He went on for the full 40 years....A Tribute to Professor Sarath W Kotagama

Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka [FOGSL] was the need of the time for a group of academics of the Zoology Department of the University of Colombo, to promote and to receive scientific knowledge of our avian fauna by attracting the general public of this country for its conservation.

The organization was started with a few likeminded academics and professionals in the field of conservation in the year 1976. Thus the pioneers of FOGSL are Dr. Sarath W Kotagama, Dr. S U K Ekaratne, Mr. P B Karunaratne, Mr. Rex I De Silva, Mr. L B Ranasinghe and Mr. G L de Silva. 

This was a time when birdwatching was to be a pastime restricted to an elite urban class in the country that took up the habit from the colonial rulers. Therefore, FOGSL was instrumental in popularizing birdwatching habit among the general public.

Commenced with just six members, the FOGSL today accounts for a total membership close to 50,000. This membership is unique due to the diversity of their professions and line of work with the wide age grouping from 8-80 years. It is common to note that a member is very active at the beginning gaining knowledge and giving assistance to the organization while making room for others to take over its functions after some time. This way the organization gets new blood for its function and thus accounting for this large membership.

However, it should be noted that there has been one person who has gone the full length of its timeline of 40 years to date and is none other than its principal Co-founder Professor Sarath Wimalabandara Kotagama.

This write up is a tribute to his commitment and application to FOGSL during its thick and thin in these 40 years.

Professor Sarath Wimalabandara Kotagama

He was born in 1950 in Bandarawela, as the eldest in a family of six siblings, four boys and two girls. Professor Kotagama received his primary and secondary education at St. Thomas’ Preparatory School, Bandarawela, and St. Thomas’ College, Gurutalawa. He passed his university entrance examination from St. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia and gained admission to the University of Ceylon – Colombo campus as it was known then, where he graduated with honors in Zoology in 1974.

The siblings at a family event

In the year 1977, he proceeded to the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, for his post graduate studies, and in 1982 was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He returned home to serve as a lecturer in the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

His Doctoral research at the University of Aberdeen, in association with Professor George Mackenzie Dunnet on the “behaviour and feeding ecology of the Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula kramerii) in Polonnaruwa”, ensured his childhood dream had come true; to be a professional ornithologist in this country.

Early Days at Gurutalawa

St. Thomas’ College Gurutalawa, the first ever outbound school in this country paved the way to nurture his interest with birds. He entered Gurutalawa having completed his primary education in St. Thomas’ Prep school in Bandarawela in 1960. It is recorded in the history of Gurutalawa that a ‘Birdwatching club’ was formed in the year 1961 by its then Chaplain Rev. Father Canon A J Foster. Gurutalawa being in the Uva province was an ornithological paradise recording over 50 different species at any given time with the numbers increasing significantly in the migratory period.

S Thomas’ College Gurutalawa

Young Kotagama was in the first batch of boys who joined the birdwatching club at school and was an active, enthusiastic member. The school club history records that Mr. S K Bunker of Jaffna College to have recorded over 150 bird species while Mr. J W Marasinghe, a school staff member who conducted observations in the club to have recorded over 80 bird species. The school being in a location with so much bird activity, the boys made valuable notes on the nesting and the feeding behavior of the bird species found in the school premises. These records were sent regularly with photographs taken in location to the ‘Loris’; the official publication of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society [WNPS]. Students also contributed their birding experience as write ups to the school magazine that was published annually. Part of an essay titled ‘My Book about Birds’ written by young Sarath Kotagama at age 17 is as below in italics.

 My book about Birds

Most of us are interested in birds.  We like to hear their cheerful songs, to see them as they fly down beautifully through the air, to watch them walk proudly on the grass or slipping about bushes in search of food.  But like most wild things, birds are shy and if we wish to learn about the wonders of their lives we must watch them patiently and quietly.

Most bird lovers keep a bird book in which to note such things as, the day when a certain bird was seen, the food it ate, its colour and shape, the way it flew, the way it walked, when it began nesting, its song and so forth.  By keeping a bird-book and making regular notes in it and perhaps drawings as well we get the greatest enjoyment from our bird watching study.

S.Kotagama: Upper 6th, St Thomas’ College, Guruthalawa (written in 1967)

His Birdwatching Guru's at Gurutalawa

At home, during school holidays in remote Bibile, his interest of birds would diverge onto a different path. It was the 1960’s and the gramophone era was being replaced by the wireless radio. A period with limited resources where time took time to move. People improvised the discarded gramophone record  into art work.

  . 

His ancestral home in Bibile

Numerous were the handmade objects deforming them in hot water; forming flower vases to cigarette trays. But the most common use was to paint on them and mount them on walls as decorations. 

Fifteen years ago, I stayed overnight with him at his ancestral home in Bibile on the way to Colombo from Ampara and admired a set of these gramophone record paintings that decorated the old dining room. His mother prompted in my ear ‘they are the art works of the elder one’…..making sure it’s not Hemasiri the younger Kotagama who was my classmate at Gurutalawa. It was a series of the colour plates from G M Henry’s ‘A Guide to the Birds of Ceylon’ done with brilliant Chinese Lacquer from a prize book that he won at school for birdwatching.

Hemasiri narrates thus of the elder one, “him being the Loku Aiya [Big brother] had set a grand personal and social image that we brothers and sisters had to follow by having to excel in higher education, become professors, or be ideals in persona as much as possible. In all his books documents etc. from school to university he wrote as Sarath DOD Kotagama. DOD meant ‘Do or Die’. Such was his character in pursuance of what he wanted to be. I believe we too followed his moto apart from growing long hair. We had to always be simple in life following him.”

“School vacations in the early days were filled with adventures as in the Enid Blyton stories” says Hemasiri. They had tried their skills at hunting with a slingshot with Baba who was a master with it having used it to keep the birds away from the crops. Baba with his parents lived in their property and tended their lands.   However, in later years as Loku Aiya turned to be a bird lover, hunting was totally banned.

Finally, Hemasiri says thus “He was an extreme workaholic and was committed to his passion. The expense being that he was not a regular participant at family gatherings and our father would say “he is such a busy man”. A true fact that we who were close to him and worked with him will no doubt approve of.

FOGSL goes into publications

Principal paraphernalia required for birdwatching is generally said to be a good pair of seeing eyes, a good bird guide for field reference and a notebook to keep records. A simple field guide on the country’s birds was a grave need of the time in the early 90’s, when FOGSL started its field trips to birding locations. The only one of its kind available then was that of G M Henry; ‘A Guide to the Birds of Ceylon’.  However, this was a highly descriptive one which was found to be difficult to handle in the field. The one before that was the three volumes of Captain Vincent Legge’s ‘A History of the Birds of Ceylon’ and was not meant for reference in the field.

The task of producing this field guide on the birds of Sri Lanka was undertaken by Sarath Kotagama himself.  The Wildlife Heritage Trust [WHT], in 1994, published his field guide; ‘A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka’ - authored by Sarath Kotagama and illustrated by Prithiviraj Fernando. Later, an enhanced Sinhala version ‘Sirilaka Kurullo’ was sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom and the book was distributed free to all the school libraries in the country. The name FOGSL was now common to all nature lovers and conservationists in the country. This was to follow on with publications to individual birding locations in the country and extended to mammalian guides, plant and butterfly guides as well.

There was to be another important significant recognition to FOGSL that came by around this time in 1994. The BirdLife International the world’s prominent organization on bird conservation was looking for representation in the country and FOGSL was selected as the representative of BirdLife International.

Reviving FOGSL in 20 years.

Late P B Karunaratne

Founded in 1976 FOGSL progressed slowly during the initial stages with more of academic input from its founder members. Mr. P B Karunaratne, a co-founder of FOGSL was the Curator in Entomology at the Colombo Museum until his retirement in 1970, having joined the Museum in 1953. His input in the field of conservation was immense. Since his retirement in 1970, he was active in guiding young zoologists like Sarath Kotagama in their research work at the Sinharaja World Heritage Site and other such important locations. His input in compiling the Forest Department’s ‘National Conservation Review’ which for the first time sought to map the distribution of the flora and fauna in the country is still the preferred reference on the subject.  His untimely demise from terminal cancer in June 1996 created a void in the organization and resulted in the need to revive the activities of FOGSL for its stable continuity.

By the year 1996, FOGSL had progressed for 20 years. The country has changed politically and the communication facilities upgraded. The need to gratify the services of its able co-founder Mr. Karunaratne was felt by the membership.  Keeping in line with Karu’s profession, an annual exhibition on birds was to commence named after him in memorial. The first exhibition was held at the Colombo University premises marking the 20 years of FOGSL. It was to be a great success with the awareness communicated through the electronic media, in comparison to its first call in 1976 through a four inch advertisement in the ‘Ceylon Daily News’. Young blood flowed in and the membership swelled. Activities came up on an annual calendar with field trips to birding locations being an attraction. The message of bird awareness and its conservation went all over the country.

FOGSL is the Birdlife International Affiliate in Sri Lanka

By now FOGSL was more than an organization limited to the country. In 1998, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds [RSPB], a British organization, extends its cooperation assisting schools awareness projects in the Western province of Sri Lanka. Their funding facilitated the publishing of books, posters and teaching aids to schools in the province. RSPB being pleased with the professionality and the approach towards bird conservation and awareness; FOGSL was proposed as the country’s representative to the world body, the BirdLife International and FOGSL became the national affiliate of the BirdLife International in Sri Lanka. The highlight of it being that Prof Sarath Kotagama is invited to the BirdLife International World Conference in October 1999 in Malaysia, representing Sri Lanka. This being its first conference in Asia, the then FOGSL committee volunteered to accompany Prof Sarath Kotagama to the conference. 

This conference, he says, was a turning point in his life. The FOGSL was awarded the first ever ‘Conservation Achievement Award’ by the BirdLife International which is the world’s largest and the most recognized organization for bird conservation. Her Majesty the Queen Noor of Jordan – Honorary President of BirdLife International then, presented the award to the leader of our delegation Prof. Sarath Kotagama.

Announcement of the BirdLife Conservation Achievement Award to FOGSL

 

FOGSL delegation to Malaysia after the announcement of the award

PASOC 2000

Late Dr Salim Ali the eminent ornithologist of India and the authority for birds in Asia had a dream to see a functioning of a Pan Asian Ornithological Organization for the ornithologists of Asia. On his birth centenary in 1996, the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History [SACON]   and the Bombay Natural History Society [BNHS] took up the challenge to organize the first Pan Asian Ornithological Congress (PASOC) in India. The Asian representation was commendable. At its conclusion, FOGSL was nominated to host the 2nd PASOC in Sri Lanka. In the millennium year 2000, FOGSL organized a three day conference in Kandy, with the objectives to follow up and collaborate with BirdLife International in the compilation of the Asian Red Data Book and the launch of the Important Bird Area Programme [IBA] for South Asia.

Important Bird Area Programme Sri Lanka

The IBA programme Phase I was started in the year 2000 with the author coordinating an awareness programme and preliminary survey that went on for almost a year and a half covering the whole country, except for the North and some parts in the East due to the unrest in these areas at the time. Phase II continued with Mr. Chinthaka Kaluthota and the team completing site research, investigations and observations in the target areas. The research achieved immense success with three first ever sightings of species that upgraded the Sri Lankan check list.

Year 2001 marked 25 years of FOGSL and I had been with the organization for five years contributing my knowledge on birds having had my roots in birdwatching also from St. Thomas’ College, Gurutalawa where Professor Sarath Kotagama started as well. I had actively been involved almost full time in bird conservation for ten years by 2005. It was time for me to step down and let others take over, as said before, allowing young blood into the committees. However, once a member of FOGSL you are always a member and is always on call for its needs.

Looking back at the 40 years gone by, FOGSL has achieved much and given much to the country and to the academia in this field. The leadership shown in conservation in the region has been commended and rewarded internationally. It is with gratitude that we remember the co-founders who I’m sure did not expect this much in the field of conservation when they first met in 1976. There are but two of them who have been active throughout; Professor Sarath Kotagama and Mr. Rex I De Silva.

Needless to say, there is one person who will keep going to the end with FOGSL and his name will be indelible in the annals of history in the organization and in the Asian region on bird conservation. It is none other than Professor Sarath Kotagama, the principal co-founder of the Field Ornithological Group of Sri Lanka who is now honored with the highest position for a South Asian in ornithology by being appointed the chairperson for the ‘BirdLife Asia Council’ and being elected to be a Member of the Global Council of BirdLife International.

In conclusion, I am sure Professor Sarath Kotagama will agree with me when saying that the heights to which he has been elevated in the ornithological society both globally and in the Asian region, is replicated to the dedication and the commitment of the committees and the membership of FOGSL during these 40 years. However, there is Ms. Namali Kotagama, his beloved wife who has been alongside him, most of these years, letting him have the much needed time in the field and research work, away from home and family. Thus most of his books are dedicated in gratitude towards them; Namali, and the two children..... Tharini and Odhatha.

Photography credit: Curtsy The First Fifty Years ‘A History of S Thomas’ College Gurutalawa 1942-1992’, FOGSL database, Mr. Hemasiri Kotagama and the author

THE MOTHER OF ALL REUNIONS..... THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF THE CLASS OF 66

The countdown begins

The long waited re-union named the Mother of all Re-unions; the Golden Jubilee of the Class of 66 of the then St Thomas’ Preparatory School in Bandarawela [STPSB] is just a month away. On the 7^th of July 2016 the first member arrives in the country. Dulip Nilaweera also known as ‘Tonto’ both at school and at home, who at one time had second thoughts in coming over from the UK is now the first to come.

Manilal who is very much a retiree, with his beloved wife Hemanthi had been to Bandarawela already and booked up the whole of the premises and the 10 chalets at the Tourist Board Holiday Resort overlooking the school. They have even arranged with the photographers and met the incumbent Headmaster of the school and discussed a programme for the two days 12th 13th August 2016, in line with the already scheduled AGM of S Thomas’ College Bandarawela……..[that’s how the school is called now.]

By the last week of July I call all the locals once more for confirmation of attendance while Manilal and Nagalingam [Nage] coordinated with the arrivals of the expatriates. Nalin Abeyratne was the next to arrive all the way from Scotland who very generously undertook to accompany Ms. Indrani Elleopla to Bandarawela. She is the only surviving lady teacher who taught the Class of 66, while the only other surviving gentleman being Mr. Coillpillai. Today he is a Reverend  having ordained robes and is to travel with us from Colombo.

The first week of August saw the influx of the arrivals; Thowfeek from USA, Muralitharan and Sivanandhan from Australia, ALPD Perera from Dubai and Sri Dharan and Vivekanandhan from India.

It is interesting to note that Muralidharan and Sri Dharan have been sitting together in the same flight from Chennai and did not recognized each other until at the baggage claim.

I am finally through in locating the last person on my list; Tilak Wimalasooriya. In the meantime Nage manage to locate the missing one of the two girls, Vasanthi Kumar. Devika Collins nee Edirisinghe the other is in Australia and is scheduled to come over. We are lucky to have located both of them at the last moment. However they both could not make it to the event. Vasanthi for lack of time for  to leave from India and Tilak due to an unavoidable family need.

Anura Punchihewa who had earlier communicated of his intention to be in Australia during this time, calls me to confirm his availability for the event. This was a consolation for Tilak’s inability.

The most looked forward person ALPD Perera arrives in the country on the 9^th of August while the last scheduled arrival is Devika Edirisinghe from Australia who is to land just a day before we leave for Bandarawela from Colombo.

I am but worried of another. Hemasiri Kotagama [Kota] in Oman had been silent and I try desperately to contact him when he finally responds my E mail saying he is already in town and would find his way to Bandarawela from Kandy. Kota’s calming mail is countered by Devika’s alarming mail. She is denied from flying to Sri Lanka for her Australian passport being expired just three days before. The follow up to obtain an emergency passport is having hick ups with holidays and shortened office hours and getting support documents from Sri Lanka. Finally she is to arrive on the last day just in time for the Fellowship Dinner.

The Euphoria builds up

ALPD Perera was definitely a man for all seasons and the news of his presence in the country makes many of the Gurutalawa boys also needing to be in Bandarawela to attend the Social Night that is planned for at the resort. We had to make a strong ruling that the re-union is limited to the boys and girls of the Class of 66 at Bandarawela and the limited accommodation facilities would not facilitate any others. They are to have another evening with ALPD in Colombo later.

There seem to be other interests building up Down-Under as well. In the run-up for the event I make contact with our Lower Kindergarten teacher Ms. Erangany Sevadorai nee Karunaratne who is now living in Australia. I tell her about the upcoming event and that we intend to bring over Ms. Ellepola the only surviving lady teacher who taught us in the Standard 5.  Ms. Karunaratne tells me she had just returned from a visit to the UK where she had met another of the Class of 66 member, Maduma Ratnayake and that it would be a challenge to come over here but never the less would like to meet Ms. Ellepola, who is now an octogenarian.

Mrs.Erangany Meets Ms. Indrani 

The following week I get a message from her saying that 9^th of August is the census day in Australia and that she would be leaving just after the count to be in Bandarawela on the 11^th. She gives me the contact number of our first teacher at Bandarawela, Mrs. Merline Peiris nee Fernando who is also in her eighties now.  Mrs. Merline was also delighted to hear of the event but was too feeble for the long journey all the way to Bandarawela.

There is but only one other batch that could celebrate a similar Golden Jubilee re-union of STPSB and that is the 1967 batch. From 1968 onward STPSB commenced classes beyond Standard 5. There was a few others who were our seniors at STPSB who also wanted to be accounted with our celebrations. They were to be a group that had to be given consideration and they commanded themselves to the event anyway. They would be staying elsewhere and would join us at the Social Night at the resort and the Special Assembly that the Headmaster would conduct for us to honor the past teachers who will be at the event.

Thus we were to have Suresh Markandan, Bandula Vithanage & Upali Gunaratne who would be staying with Christopher Stork at Spring Valley, Badulla.  There was one other special person who also got news of the event and contaced me. Neil Horadagoda also an old boy of Bandarawela and Gurutalawa and is now a Veterinary Science Professor at the Sydney University is also in Badulla visiting his mother and preferred to come over to the school for the assembly.  Later Suresh is to regret his absence, compelling his stay back in Colombo.

Mithra Edirisinghe, Devika’s elder brother who joined the teaching staff of Bandarawela the year we left, calls me to say that he too will be coming over with Mr. F R Joseph [FRJ] and Mrs. Joseph. FRJ was in the School Administration then who later joins the teaching staff.

Ms, Indari Ellepola , Mr.& Mrs. F R Joseph with Mrs. Erangany Selvadorai

Going back to Bandarawela after almost 50 years brought in nostalgic memories to many. Most of us had been living in this area or our parents were employed in this area then. The most sort after travel to Bandarawela then was by train. A train journey to Bandarawela is sure to bring back the nostalgia of that bygone era once again. Rajaram, Muralitharan and Sivanadhan preferred to take the train to Bandarawela for nostalgic reasons and they would be there a day before us visiting their ancestry homes and reminiscing their birth places in and around Bandarawela.

Fr. Coilpillai with Siva and Sri

The railway still runs in the same old way it ran 50 years ago with a limitation of six to seven wagons at that same speed or even slower now from Colombo to Badulla. It was this train journey that we all longed for then to come home in the company of Mr. FRJ who would entrust us to our parents waiting in the stations to collect us.

Finally it was the inquiries about the finances that one would need to subscribe for the event. We had never discussed costs as a primary requirement, the idea was to get all in that photograph to come up to Bandarawela at any cost. Our beloved friends ALPD and Thowfeek had assisted very generously towards the logistics and assistance on behalf of the needy. However everyone did contribute towards the nominal expenses and finances was never a matter to be discuss nor was a propriety.

Back to School by Bus

          

Finally the long waited day dawns. Friday 12^th August 2016. The bus would be leaving at 4:30 A.M. from the Thalawathugoda Keels-Super car park. Nage was to collect most of the guys as his driver would  bring him over to Thalawathugoda. All of us were punctual being on time for Manilal was very meticulous in getting things done in an orderly manner. Unfortunately Wathuhewa, one of those in the closest proximity to the location keep Nage and the rest waiting for over 45 minutes and we are to take a delayed start at 5:15 A.M. 

LS sans hair on head with Lal Samaraweera

Next to collect was L S Perera [LS] who would be at the top of his lane by 4:30 A.M., but his phone would not respond and we are now in a dilemma whether to skip him. Finally we decide to go for him and if he is not on the road to skip him. To all our surprise there he is. We only knew it was him because he walked over to the bus and we inquired if he was L S Perera. He was a person with a hairdo that resembled a Buckingham Soldier. Today it is the opposite with a bare skin, sans any hair.

It was a most surprising and interesting time getting to know each other in the bus. Mahesha Abeynayake from Australia was only recognized because of his Australian fiancée Vanessa. Dulip Nilaweera [Tonto] was a difficult one even though we knew he was in the bus. It would have been the same to both Dulip and Mahesha to recognize all of us. However Thangaraj was a difficult one for all, we had not met Thanga much even while in Colombo. Sridharan and Vivekanadan [Poochi] have not changed much. Father Coilpillai that we knew in his handsome 20’s then is now over seventy. ALPD was coming on his own to Bandarawela while Nihal Perera was to follow us by car.

After Breakfast at River Garden Belihul Oya

We are on the Southern Highway and on to the Panadura-Ratnapura road to avoid the morning school traffic and to make up time to be spent together at the resort. Breakfast was to be at the River Garden Hotel in Belihul Oya. Again Manilal being so meticulous had arranged all this beforehand and timed the itinerary accordingly. 

Almost three hours of dozing in air conditioned comfort we are at Belihul Oya for breakfast around 9:00 A.M. It’s a spread of a European and Oriental culinary combination with ample fresh juice rounded up with a steaming brew of high grown aromatic tea. A sumptuous breakfast had we all take a photograph with the River Garden Hotel in the background and are ready for the second leg of the bus journey. A travel time of a round an hour and a half all the way to Bandarawela.

When in Bandarawela our friend Sidath Perera, the ‘Poor Little Rich Boy’ of Dr. Wilfred Perera, [the famous gynecologist] says that his father has booked him into the Bandarawela Hotel and that he prefers to be where his father wants him to be. We have no option but we drop the fellow with his suitcase and all at the Bandarawela Hotel and proceed to the resort up on the hill overlooking the school. It was so strange to find his father looking after his needs even at this ripe old age of 60 when the father would also be over 80 now. It was so amusing to think so.

Sidath is not welcome at the Bandarawela Hotel- Manilal calms us with raised hand

However to all our surprise Sidath is back following us in a taxi saying that his father has apparently not booked him into the up market Bandarawela Hotel but to the old lousy Bandarawela Rest-House. He is now a happy man at the resort engaged in his painting hobby.

The Holiday Resort

We are now on the meadows of yesteryear Bandarawela, which is now turned into a Holiday Resort. Much are the dwelling houses that have come up on the once bare hills where Friesian cattle grazed 50 years ago. We are at leisure in the garden waiting for those who are coming on their own. Manilal again should be commended for sourcing two crates of Carlsberg beer, a commodity that is so scarce these days.

Under the beer tree

Relaxing and sipping into cold beer we reminisce the past 50 years when we find more people coming in. They are coming towards us over the rolling mountain side.  First it was Rajaram, Murali and Sivanadhan who had been to their ancestral abodes and had visited the old Hindu kovil in Bandarawel; their foreheads smeared with coloured holy ash. With gods permission they too join in the beer embracing each other which I’m sure if done at school 50 years ago, would have been taboo.

Murali, Ram and Siva 

Nalin brings in Ms Ellepola

Finally the long waited two arrive. Nalin Abeyrtane with Ms. Indrani Ellepola is coming over the hill and we all rush just as would have done as kids 50 years ago. It was all hugs and devotional welcome to her from all. Nalin was also the recipient of an occasional hug until we all took seats under the beer tree once again.

We all get a ‘Polo shirt’ each, specially done for the event and sponsored by Thowfeek . After Lunch we settle down for the evening in the 10 chalets that had bunk type beds. The plan for the evening is to have tea at the resort and go down to the school and walk through the halls and corridors with high nostalgia.

In School with the incumbent Headmaster

We are all clad in the white polo shirt with the old school crest and go down to school where we meet the Headmaster who showed us the expanded school. It was to be a very tiny and small school that was here 50 years ago as we remember. The perspectives that we as kids had of the school then seem so small to us adults now. Our walk end up at the Peiris dormitory and find this dormitory to be in the same shape as it was 50 years ago. We walk over to the famous 'ice-room' where the bed wetter’s were housed. Poor Kota says he had company then but could not remember all but Suresh Markandan was a member here.

Ms. Elleopla in conversation with the Headmaster - Wathu, Aravinda Abeysooriya, Thangarajand Frank around with Panini

We are informed that there are a very few boarders when compared to the day scholars now. It was the other way round 50 years ago. The condition of the present day dormitories will not bring in any boarders in this era. When an average home at present time have tiled floors and attached bathrooms. Any parent will have a second thought to house a child in a dormitory of this state . It was not the case when we were kids. Some of us did not have electricity at home when compared to the comforts we had in school. Times have changed and things need to change accordingly.

In the new kindergarten class rooms

We walk back to the dining hall for a cup of tea and walk up to the classroom block and roam behind the chapel, reminiscing the nooks and corners where we played hide and seek and where some were up to mischief as well.

By the chapel

Back on the hill we are ready for our Social-Night. Again in the outdoors but not under the beer tree but more closer to the resort building. We now have all the participants including those that reside in and around Bandarawela also spending the night with us. Aravinda Abeysooriya, Yogeswaran, Anura Punchihewa and R M Gunasiri the one from the village, whose father was the Rate Mahathaya of Amunudowa. In fact our Gunasiri is also known as Amunudowe Ralahami today, keeping in line with the family title. It was through this prefix that I managed to locate him. Nobody knew him as Gunasiri.

Nage Gunasiri and Tonto with Ram and Poochi in the far ground

Our Social Nite

The party kept going late into the night with all those seniors mentioned before also joining us. The other staff members, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph and Mr. Mithra Edirisinghe is also with us. Mrs. Erangany Karunaratne too has come over from Australia as planned and she calls me requesting to be excused from the social but would be at the chapel the following morning for the service and she would join us at the Fellowship Dinner.

Bandula Vithanage with ALPD

Everybody was in high spirits including the brown eyed Murali who is elated with his mineral water. We call it a day and enjoy a dinner with string hoppers and chicken curry with a fiery pol sambol and retire for the night as we have a very busy schedule the following day.

Inside the chalets different encounters were sure have taken place.  My chalet was a full house with four; Christo, LS, Tonto and me in the two bunk beds with Frank and Dimbula in the next room on the two single beds.

Tonto and I occupied the upper bunk as both Christo and LS had extra bulk that made the slim ladder to wobble. No sooner the lights were put out both Christo and LS go “ZZZ-Zzzz-ZZzzz-hngGGggh-Ppbhww- zZZzzzZZ . . . they are both in a sonorous droning. Tonto being disturbed and uneasy keeps tapping on the wooden side plate on the upper bunk, to no avail. In a while I too fall asleep and most definitely did join the two below. Come morning Tonto is not in the bunk bed and I locate him stretched out on the dining table in the upper floor.

  

I get up early and get into my regular sweat out and walk all the way passing the Keble dorm, the school gate and into the old golf links. There is no golf link now but a large complex of a series of buildings of the Government Technical College. I walk all the way passing the ditch in the golf link. The depression in the ground is still visible but the ditch in which we waded for fun has all been drained out.

On the way back I inquire from the security guard at the gate if there is a way to go up to the holiday resort directly over the hill. He tells me there was an old footpath which is not used now but judging me for an outsider who for nostalgic reasons need to go up this way he allows me in the premises and directs me.

This was the old route we took to go up to the “Little Thatch”. Ms. Blanchard’s cottage which later became the abode of Mr. & Mrs. Godfrey Peiris. Kota came over to live with the Peiris’ after graduating from the 'ice-room' in the school dormitory. He was a fond favorite of the couple who very nearly adopted him, says Kota. Later on Thangaraj too joined him at the ‘Little Thatch’.

The Reunion

Everyone is ready in Lounge Suit expect for Kota in his Oriental Lounge attire and a matching golf cap. We all go down to the school chapel. It was nothing strange for us non-Christians to be sitting through services for we had even been in the school choir while at school.

After the service the first major event of the re-union is to take place. We would be taking the same school leaving photograph taken with the chapel as the background 50 years ago and in the same sequence.

The 50 year old photograph that brought us together 

The photograph taken after 50 years

With the present staff

This was to be the most nostalgic and solemnest moment of the event.  Of the eight teachers who tutored us in the Standard 5 then, only two are existent, Mr. Coilpillai and Ms. Ellepola. Empty seats are left vacant in memory of the other teachers. We all take our positions just as we had been asked to in 1966 leaving gaps for those absent and the two deceased, Ganesh Kumar and Ajith Wanigasekara are no more. Next we sit for a group photo with the present day teachers and the Headmaster. This was followed by those who were prefects and sportsmen taking photos. Photo sessions over we proceed to the dining hall passing the class rooms and the old bell structure sans the bell for a typical school breakfast of pol sambol and bread with a fried egg chased down with hot brewed tea with milk.

The old belfry sans the bell

School Breakfast

ALPD and Poochi with Mr. Godfrey Peiris' sons

Item two for the day is the Special Assembly for the Class of 66 before the scheduled AGM of the Old Boys Association. We are into a delay with the Headmaster taking time and it is said the assembly will take place after the AGM. We become a forced assemblage to witness the cold war between the Headmaster and the officials of the Exco.  A bitter and unruly way of handling matters related to school administration. However the intermittent animated verbal barrages of Panini Edirisinghe at the lectern, emulating ‘Kermit’ of Sesame street fame kept us amused for over an hour. Finally the AGM comes to a stalemate situation and it’s time for our assembly.

We take seats on one wing of the Keble Hall and the seniors with Neil Horadagoda are also back in school after last night’s social. The Headmaster is pleased about the first ever such event organized by the Class of 66. He welcome us to the school and admires the presence of Ms. Ellepola, Mrs. Karunaratne, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph and Mr. Mithra Edirisinghe.

Manilal and I brief the gathering of the significance and the run up to the event and acknowledge the generosity of ALPD, Thowfeek and the others who in their own special ways for sponsoring the event.

A small memento to honour the existent teachers is given away by the Headmaster on behalf of the Class of 66, brings the assembly to an end. We now go up to our old classroom of standard 5, the second room from the then school office for the final event of the re-union; to enact a class session with Ms. Ellepola as the class teacher.

We all take seats at the tiny desk and chair and Ms. Ellepola walks into the class when we all stand up for her and say good afternoon Miss. She orders us to sit and the attendance taken and the reason for the absentees are discussed in a very novel way. Next was the call up to narrate your memories to the elderly class.

Kota making his confession 

First was Nalin exposing how Ms. Ellepola hit Bandula Vithanage with a piece of chalk to get his attention when she accidentally threw the bunch of keys instead, injuring Bandula. For which she was remorseful to Bandula even today. Nalin went on to say about Michael Goonawardane messing up inguru [ginger] and anguru [char coal] at the school kitchen.

Manilal briefed the class about him and his brother Lalin facing an admission test to enter the school midway, when their father was transferred to the Badulla hospital. SLA had advised his father that the boys could be admitted two classes behind to standard 2 for their English was so poor. They then had to undergo a rigorous tuition session in English for one year at home before they were admitted to standard 5 the following year. 

Pooch narrated about how contented they were when SLA’s car would stop a few yards from his home for the lack of air pressure in the tires …….. A tit for tat for being punished in the poetry class.

Kota was in all faithfulness to Ms. Ellepola for providing him with an ample stock of pictures for his scrap book. Which would otherwise be decorated with the multiple mackerel fish, all swimming in one direction. This was about the only pictorial commodity that a household did have in that bygone era.

Last was Tonto in the typical Nilaweera brand giving basic standards of measurements and its invention related to human morphology and anthropomorphic?  Yes the Nilaweera siblings were a kind of a brand and they were all bright and clever.

Next Fr. Coilpillai detailed how he enjoyed a Sunday beer with Godfrey Peiris at the ‘Little Thatch’ after Sunday mass. Kota now had a confession to make….he has had his fist drips of alcohol [beer] from the left overs in these bottles, where as now he could take charge of a few bottles. 

Mrs. Erangany Karunaratne related how the handsome Coilpillai in his 20’s, used to tease the young lady teachers.

The brochure is distributed by Manilal 

The mornings photograph is now printed and placed in a brochure alongside the original one taken in 1966 is delivered to class. Again Manilal’s specifics in coordination is at work. 

This classic memento is distributed to all. A once in a lifetime experience to be carried home and to be proud with your wife and family. The class ends and we go down to the dining hall for the Headmasters lunch and back in the resort relaxing before the Fellowship at the Bandarawela Hotel.

While many are taking an evening siesta, Kota, Punchi and I venture into locate the ‘Little Thatch’. It was not that easy as the locality has changed very much and in fact we had walked past the old cottage unknowingly. The cottage is now vested in the school and is renovated as the chaplains living quarters. The 'maana' thatched roof is now having a metal cladding but the foot print has not changed. We could not get into the house as it was closed.

Back in the garden we have tea when Ms. Ellepola and Nalin also take seats with us. We have company, Ediriweera who is junior to us and married from the Acme house close to college has come over to see Tonto, his cousin. Acme was the name of a confectionery run by the family. An old photograph that Ediriweera brought in with his in-law and a special lady in it, made Nalin break loose of his childhood pranks of being a peeping tom, having seen how Adma and Eve behaved after taking the forbidden fruit. This made Miss Ellepola almost choke with bewilderment. This was all about someone and something that used to take place then which we all knew but was apprehensive to discuss then. Ms. Ellepola also added her side of the story of this pitiful lady as a pretext. After a hearty laugh we see the sun going behind the hill and it’s time to get ready for the Fellowship Dinner.

The Fellowship Dinner

Everyone is seen in their best casual wear for the fellowship dinner at the Bandarawela Hotel. I have no doubt that everyone will agree with me to say that we the Class of 66 did steal the day of the OBA that day. We were all welcomed by Angela Seneviratne the fair lady who was also a tomboy much junior to us in school. The band playing and the Class of 66 all turning 60 years of age was unmatched on the dancing floor when compared to the young lads of today. Not to mention Ms. Ellepola in her 80’s singing and dancing her own solos made us feel back in those tender ages we were 50 years ago.

Waltzing ALPD with Ms.Ellepola

Murali Nage and Siva

To everybody’s surprise here arrives the jewel in the crown………..Devika the only female at the jubilee celebrations has finally made it to the fellowship with her husband.  It was definitely the most joyous moments in all our lives for sure. Vanessa and Devika were the happiest on the dancing floor with ALPD and Ms. Ellepola waltzing to Sridharan’s Sinhala songs backed by the one man band who sang old favourites of Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdink our time heroes in the music world.

The climax of the fellowship

The climax came when the Exco brought in a cake in honour of our 50 year jubilee which was cut in unison by Ms. Ellepola and Fr. Coilpillai. The evening comes to an end just past mid-night and we are back in the resort after a hectic day.

50 year Jubilee celebration 

Devika makes it to the fellowship 

All good things come to an end

Breakfast next morning  is very long. Siri Silva of Sirisara fame in Kurunegala was our Billy Bunter in class. Today he is very sick and refrained from coming up to the event on doctor’s advice. Late last night Siri calls me saying that he saw some of the photos posted in the FB by Nihal Perera and his conscience did not allow him to stay home and is now coming over to have the last breakfast with us… against his doctor’s orders. To everybody’s surprise Siri had left Kurunegala at the wee hours to be at the breakfast table at 8.00 A.M. in Bandarawela with us.

Siri comes all the way from Kurunegala for breakfast

Devika has brought a small stuffed Koala bear as an individual souvenir to everyone. Mithra Edirisinghe came in with his last set of copies of ‘Foot Prints’ the history of the school done for the 70^th anniversary to be given to those who are living overseas.

Nalin making a point to  Mithra  and  Devika's hubby

Finally it’s time to say ‘adios’………. hugs all around and Thank-you cards signed up by all and the organizers felicitated by the only ladyship Devika brings this memorable two days merry making to a conclusion. The final parting photograph was taken on the hill with a vow to come back here one more time before we breathe our last.

The big Thank You

End of the story

Three hearty cheers for the Class 66....hip hip hooray,,,, hip hip hooray,,,,hip hip hooray,,,,,,,

Postscript

The idea of a re-union was something that inspired in Manilal’s mind ever since he made friends with me in the FB and had access to the 1966 year-end photograph of STPSB. It took three years for us to locate many in the photograph. A few are still to be located. The search will go on in an individual way. Any such locating will be notified to all by E mail.

Finally I must say, if not for the persistent enthusiasm of both Manilal and his beloved wife Hemanthi this event would not have been this amusing and this unique.

Let me now divulge what Hemanthi had told Manila when he was back at home from Bandarawela……."she had seen Manilal this happy in his life only twice……….the first, was the day he got married to her… and the second being the re–union of the Class of 66 without her……… I’m sure every other spouse would have felt so, while also being jealous of us to have enjoyed two days without their company."