Some Presentations on Independence Day in the Past in Thuppahi-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Anusha Palpita  in 2016: “Independence Day in Black and White Video,” 20 July 2020, https://thuppahis.com/2020/07/30/independence-day-1949-in-black-and-white-video/ Thuppahi 2022: ….. https://thuppahis.com/2022/11/21/eureka-the-film-clip-of-the-1949-independence-day-festivities-secured/ KLF Wijedasa: “A Symbolic Moment of Ethnic Oneness,” 4 February 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/02/04/a-symbolic-moment-of-ethnic-oneness-at-independence-day-4-february-1948/ Senanayake Foundation 2022: “Remembering DS Senanayake on Sri Lanka’s Independence,” 6 February 2022, https://thuppahis.com/2022/02/06/rememebring-ds-senanayake-on-sri-lankas-independenc-day/ Jehan Perera: “Our Seventieth Year: Reflections …..,” 9 February 2018, https://thuppahis.com/2018/02/09/our-seventieth-year-reflections-on-sri-lankas-independence/ Thuppahi: “Symbolic Snaps on Independence Day,” 6 February 2019, https://thuppahis.com/2019/02/06/symbolic-snaps-on-independence-day/ Duncan White, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sharm Mustafa and Oscar Wijesinghe are seen here after they carried a baton to the podium at Galle Face Green where DS Senanayake stood …. in the course of the ceremonies on 4 February 1948. Note the contrasting scenario in recent times. and take note of an interesting side-story related by Somasiri Devendra: .…. https://thuppahis.com/2022/11/28/sri-lankan-navys-salute-on-february-4th-thereby-a-tale/ ...

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Digging into ‘Kota Vehera’ By Somasiri Devendra (An excerpt from “Jungles, Ruins and Shipwrecks”) Once, only, did I have the privilege of watching a systematic archaeological excavation in progress. [Note:The excavation was conducted by my father, D.T.Devendra, Asst. Commissioner of Archaeology] It was the excavation of the “Kota Vehera” at Dedigama, the supposed birth spot of Parakramabahu l. Called “Kota” vehera because its upper structure  (hataras-kotuwa, devata-kotuwa and kot-kerella) had not been completed, it was really a massive structure. Dagobas are built upwards from far below ground level, in solid brick and stone up to and above the relic chambers. Above that was a rubble, brick-bat and earth filling, with the brickwork outside gradually tapering off the dome. So to get inside one, you entered from above, with no damage done, and dig till you come to the solid brickwork. The serious work begins then. By the time I was ...

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SOMASIRI DEVENDRA’S SUNDAY COLUMN, 25 JULY 2021 Look, sister, look! Isn’t that the rain that’s a-coming? Roaring, roaring, rolling over rocks and trees, Hard blows the wind; Hard strikes the lightning; Loud roars the thunder; Black turns the sky – Isn’t it the rain that’s a-coming?  (Suriya Shankar Molligoda sang this, in Sinhala) Yes, the rains have now come. In majesty.And it brings back that most comfortable and happy audio-memory of childhood: the sound of rain on the roof. “Such sweet thunder” the Bard said, (and Duke Ellington named an album of jazz “sonnets” in homage). We once lived in an old house in a village, long ago, and Rain was a regular visitor. There was the dainty, wispy mal-vaessa which ended all-too-soon; and there were the sunlit showers for “the jackal’s wedding”. But I like rain to be dour and heavy, to whip the branches and beat them “…ragged/ Tattered and ...

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Rum-inations-by Somasiri Devendra Source:Sundaytimes Somasiri Devendra was an undergraduate at Peradeniya when Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, declared it “more open than usual”. Recalling this, Devendra decided to be “more retired than usual” at age 88. To take retirement seriously. (Or not so seriously. Whatever.) COVID had imposed its own sanctions, but “COVID does not a prison make, nor curfew a cage”. As long as the mind was free, so was he. He let it free to scroll through his life – as teacher, naval officer, stockbroker, maritime archaeologist, naval historian, boat ethnographer, writer, and inquisitive schoolboy. And thus emerged this journal of ‘The mind on holiday’. ...

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Two centuries tick by on Dockyard clock-by Randima Attygalle The Belfry Gate of the Trincomalee Naval Dockyard, a national architectural monument, is unknown to many. The once twin-towered belfry is now a single tower with its twin long gone. It has served as loyal timekeeper for sailors in the dockyard for 200 years and continues to do so Source:Island The strategically located natural deep water harbour in Trincomalee has been coveted by traders and colonists since ancient times. The earliest reference to this port of call once known as ‘Gokanna’ is found in Mahavamsa – the great chronicle of Sri Lanka. During the colonial days, Trincomalee or Trinco as it’s commonly called, was occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch, French and the British. The fort which was built by the Portuguese to keep rival sea faring nations at bay was expanded by the Dutch. The British captured Trincomalee from the Dutch in 1795 ...

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Call of the Sea. From Navy to maritime archaeologist, Somasiri Devendra comes full circle     ‘A Man Called ‘Ceylon” by Somasiri Devendra now available in all leading bookshops By Sajitha Prematunge The title ‘A Man Called ‘Ceylon” derives from the sea-faring days of his maternal grandfather, Lloyd Aswald, who was referred to as ‘Ceylon’ by his shipmates in whichever ship he sailed in, because he was always the only Ceylonese on board. In fact, his penchant for all things water-related, from sunken archaeological treasures to vernacular watercraft, Somasiri Devendra admits, may have been inspired by his grandfather. Although a book about watercraft, ‘A man called ‘Ceylon” does not run the risk of reading like a research paper, and as the writer himself admits in one chapter, is rather a narrative. It is by no means heady with technical jargon, and is quite readable even for those who haven’t the ...

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 “THE BOSUN’S PIPE” – By Des Kelly Not necessarily something smoked, the Bosun’s pipe was a special little metal whistle “piped” by the Quartermaster on board any Navy Vessel in order to get the attention of the Ship’s Crew, before any announcement was made, (sounding like a thin long shriek of a demented mouse), or simply to announce the arrival of an Officer on the Quarterdeck of a Ship. The Officer in question, would then stand at attention, salute no-one in particular, and “come aboard”, so to speak.            What has all this got to do with this most interesting article on a gifted Novelist named Somasiri Devendra ?, well, everything really, because it is all about his latest Novel. “A Man Called Ceylon”, has just been published and undoubtedly will be on the shopping list of any avid reader. As everyone probably knows, this writer was ...

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