriweera Sarachchandra had done?

Write me, O writer, a justification of Jew-baiting & death camps.

Put it in the invented mouths of an invented zealot.

Make it convince.

The artist's pride: he must see if he can do it.

What is the point of the dialectic of fiction or drama unless the evil is as cogent as good?

Anthony Burgess: Earthly Powers (A novel)

Ediriweera Sarachchandra brought about same dialectic of fiction or drama as in the “Sinhabahu” in his play “Maname” and the twin novels of Malagiya aththo [Sinhala: the dead souls] & “Malagiyawinge avrududa” [Sinhala: The anniversary of the dead].
End

For a fictional narration of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka, click here. Diary of God Vishnu
Footnotes
[1] To see archeological evidence, visit Sri Lanka Holidays cultural attractions, at least the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya Citadel, Golden Dambulla Rock Temple located within the Sri Lanka Holidays Cultural Triangle.
[2] For epigraphical (2) evidence visit Sri Lanka Holidays cultural attractions, at least Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya Citadel, Golden Dambulla Rock and Mihintale.
And read Epigraphia Zeylancia being Lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon in four volumes edited and translated by Don Martino De Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana
[3] According to Buddhism no being would be harmed by an enemy while he was transcended with compassion towards the same enemy.
[4] Tambpanni: Modern day Mannar in Sri Lanka, north of Sri Lanka Holidays Wilpattu National Park.
[5] Tathagata : Gauthama Buddha [623- 543 BC], the founder of Buddhism
[6] Nibbaana: Nirvana is the supreme state free from suffering and individual existence-" Supreme Enlightenment". The attainment of nirvana breaks the otherwise endless rebirth cycle of reincarnation.

SRI LANKA'S CHINESE CONNECTION

2013-01-22T10:05:00.000+05:30

“We can send our soldiers to China for training”

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka , January 18, 2013

Following text [of course, excluding the images and accompanying narrations] is a gleaning from the book titled “A 16th Century Clash Of Civilizations. The Portuguese Presence in Sri Lanka” written by illustrious historian Dr. Susantha Goonatilake of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Hero of Modern Sri Lanka escorted by Sri Lanka Mounted Police as he arrives at the opening of Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Sea Port in Hambantota, Ruhuna, Sri Lanka built with Chinese Aid,

At least from about the 1st century BC, Sri Lanka was known to China, the Chinese calling it Seng-Kia-lo (Simhala = The Kingdom of Lions) or Seih-lan (Simhale) and Simhaladipa (Sri Lanka). The Atthakatha, the Sinhalese Pali texts (before the fifth century CE) refer to travel between Sri Lanka and China. [92]

Mahinda Rajapakse International Airport is being built by Chinese Aid

First ever touchdown on 18th March 2013 at HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

Several travels of Sinhalese to China are described in Chinese records. One of the first embassies from Sri Lanka to China is mentioned in the History of the Leangs.[93] The Kao-seng-choan written in 519 CE adds, regarding this mission: ‘Formally the king of Sri Lanka learning of Hiao-ou-it (373-396 CE) of the Tsin Dinah Cetti sent the Samanera Tan-mol-iuen.[94] In the beginning of the period, I-hi (405-408 CE) of the Tsin, a statue of jade and ten packages of writings were sent by the Sri Lanka king. [95] An interesting travel was in 429 CE when Sinhalese nuns went to China to establish the Buddhist nun order there. This was very probably the longest recorded travel of women anywhere until then. In 428 CE the Sri Lanka king sent an ivory statue to the emperor. [96] The Sinhalese monk Sanghavaraman went to China in 431 CE while in 456 CE five Sinhalese monks were sent by the Sinhala King on an Embassy to the Emperor of China. These travels were by the sea route.

Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, a gift from China to Sri Lanka. Design of the building was inspired by an ancient royal bathing pond called Nelum Pokuna [Lotus Pond] in the the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Polonnaruwa, a Sri Lanka Holidays tourist attraction.

Nelum The stone cut bathing Pond called Nelum Pokuna [Lotus bath] [12th century ] at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka takes the form of an eight pettaled blossoming lotus flower. Photo Credit: The Bridgeman Art Library

But via the overland route through India and Tibet in 460 CE, six Sinhala monks reached China. The author of the epic Sanskrit poem Janakiharana, the Sinhala poet Kumaradasa (6th century CE), describes the Chinese Dragon image. [97] One of the most important Sinhalese monks to China was Nandi (620-690 CE) who travelled widely in both India and China and took 1,500 Buddhist texts to China. At the beginning of the period, Tien-Pao (742 CE) sent the king of Sri Lanka, Silamegha, an ambassador twice with presents that included pearls, filigreed gold, ivory and gems for necklaces.[98]

One of the most important 8th century connections occurred in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), when the monk Amoghavajra (704-774 CE) reached China taking 500 key tantra texts from Anuradhapura. [99] Tang ceramics have been found in Sri Lanka. [100] The Tang Dynasty with its capital Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) was then considered the high point of Chinese civilization. Chang’an was then most populated city in the world and had a highly sophisticated cosmopolitan culture.
Several biographies were written on the above Amoghavajra and his preceptor Vajrabodhi especially by their disciples. According to one biography, Amoghavajra was a Sinhalese, according to others, from India. But whatever his origins, his main influence was from the Abhayagiri monastery in Sri Lanka where 746 CE, In his search for knowledge, he spent more time in India. Vajrabodhi himself had earlier stayed for half a year at the Abhayagiri. The five hundred key Yoga Tantra texts Amoghavajra collected from Sri Lanka for the use of the imperial Chinese court helped him and his preceptor Vajrabodhi start an important tradition of thought which by 805 CE had spread to Java and Japan, surviving in Japan as the Singon sect. They translated a large number of tantric tests and established the Vajrayana School. Both Vjarabodhi and Amoghavajra were very influential in the most important seat of power in then world. They minister to Chinese emperors, other members of Chinese royalty, politicians, and generals. [101]

Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), a gift from China

In the opposite direction, Fa Hsien, the Chinese Buddhist monk, came to Sri Lanka in the 5th century CE staying for a couple of years in Abhayagiri monastery, collecting Buddhist manuscripts. Indicating the international contacts at the time, he records seeing a Chinese fan being offered to a temple at Anuradhapura, the Sri Lankan capital. This he says brought tears to his eyes, because this was the first time after he came to South Asia, he had seen a Chinese artifact. [102] It is interesting to note that the ship “a great merchant ship” he took from Sri Lanka on his return could carry 200 passengers.[103] Several other Chinese monks visiting Sri Lanka are noted by I-tsing (635-712 CE). Among these Chinese were Ming-yuen, Tche-tan-louc-t’i-p’ous, Tche-ngan, Hoei-yen, Ta-tcheng-teng and I-hiuen. The last eventually settled down in Sri Lanka. [104] According to the Kavyasekera, a significant number of Chinese soldiers were in the service of King Pararakrabahu the second and King Vijaybahu the second (1235-1270 CE). [105]

An indicator of the ship travel by Sinhalese is seen by the observation of the Chinese author Li Chao that in the middle of the T’ang period (618-907 CE), ‘The ships from the Lion Kingdom (Simhala-Sri Lanka) were the largest [coming to China], with stairways for loading and unloading which are several tens of feet in height. [106] The Chinese Buddhist monk Hsuan Yin writing of ships existing at the same period referred to “large [ships] 200 feet long that could hold six to seven hundred (600-700) men”. Clearly if the Sinhalese ships were the largest ships at that period, then this would be their size. [107] Sinhalese expertise in maritime matters is referred to once again in an external source, in a 13th century Egyptian document when the Sri Lankan King at the time, Bhuvenakabahu the First (1272-84 CE) offers to build 20 vessels yearly for the Egyptian Sultan.[108] Even at the coming of the Portuguese, this naval presence existed. Thome Pires, a Portuguese assigned to India, writing in around 1512-15 CE says that Sri Lanka has ships of its own that trade up to Quilon, Bengal and Cmbay [109]

This travel from and to Sri Lanka was not only for purposes of trade, but also related to the realm of ideas. In this traffic, Buddhist philosophy and practice played an important part. Travellers from as far away as China came to Sri Lanka for Buddhist texts, and Sinhalese in turn travelled to these countries. Many records exist on such travel. There are also numerous other records of Sinhalese going to South Asia, Southwest Asia and China as visitor from these legions’ coming to Sri Lanka.

Above postage stamp commemorate historical Sri Lanka-China Rice for Rubber trade pact made in 1952 during a period. At that time China was unable to obtain rubber as a result of prohibition of rubber exports from Malaya following a U.N. resolution preventing the sale of rubber to China. Thus China wanted rubber as badly as Sri Lanka wanted rice.

Footnotes:
[92] Weerasinghe, S. G. M., A History of the Cultural Relations Between Sri Lanka & China: An aspect of the Silk Route, The Central Cultural Fund, 1995, Colombo. p 20
[93] Seneviratne, John, “Wan Hiuen Tse’s Mission to India” Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIV, pp 77-123
[94] ibid [95] ibid [96] ibid
[97] Weerasinghe, S. G. M., A History of the Cultural Relations Between Sri Lanka & China; An aspect of the Silk Route, The Central Cultural Fund, 1995, Colombo. Page xiv
[98] Seneviratne, John, “Wan Hiuen Tse’s Mission to India” Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIV, pp 77-123
[99] Weerasinghe, S. G. M., A History of the Cultural Relations Between Sri Lanka & China; An aspect of the Silk Route, The Central Cultural Fund, 1995, Colombo. pp 25-27
[100] Carswell, J., 1999. “China and the Middle East”, Oriental Art Magazine, 45 (1): 2-14
[101] Sundbeg, J., “The wilderness monks of the Abhayagirivihara and the origins of Sino-Javanese esoteric Buddhism’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 160 (2004), no: 1 Leiden, pp 95-123
[102] Beal, Samuel, Travels Of Fah-Hian And Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims, China to India (400 A.D and 518 A.D.), London, Trubner and Co.,60, Paternoster Row. 1869, p152
[103] Beal, Samuel (1993), Travels Of Fah-Hian And Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims, China to India, Asian Educational Services New Delhi, p 166
[104] Weerasinghe, S. G. M., A History of the Cultural Relations Between Sri Lanka & China; An aspect of the Silk Route, The Central Cultural Fund, 1995, Colombo. pp 25-26
[105] Bopearachchi, Osmund, Weerakkody, D. P.M., Origin, evolution, and circulation of foreign coins in the Indian Ocean New Delhi: Manohar, 1998, p 191
[106] ] Weerasinghe, S. G. M., A History of the Cultural Relations Between Sri Lanka & China; An aspect of the Silk Route, The Central Cultural Fund, 1995, Colombo. p 35
[107] Gungwu, Wang, The Nanhai trade: early Chinese trade in the South China Sea, Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2003 originally published; Kula Lumpur: Malaysian branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1958, p120
[108] Codrington, H. W., “ A Sinhalese Embassy to Egypt” Jouranl of the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Branch, Volume XXVIII, No. 72, 82-85
[109] Pires, Thome, The Suma oriental of Thome Pires: an account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, Vol 1 and 2 London: Hakluyt Society, 1944, p86
UNQUOTE
A 16th Century Clash Of Civilizations. The Portuguese Presence in Sri Lanka by Susantha Goonatilake.
ISBN 978-955-665-129-4

PREMAKEERTI DE ALWIS

2012-12-17T11:58:00.000+05:30

Breath your voice to those nightingales

Breath your voice to those nightingales, so they may sing sweeter

Offer your cheeks to the pink lotus overwhelming the pond, so they look still more rosier

Let the jewels hold the sparkle of your eyes tight, so those may shine brighter

share your vermilion lips with the tender leaf of Ironweed, so those may stay lovelier

Pour your tears upon the flowing stream, so its waves may not fade

Allow the breeze absorb the soothing sizzle of your laughter

Hold your deep blue hair behind the clouds, so those may gain a better shade

Let the turf take a leaf from your tender feet, so they may turn softer

Grant the rainbow, the curve of your eyebrows

Turn your gaze upon the heavens so the moon & the stars may dazzle brighter

Lend sparks of your beauty to the heavens, my ravishing darling and make it joyous

Yet, never ever, open your heart to any, so long as I lust after

Victor Ratnayake was born on 18 the February 1942 at Kadugannawa on Colombo- Kandy Road is the most popular singer ever in Sri Lanka. Victor Ratnayake’s music blending Western music with Ragadari classical music made an important milestones in Sinhalese music in Sri Lanka.

Sinhala language lyrics of Breath your voice to those nightingales was composed by Samaraweera Mudalige Don Premakeerthi de Alwis ( (3 June 1947–31 July 1989). Premakeerthi De Alwis was a Sri Lankan broadcaster, lyricist and television personality. He worked as an anchorman on state-run television. Premakeerthi, who wouldn't hate anyone under the sun even in secrecy, Premakeerthi who was loved by all, and loved all, was murdered on 31 July 1989.
Those in the west who talk of human rights of Sri Lanka today weren't heard during 1989.
An attempt at a translation from Sinhala to English is done by bunpeiris. Translation in no way do justice to the original Sinhala lyrics.

ILIAD

2012-12-14T18:49:00.000+05:30

His mind fluttered; his fingers almost trembled. He was only eight years old & the epic narration of a war that had lasted no less than a decade held him, gripping tightly, at once with a pain and a pleasure in an unbearable state of being. Unbearable, for the reason, now it praises the gallantry of a hero; then it weeps at the death of the opponent of the hero. He sighs with relief when the hero makes a herculean effort to recover from the relentless assault and deals a mortal blow at his opponent in the nick of time; then he sighs again in sorrow when the darkness of death falls upon the opponent of his hero, for he too was somebody’s son, somebody’s father, somebody’s husband as his hero was. He went on reading.

But Ilioneus’ mother had given Phorbas no other child, and now this only son was struck by Penelos under the eyebrow in the socket of the eye. The spear dislodged his eyeball, pierced the socket & came out at the nape of the neck. He sank down and stretched out both his hands. But Penelos, drawing his sharp sword, hit him full on the neck & brought head & helmet tumbling to the ground. The heavy spear was till struck in the eye as Penelos raised it aloft, like a poppy-head, for the Trojans to see, & exulted over his enemy. “Trojans’” he cried “be so good as to instruct the father & mother of my lord Ilioneus to start lamenting him at home….”

His young heart stirred. He felt his heart too heavy. The narration of relentless violence showed no mercy upon his little heart; to learn each killed had his mother & father waiting at home caused his eyes heavy with tears swelling in. But he wouldn’t give up. It was midnight, his father was repairing a tape recorder; his mother was manually winding a radio transformer by means of a manual hand drill fixed horizontally onto a work bench; his four siblings were fast asleep. He was awake reading what must be read, before the dawn. He wouldn’t call off it for the following day, since the day after the following day, all of them would be in a day long journey on a locomotive train “Udarata Menike” [Sinhala: Highland Belle] powered by Canadian diesel electric engine leaving Colombo Fort to reach the highland sanitarium, the military canton town of Diyatalawa, 47 km south of Sri Lanka Holidays Nuwara Eliya. It was December school vacation.

Little did he know, herein his hands was a masterpiece. Little did he know that he was reading a lynchpin of the western canon. Little did he know it was the favorite book of Alexander the Great himself, his very first foreign hero. Little did he know what he had already been experiencing, was preciously what the original writer of the story had etched into immortality: the human soul in its duel form; good and bad; the man’s violence upon man. Then on an equal footing was the conceptions of heroism and honour tied to the reality of tragedy. He was eight. He read the whole story cover to cover before the crack of the dawn and dreamt it night after night for a fortnight in the salubrious climate of Diyatalawa, one of the sanatariums encompassed in Ceylon Health Triangle of Sri Lanka. It was “Ranabima” [Sinhala: the battlefield], David Karunaratne’s Sinhalese translation of Homer’s “The Iliad”. Written by bunpeiris.

Heinrich Schliemann and the discovery of Troy, the battleground of "The lliad" of Homer

The city we call Troy, founded about 2920 BCE, was destroyed at least nine times and was home to various groups over its rocky history. The Greeks could be called the first “discoverers” of Troy because they founded the town of Ilion on the site after 300 years of abandonment, sometime around 700 BCE. They thought their Ilion was on the location of the legendary Trojan War.The city was abandoned about 1500 AD and forgotten. In 1868, German-American adventurer Heinrich Schliemann arrived at Troy’s location.He had heard the claim of Frank Calvert, an Englishman who was living there, that the hill called Hisarlik was likely to be hiding the ruins of Troy. After walking the site and reading the on a rooftop for two hours, Schliemann wrote, “I was fully convinced that it was here that ancient Troy had stood.” A wealthy man, Schliemann could pay for a big archaeological dig. However, the science of archaeology was very new, and Schliemann made mistakes. For example, he told the world about a set of beautiful artifacts that he labeled “The Treasure of Priam.”He even had his wife dress up wearing some of the lovely gold jewelry. Schliemann was sure that the treasure was from the Troy of the Trojan War.

After his death, Schliemann’s assistant Wilhelm Doerpfeld proved the treasure was part of Troy II, much earlier than the Trojan War could have been. Doerpfeld worked at Troy for many years, and it was he who identified the nine basic layers of the city, and labeled them with the system in Roman numerals that is still used today. Doerpfeld favored Troy VI as the fabled Troy. In 1932, he agreed to American archaeologist, Carl Blegen of the University of Cincinnati, to work on the site. Blegen and his crew kept full scientific records and used pottery to date parts of the site more accurately. It was Blegen who determined that Troy VII was the likeliest time for the Trojan War, based on evidence of burning and siege.So, is the discovered Troy the “real” Troy?

Scholars disagree on whether it's the location of the war on which the legends were based. In fact, the legends may have been based on a series of wars, or on fragments of memory, or on imagined events.What we do know is that the Troy Schliemann, Doerpfeld, and Blegen rediscovered is real, and tells us a lot about how people lived over many centuries.

Troy is still being discovered today. Beginning in 1988, archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, Germany and the University of Cincinnati, under the direction of the late German archaeologist Manfred Korfmann, found many exciting things, including a Mycenean cemetery at Besik Bay, south of Troy, which suggested the landing place of the invading Greeks in the Trojan War. They found that the city extended out onto the plain, where fences and ditches kept enemies out, and found ample evidence of late layers built by the Greeks and Romans who themselves believed that the Trojan War had happened there, and was their own history. http://cerhas.uc.edu/troy/q415b.html

Writer Vs. His Work

2012-12-02T23:56:00.000+05:30

Writer Vs. His Work Being compiled by bunpeiris

Principle of Impersonality as supreme in all arts.

Like God in the universe, the writer should be omnipresent in his work but never visible.
Gustave Flaubert

http://en.nkfu.com/gustave-flaubert-quotes/

As we know, there is often a great difference between the man & the writer. The writer may be bitter, harsh & brutal while the man be so meek & mild that he wouldn’t say boo to a goose.
Somerset Maugham: The kite

Literature, literary creation, is not distinct or separable, for me, from the rest of the man…. I may taste a work, but it is difficult for me to judge it independently of my knowledge of the man himself, & I will say willingly, tel arbe, tel fruit.
Charles Augustine Saint- Beuve

The writer’s true self is manifested in his books alone.
Marcel Proust

http://en.nkfu.com/marcel-proust-quotes/

I think, like most writers, that I am most completely myself when I write, & not the rest of the time. I have a social self, & my full self can’t be released except in the writing.
Salman Rushdie

http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/padma-lakshmi-salman-rushdie/Memory/963aaee6-6b1e-4c96-a597-a0da010099e9

The artist was what he did- he was nothing else.
Henry James: The Real Right Thing

21 DECEMBER 2012

2012-11-26T11:16:00.000+05:30

21 DECEMBER 2012. Being written by bunpeiris

Call it Armageddon, Apocalypse Now, The End of the World, The Day After, The Heart of Darkness, Mad Max Clockwork Orange Bushido Days or even 21 December 2012 or whatever term you dare to name the ultimate natural, man-made or alien-inflicted (once upon a time in the future, they would wage war against us for our water in Antarctica, wouldn’t they?) cataclysmic transformation of the planet earth.
But then to learn Mayan Hababa calendar [365.242036] conceived 2500 years ago, is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar [365.2425] gives you goose bumps. Worse still, to get to know a cycle of the Mayan calendar ends in 21 December 2012 runs a shiver down the spine. Moreover, to hear we, the lesser folks have been warned by the extraterrestrial civilizations in the form crop circles ( the superior folks at NASA would have been warned in proper channels), as Patty Greer believes, piles on the mountains of mysteries and doesn’t bode well in this hour.

From where did the Mayans acquire such knowledge?
From where did the geometrical and algebraic calculations of cosmic proportions fall into the Pyramid building Egyptians & Mayans?
Is Erich von Däniken destined to be proven right in his lifelong theory that the extraterrestrial civilizations have visited our planet during the eras of ancient Mayans and ancient Egyptians?
Did a UFO shut down a Strategic Air Command facility in Minuteman ICBM Nuclear Missiles in Montana in USA in the years 1967?
How did the ancient Babylonians & Sumerians know about the planet Nibiru, now in a possible collision course with the earth?
Would NASA ever reveal on the communication and far and close encounters with extraterrestrial civilizations?
If NASA deliberately reveals or spill the beans, do the humans possess a hitherto unknown in-born faculty to contain a worldwide instant panic chaos madness? bunpeiris

THE HOPE AFTER A TWO THIRD OF THE HUMANITY IS PERISHED
There has always been hope: the survivors will begin from the very seeds

The ultimate concept of a safety net for the preservation of humanity in an event of an abrupt fall from the grace owing to a cataclysmic change of our planet is made tangible now. Ironically, as it has been the trend in our modern world, that too is in the form of a concrete building. But then a building like no other. Struck 120 meters into a sandstone mountain in the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago devoid of tectonic activity, about 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole, in the year 2008, is the Svalbard Vault of Seeds.

Refrigerated at −18 °C in anti-earthquake chambers accessed by anti-earthquake tunnel within the frost capped mountain, of which the entrance would be seen like a luminous wedge into the mountain, is over 1.5 million distinct seed samples of seeds of approximately one-third of the world’s most important varieties of food crops, to last for hundreds of years into the future. Some important grains could survive possibly thousands of years.

The worst case scenario of a natural catastrophe is the total melt down of the permafrost ice cap of Antarctica: the sea level of the earth is bound to rise by 60 meters the world over. Svalbard Vault of Seeds built 130 meters above sea level is 120 meters in height: it’s a black box arrangement.

One of the major donors to the project of Svalbard Vault of Seeds built by the Norwegian government is non other than Bill Gates himself. Bill Gates knows what we don’t. Bill Gates knows what NASA knows.We are in the darkness. Hope we will not be in the darkness for 3 days beginning with 21 December 2012. If the dawn of darkness takes over, we hope the humanity survive the Armageddon, Apocalypse Now, The End of the World, The Day After, The Heart of Darkness, Mad Max Clockwork Orange Bushido.

Such are the times, as today, in which we say that the ignorance is a bliss. Good Luck. My Sri Lanka Holidays bunpeiris

http://www.forcedgreen.com/2010/03/doomsday-seed-vault-update/

http://anniekatec.blogspot.com/2012/03/syria-crops-sheltered-in-arctic.html

THEY WERE MORE ACCURATE THAN US
Did you get goosebumps hearing that? Well, I did. bunpeiris My Sri Lanka Holidays.Com
Mayan Hababa calender
Mayan Hababa calender [365.242036] is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar [365.2425].Bricker (1982) estimates that the Haab' was first used around 550 BC with a starting point of the winter solstice.
From where did the superior knowledge & mathematical calculation come from about 2560 years ago?
Did Erick Von Dainkin give us a clue?

El Castillo. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.

This Mesoamerican step pyramid’s platform, along with its four stairways of 91 steps, totals 365, or the number of days in a calendar year.

Aztec Calendar.

The Aztec calendar was an adaptation of the Mayan calendar. It consisted of a 365-day agricultural calendar, as well as a 260-day sacred calendar. (This is a digital composite. Color added for visibility.)

Above linked images are by the kind courtesy webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html

NIBIRU
A possible cause of Armageddon, Apocalypse Now, The End of the World, The Day After, The Heart of Darkness, Mad Max Clockwork Orange Bushido

DOES NASA KNOW OF 21 DEC 2012?

Do some others other Americans know? Bill Gates, Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation, ..

USA Vs UFO
Wikileaks: enenmies from the other world

A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared for President Medvedev by Russian Space Forces (VKS) 45th Division of Space Control says that an upcoming WikiLeaks release of secret US cables details that the Americans have been "engaged" since 2004 in a "war" against UFO's based on or near the Continent of Antarctica, particularly the Southern Ocean.

According to this report, the United States went to its highest alert level on June 10, 2004 after a massive fleet of UFO's "suddenly emerged" from the Southern Ocean and approached Guadalajara, Mexico barely 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the American border. Prior to reaching the US border, however, this massive UFO fleet is said in this report to have "dimensionally returned" to their Southern Ocean "home base".

The fears of the Americans regarding these Southern Ocean UFO's began, this report says, during the unprecedented events of July 11, 1991 (referred to as 7/11) when during the Solar Eclipse these mysterious aircraft appeared by the hundreds over nearly all of Mexico, even their Capital city. Most notable about the events of 7/11 were that as millions of Mexicans were watching on their televisions the National broadcasts of these UFO's over Mexico City, the American media refused to allow their people to view it.

Since 2004, this report continues, fleets of Southern Ocean UFO's have continued to emerge from their bases, with the latest such event being this Friday past when another of their massive fleets was sighted over the South American Nation of Chile.

The "immediate danger" to our World when these massive UFO fleets emerge from the Southern Ocean, this report warns, are the massive waves caused by their sudden eruption from what are believed to be their underwater base, or bases. In the past week alone, the Clelia II, an Antarctic cruise ship with 160 people onboard, was nearly capsized when hit by waves generated by these UFO's emerging from the Southern Ocean, and just today the Number One Insung has been reported sunk with only 20 of its 42 member crew said saved due to the same cause.

Interesting to note in this report is its confirming our October 14th report US Shuts Down New York City Airspace Over UFO 'Threat' that these same Southern Ocean UFO's were responsible for the closing of the airspace over New York City this past fall (October 13th) when they "appeared" openly and were witnessed by tens of thousands of people, and which, coincidentally, occurred during the same time frame as the mysterious Crystal Skulls of the ancient South American peoples were being exhibited there too.

http://www.disclose.tv/forum/wikileaks-set-to-reveal-us-ufo-war-in-southern-ocean-t38469.html

NIBIRU, THE ROGUE PLANET
http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/24-09-2012/122253-nibiru_earth-0/

The idea of the Nibiru encounter originated with Nancy Lieder, a Wisconsin woman who claims that as a girl she was contacted by gray extraterrestrials called Zetas, who implanted a communications device in her brain. In 1995, she founded the website ZetaTalk to disseminate her ideas. Lieder described Planet X as roughly four times the size of the Earth, and said that its closest approach would occur on May 27, 2003, resulting in the Earth's rotation ceasing for exactly 5.9 terrestrial days. This would be followed by the Earth's pole destabilising in a pole shift (a physical pole shift, with the Earth's pole physically moving, rather than a geomagnetic reversal) caused by magnetic attraction between the Earth's core and the magnetism of the passing planet. This in turn would disrupt the Earth's magnetic core and lead to subsequent displacement of the Earth's crust.
Although Lieder originally referred to the object as "Planet X", it has become deeply associated with Nibiru, a planet from the works of ancient astronaut proponent Zecharia Sitchin.
Astronomers reject the idea of Nibiru and have made efforts to inform the public that there is no threat to Earth in 2012. They point out that such an object so close to Earth would be easily visible to the naked eye, as Jupiter and Saturn are both visible to the naked eye. A planet such as Nibiru would create noticeable effects in the orbits of the outer planets.

MAYANS HAD KNOWN MORE
The Dresden Codex

THE LANDING PAD OF THE ALIENS
Baalbek in Lebanon

THE KILLER PLANET NIBURU WAS DISCOVERED IN 1983.Nibiru could well be on a collision course with or our planet Earth.

NASA BEGINS HUNTING NIBIRU. 24.09.2012. Russian News Agencies
http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/24-09-2012/122253-nibiru_earth-0/

NASA scientists plan to launch a telescope into space in an attempt to find the mysterious killer planet Nibiru. Supposedly, the planet may considerably change life on Earth in near future, reports NTV. According to a number of experts on the esoteric, the planet will bring all sorts of horrors to Earth, strictly on the scenarios of end-of-the-world films. The list of disasters includes: earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, fires meteor showers, etc. Scientists of the American space agency discovered Nibiru back in 1983 with the help of IRAS infrared telescope. Some scientists believe that Nibiru is a home to an alien civilization that lives on the surface of the planet. It is assumed that it is the mythical Nibiru that caused the axis of several planets of the solar system to change. The planet also led to the appearance of cracks and craters on the Moon.

The disasters on our planet may occur in case a large planetary object collides with Earth or flies near our planet. The phenomenon is known as the Nibiru cataclysm. The idea that a planet-sized object could collide with or pass by Earth in the near future is not supported by any scientific evidence and has been rejected as pseudoscience by astronomers and planetary scientists.

WE HAVE BEEN WARNED
2012 Star Map of Doom

2012 researcher and author and author Marshal Masters, offers an in-depth look at the predictions made in a crop circled formation he calls the "2012 Star Map of Doom"

THE POSSIBLE SOURCE OF THE MATHEMATICS OF MAYANS

The Chariots of the God

WHERE GODS DARE TO MINGLE WITH HUMANS

Somawathiya Stuapa, Sri Lanka. The other beings in other worlds visit to pay homage to the Tooth Relic of Buddha.

The light & no sound show 1 for Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC)
During the renovation of the stupa a ceremony was held for the purpose of enshrining relics in the relic chamber of the stupa. The ceremony on 30th June 1977 was attended by correspondents of Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Beams of light radiated out of the stupa illuminating the sky. 7.20a.m.

The light & no sound show 2 for the President of Sri Lanka
A repetition of freak of rays of lights took place on 4th July in 1981 at the inauguration ceremony. At the arrival of then President of Sri Lanka Mr. J. R. Jayawardhana for the purpose of ceremonious unveiling of "Kotha" (pinnacle) of the stupa at 2 pm, once the phenomena of "rays of light" took place illuminating whole sky with the colour of yellow & the seemed as if it is moon. The all yellow colour of the sky seemed to have a fleeting effect of shrouding the sun. The white clothes of the pilgrims attending the ceremony too were illuminated in the colour of yellow.It was arranged for the president to unveil the "kotha" (pinnacle studded with a large jewel) by simply pulling down a rope tied with the flag knot to the pinnacle of the stupa. Having witnesses the phenomena, the president decided to rise to the occasion & go hell for leather. He climbed to the top by way of a temporary stairway built for workers and unveiled the pinnacle with bare hands.

The light & no sound show 3 for the President's sister & brother

As if the President himself wouldn't do, a repetition of the show took place for his siblings on the 28th April 2002. Among the thousands of pilgrims were sister and the brother of President J..R. Jayawardhana who were there to pay homage to the chethiya. This time it was continued for over 45 minutes.

The light & no sound show 4
Again on 13th August 2006, poya day (full moon day) and continued for about 3 minutes. Could all these freak incidents are caused by the congregation of deities (other superior beings in other worlds = celestial beings = extraterrestrial beings) who visited to pay respect for the Sacred Tooth Relic?

Since then this has been happening on & off.

SVALBARD SEED OF VAULTS WILL NOT BE SUBMERGED EVEN IF THE WHOLE OF ANTARCTICA MELTS
If the ice cap of Antractica melts down, the sea level will rise by 60 meters

IN SEARCH OF THE VAULT OF SEEDS
As Captain Robert Scott & party on their ill fated expedition to the Antarctica, a bunch of heroes from the remainder of the humanity will search for the Svalbard Vault of Seeds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15384729

THE WORST OF TIMES, THE BEST OF HUMANITY
There will emerge more heroes such as Captain Scott & Captain Oats. They will go in search of Svalbard Vault

http://www.dijitalimaj.com/alamyDetail.aspx?img=%7B3F0C56E1-1C4A-4443-9656-BE2A1A7B7FC9%7D

Above is a vintage painting entitled “A very Gallant Gentlemen” done by English artist John Charles Dollman (1851 - 1934) in the year 1913 in tribute to Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates (1880 - 1912). The diary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott found by an Antarctic search party on 12th November 1912 revealed, his swollen frost bitten legs slowing down the return journey of his team, in the night of 16th March 1912, Oates walked out of the tent into the blizzard saying "I am just going outside and may be some time".

In their race to the South Pole, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and team was beaten by Norwegian Roald Amundsen just over a month earlier. Amundsen relying on dogs to haul his men & supplies returned home safely; Scott and his team that made use of horses to haul supplies over the frozen Antarctica perished. The dogs withstood the extreme cold climate & weather; horses couldn’t last. It was a technical error by Scott. The last sentence of Captain Robert Scott:

“For God’s sake look after our people”.

http://www.yorkshiredailyphoto.com/2009/11/captain-lawrence-titus-oates-memorial.html

Scott's cross with a great view of Mt. Erebus in the backgroundErebus was named after a ship by the same moniker, captained by an early explorer, Sir James Clark Ross. Erebus was a son of the Greek god of Chaos.

Scott’s expedition had 65 men compared to Amundsen’s 19. It was primarily a science expedition and, while getting to the poles was one objective, one of the main reasons for going there was to raise money for the science part of the expedition so it could go ahead. Scott and his team never gave up carrying heavy loads of geological samples back home even in their last days in Antarctica.

BRING BACK THE ORDER TO THE CHAOS
A hero, in a world devoid of all stuff, would search, locate and gift the humanity with a Book of Ethics for the rest of the humanity.

The Book of Ellie: He found the last copy of Bible

http://www.rejesus.co.uk/blog/post/film_review_the_book_of_eli/

The carriages of the locomotive trains in Mumbai are built with additional strength to withstand the regular overload. Furthermore all carriages are well secured: one of the features, though not as such eye catching, is the overhead baggage racks. The baggage racks that run along in the each & every carriage is closed with an additional piece of steel net at the high edge of the each door. That is to prevent those who stand at the door, pullout a travelling bag, office bag or brief case off the rack and run away when the train slows down at a station. Of course, the mugger has no way knowing the content of the bag: it might not contain anything of significant value. Such is the poverty, a mugger would still go for it.

In the movie "Book Of Ellie" is a well choreographed scene of a gang of bandits who went after the rucksack of Eli. Eli is a long ranger fighting his way across the devastated continent of America to protect and deliver a sacred book that would lay out the code of ethics so that the rest of the humanity could survive. It was situation of a day after: a post-apocalyptic world. Following the End of The World [two third of the humanity is wiped out; all resources were devastated], the humans would have no compunctions in killing their brothers for their meager possessions. Elie wouldn't let his rucksack go to the bandits.He has a job on his hands.

OUTBOUND LINKS

2012-11-13T09:49:00.000+05:30

SEO [SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION]OF YOUR WEBSITE
How do I check on outbound web-links out of my website to some other websites?

While inbound links of same niche, same trade, same field as yours are of course, advantageous to your website, the unwarranted outbound links from your website to other website that’s not of your niche, its goes without saying, wouldn’t do much good for the health of your website and in turn, yours. As such, it would do world of good, to get know on the double, should there be outbound links out of your website.

Of course, there are many free & payable web tools to check the existence of outbound links. There are loads of free tool on this matter; just type OUT BOUND LINK CHECKER or variations of those words in Google and see with your own eyes.
Here is a Free Outbound link Checker tool for you http://www.searchenginegenie.com/tools/chkOutboundLinks.html

However free tools are unlikely to reveal all the outbound links. A paid outbound link checker tool could be a better option than a free link checker tool. However, should you still be in the first phase of your on-line business, it wouldn’t be economical making payments to numerous tools and web promotion agencies. Once you start paying for (except for the essential) in the seas of SEO Web tools & services, you can go on paying for one whole armada. Soon you will get sunk 20 leagues under the sea of web. The alternative method is to check outbound links manually. Of course, the manual methods kill time.

Checking outbound links manually.
Right, let’s go: first right click your mouse on the homepage of your website. A menu would appear. Now click VIEW PAGE SOURCE. Right, now press Ctrl [CONTROL] button & [F] on your key board. On the topmost right hand corner of the PAGE SOURCE of your Homepage a tiny box would appear with [http]. Now press ENTER button on your keyboard. All outbound links from your home page appears.

Repeat the same process for all your web pages, page by page. This is the surefire manual method.
Now, make note of all unwanted, unwarranted outbound links & call your webmaster and have those removed.
KIT for the next in SEO with bunpeiris series of brief articles.
Images are by the kind courtesy of
http://www.funzug.com/
http://www.dailyfundose.com/2012/01/wtfun-picdose-extreme/

Writers Vs Humanity

2012-11-12T15:58:00.000+05:30

WRITERS Vs. HUMANITY Being compiled by bunpeiris
I am just a chronicler. My passion is to discover and to write about it.
Tom Wolfe, Time 13th February 1989

Ah, what an age it is!
When to speak of trees is almost crime
For it is a kind of silence against injustice
To Posterity: Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) “To Posterity” about Germany under the Nazis

I’m torn, as I believe Brecht was in the poem.
I’m angry, that we have so perverted the world that on one level it does feel ‘almost a crime’ 'to speak about trees’.
I am angry that we have made injustice so massive, complex and ubiquitous that to speak, or even think, about anything else, can feel like, and maybe even be, a treacherous silence.
I’m heartsick that we have so obliterated peace that the momentary sensation of it is almost necessarily an illusion.
What kind of world have we made, where we can fail each other, or even betray each other, by walking ‘calmly’ across the street?
Clearly, if nothing else, it is a world without innocence. None of us have any excuse.

Rabbi Sheila Shulman, Associate Rabbi, Finchley Reform Synagogue
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41443579?

uid=3738456&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101496833137

I am not on the side of those who make history but those who suffer history.
Camilo Jose Cela, 11th December in 1989
Camilo Jose Cela won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989

Write me, O writer, a justification of Jew-baiting & death camps:
put it in the invented mouths of an invented zealot:
make it convince.
The artist's pride: he must see if he can do it.
What is the point of the dialectic of fiction or drama unless the evil is as cogent as good? [1]
Anthony Burgess: Earthly Powers (A novel)

Every playwright I his heart is mother Terersa, always on the side of the individual against the institution.
And every playwright must also think like a dictator, there’s no democracy on the stage
Vaclav Havel, 19th November 1990, Time

http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/12/remembering-vaclav-havel

Can Poetry serve our fellow men?
Can it find a place in man’s struggles?
I had already done enough tramping over the irrational & the negative.
I had to pursue & find the road to humanism outlawed from contemporary literature but deeply rooted in the aspirations of mankind.
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973): Memoirs
Pablo Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

http://zerflin.com/tag/pablo-neruda/

Literature is the denunciation of the times in which the writer lives.
Camilo Jose Cela, Time, 11th December in 1989

In Spain, a writer is always a presumed heretic.
Camilo Jose Cela, Time, 11th December in 1989

Art is on the side of the oppressed.
What writer of any literary worth defends fascism, totalitarianism, racism, in an age when these are still pandemic?
In Poland, where were the poets who sang the epic of the men who broke solidarity?
In South Africa, where are the writers who produce brilliant defenses of apartheid?
Nadine Godimer, 26th June 1991, Time
[Nadine Gordimer won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991]

I think a writer has to be responsible towards history & society.
Writer Li Guo (Lee Kim Chai), 10th June 96, The strait Times [Singapore]

My Novels are concerned with either social or historical issues. For me, fiction is all about people. Whether good or bad, the characters have to be vividly portrayed.
Writer Li Guo (Lee Kim Chai), 01st June 99, The strait Times [Singapore]

The novel was there not to convey abstract ideas or philosophies, nor to form symbolic shapes or offer lazy consolations. It was about character & freedom, & dealt with the reality of human figures in their emotional & moral lives. If it resembled philosophy, it was quite distinct from it.
Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7287.Iris_Murdoch

Moravia believed in one value: the value of intelligence.
Enzo Siciliano on Albert Moravia
Newsweek, 8th October 1990

Solzhenitsyn & I differ most sharply over the defense of civil rights, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom to choose one’s country of residence, the openness of society.
For me, these rights constitute the basis for a fully human life & for international security & trust. I have no doubt whatsoever as to the value of defending specific individuals.
Solzhenitsyn assigns only a secondary importance to human rights & fears that concentration on them may divert attention from what he sees as more important matters. [2]
Andrei Sakharov, Guardian Weekly, [U.K], 7th October 1990

Footnote is by My Sri Lanka Holidays bunpeiris
Monday, November 26, 2007
[1] Dr. Ediriweera Sarachchandra (3 June 1914 - 16 August 1996) of Sri Lanka made a highly credible attempt on this phenomena in his plays Maname and Sinhabahu. More this later on.
[2] Solzhenitsyn’s views should take root in Sri Lanka.It would be the ultimate tribute to those in the "Sri Lanka Defence Forces" who gave their lives so that we could live.

Collective Civic Responsibility Vs. Individual Freedom in the Third World
There is no transitional value except to hold Collective Civic Responsibility over & above Individual Freedom in the Third World. Until the undeveloped countries become developed countries, so called Universal Values of the Western Counties may best stand behind. bunpeiris
Sri Lanka Holidays http://www.my-srilankaholidays.com/2007/11/collective-civic-responsibility-vs.html

SRI LANKA THIS MONTH

2012-10-25T10:19:00.000+05:30

SRI LANKA THIS MONTH with bunpeiris

October 2012 by bunpeiris
In a bizarre move, Sri Lankan government set the master terrorist, former international wing leader and chief arms procurer of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, an international gun runner criminal wanted by Interpol and India, free from prosecution and settled him in Kilinocchchi. Ironcially, the West wouldn’t object to the move at all.

Should Sri Lanka go by the dictates of human rights procedures prescribed by sick and partisan UN, spurred by the most fearsome human rights violator in the world, the bomber of nuclear bombs, the bomber of Vietnam for 20 years day after day [6,727,048 tons of bombs, more than twice the tonnage of bombs dropped by Allies in the European theater and Pacific theater in the Second World War], the Untied States of America, if there’s one terrorist at all, who ought be brought to justice in Sri Lanka [now, all others being killed in war], that is Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP.

It seems, Sri Lankan government is of the view that rebuilding of north and east is more important than so called reconciliation advocated by the west, in an attempt to discredit and overthrow the elected government. It seems it is of the view rebuilding North & East shouldn't take a back seat to none: it has opted to set the repenting Master Terrorist Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP free so that he could make use of his resources and connections to lure Tamil diaspora by way of his newly formed NGO called North-East Rehabilitation and Development Organization or NERDO based in Kilinochchi, Sei Lanka.

There is no need of so called western advocated reconciliation. Today, we are free of terrorism. It is time to stop pointing fingers. It is time to close the garbage pits. It's time to go to work today, as if there is no tomorrow. There is no other way out.

There will not be justice for the dead. There will not be an apology to the survivors. Now, today, we are free of terrorism, we ask none of those. What we seek is a new life for the living. May all gods, big and small help us!

Sri Lanka’s government wouldn't bring Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP to justice. Sri Lankans wouldn't forgive the sins of Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP. Sri Lankans wouldn't forget the crimes of Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP. None of such things would take place.

Right, let Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP. work. Keep a tab and an eye on him.
bunpeiris
https://profiles.google.com/bunpeiris

GOD OF POEMS

2012-10-23T21:06:00.000+05:30

THE GOD OF POEMS: RABINDRANATH TAGORE
by bunpeiris

Rabindranath Tagore http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22217/22217-h/22217-h.htm

No single modern literary work has ever revealed to the West the beauty of Indian culture as Gitanjali has done. Gitanjali is a work of literature like none other: it is timeless and priceless. All the poems under the stars are fickle drops of glistening dew on the cusps of petals of flowers in the still wilderness, that would be swept away by the flimsiest of breeze; Gitanjali is the resplendent full moon that would stay still all throughout the loveliest of starry nights. In less than a year’s time since the English translation of Gitanjali, in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was awarded the Noble Prize for literature. In spite of the Nobel Prize, Tagore was the poet’s poet as Leo Tolstoy was the novelist’s novelist. Irrespective of Noble Prize, Gitanjali is the noblest poem ever: it is a supreme work of literature, whose divinity and humanity wouldn’t be measured by a worldly reward, least of all, by the Noble Prize, of which, political neutrality has been eroded in the past couple of decades, especially in terms of the Noble Prize for Peace. Even on the matter of Prize for Literature, the fact that Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, Indian Master R. K. Narayan (1906- 2001), Narayan’s discoverer Graham Greene (1904-1991), English novelist Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970) and English novelist William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) were deprived of due recognition, has dimmed the halo of the Nobel Prize. But then none of the winners was of the caliber of Tolstoy; Novelist Tolstoy was Tolstoy. He was of his own class as the poet Rabindranath Tagore was. Hence the Indians and lovers of R. K. Narayan needn’t be overly sulky: the ultimate honor for a novelist, is to be in the company of Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/24/50755427.html

Rabindranath Tagor, the humanist

Nevertheless, the Noble Prize brought in great publicity upon Gurudev Rabindranath Tagor: it was the first time a non-western writer was so honored. Overnight, the peerless poet, the supreme humanist philosopher of modern era became the leading light of the world espousing the cause of a multi-cultural world in the world stage.

Rabindranath Tagore, India’s most cherished Renaissance figure
In India, on a spiritual plane, Tagore was the modern-day sage; on the temporal level, he was an educationist who embodied the best of traditional Hindu education with Western ideals.

http://celebbest.com/gallery/rabindranath%20tagore%20einstein

The discovery of Rabindranath Tagore by Rothenstein & W. B. Yeats
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet who wrote stories, plays and songs in his mother tongue, Bengali. He wasn’t much known in India, not to mention overseas. In 1912, though sans great expectations, Tagore translated his latest poems, Gitanjali from Bengali to English on a small notebook during a sea voyage with his son to England. In London Tagore’s briefcase containing the note book, among other things was left behind in the London subway. By providence, the brief case was recovered in the following day. British artist Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945), a friend of the family of Tagore in Calcutta (1911), having heard of translation, persuaded a reluctant Tagore, to reveal the translation. Having taken by surprise, on July 7, 1912, William Rothenstein had his friend William Butler Yeats read the poem in his rented house in Hampstead. Irishman W. B. Yeats, the foremost poet of his era in England, found himself enthralled in the poem. On November 1, 1912, the India Society in London published a limited edition (750 copies, of which 500 were for the members and 250 for the general sale) of Gitanjali: Song of Offerings containing English translation of 103 poems, with an introduction by Yeats and a pencil-sketch of Tagore by Rothenstein.

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2010/05/rabindranath-tagore-in-america-1931.html

Rabindranath Tagore dedicated the publication of English translation of Gitanjali to William Rothenstein. William Butler Yeats went on to win Nobel Prize for Literature a decade later, in the year 1923.

Rabindranath Tagore Renounces Knighthood

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2010/05/king-faisal-of-iraq-and-king-ali-with.html

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2012/05/rabindranath-tagore-and-jawaharlal.html

Tagore, knighted by King George V in 1919, renounced his Knighthood following the massacre of over 400 unarmed civilians at the public garden of Jallianwala Bagh, Amirtsar in the Punjab state of India by the British colonialists in India. In spite of good rapport with Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948),the leading light of Indian nationalism, in spite of renouncing British atrocities in India, Tagore wasn’t deeply involved in politics. He wasn’t a political activist as Gandhi was. His main activities were confined to delivering lectures around the world and expansion of his university that he sustained with his own funds that he collected by from his never ending writing, composing and lecturing.

Rabindranath Tagore upbraids Mahatma Gandhi

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2008/12/rabindranath-tagore-and-mahatma-gandhi.html

Tagore was a sage.Tagore was the maker not only of modern Indian literature but also the modern Indian mind. He would refuse to fall before god begging for salvation. He upbraided Mahatma Gandhi for declaring that a massive 15 January 1934 earthquake in Bihar, India leaving thousands dead, was divine retribution brought on by the oppression of Dalits of India. Tagor was a humanist who wouldn’t accept that divinity, if that existed, would be bent upon, punishing the humanity.

Rabindranath Tagore and Buddhism
Though born to a prominent Brahmin family in Bengal, Tagore was never a staunch proponent of Hinduism. In fact, at his own Visva-Bharati a public central university located at Santiniketan, West Bengal, Tagore had Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, and Pali language in its streams of learning.

Rabindranath Tagore on his religious beliefs

I have been asked to let you know something about my own view of religion. One of the reasons why I always feel reluctant to speak about this is that I have not come to my own religion through the portals of passive acceptance of a particular creed owing to some accident of birth. I was born to a family the members of which were pioneers in the revival in our country of a great religion, based upon the utterances of Indian sages in the Upanishads. But, owing to my idiosyncrasy of temperament, it was impossible for me to accept any religious teaching on the only ground that people in my surroundings believed it to be true. I could not persuade myself to imagine that I had a religion simply because everybody whom I might trust believed in its value.

Tagore in China: Talks in China (1925)

Rabindranath Tagore reveals his version of God in Gitanjali

Above song is the Sinhalese rendition of Poem No.11 of Gitanjali given below.

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path maker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put of thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance?
Where is this deliverance to be found?
Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all forever.
Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2011/10/rabindranath-tagore-at-his-painting.html

Rabindrnath Tagore: True words and an unbroken World
Rabindrnath Tagore was a champion of the notion of “One World” that makes his name live forever. The following poem from Gitanjali [Song offerings] brings together the ideals Tagore presented to India and to the entire humankind.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action.
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

John Lennon echoes Rabindranath Tagor: Imagine
In the year 1971, co-founder of Rock Music Band Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) (1960-1970), John Lennon (1940-1980), whose solo album sales as at 2012 exceeded 14 million units, was to echo Rabindranath Tagor’s dream of unbroken world; a world at peace, without the divisiveness and barriers of religions and nationalities.
Here is the Anthem of Peace.

Incidentally, as Tagore renounced his knighthood over Amritsar Massacre (1919), John Lennon, half a century later, in 1969, returned his MBE to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11 over Mai Lai Massacre (1968) in Vietnam. Following the murder of John Lennon by the gunman Mark David Chapman, Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono issued a statement saying "There is no funeral for John", ending it with the words, “John loved and prayed for the human race. Please pray the same for him.”

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try
No hell below us Above us only sky
Imagine all the people Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too
Imagine all the people Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one

"Desmond Morris informs me that John Lennon's magnificent song is sometimes performed in America with the phrase 'and no religion too' expurgated. One version even has the effrontery to change it to 'and one religion too." Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

Quote Adam Buxton "Perhaps controversial, but this bit in The Killing Fields with Imagine makes my list. I remember when we went to see The Killing Fields when I was little, and everybody came out of the theatre and said, “That bit with Imagine? Really? For Christ’s sake, that was so cheesy! Such a low blow.” But the implication seemed to be that they felt violated because it had worked. They all cried because it’s a very moving moment. Schanberg and Dith Pran are reunited, and suddenly this anthem for peace comes on, and it’s very hard not to be moved by it. Then you feel manipulated, and you feel that that’s unfair. But that’s good, that’s not exactly manipulation... maybe it is, it’s just big style manipulation. It just seemed too obvious for many people, I guess. It’s like durr, Imagine, it’s a big movie song. I don’t cry every time I hear Imagine, but I do want to cry when I see it in that film at that moment." Adam Buxton

The Killing Fields are a series of mass graves of Cambodians subjected to genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975).
DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims buried in 20,000 mass graves. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime. It was a spillover of Vietnam war (1955-1975) in which Americans bombed Indo China for for two decades day after day: 6,727,048 tons of bombs, more than twice the quantity of bombs dropped by Allies in the European theater and Pacific theater in the Second World War.
Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term "killing fields" after his escape from the regime. A 1984 film, The Killing Fields, narrates the story of Dith Pran, played by another Cambodian survivor Haing S. Ngor, and his journey to escape the death camps.

Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali in Sinhala
Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali was thrice translated into Sinhala, the language of Sinhalese of Sri Lanka by three Sinhalese writers: Prof. Vinnie Vitharana, Kusum Dissnayake (wife of Dr. J. B. Dissanayake) and Edmund Jayasuriya. Edward Jayasuriya’s translation carries an introductory text by illustrious Sri Chandraratne Manawasinghe (1913-1964) of the village of Puwakdandawa in Ruhunu Giruwapattuwa off Sri Lanka Holidays Tangalle.

Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Lanka
Quote Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka 12th June 2012.

Tagore’s fascination with Sri Lanka can be attributed to two factors, Dr Sandagomi Coperhewa said: his awareness of the Sinhalese people and culture having descended from immigrants from Bengal region in ancient times and due to his profound respect for Theravada Buddhism and the Buddhist heritage of the island. One recalls Tagore’s song about the Buddha, “Please be born again….” (two lines loosely translated being: “The world today is wild with the delirium of hatred, All creatures are crying for a new birth of thine”). Tagore was also aware of Angarika Dharmapala’s (1864-1993) pioneering Buddhist revival work in India, and the Maha Bodhi Journal (1892) started by Angarika Dharmapala was patronized by Indian intellectuals such as Tagore who contributed articles and poems to it, and needless to say, Angarika Dharmapala had great respect for Tagore. While in India, Sri Lankan art critic and historian Ananda Commaraswamy (1874-1947) also formed close relationships with the Tagore family and was involved in both the literary renaissance and the Swadeshi movement-an early phase of the struggle for Indian independence.
http://www.kadirgamarinstitute.lk/old_events/page/news_old15.htm

Unquote

http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/Ananda-K-Coomaraswamy.aspx

Tagor’s first visit to Sri Lanka was said to be when he was a student at the University Of London, England. Tagore's subsequent visit to Sri Lanka in 1922, 1928 & 1934 have been well recorded. Tagore’s visit to Sri Lanka in 1922 and 1928 were mainly owing to Buddhist Heritage of Sri Lanka. It is also recorded that Tagore availed the opportunities to introduce his concept Visva-Baharat, a school of art and literature. Tagore’s visit to Sri Lanka weren’t confined to intellectual circles in Colombo: he visited some of the key cultural attractions of Sri Lanka Holidays: Kandy, Anuradhapura, Galle and Matara. During his visit in 1928, Tagore, in spite of his poor health, took part in Vesek festival in Sri Lanka Holidays Anuradhapura.

DO YOU HAVE AN ACCENT?

2012-10-15T19:25:00.001+05:30

CITY & GUILDS ENGLISH, England ON YOUR ACCENT

Which of these opinions about good pronunciation is closest to yours?
(a) Good pronunciation must be free of any local or regional accent.
(b) A slight regional accent is acceptable but a foreign accent is not.
(c) An accent, regional or foreign, doesn’t matter as long as the speaker’s pronunciation is easy to understand.
(d) An accent is part of someone’s identity; the stronger it is, the better.

Just like Katie Holmes and Sarah Michelle Gellar before her Natalie Portman, is in talks to star as Jackie Kennedy [1] in a new film. Exciting eh? Grazia Daily is, of course, ridiculously excited at the prospect of the Oscar winning actress trussed up in those fabulous outfits.

http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/conversation/archive/2012/10/01/natalie-portman-to-play-jackie-kennedy-in-new-film.htm

All of these attitudes have had their supporters.
In Britain, (a) was a widely-held opinion in the past. Received Pronunciation or what was often called a ‘BBC’ or ‘Oxford’ accent was the only one which was expected of someone with ‘good’ pronunciation. Over the years, however, this has tended to become generally viewed as an unrealistic and unnecessary ideal.

A mosaic of Vladimir Lenin on November 20, 2011 in Sochi, Russia

A Russian embassy spokesman said that Lenin had visited London several times -- and had hired an Irish tutor to teach him to speak English."Lenin said that his tutor in English was an Irishman and that was why he was speaking with an Irish accent" he said

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/vladimir-lenin-spoke-english-with-an-irish-accent-say-russians-16201944.html#ixzz29NGwBkqy

Opinion (b) has often been held by language learners themselves, who feel uncomfortable about an accent which sets them apart from native speakers. Perhaps the speaker has been more worried about this than the listener.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/113640

Revolutionary War Reenactment Image via Shutterstock

Click above image to learn When Did Americans Lose Their British Accents?

Opinion (d) is more in tune with current thinking in many parts of the world: an accent is something to be proud of, not ashamed of. This is a perfectly valid point of view in itself, the question is whether a strong accent helps speakers communicate as effectively as possible, in their own first language or in another language.
Opinion (c) is probably the one which is becoming the most accepted. We communicate more than ever before and comprehensibility is the main aim.

http://www.pspgamesthemes.com/psp-wallpapers/babes-wallpapers/learning-to-speak-in-an-english-accent-psp-wallpapers.html

“Learning to speak in an English accent” in Portman. Natalie Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak in an English accent, and had to have her head shaved in a scene in the movie.

Above text (excluding those in italics) is reproduced by the kind courtesy of City and Guilds English dot Com

Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] Jacqueline "Jackie" Lee Bouvier Kennedy (1929 – 1994) was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, much loved John F. Kennedy, and much adored First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. The conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK hasn't been solved to date; the connections among the Mafia (mob), CIA, FBI, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, American fiasco at Bay of Pigs in Cuba, Russsian connections with Oswald haven't been untangled.
So was the assassination of Oxford educated Christian aristocrat S. W. R. D. Bandaranayke, the Supreme Leader of Free Ceylon, who stormed into the office on a nationalist platform. Though Ceylon gained independence from British in 1948, the administration of Free Ceylon continued to be in English language. It was only in 1957, English Language was done away in the oppressive system (as was depicted by British colonial civil servant, Leonard Woolf in his “Village in the Jungle” set in a village in the remote district of Hambantota) and Sinhala, the language of 75% of the population was made the national language by Bandaranayake
Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranayake paid with his life for the boldest move ever in Free Ceylon. Buddhist monk Talduwe Somarama was convicted and hanged to death. However, the murder weapon belonged to the suspect turned witness Ossie Corea. Bandranyake said “a man dressed in the robes of a monk” shot at him. Ossie Corea too, on the day of assassination, was of shaven head as was the Buddhist monk Talduwe Somarama.
Those were the days of assassination by CIA: The nationalist Patrice Lumumba, the first legally elected Prime Minister of Free Congo was assassinated on 17th January 1961. The cheapest assassination done by CIA is said to that of Sri Lanka' s (then Free Ceylon) S. W. R. D. Bandaranayake.Sri Lanka Holidays is the Total Holiday Experience in Sri Lanka, the Land Of Delights. Talduwe Somarama was born in the village of Talduwa on the road from Avissawella to Sri Lanka Holidays Kitulgala, the most popular white water rafting destination in Sri Lanka.

bunpeiris Sri Lanka Holidays

Works Cited

Works Cited

British In Ceylon

How the British Exploited Sri Lanka

Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet

"Shakespeare not only invented the English language, but also created human nature as we know it today" Harold Bloom

Greater Israel

United Nations & the beginning of Chaos by bunpeiris

Mojo and Suzanne

Mojo and Suzanne Written by bunpeiris “For never was a story of more woe than this of Suzanne and her Mojo.”

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching

BLACK TEA

BLACK TEA: HEALING POWERS

BUDDHA'S LIGHT TEA

Main hall of Fo Guang Shan [Chinese: Buddha's Light Mountain] in Kaohsuiung. Fo Guang Shan is the largest Buddhist monastery & the largest charity organization of Taiwan.

Founder of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Ven. Master Hsing Yun has dedicated himself to propagating the ideals of "Humanistic Buddhism" and being "a global person" in which the spirits of joy and harmony, integration and co-existence, respect and magnanimity, equality and peace are widely disseminated.

Priceless ancient Sinhalese sculptures to England

A garden doorstep at a home in Devon in the UK has been identified as a rare Sri Lankan artefact expected to fetch more than £30,000 ($47,500) at auction.

The auctioneer Bonhams says the carved granite step is a Sandakada Pahana - or moonstone - similar to those found in temples dating from Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura period (c400BC-1000AD). 22 January 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21137743

In eternal love with Gal Vihara since the discovery of it at the early medieval lost city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankans First

WE ARE SRI LANKANS FIRSTLet's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

DON PERCY

China’s Elder Brother: India

CHINA'S ELDER BROTHER: INDIA

TAGORE & CHINA

Daffodils

The Daffodils ["I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" ]

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

First ever touchdown on 18th March 2013 at HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

Tiger terrorists in 1986 and 2001 carried out bomb attacks on stationary aircraft at Katunayake

The Indian intervention - Parippu Dhal bombing marked a new chapter in our history. Now we know . Click the following blue link to read more written by an Indian writer.

Sinhalese

The Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, the People Of the Lion

SRI LANKA'S CHINESE CONNECTION

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Hero of Modern Sri Lanka escorted by Sri Lanka Mounted Police as he arrives at the opening of Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Sea Port in Hambantota, Ruhuna, Sri Lanka built with Chinese Aid,

Mahinda Rajapakse International Airport is being built by Chinese Aid

First ever touchdown on 18th March 2013 at HIA Mattala Rajapakse Int'l Airport [MRIA], a gift from China.

Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, a gift from China to Sri Lanka. Design of the building was inspired by an ancient royal bathing pond called Nelum Pokuna [Lotus Pond] in the the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Polonnaruwa, a Sri Lanka Holidays tourist attraction.

Nelum The stone cut bathing Pond called Nelum Pokuna [Lotus bath] [12th century ] at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka takes the form of an eight pettaled blossoming lotus flower. Photo Credit: The Bridgeman Art Library

Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), a gift from China

PREMAKEERTI DE ALWIS

ILIAD

Writer Vs. His Work

21 DECEMBER 2012

OUTBOUND LINKS

Writers Vs Humanity

SRI LANKA THIS MONTH

GOD OF POEMS

THE GOD OF POEMS: RABINDRANATH TAGORE by bunpeiris

DO YOU HAVE AN ACCENT?

CITY & GUILDS ENGLISH, England ON YOUR ACCENT

Mojo and Suzanne
Written by bunpeiris

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Suzanne and her Mojo.”

WE ARE SRI LANKANS FIRST
Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

The Indian intervention - Parippu Dhal bombing marked a new chapter in our history.

Now we know . Click the following blue link to read more written by an Indian writer.

THE GOD OF POEMS: RABINDRANATH TAGORE
by bunpeiris