Yala Elephant: Great Photos at Daily Mail

Fantastic set of photos of Gemunu (a elephant) stealing food from visitors vehicles.

'First Gemunu pushed our driver, Janaka, off his seat and then he poked his head inside the car looking for food,' he said
'He checked each one of us with his trunk and then poked his trunk all around our Landcruiser looking for food but we didn't have any.
'All that I could think of was to stay calm, keep away from his big tusks and keep the camera steady.
'After what seemed like hours, though it was just a few minutes, he moved on to the next car. We just got out of there as fast as we could.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317031/Yala-National-Parks-Gemunu-elephant-pounces-tourists-makes-lunch.html

SandaKada Pahana "taken" from Sri Lanka

Moonstone Polonaruwa period.

Moonstone (SandaKada Pahana) "taken" from Sri Lanka by a British Planter in the 1950's is sold  for GBP 500,000.  The Moonstone had been given to Bronwen Hickmotts parents by a Tea Planter from Sri Lanka.  Mrs Hickmott used the 1300 year old moonstone as doorstep at her home in Exeter, Devon - affectionately calling it 'the pebble'. This particular moonstone has been dated to belong to the Anuradhapura period.  

Anuradhapura period moonstones can be identified by having four animals in the third band: elephants, lions, horses, and bulls. These four animals follow each other in a procession symbolizing the four stages in life: growth, energy, power and forbearance.  The Polonnaruwa period

Nissanka Mallas Lion Throne

Moonstones do not have the bull, possibly because of Hindu/Chola influence. Some of the Polonaruwa moonstones dont have the lion as well. 

My theory is that these moonstones without a lion (and bull) are from the latter part of the Polonaruwa period.  That is when the Kalinga influence on Polonnaruwa increased and ended up with Nissanka Malla, a non Sri Lankan from Sinhapura in Kalinga (Orissa).  Its likely that Nissanka Malla and the other Kalinga affiliated Kings who also claimed the Lion as their symbol, removed the lions from the Moonstones used as door steps.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313725/1-300-year-old-Buddhist-temple-stone-used-family-doorstep-sells-500-000-auction-BBCs-Antiques-Roadshow-Sotherbys-turned-away.html

Sinhalese and Tamil DNA Admixture Analyis

Updated analysis of DNA admixture of Sri Lankan participants at HarappaDNA. There are 7 Sri Lankans (3 Sinhalese, 4 Tamils). I have not included the part Sri Lankans whose immediate parents are not from Sri Lanka.

For comparison of Sri Lankan DNA with neighboring populations I have included seven other populations, TN Tamil(7), TN Tamil Brahmins(14), Kerala(10), Bengali(7), Punjabi(18) and Iranian(8). (TN=Tamil Nadu, (#) = the number of individuals). So before the results,
  *please consider getting a DNA test. Its USD 99 at 23andMe.
  *All Charts are Interactive. Clicking on them will sort the chart or table and info on data point.

Average Component Admixture for Populations

Components are based on reference population peaks. Please see National Geographic Reference Populations Overview and Regions overview for lucid description of similar analysis. Do also have a look at the complete Harappa World Admixture. This analysis is a subset of Harappa World Admixture.

South Indian Component
1) Decreases from TN Tamil (60%) > SL Tamil (58%) > Sinhalese (55.5%)
2) Bengali's, Kerala and TN Tamil Brahmins have approx the same (48%)
3) As expected Iranias have the least (3%). Europeans (not in this data) have 0%.

Baloch Component
Ranges from 40% (Punjabi's) to 29.1% (TN Tamil) for South Asian populations. Sinhalese and SL Tamils are in the mid range with approx 31%.

Caucasian Component
Iranians have 41% of this component. The Punjabis have 9.8%. Southern and East South Asians have less that 5%, with Sinhalese 3.3% and Tamil 2.1%

South East (SE) Asian Component
Bengali's have the highest percentage (4.7%) of this component reflecting proximity of borders with SE Asian populations. Sinhalese have 1.6% of SE component while, TN-Tamils and SL-Tamils both have 1.3% of SE Asian component.

Chart of Component Admixture for each Individual

The South Indian component is close to 60% for both Sinhalese and Tamils except for individual HRP0122 (49%) and HRP0232 (53%). HRP0232 is I, this blog author. The low f53% (for Sri Lankan) South Indian component is probably because of a maternal great grandmother who was probable European. Thats is reflected in the elevated NE European component of 4.7% compared other Sri Lankans with less than 2%. HRP0122 too has elevated NE European component of 4%. Maybe HRP0122  may care to comment on the elevated NE European component. HRP0122 and I we have corresponded by email and know of our identities.

Table of HarappaID's etc

Table has the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese and Tamil) and few subset individuals with their Harappa ID, Self ID'd Ethnicity and Assigned Group Population for this Analysis.

Resources:
a) Excel Spreadsheet of Data used in this analysis.
b) The complete World Admixture results at HarappaDNA.

Also See:
1) My DNA 01: Heroin Addiction, Smoking etc
2) Sri Lankan Population DNA Genetics 01
3) Basic Primer on Population DNA Genetics

Peter Sellers: The Party: Oh To be in Yingland sung by Ceylonese Bill Forbes.

All these years watched Peter Sellers "The Party" and never knew it was a Ceylonese (He left long before it was Sri Lanka) Bill Forbes who sang "Oh to be in England".

On the seaside bordering Adamaly place, along Galle Road, is a gas station that dispenses, petrol, diesel, cooking gas, vehicle servicing and washing, very popular with local residents. It was here where the famous Sri Lankan crooner Bill Forbes once worked as an attendant. The pump still stands and serves its citizens valiantly until today.

Bill Forbes was born on 17th December 1938 in Sri Lanka. He came to Britain in 1955 at the age of 17 doing menial clerical work by day and renting a flat in Victoria, Central London. During 1958 Bill lived out his dreams of being a famous singer by appearing regularly at the "Bread Basket" coffee bar in Tottenham Court Road. It was while he was performing one night in September 1958 that two talent scouts representing Jack Good approached him and asked if he wanted to audition for the "Oh Boy!" show. The series had just blasted onto the nation's television screens a few weeks earlier and Bill was already a big fan of the show. The show was a groundbreaking British pop music event from 1958-1959, in London with Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Bill Fury and others. He released 12 hits for EMI Columbia among them 'Too Young/It's Not the End of the World,' Sri Lankans still sing his baila hit: 'Aacha England,' recorded under the name of Kal Khan. 'Oh to be in England!' is still a favorite of many vintage Sri Lankans.

via  http://colombofort.com/bambalapitiya.htm

The story of Bottled Water

The story of Bottled Water

Humanitarian Crisis and Genocide: In India or Sri Lanka

This article was written in response to many writers from India (specially Tamil Nadu) who comment about genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.  Approximately half of the North East Tamil population lives in the South, specially in and around the capital Colombo.  I, the blog author am a Tamil too, my fathers ancestry being from the North.    So my apologies to the rest of India.

India has a humanitarian crisis and genocide that targets the Sudra and Dalit population.

a) The  highest illiteracy in the world, child labor/slavery, infant mortality, child abuse, lack of sanitation for more than half the population is a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.

b) These humanitarian crisis targets the Sudra and Dalit population and result in deaths of children in genocidal rates (2 million per year).
c) The government of India has had 60 years to rectify this humanitarian crisis and genocide.
d) There should be a UN resolution, and independent observers to ensure Indian govt compliance to control the humanitarian crisis and genocide of the Sudra and Dalit populations.

It is hypocritical not to consider what is happening in India as genocide and a humanitarian crisis.

The Numbers:
* 2 million children die each year: 27 million children are born each year in India of which 2 million of them do not live to the age of five. (120K (lakhs) in Tamil Nadu)

*12-60 million child workers in India: (700K (lakhs) to 3.5 million in Tamil Nadu)
*Two thirds of children are victims of physical abuse. The majority are beaten in school, and over half have to work seven days a week.
*200 million people in hunger, and over 40% of the children
*60% public defecation. (I am not joking 60% shit in the streets and open).

* The numbers for Tamil Nadu are based on population being 6%  of total Indian population.

Related:
Tamil Nadu and the Govt of India do not allow UNHCR (among others) access to the refugee camps in TN
The lack of direct access to the camps in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu affects UNHCR’s efforts to support the voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees, though it now conducts repatriation interviews outside the camps, while relying on civil-society groups to monitor the situation within them.
About Sri Lanka the report says
Efforts will continue towards preserving asylum space for refugees according to the country’s positive practice in the past.