Ranjit Hulugalle Archives

‘There is no money left’: Covid crisis leaves Sri Lanka on brink of bankruptcy A rice wholesaler plies his trade in Pettah, a commercial hub in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The military has been given power to control prices of food essentials, such as rice. Photograph: Chamila Karunarathne/EPASource:Theguardian Half a million people have sunk into poverty since the pandemic struck, with rising costs forcing many to cut back on food Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Sri Lanka is facing a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis with fears it could go bankrupt in 2022 as inflation rises to record levels, food prices rocket and its coffers run dry. The meltdown faced by the government, led by the strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is in part caused by the immediate impact of the Covid crisis and the loss of tourism but is compounded by high government spending and tax cuts eroding ...

HALGOLLA PLANTATION HOME – the unique sri lankan experience – December 2019 Spot the garden lizard (katussa) ! Moses-in-therushes (Tradescantia spathacea) The picture on the left is of a plant that is part of a selection that oral history at HPH says was but one exotic foliage plant previously found all over the “home plantation of Antoine Joseph van der Poorten and reputed to have been brought back by him from his trips to what was then the Congo Free State, where he served that most reprehensible of monarchs, Leopold II of Belgium, as manager of that king’s plantations in Central Africa and from the far east, Java, where he settled his eldest son, Francis, at age 21, never to For December, as in past months, we’ll continue our “Surprise Basket of HPH goodies,” which appears to delight our guests as they take their leave of us! Acknowledgements of ...