What I meant when I spoke last week about a retreat into privacy was settling into a self-contained world which is full of interest. The human element in this world is limited, which is why I stressed animals in the original title of the series. But of course that title was also inspired by a book about another self-contained world ...
I come back to India today, having posted pictures of Sri Lanka and Nepal earlier to represent South Asia. These pictures are from a wonderful visit to Rajasthan in 2015, just after I had resigned as State Minister of Higher Education. It was sad for the system that I could not stay on, but I suspect I could have done ...
Dayan Jayatilleka’s current forceful advocacy of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the best possible future leader of this country has raised many hackles, but I believe he has answered the criticisms raised effectively. What he has not explored is the irony of there being two contradictory approaches adopted, one accusing him of inconsistency in that he was critical of Gotabhaya in the ...
After the disappointing 19th amendment I had just over a week in Sri Lanka before leaving on what was to be the most exciting trip of this period. There was much to do however, because I had to go down to Getamanna regarding the survey of the land I hoped to sell there, and I was also engaged in constructing ...
Today’s theme is from one of the places I have been privileged to enjoy as a home away from home. This was Aluwihare, where for 32 years I had the company of my aunt Ena de Silva, one of the most creative of Sri Lankans. In addition to her work in batik, and embroidery and carpentry and brass, she also ...
Speech of Prof Rajiva Wijesinha Chairman, Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission At the opening session of the TVEC / UNEVOC Workshop on TVET Systems for Sustainable Development: Innovation and Best Practices in Quality Assurance from South Asia – 20 February 2017 I am pleased, on behalf of the TVEC of Sri Lanka, to welcome participants at this workshop. It ...
I record here also the farewell dinner I gave the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which had generally done a good job. The pictures are of its head, and the Deputy Anna Sender who became a good friend and saw me a few years back when she came on holiday to Sri Lanka. I also add a couple of pictures, though ...
From the City of Aquatint 16 My last letters from my first summer term, replete with much activity that was intensely gripping at the time, trivial though it all now seems. Apart from the cover of my play Electra, published some years later, the pictures are of the Master John Redcliffe Maud, the Tutor for Admissions John Alberry who later ...
After ten posts about Oxford I come back to the account of my Parliament days. This post looks at my initial contact with Bell Pottinger, the excellent Public Relations firm Nivard Cabraal had hired as Governor of the Central Bank. They did much to make his fund raising successful, and he kept the interest we had to pay low, whereas ...
Text of the speech of Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, MP on the Votes of the Ministry of Resettlement at the Committee Stage of the Budget Debate – 29 Nov 2012 Mr Speaker, the work of the Ministry of Resettlement is of crucial importance, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the subject. Sri Lanka has implemented perhaps the ...
Keynote Address by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the 3rd session of the 9th International Language and Development Conference, Colombo, 19th October 2011 Language policy in Sri Lanka has been a total mess for the last century. Unfortunately, most measures taken to remedy the situation created greater problems. The aim of this paper is to provoke debate on what should be done in ...
I have now served two and a half years in Parliament. This would have been half the term in the old days before the United Front government of 1970 extended its own term by two years, and added one year to all future terms. This began the rot of Parliament expanding its own powers and privileges, which the Jayewardene government ...
As noted at the end of the last post, I also went abroad in the midst of the election campaign, which was indeed a great relief, for I found the process of canvassing wearisome. Interviews I was quite happy with, and indeed did them well, but meetings to canvass support I did not enjoy at all, and dealing with some ...
After several posts about fish, I get back to flowers, and the lotuses on the balcony. I showed them last on March 9th, shortly before I went to Canada, but I kept in touch and was happy to be told that there had been yet another blossom in the big pond. Janaki sent me a picture of the double-petalled lotus ...
My visit to England last year was pure nostalgia, covering several different periods in my life. Its principal purpose was to wish my Dean, Leslie Mitchell, on his 80th birthday. He it was who, several years ago, wrote the superscription to this piece, which struck me as so appropriate for his life and mine, when I was putting together extracts ...
This fourth account of SCOPP days notes my continuing educational work, as well as the visit of Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was being manoeuvered by her staff to embarrass us, which was why I suggested she was a political football – thankfully with a question mark, for she was a rotund woman which I ...
My father is 91 years old, but he still has a very clear mind. I was therefore surprised when he suddenly informed me, after lunch I think it was, soon after the Prime Minister returned to Sri Lanka, that it was time Mahinda appointed that young man from Kandy as Prime Minister. Though he is fond of the Prime Minister, ...
This post has very little about the Council, except for a brief reference to jollities over Christmas as well as continuing work. I dwell here instead on personal elements, including the death of my ayah. Fortunately we heard she was weakening and I was able to go and see her and hold her hand. That was nearly forty years ago, ...
After ten posts about Oxford I return to work while I was in Parliament. Here I note continuing efforts to involve the international community positively in our work, which is essential if they are not to work only on their own terms. I found positive responses from most, particularly the Japanese, but the Indians were more staid, given that their ...
This describes one of my most important achievements in my early days at SCOPP, when I managed to get the A 9 open six days a week. The LTTE had stopped the ICRC opening this more than three days, while also managing to blame us for their own intransigence. The pictures are of the Omanthai checkpoint and a contrasting aerial ...
