sbarrkum
I am 3/4ths Sri Lankan (Jaffna) Tamil, 1/8th Sinhalese and 1/8th Irish; a proper mutt.
Maternal: Grandfather a Govt Surveyor married my grandmother of Sinhalese/Irish descent from the deep south, in the early 1900’s. They lived in the deep South, are generally considered Sinhalese and look Eurasian (common among upper class Sinhalese). They were Anglicans (Church of England), became Evangelical Christians (AOG) in 1940’s, and built the first Evangelical church in the South.
Paternal: Sri Lanka (Jaffna Tamil). Paternal ancestors converted to Catholicism during Portuguese rule (1500’s), went back to being Hindu and then became Methodists (and Anglicans) around 1850 (ggfather). They were Administrators and translators to the British, poets and writers in Tamil and English. Grandfathers sister was the first female Tamil novelist of modern times
I was brought up as an Evangelical even attending Bible study till about the age of 13. Agnostic and later atheist.
I studied in Sinhala, did a Bachelor in Chemistry and Physics in Sri Lanka. Then did Oceanography graduate stuff and research in the US.
I am about 60 years old, no kids, widower. Sri Lankan citizen (no dual) and been back in SL since 2012. Live in small village near a National Park, run a very small budget guest house and try to do some agriculture that can survive the Elephants, monkeys and wild boar incursions.
I am not really anonymous, a little digging and you can find my identity.
Most popular · Most recent
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The Philippines Genocide: 3 million Filipinos Killed
Sbarrkum posts excerpts from reports of the 1898 Spanish-American War period, including an American general’s estimate of 600,000 killed on Luzon, arguing that the Philippines suffered a genocide, with a…
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Sri Lanka, Tamils, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing?
Sbarrkum disputes accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Sri Lanka’s government, citing 2012 census figures that most Sri Lankan Tamils live in Sinhalese-majority areas, and arguing the LTTE pushed…
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2019 Easter Massacre in Sri Lanka
The author lists warning signs before the Sri Lanka Easter attacks, from vandalised Buddha statues to explosives found in January, and argues that infighting and reluctance to act against a…
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Why does the West get Immigrants and not Indigenous
Sereno Barr-Kumarakulasinghe argues that Western countries prefer immigrants to indigenous populations for the same reason the British brought undocumented indentured Indian labour to Ceylon: people without legal status are easier…
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The Tamil Diaspora in Norway
Excerpts from Øivind Fuglerud’s 1999 book Life on the Outside, on the Tamil diaspora in Norway and long-distance nationalism, posted with a link to the PDF rather than a review.
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Review: The Buddha and the Sahibs and Ashoka—The Search for India’s Lost Emperor
Sunil Koswatta reviews Charles Allen’s two books on how British Orientalists rediscovered Ashoka and the Buddha. It praises Allen’s storytelling and the honest scholars among the sahibs, and dwells on…
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2026 Iran War and the Gulf
Sbarrkum argues that Gulf states do not attack Iran because they are vulnerable: they host US bases, their oil and gas infrastructure is exposed, and some face restive Shia populations.…
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Ananda Coomaraswamy: The Arts and Crafts of India and Ceylon (1913)
Sbarrkum presents excerpts from Ananda Coomaraswamy’s 1913 book on the arts and crafts of India and Ceylon, with a short biography of the author, as a readable guide to the…
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Carbon Steel and Zinc in India
Sbarrkum, prompted by a reader comment, assembles excerpts on early Indian zinc distillation in retorts and on wootz carbon steel from southern India, which he says is thought to be…
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Stolen Loot in British Museum
Sbarrkum asks which artefacts in the UK should be returned, quoting the British Museum’s note on a gilded Tara bodhisattva from Sri Lanka, ‘given’ by Governor Robert Brownrigg, who captured…
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Synopsis of Afghan War and Consequences
The author argues that Jimmy Carter’s 1979 funding and arming of the mujahideen began a chain from the Taliban to 9/11 and the war on terror that destroyed Afghanistan and…
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Tribal Woman in Coimbatore Who Is Standing Up to Isha Foundation
Excerpts from an article on a tribal woman in Coimbatore, Muthamma, who says an ashram used local tribal families’ knowledge of forest plants and then left them excluded, and who…
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Sri Kumari my Late Partner
Sbarrkum shares a video of an Adivasi dance and remembers his late partner, whose parents were killed by the LTTE.
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Islamic Extremists, Human Rights and Evangelical Christians
Asks whether Sri Lanka and similar small states will become the frontline between an Islamic caliphate and a Western human-rights and Evangelical empire, arguing that US-led wars justified by human…
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An Eye transplant and a Pound of Flesh
An article by Bhante Dhammika from a Sri Lankan newspaper on the town of Sibi in Balochistan as the setting of the Sivi Jataka legend, reproduced in full with little…
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The Story Of A Tamil Boy’s Revenge
An excerpt from a Colombo Telegraph story in which a father explains to his son how a rice trader uses social hierarchy and ritual to keep economic power over a…
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Rest in Peace Dear Sereno
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The Crusades, Wootz/Damascus Steel, Pandanus and Dumbara Mats,
A post on Sri Lanka’s Pandanus species and the blue-flowered Kora-kaha, covering their uses in cooking, coastal protection, Dumbara mats and the yellow dye for monks’ robes, and tenuously linking…
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2019 Sri Lanka Presidential Elections
A breakdown of Sri Lanka’s 2019 presidential election, won by Gotabaya Rajapaksa with 52.5 per cent on 83 per cent turnout. The author argues that Tamil and Muslim bloc voting…
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1900’s: Betrayal and change in China’s Perception of the West
Sbarrkum, excerpting a moonofalabama post, argues that China had a Westernised elite like South Asia’s, with figures such as Wellington Koo, and that the West’s failure to honour agreements those…
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Revoking 13th Amendment in Sri Lanka and Elections in the US.
The author argues Sri Lanka needs a centralised state, warning that provincial devolution under the 13th Amendment could become de facto federalism and a client state of India, and offers…
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US Stock market, plus Boeing
A commenter-style market view arguing that the US stock market crash exposes the instabilities behind 2008, leaving ordinary savers holding the bag, and that Boeing’s fall was predictable given buybacks…
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Koneswaran, Tenavaram Temples and God Upulvan
Starting from a reader’s visit to two Sri Lankan temples, the author traces Sinhala place-names such as Gokkana and Devundara and the history of the god Upulvan, a Buddhist guardian…
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Harlem (NY) as I knew in mid 1990’s
Sbarrkum shares a video of Harlem in the mid-1990s, now gentrified, and recalls friends there and his years in the US on an H-1B visa.
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Good bye to our dear Sri Lankan Pundit, Sbarrkum
Sereno Barr-Kumarakulasinghe, sbarrkum to this blog for twelve years, died on 4 September, aged 67. 1,735 comments, 77 posts, a guest house on the edge of Wilpattu, and a life…
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Egalitarian/Equality and mobility in Society.
The poster shares excerpts from an article and its comments on inequality and social mobility, noting that mobility is highest where Scandinavian ancestry is common, and wonders whether the same…
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Sri Lanka: Mob Rule or Color Revolution
Calling Sri Lanka’s protests mob rule that supporters see as a colour revolution, the author argues that urban, Western-leaning critics of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa echo a pattern of US-backed regime…
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Cyclone Ditwah November 2025
Sbarrkum shares expert analysis suggesting Cyclone Ditwah, after two merging low-pressure systems over warm seas, may recur far more often than once in a thousand years as a warming atmosphere…
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Nepal Newar and Sinhala Quasi-Historical Myths
Sbarr Kumarakulasinghe summarises Naomi Appleton’s article on the Simhala story, which Sinhalese chroniclers, Nepal’s Newar traders and Jaffna Tamils each claim as an origin myth, and adds a note on…
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English Lit and Science, 70’s Sri Lanka
Sbarrkum reminisces about choosing between science and arts in 1970s Sri Lankan schools, studying English literature, and heavy drinking in his youth, hoping young readers take two lessons: goals can…
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Brown Venezuela to be Invaded
Sbarrkum reposts excerpts from a Naked Capitalism article arguing Trump’s demands over Venezuelan oil amount to an open colonial confession, and that Exxon-funded think-tank experts are helping to market military…
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Caste in Buddhist Monastic Orders of Sri Lanka
Excerpts from a Colombo Telegraph article on how caste shaped schisms among Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monastic orders and how British rule exploited and preserved feudal structures. The poster adds no…
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US Economics and Theory of Collapse
Citing the national debt, deficits and a Moody’s downgrade, the post debates whether the US faces economic decline, then applies Joseph Tainter’s theory of diminishing returns on complexity, pointing to…
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Bi Kidude, Sri Lankan Baila and Traditional Drums
Sbarrkum, cross-posting from his blog, hears similarities between the Zanzibari Taarab singer Bi Kidude, who died in 2013, and Sri Lankan Baila and traditional drumming such as Yak Thovil, and…
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Rajneesh and Sheela Ambalal Patel,
Sbarrkum asks for thoughts on the Netflix series Wild Wild Country, about the Rajneeshee movement in 1980s Oregon, and notes that the real villain is Rajneesh’s secretary Ma Anand Sheela.
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Japan: War Criminal Dynasty and Moonies
Sbarrkum summarises a YouTube video alleging that the CIA backed Nobusuke Kishi and the LDP, used the Unification Church to move money, and later shifted to Turning Point USA. The…
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Israel: Ongoing Genocide now Concentration Camps
Sbarrkum reposts a report, citing Reuters, that Israel has cleared land in Rafah for a surveilled camp, with an update on West Bank expulsions. His headline calls it genocide and…
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Multi Racial Multi Cultural Family in Ceylon
Sbarrkum recounts his mother’s multiracial family in Galle, mixing Sinhalese, Irish, Jaffna Tamil and Barbadian ancestry, and argues that children of mixed marriages belong to no single community and so…
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Netanyahu Depicts Grim Economic Future for Israel, Need to Become an Autarky, “Super Sparta” Due to Isolation; Are There More Meanings?
Excerpts and comment on Netanyahu’s speech warning that Israel may need to become a self-sufficient ‘super Sparta’ as it grows more isolated.
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Huawei and the shift to the East
Admitting he is out of touch with tech, the author argues that Trump’s Huawei ban is pushing countries towards independence from US products, and surveys the mobile operating systems Huawei…
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Big Foreheads, Smart People
A comment-style post about a music video by a Rajasthani singer, the idea that big foreheads signal intelligence, and the author’s own hairline, with a slur and linked videos.
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Happy New Year!
A New Year greeting for 2019 in English and Sinhala, wishing readers peace, happiness, health and wealth.
