Ceylon-England-Portugal …. With Ajit on a Rollicking Ramble-by Ajit Varuna Rodrigo-Candappa

Personally your kin, Gilbert Roberts taught English alongside my mother who taught 3 languages & Math at St Johns Panadura. When my mother referred A Clockwork Orange to him, asking if I at 14 should be allowed to read it – he came out “Let him know the world Mrs…!” His forceful championing of a young man’s right-to-know has stayed with me for life! Its underlying theme was about “Free Will & Government Control”. Of course Stanley Kubrik’s film version was even more ‘excitingly’ violent & graphic.

This fellow, if he is an Aussie, will know that ultimate destination HIS Karma might drag him to: Its called the LONG DROP in that Aussie Institution called the DUNNY – where creepy crawlies subsist! Just ignore these nutjobs – they spring up everywhere!

The English whom I ‘fraternise’ with now – used to be comfortable knowing, as Jeremy Paxton put it, they are “a mongrel race.” Today however with the ill-winds of Right-wing “ruptures” blowing across from the US there is a comical/political urging to ‘out’ Migrants imagining it will win votes – they are sadly mistaken – without migrants Britain will grind to a halt!

I myself after my family’s long 26 year sojourn in West & Central Africa – then in England and Now in Both England & Portugal – see no need for Identity at all. We – that is my family of 5 children, their partners and my 6 grandchildren are TCK’s anyways with a distinctly high mobility & acceptance. In Portugal they shout across the street “Rodrigo!” when they see me with an unmistakeable natural joyousness! My family has origins traceable 4 centuries to the Chatims (Portuguese term for the Setties) on my fathers side. They appear in the Thombo of 1612 in Negombo. They were of the Merchant Class. The Tana Vaisya.

listen to the first line:
“Athuru Mithuru Damba Diva Thuru Raja Kapuru Settiya”

Camphor was the Gold my ancestors brought in & Gems was a market they controlled; my great-grandfather was in Idalgashinna. He was known as “Puwak Hetti Rala” the first man to export arecanut. He gifted Madampe Cemetery grounds. The earthworks for Bunds of the Victoria Bridge across the Kelani was from his lands. Before that it was a”Bridge of Boats.” Here’s the rub. We are all so beholden to Church & State we never thought of questioning ‘their-gospel’! Talking of Gospel (s)- when he died his widow – shaken at realising they were living in very paternalistic times – physically handed over a clutch of Title Deeds to the Catholic Church – to a trusted ‘saviour of souls’ – for ‘safe-keeping’. In the course of time the Church got ‘used’ to ‘managing’ these properties. When two 1st cousin Advocates of the Supreme Court (one JER & one BAR) filed action asking for the properties to be returned (a whole street of properties past Pettah towards Mutwal) the Church REFUSED. They hire the most prominent lawyer at the time HV Pereira QC. He in his wisdom knowing their was No Gifting, No Ceding, No MOU, dredged up a then obscure piece of law, known as prescriptive rights. As fate would have it the Justice presiding was Justice MFS Pulle – an uncle of these 2 hapless Advocates. He summoned them and asked – what they thought they were doing! Stating – this would put the entire family against the Church! He had that ultimate sword of damocles – the fear of “excommunication”! and without recusing himself for being directly related to “the family” ruled ‘questionably’ that the Church had a prescriptive right! Those properties would today be worth a billion rupees!
Faith & Race, Church & State are questionable entities!
Sorry Michael this has become long winded.
One’s karma has him heading for the Asuchi dwellers domain – the Dunny and the other avoided being blocked from going to heaven (excommunicaion) by ‘gifting’ someone else’s property!

Another reader focused on the term Burgher: I used to tease one of my classmates in Oz, calling him “Burger-Meister De Roon”! (Sorry Nihal I’m sure you wont mind Buddy!) AND I used to work & live inside Galle Fort, corner of Main & Middle Street – when at the PB Regional Office covering an area from Alutgama to Kataragama. Used to do an early morning barefoot run on the Ramparts. I even picked up the slack at the Galle Poly, lecturing to 1st year Diploma in Accty students for 6 months, when a lecturer went AWOL. Lecturing in Sinhalese! When all my life I was in an English medium classroom.
QUOTE:
“The terms burgher and burgermeister share a common Germanic root centered around the concept of a fortified settlement and its residents.
Root: It derives from the Proto-Germanic root *burgz, meaning a “fortified settlement” or “fortress”.
Historical Development:
Middle High German: Burger, from Old High German burgāri, meaning an “inhabitant of a fortress”.
Middle Dutch: Burgher, which also refers to a resident of a burg (city or castle).
Social Context: Historically, a burgher was a legally privileged, property-owning citizen of a chartered borough. This distinguished them from the rural peasantry and the nobility, forming the early “middle class” or bourgeoisie.

Etymology of Burgermeister
Burgermeister (or Bürgermeister in German) literally translates to “master of the citizens” or “master of the borough”.

Structure: It is a compound of Bürger (citizen/burgher) + Meister (master).
Meaning: It is the Germanic equivalent of a Mayor, serving as the chief executive or magistrate of a town or city.
Dutch Influence: The English term “burgomaster” is specifically derived from the Dutch version, burgemeester.

Specific Regional Meanings
Sri Lanka: The term Burgher refers to a specific ethnic group of mixed European (mostly Dutch, Portuguese, and British) and local ancestry.
South Africa: In historical contexts, Burger was used for enfranchised citizens of the Boer republics.
Pop Culture: The name “Burgermeister Meisterburger” is a redundancy used for comedic effect in the 1970 holiday special Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, essentially naming the character “Mayor Master-Citizen”.

PS: my own grand-daughter 17/18 is applying for a TON-MEISTER.
its a 4 year deg in Sound Engineering.

NOTES
The transition from a “burgher” in medieval Europe to the “Burgher people” of Sri Lanka reflects a shift from a legal class status to a distinct ethnic identity.
1. Legal Rights of Medieval Burghers
In medieval Europe, being a burgher (or burgess) was a specific legal status that granted residents of a town significant privileges compared to the rural peasantry.
Self-Administration: Burghers lived in towns governed by charters—legal documents granted by a monarch that allowed the town to manage its own affairs, such as collecting taxes and raising its own defense.
Freedom from Serfdom: There was a famous German proverb, “Stadtluft macht frei” (City air makes you free). If a rural serf escaped to a town and lived there for a year and a day without being caught, they legally became a free burgher.
Economic Monopolies: Only burghers typically had the right to practice a trade or join a guild. They controlled local markets and were often exempt from the tolls that outsiders had to pay.
Judicial Rights: Burghers were often entitled to be tried in their own town courts rather than by a feudal lord, providing a more predictable and localized justice system.

2. The Burgher People of Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, “Burgher” evolved into an ethnic designation for the descendants of European colonists (primarily Portuguese, Dutch, and British) who intermarried with the local Sinhalese and Tamil populations.

Origins:
Portuguese Burghers: Descended from 16th-century Portuguese settlers. They are largely Catholic and some still speak a form of Portuguese Creole.
Dutch Burghers: Descended from employees of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who stayed after 1796. They traditionally belong to the Dutch Reformed Church.
Cultural Legacy:
Cuisine: They introduced famous dishes like Lamprais (rice baked in banana leaves) and Breudher (a Dutch-style yeast cake).
Music & Dance: The popular Sri Lankan music style Baila