From a Blackboard to a Smartboard

The world today is getting Smart by the day; “showing a high degree of mental ability” on a device rather than on a human brain.  As a result, long-standing traditions and practices also keep changing. It was only the other day that my old school converted a traditional classroom to a smart classroom. The event was highlighted with much ado and glamour amidst a host of gratifying old boys who had sponsored the project. For a moment my spirits were lifted and back to a pensive mood pondering of what we may be forgetting for good from now on.

The primary teaching aid in any school was the Blackboard, also called a Chalkboard. If there was anything that kept growing with us in school and got promoted to higher grades it was the blackboard. In the kindergarten, it was a small wooden board [3’X4’] sitting on a short timber easel almost at eye-level of the kid who was about four feet tall. It would sit in a portrait or landscape position on the easel depending on what was written or drawn on it. While in kindergarten we copied what Miss Erany Karunaratne and Miss Merlene Fernando wrote on it onto our stony slate boards with a stone stylus. Writing over and over on the same letter until we could identify the shape and write it by memory. 

From Kindergarten to Standard Five in the Primary School we got promoted every year and the blackboard on the easel also became larger and taller.  At times they were made inbuilt to the walls measuring about 4 feet tall and even as long as 12 feet, space provided. The blackboard did have other associates, chalk, and duster. There was chalk to write on it turned out from soft calcium carbonate powder pressed into four-inch-long sticks. Writing chalk generally came in white color for it gave a higher contrast on a black background. They also came in an assortment of colors as needed for Geography and Biology classes for detailing and highlighting. The most indispensable item that went with the blackboard was the pillow duster. A small palm pillow stuffed with cotton wool to rub away the chalk. This created a small dust cloud around the board but much of the chalk powder was caught in the pillow. Also, the fine chalk powder being rubbed against the board regularly turned the board to have a very smooth and shiny surface. This shine on the board had two unfavorable effects… One was the shining board reflecting light off it disturbing the vision, and the other being the shrill the chalk made on the shiny surface making your teeth go numb sending a shudder down your spine…

As we progressed in school and grew taller in size the class monitor was entrusted with the task of cleaning the board after each period and replenishing the supply of chalk. However, during classes, it was the teacher who did the writing and cleaning as well. The behavior and how each teacher conducted him/her self at the blackboard was different and this was quite amusing when you think of it now. Many did not like to erase the board for it created a storm of dust that settled on the teacher … so there were those who avoided erasing the board but did write horizontally, vertically, and even angularly filling every bit of available space with arrows pointing in every direction showing continuity. There were some who were engrossed in teaching and were covered in chalk head to toe by the end of the period.

In the 1960 s trousers were mainly of heavy cotton and were generally baggy; the custom of wearing a waist belt was not a habit then and the trouser sat loosely on your waist fastened with metal buckles.  I do remember the most loveable character, late Mr. Godfrey Peiris at STPS Bandarawela who had the habit of raising both his hands when at the blackboard. The right hand doing the writing and the left hung free on the board. Raising both hands makes your trousers slide down and this became a nuisance to Mr. Peiris. He was careful not to pick the trouser with his fingers, cos the chalk would dirty the trouser …. so he was in the habit of lifting his trousers with his elbows gyrating in a very awkward manner each time he came from the board. The trouser never did come up with the articulating embraces from his elbows, and in the end, he put his hands in the pockets to lift it up the trouser and walked out with chalk smeared trouser pockets. However, we were too young to have been excited over Mrs. Perera standing on tiptoes to reach the top of the board in her sleeveless saree jacket during Sinhala Grammar.  

With time we changed schools and came to Gurutalawa. A middle-level school with a complete difference to Bandarawela and a much freer college life. The easel standing boards were no more, the front wall in the classroom had a long masonry blackboard. Again, the monitor continued his duty of cleaning the board but here the pillow duster became a traveling item. One had to go looking for it or flick one from another class. Studies now became more concentrating and demanding and there were those who went about daydreaming and lost concentration while in class. This inattentiveness became an annoyance to the teacher and most often the duster and the chalk stubs turned into missiles in the class targeting those dumb-nuts. This at times turned out hilarious with some hitting a bulls-eye startling the daydreamer and in the meantime lifting the spirit of the teacher where otherwise the whole class world have to go in for detention on a Saturday. 

Finally, we entered the school by the sea in Mt Lavinia and the blackboards now had advanced very much with us turning seniors in school. The boards here were two in a set, sitting one behind the other traveling up and down on a cable & pulley assembly. We sat in a surround, elevated in a well looking at the tutor deep inside the well on a podium. The need for erasing during a forty-minute period was minimal when working with two boards. However, there were times of amusement even as seniors when we would tease a teacher who always had the habit of walking into the class without chalk and requesting a student to run up downstairs and bring a piece of chalk. However much we teased him about how would one run up downstairs he would repeat the same the following day.  

The blackboard evolved ever since we left college and entered University. The black color turned to green and by now the teacher had discovered that the color difference was a lot more comfortable to the eye, cos the green porcelain paint did cut down the glare. However, the Greenboard wasn’t quite a catchy name for it and the term blackboard stuck even while the board was in green.

Uni day over around 1990 there came to be the Whiteboard which became a fixture in every office, meeting room, school classrooms, and most other work environments.

Whiteboards have a smoother surface allowing rapid marking and erasing on its surface. Most tutors ended up being jugglers carrying a multitude of colored pens stuck in their fingers but were very much in a healthier workplace. Chalk powder was thought to cause respiratory ailments in both the student and teacher.    

Today we are in a highly health-conscious world but then did any of us or any of our teachers who were always exposed to chalk clouds throughout the day end up in a hospital with respiratory problems?

Finally, today the board has turned smarter than everybody else in the class.... the teacher does not have to kill the night preparing for the lesson. The daydreamer will go scot-free buried in his tablet or computer still fudging on the subject. No more missiles would be crossing the classroom space.

Where from here?....... Well, we are sure to go into a much smarter era come 2021 with the Covid 19 still to stay. Schools seem to be closed indefinitely and the tutor today has gone online, zooming in the student sitting at home. The doctor today prescribes your medication remotely through telemedicine.

The world would go on developing on Information Technology, for it is the only field that is progressing in leaps right now, turning everything around to a smarter one. But who could say if we end up being more stupider than before, leaving aside the time tested learning skills and the humble blackboard to a bygone era?   

udithawijesena@gmail.com

Ella - a Victim of Unplanned Tourism Development in Sri Lanka?

Ella a pristine landscape that needs to be protected from commercial exploiters

The general ruling for a place to be recognized as a tourist attraction needs to fulfill three ‘OOS’, they say. There has to be a View-oo with a Loo-oo and a Brew-oo…. It is the Loo and the Brew that one stops over for and it is the View that is got for free.

Ella in the Early Days

Before 1970, Ella was a very small township with hardly any commercial activity except for a few shacks that catered for the railway staff and the few plantation staff who frequented the train to get to Colombo or Badulla and back. It was only a distance of five kilometers from the turnoff at Kumbalwela on the Bandarawela Badulla road. A narrow interior road to Passara via Namunukula that catered to many a tea plantation in Demodara, Uduwara, Spring-valley, Namunukula, and Passara. There was no road to Wellawaya then and the Rawana-fall was hidden in the jungle; a day’s trek to and back in rugged terrain, dared only by the tough.   

Vista from the Ella Rest House - Picture Curtsy Echo Ella

However, there was still one location in Ella that was famous for even then. It was the Rest House which stands to this day in the most pristine location with the best vista. It was the most sort after location by the young honeymooner. This was the era when weddings were a house affair with no hotels for lavish functions but the couple needed a secret hideout for their honeymoon. And for honeymooners, there were those state-run rest houses in the most scenic locations secluded in tranquility. Kithulgala, Belihuloya, Ella, Meegahatenne, was famous as  honeymoon locations among many other locations in Habarana, Polonnaruwa, Thissamaharama, and Dambulla.

Wet Patana Grassland, and Savanna Grasslands.

Sunrise Across the Escarpment 

Ella–Wellawaya Road

This was a development project earmarked as early as 1952 when Major Montague Jayawickrama was the Minister of Transport and Public Works. However, it was only in 1965 when the political climate in the country became stable that these development projects could be implemented. Wellawaya is a major intersection point linking the South and the East with the Uva hills and Nuwara Eliya.  Before the new road came to be the Upper-Uva was linked by a circuitous route via Koslanda – Diyaluma, Meerahawatte to Beragala, and Haputale. Reaching Bandarawela from Haputale was again via Diyatalawa or Welimada. A bus ride that took over 2 hours.  

By 1967 the Survey Department had marked the road trace on the ground and the construction was entrusted to the Sri Lanka Army. This was the time I was schooling at S Thomas’ College Gurutalawa and we were in the habit of exploring the premiere hills in the Uva region. It was while on a hike to Namunukula that we get to know of the proposed road down to Wellawaya from Ella. Our next hike was to traverse along the survey pickets all the way down to Wellawaya through a rugged scrub jungle terrain.

On a long weekend in the month of June 1967 the senior scouts accompanied by Rev: Fr: Harold Goodchild took the task of traversing this distance of approximately 18 Km from Ella to Wellawaya. I remember crossing the Rawana-falls which was a miraculous and a dangerous task when we had to creep behind the waterfall through an overhanging rock crevice that was slippery and dampened. The afternoon was of continuous rain where we encountered wildlife, coming into the open. There was Barking deer, Spotted dear, and Wild-boar with a plentiful Jungle Fowl and Peacocks. Drenched in rain and sweat we reached the Wellawaya Rest House for the night around 7:00 PM totally exhausted after almost 12 hours.

However, it was only in the early 1970s that this road was completed and became motorable; a major link to the Upper Uva area. Ella was now a major intersection point on the motorway more than it was on the railway.

Ella Rest house now turned out to be the famous breakfast/lunch stopover point on the Southern/Upcountry tourist circuit fulfilling the Loo and the Brew with a grand View across the Ella Gap. It was the most sort after lunch stop on the way to Nuwara Eliya from Yala and Udawalawe on the Birdwatching tours in the 2001-2003 era when I was a resource person and bird guiding was technically limited to a few individuals then. However, Ella was still a safe haven to the honeymooner and did continue to be so until about the year 2010.  It was towards the end of 2008 that Elle turned out to be a popular backpacker station thanks to the Travel-guide "Lonely Planet".

By now I was traversing this road once a month to visit my daughter at the Uva-Wellassa University and was able to see the development of the haphazard changes that took place in a five year period.

Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet by this time was reviewing tourism in the region after the devastating Asian Tsunami in 2004. They had now introduced Ella as a very comfortable backpacker location that could be reached by train from Colombo within ten hours. Alongside Ella the Galle Fort was also promoted highlighting as a new tourist attraction within a livable Dutch Fort. This brought about huge development in the Galle Fort when original residents now sold their properties to very lucrative deals and located themselves elsewhere.

Railway Engineering Feats 

Nine Arches  with no tourists around in 2011

With the 30-year war coming to an end in 2009, tourism picked up gradually. However, there was the local traveler also experiencing free movement and the Provincial Tourism Promotion also commenced advocating the unique localities like the Nine Arched Viaduct, and the Looping the Loop on the railway track in Demodara designed to address an impassable gradient to Badulla.

3 Wheeler Taxi at the Nine arches in 2017

But it should be noted that these locations were still in the wilderness even by 2011 when I did go up trekking to the railway line to see the Nine Arches that had no road access even by then. There is much chinwag being uttered today to the unsuspecting traveler on the design and construction of this structure to be the only such on the upcountry railway…. Many do not know that there is also a five arched viaduct structure on the railway close to Rambukkana. However today there is only the center arch visible with the other four built up to a closure probably to cater to a faster track.

Five Arches being built at Rambukkana -Picture Curtsy Sri Lanka Railway Journal 

This was built during the WW1 and steel bridges were not attainable thus they came up with this structure with hired labour. It was D. J. Wimalasurendra, a distinguished Ceylonese engineer and inventor. with the railway designer H. C. Marwood of the Ceylon Railway Construction Department who masterminded this structure and solved the issue with the gradient at Demodara by looping the loop under the Demodara railway station.

I had written about these marvels of Railway Engineering when there was no tourist waiting for a train on the Nine Arches.  Tap the line for the article

Land grabbing is rampant for commercial exploitation

Little Adams Peak or False Adams Peak

This is another attraction more with the local traveler in Ella; a sheer climb across a tea plantation to a viewpoint where there is folklore woven around in the Uva-Wellassa. However, interpretation of this is lost or not known and there has come up a Buddhist shrine today in the most ad-hoc manner trying to exploit the location with false propaganda.     

The story of Little Adam’s Peak is reflected in the book ‘Sinhala Folktales by D P Wickramasinghe’. According to Wickramasinghe, the village Millawa (now Mallahewa) was the central location in the region of Bibile today and this was the same locality the Millawe Dissawe who was succeeded by Keppitipola Dissawe during the Uva Rebellion. The Village Kotagama in Millawa was a very prosperous ancient village and home to many a nobleman with riches. Wickramasinghe discusses a person by the name ‘Kotagama Sitano’ who lived in Kotagama Bibile; a philanthropic nobleman with riches, owning large extents of land in Kotagama. He had a single daughter who inherited all his wealth and through wedlock gave birth to three sons. The folk tale centers around the lady’s final wish to worship “Sri Paada” [Adams peak]. The two elder sons dismiss the request as she was too feeble for the strenuous journey. However, the youngest son replicated a Sri Paada in a location close to Ravana Elle in today’s Ella area and took the mother on a false pilgrimage fulfilling her wish and becomes the sole heir of all the land and the riches but it is said that he later split them equally with his two brothers. So it should be noted that there is no Buddhist lineage to the Little Adam’s Peak in Ella as some hoodwinkers are trying to exploit.

Further to these locations, there are other strenuous hiking routes that are for the fittest and these hikes are more frequented by the backpacker rather than the local traveler. The Ravana Caves situated within the Ravana Falls Sanctuary are administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation needing special authorization for the visitor with a trained guide.

Tourism and Infrastructure Expansion

With the 30 years war coming to an end in 2009, the country was put on an economic revival. Priority was for tourism where much was expected from. Of course, there was much potential for tourism where Sri Lanka remained a no-go zone for almost thirty years to the world traveler. While the Sun and Sea sector did cater to its clientele, new location as living within the Galle Fort, the vistas of Ella with hiking, visiting other locations of interest in Uva,  and numerous other Wildlife Tourism locations in the Yala and Udawalawe National Parks flourished. Thus new infrastructure for lodging came up in all these locations catering to the influx of tourism which in return provided the much-needed economic growth for the country.

Amongst all these new locations, it was only Ella that had a very limited buildable land area for expansion. The topo-geography of Ella had its own limitation for expanding infrastructure. However, with the Homestay Concept introduced as a means to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for rooms, Ella took it in a big way to cater to the backpacker looking for low-cost comfort. 

Ella another victim of development

Today Ella has turned out to be the Narigama of Hikkaduwa then in the 1970s; the first victim of tourism development. This unplanned, misused and mismanaged tourist locality in Hikkaduwa with a pristine beachfront was disparaged in society; thought to have impacted the social structure very much. Finally, it was the 2004 Asian Tsunami that put everything there into disarray.   

Ella today could be highlighted as the second victim in this type of unplanned tourism development in the country. Ella's environment has been raped of its natural vegetation during the last decade [2010-2020]. Uva Province has the highest diversity of natural vegetation in the country and eleven out of fourteen major natural vegetation types are represented in Ella. Ella and it's immediate cater to at least seven of these eleven types.  The Moist Mixed Evergreen Forests, Mid-elevational Evergreen Forests, Montane Evergreen Forests, Dry Riverine Evergreen Forests, Dry Patana Grasslands, Wet Patana Grassland, and Savanna Grasslands.

The haphazard land grabbing for construction has contributed to the depletion of the continuance of those once green hills and valley that were only cut across by a road linking the Dry Lower Uva with the Wet Upper Uva. The streams are now getting polluted with the effluent from the massive construction taking place that is very vulnerably founded on unstable ground. The already discussed road is also a victim of the development with excessive runoff from the hillside contributing to sliding land that makes the road impassable for days during the rainy season.

Mountains that should be kept out of human activity are full of trespass with numerous Buddhist temples coming up on these hilltops tempting people to go up regularly. The question today is can Ella cater to this many people and the bubble is almost about to explode. We now note the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to have published a Development Program for Ella after much of its regulations have been blatantly violated. The limitation of building heights to three stories is a clear violation while the prohibition to build on inclines over 45 degrees is not heeded. It is so strange that the Local Authority who is also the regulatory body in this regard turns a blind eye, while their repositories swelled from the taxes and the revenue collected.

UDA Development Plan for Ella [2019-2030]   

This document is now available to the public which is yet to be implemented, spell out the gravity of the problem in Ella. There are over 600 hotels and guest houses now in Ella within an approximate area of 5.6 square kilometers. And the immediate problem is the availability of safe water. The daily water demand for these facilities is an enormous 1,861,860 liters per day. And it is noted that the combination of the Local Authority the National Water Board and the numerous other shallow wells can only supply 917,500 liters accounting for a 50% shortfall. There is no proper wastewater and sewerage water disposable system accounting for leachate and surface flow escaping to waterbodies that end up in the Kirindi-Oya.   

Section of Google Maps showing Hotels and Lodges in Ella Today

The six tons of solid waste collected in a day are deposited in an open dump at Kithalella. The gravity of the situation is dubious and they continue to dump on a private land of mere 15 perches in extent alongside the main road to Demodara.

This haphazard manner in the growth of the tourist industry is accounted for the far excessive number of lodges and hotels that came up violating the regulatory mechanism obstructing the very same vistas and the scenery that Ella is frequented for and is famous for. Thus the need for a development plan to mitigate and control these unauthorized buildings and structures of many that need to be demolished is a question for the urban planner and a problem to the local politician.  

Ella Town which is situated in an environmentally sensitive zone loaded with so much infrastructure for tourism has generated a grave vulnerability towards earth slips and shifting soils which if goes unchecked would turn out to be another catastrophe much similar to the 2004 Asian Tsunami that struck Narigama in Hikkaduwa.    

udithawijesena@gmail.com

 

Dr. T S U de Zylva - Ornithologist, Conservationist and Bird Photographer par Excellence.

Dr. T S U de Zylva…passed away at the ripe old age of 94 years, on 13^th September 2020.  He was ‘Upen’ to his dear companions and Dr. Upendra to his clientele of Kurunegala who looked to him for their ailments.  

He was a well-known medical practitioner in Kurunegala with a long-established history, running his own private practice after a brief stint in the Government Health Service. However he was more renowned and celebrated as the first-ever wildlife photographer specializing in bird photography who introduced our birdlife to the world in the mid-19^th century through his numerous pictorial publications.   

Dr. Thosatiratne Sri Upendra de Zylva (TSU) was born in 1927. He had his early education at Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, and moved to Royal College, Colombo for his high school education. When WW II broke out the Royal College premises was taken over by the RAF and young TSU had to move into Kandy with his parents and was enrolled at the Dharmaraja College. With the war ending, he was back in Colombo but this time not in Royal College but as a student of Ananda College from where he passed his Matriculation Examination followed by the University Entrance Examination facilitating his entry to the Medical Faculty.

He had a passion for photography and biology but there were times when photography did override the other. Young TSU when in the Medical College did take a photo of an operation being performed by legendary Surgeon Dr. P R Anthonis then as a demonstration to the medicos. Fearful of the incident the young medico handed the photograph to Dr. Anthonis; to his astonishment, he was commended and gifted Rs 300/= for the print. That was a fortune worth 100 film rolls for him then.

It was his mother who bought him his first camera a Zeiss Contax when on a holiday in India and his father also a practicing doctor in Kurunegala, gifted him a 16mm Bolex Cine camera the day he passed out as a qualified doctor.

His first appointment was to the Chilaw hospital as the first House Officer. This was a time when there was only a District Medical Officer and a District Medical Assistant before him. It was while in Chilaw that he befriends Herschel Pandithasekera, a well-known personality in the bird circles who had a passion for Snipe shooting. It was he who encouraged him into birdwatching and bird photography.

After a brief stint in the Health Services, his father calls him to join the family practice assisted by his brother-in-law, Dr. Ananda de Silva. This brings him back to Kurunegala and life got into a routine and his brother-in-law gave him the liberty of taking every other weekend off for his photography and he would coverup for him,

Picture courtesy - M.A. Pushpa Kumara Sunday Times

Known as the “ge aran ena mahaththaya” meaning the gentleman who comes with the house for he carried his bird hides done of canvas and jute and ventured into the remotest countryside to photo record nesting behavior of rare birds. It would take hours for him to install the hides elevating him to be in line with the bird and would sit for days inside them to get his prize photo. The only record of the very rare Broad-billed Roller [Dollar Bird] nesting has still not been recorded since his record 40 years ago. It was not the digital era then and color film processing was not heard of in the country. All his exposures were on positive color slides that were very costly and were processed outside the country.

Dr. T S U de Zylva ventured to his task of bird photography with limited resources and equipment depended on his Hasselblad camera. He had done much photo recording of bird behavior then when compared to what is taking place now in the most viral way. However, it must be noted that he discontinued his habit of photographing the nesting behavior of birds when it was to be reprehended in line with the general practice of ethical birdwatching that was to be introduced later. This being for restriction of man’s intervention with breeding birds and of divulging the habitats of critically endangered and rare birds.

His love for the Hasselblad camera and the versatility of its usage in the field of bird photography brings him closer to Dr. Victor Hasselblad himself [inventor of the Hasselblad camera] and together they venture into wildlife conservation and numerous other publications. As a gesture to his commitment, TSU receives a grant worth US$ 30,000 from Dr. Victor Hasselblad to be used on any worthy wildlife undertaking.

He is credited with the earliest publication of the photographic guide to the BIRDS OF SRI LANKA which displays much of his own photographs. This followed with a wonderful collection of coffee table publications……   Wings in the Wetlands: A Photographic Portfolio,... Sri Lanka Jungle Profiles (Animals of the SAARC Region),... Sinharaja: Portrait of a Rainforest,... Sri Lanka Nature Pictorial,... Cradles on the Sand: In a Bygone Era,... Images of Birds: A Random Selection of the Birds of Sri Lanka.

He was an active member of the two prominent bird and wildlife organizations in the 50- 60 era the Ceylon Bird Club (CBC) and the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS).  He represented many committees in the WNPS and was elected its President in the years 1982-1983.

Apart from his contribution to birds and photography, his greatest gift to wildlife was in the conservation of sea turtles. He is the pioneer in this venture. He with the late Dr. Siri Wickremesinghe, a close friend with similar interests in wildlife and nature decided on utilizing some monies from the Hasselblad grant for the conservation of sea turtles. They had learned of Similius Abrew of Kosgoda who had a love for turtles and was in the habit of setting them free off ghost nets drifting in the sea.

They meet Similius and discuss their plan to grant a sum of money to build a hatchery and then pay poachers and fishermen more for their eggs than they would be getting selling them to eateries and markets. This was way back in 1978 when all the seven species of sea turtles were on the endangered list and five of them were frequenting the Kosgoda beach to lay their eggs. Similius was not that confident of the venture at the beginning but offered his beachfront property in Nape, Kosgoda to layout the hatchery that was to be financed by TSU.  

Thus started the 1^st ever sea turtle conservation project in this country. Initially, it was the school children that came over to Nape to study these turtles and Similius started to collect a small gate fee for maintenance expenses until tourism caught up where he could relieve TSU from the burden of funding the hatchery to meet its overheads.

Today none of them are living but the Kosgoda Sea Turtle Hatchery runs generating its revenue to run on its own managed by Similius’ son Chandrasiri Abrew and grandson.

This is the life story of a gentleman who loved this country, its weather the fauna, and the flora but went very much unheard in the recent past. He took time off from everything just to be part of the forest and nature whenever time permitted. All this happen at a time when photography was not an affordable hobby and one had to wait for weeks to know if your picture was a success or not unlike today’s digitized photography. TSU was a sought after name when it came to the yearend greeting cards then in the ’60s. The WNPS greeting cards were a must and most often they were from prints of TSU’s birds and other wildlife. We schoolboys then were in the habit of collecting these cards. To me, it was him that instigated the love for birds and nature apart from the teachers at school, S Thomas’ College Gurutalawa where birdwatching was practiced as an extracurricular activity. 

I have only met him in person just once when he was entrusted with the task of selecting the three best photographs at the very first bird photography contest conducted by FOGSL. He was generous enough to provide a color slide of a Blue Magpie in Sinharaja for the Blue Magpie Conservation poster for FOGSL. 

udithawijesena@gmail.com

‘Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child’ – Corporal Punishment?

Spare the rod and spoil the child is a famous adage appearing in the Bible and made its way into practically every proverb collection. It initially alluded to beating and is cited often but does not necessarily mean for beating in today's usage.

We who went to school before the 1980s were never spared for mischief and misconduct. Mischief and misconduct took place intentionally at times but most often one got into trouble inadvertently; feeling tolerable and be ensured to go unnoticed when in a joyful gathering. However, things never turned in support of one's self and if collective persistence was applied in protecting an individual, the result ended with the whole group being punished. 

Sadly though this is not the case today with the international human rights declarations on child rights; corporal punishment is considered as torture and legal conventions work the other way round. Most children today are overprotected and are devoid of any adventurism and has turned out to be dull fudgers in comparison to us then at school.  

S Thomas College Gurutalawa located in a 35-acre farmland was a heaven to the boarding schooler. The plentiful orchard with the seedless Golden Mandarins the rare Palestine Naval Oranges and the Japanese Persimmons was the Garden of Eden. There wasn’t any fruit named as forbidden, yet every fruit in it was marked taboo to us cohorts of Adam. A no go zone declared out of bounds. There was no Eve, for it was a boy’s school and no serpent cos the temperate climate did not favor them. However there was an orchard keeper called Goluwa, a dumb man says, Mr. Clifford Ratwatte a pioneering student, reminiscing his memories of school days. These alien exotic fruits were a temptation to defy and if seen by the Goluwa and reported to the headmaster, one ended up getting six lashes on his buttocks. This is about the earliest record of the corporal punishment conducted in this institution, established in the year 1942.

The orchard did exist even during our time in the 1960s but there was no Goluwa or any other keeper to watch our movements but the orchard was still ‘out of bounds’ and violators were the recipients of the corporal punishment.

Reprimanding and punishing mischief-makers did instill fear for misbehavior in others and thereby bring discipline and order in a school. However, there were times when things went out of hand and disciplining required spanking large groups of students. Often known as public canning where otherwise disciplining was done covertly.

I recall two such incidents during the late 60 s which today turnout to be hilarious but sure did instill fear in us then.

A rainy day in 1968. 

There was an understanding that on a rainy day evening prep from 6:40 PM to 7:30 PM would be held in the dining hall accounting for boys falling sick the following day by getting drenched in the cold weather going to the classrooms and back. Mr. Tuline Ratnam the duty master had professed for hall prep. Every activity in the school was on a time schedule communicated by Bell Simon who rang the bell by default.  However, the bell was only the communicator to start a new activity but ceasing the current activity happened only on the consent of the teacher in the class or the duty master assigned for the day.

On this particular day, the dinner bell rang at 7:30 but Mr. Tuline Ratnam the duty master did not consent for the ending of prep for some reason, and everybody remained seated. The senior boys were agitated and some started rubbing their footwear against the rough cement floor annoying Mr. Ratnam. This continued for almost ten minutes, each time Mr. Ratnam strode in one direction the boys to his rear would turn rowdy and when he turned towards them those now behind him would turn unruly. For us juniors, this became an amusement but dared not giggle for fear of being reprimanded.         

During prep time the college campus goes into a total silence until the dinner bell when a huge clatter is heard with the steel chairs pushed back followed by the chatter of the boys. But this day it was strange for the stillness to continue which aroused the concern of the headmaster Mr. Frank Jayasinghe who walked into the dining hall still in his tennis attire. He had been watching what happened from outside the dining hall and there was no necessity for owning up. His office room adjoins the dining hall and a dozen canes came into the hall.  To this day I am stunned of the stamina that Mr. Jayasinghe then in his early 30s possessed caning 56 senior boys four cuts each with twin canes. His longarm tennis swing was amply displayed in an effortless manner stopping only to change a splitting cane.

No grudges or revengeful feelings towards anybody, everyone sat for a quiet dinner under pin-drop silence. That was a classic case were the seniors thought that they could get away pranking as a group without punishment. The whole lot got punished but some would have been really innocent.  

School Assembly 

The second incident was in 1971 and is more hilarious. There were two notable brothers Desmond Miles and Gifford Miles. Desmond was a mild-mannered altar boy while Gifford the younger one was the exact opposite a mischief-maker and a terror in class.  Old Mr. Ganamuththu who took English literature would give us a piece of comprehension to work on and rest awhile in an unsuspecting manner. Gifford would note this and drop his box of mathematical instruments in a metallic clang to startle old Gananamuththu. He would then rush towards Gifford with his foot ruler to the laughter of the rest and smash Gifford’s knuckles with the ruler edge. That was Gifford.

The Headmaster was Mr. E L Perera a different type of headmaster who trusted molding children in a spiritual manner and did conduct small spells of meditation before school to different classes on a weekly routine. However, Wednesday was the general assembly day to the whole school that was held in the dining hall before the first period.

This particular Wednesday  Mr. John Marasinghe the headmaster’s secretary brought in four canes and placed them on the table before the assembly. ELP started with his routine sermons on good manners and meditation and ended with the general announcements. To our curiosity he started all over again in a harangue blasting of being ungrateful to the school of being unbecoming to one's parents, etc. and in the end called Gifford Miles to the stage….. It was a funny scene, ELP a short-statured man in his well creased Tusso coat and trouser looking up at a heavyweight Gifford.... more like  David looking at  Goliath. 

He then delivered to the assembly the reason for summoning Gifford to the stage. There was no need for Gifford to admit or confess to his misconduct for he had autographed his graffiti in the newly color-washed staff room.  Gifford had entered the staffroom after school for reasons better known to him and taken time off to draw a life-sized guitarist in a single line graffiti with charcoal and autographed it, Gifford Miles.

Gifford admitted to his fault and was caned in public at the assembly. Gifford being tall was asked to bend holding the table. Six of the best of ELP’s tennis slams ended on the back of his thighs. His bum was spared cos ELP being a short man was out of reach but Gifford had the branding on his thighs for weeks.

The  Prank that Backfired

There were other times when a prank played on another student would turn out to be a disaster calling for unexpected punishment. Such an incident took place in the Keble dormitory when we planned to play a prank on Ravi Rajendran [Ganja] who is now domiciled in Toronto Canada. Keble had the toilets as an outside block and a single one indoors for night use. Everyone went for a pee before lights-out and Ravi happened to be the last one that day. We had balanced a tin of water and some shoes, hockey sticks, etc. on the main door to fall on Ravi when he walked in. To our surprise before Ravi could walk in, it was the dorm master Mr. Marasinghe who entered being the recipient of the prank.

That day the whole dormitory got caned a single cut each on the bum including poor Ravi and many others who were innocent and never knew anything about it. But mind you that single cut on the bum over a thin pajama trouser still hurts when you think of it.

Of course, that punishment one could say was unjust, and beating the whole dorm was wrong. But today we know, not all punishments are for disciplining but there is a technical background to them as well. That prank played on a fellow colleague turning out on a staff member unintentionally had a hierarchical involvement in the school order.  Today we know that the single-cut we got was of a technical context to silence the incident from further discussion.       

I’m quite sure that none of us were spared from the rod and had undergone this form of corporal punishment at least once and of course, the incorrigibles many times. But we can all be pleased for what we are today and mark them incidents as a pleasant reminiscence of a cordial interaction between a dedicated staff of a great institution.      

Today corporal punishment is an offense leading to litigation. But during our time it was never reflected back from home neither was it discussed at home for things would turn out for the worse calling for further punishment.

COMMUNAL ROOSTING OF CITY BIRDS

Barn Swallows Roosting in Ratnapura Town 

A roost is a place where a bird rests or sleeps. These would generally, be a perch on a tree or even on buildings in the case of urban habitats. Cliffs or rock faces and other habitats are used as roosts by some birds who have special adaptations. Birds roost when humans retire indoors for the night and this avian behavior goes unnoticed. However, birds roosting in urban habitats have been of concern to the urban dweller for it interferes in his nightly movement.

All terrestrial animals and avian creatures are divided into two groups as diurnal and nocturnal species. The diurnal species take refuge in safe locations during the night and the nocturnal species during the day. This could be shown as the need to rest the anatomical functions especially while vision is not quite sufficient to go about in their routine behavior.

In the case of breeding birds, one bird would sit in the nest taking care of the nestlings or the brood while the other would perch close by. The primary objective of this type of roosting behavior would be for safety, from nocturnal predators. This form of parental roosting is to change totally in the non-breeding season. The non-breeding roosts are generally communal or group roosts.

Most urban roosts are communal while they would vary from single species roosting to mixed-species roosting from time to time in the year. Some ornithological research has been done on these communal roosting in urban habitats and potential reasons have been determined. 

The Galle city in the south of Sri Lanka where I live has a few communal roosting sites in the parks and coconut groves close to the city center. Two decades ago these habitats were dominated by the two crow species, both the Large-billed crow and the House crow. The House crow is abundant in the cities and urban habitats. Crows have been in the habit of frequenting urban areas very much for the ample food sources that were freely available when the meat stalls and fish stalls were in open buildings. These stalls became ample larders throughout the day where meat and fish were prepared and waste collected in open dumps. These open garbage dumps were heavens to scavenge on and the urban crow population increased to unmanageable numbers. The parks and the city sidewalks were no longer leisure areas in the evenings when their droppings littered them, demanding the attention of the local authorities. 

Urban House Crow Populations

However, the last decade shows some significant changes in our urban food usage and the management and disposal of urban waste. The once open meat and fish stalls are now indoors. The supermarket concept where meat and fish are pre-dressed and processed for sale in packed units have come to stay. Open waste dumping is prohibited and is an offense. The bio-degradable garbage is either turned into compost on small home units or delivered to the collecting trucks in an organized manner. These changes have affected the freely available fast-food sources and the result being the decline of the city crow numbers. 

However, the decline in the crow population at roosts made way for other birds into these once crow dominated roosts. Today thousands of Common Mynah birds have invaded these once crow dominated city roosts. The exception being the Mynahs not having a ready source of food available in the city neither do they scavenge nor prefer a carnivorous diet.  There needs to be some special reason for this attraction. The Large-billed crow which used to roost together with the House crow now prefers smaller group roosts or pairing away from these common city roosts.  They prefer to roost on the up-graded city electrical cables that are bundled and are thicker than the old single-line cables. The thicker insulated bundle gives a better hold on their talons for a comfortable roost. 

Common Mynah

Research studies of our local urban roosts have not been conducted in a detailed manner to reason out these changes. However, there are some common reasons derived from research done in other countries that could be applied to local conditions as well.   

Night temperatures inside cities are 5 - 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding areas, and in a mass gathering of birds touching each other, the temperatures may be favorable to commence the activity fairly early in the morning.  Most roosting avian species require warmth from the morning sun for effective blood circulation, to become active. Birds are thought not to see well in the dark, so sleeping in the city gives the advantage of being able to see a nightly predator, and also the ability to see where to flee safely as the city is illuminated below the roost. Most street lighting is downlit and the area above them is in the dark. 

The Galle ramparts is an ideal location to watch the gathering of House Crow and the Common Mynah flying into the trees in the park opposite the railway station when dusk falls. The chatter of the Mynah and the cawing of the Crows continue with the birds flying from tree to tree looking for the ideal perch possibly sitting on a hierarchical order until it becomes the darkest and to a total quietness.

My presumption is that these crows and mynahs in the city roosts are the younger, immature birds unlike those who have mated for life and roost in pairs in localized roosts. These communal roosts are also a social function where birds challenge each other, find potential mates and communicate with each other their individual or joint experiences.

It is noted that habitat loss requires greater time for foraging and locating food. Roosting together gives an advantage in locating food, as most birds would know where to go at daybreak and the others could follow. The crows leave very early and the Mynahs are late to leave frequenting the cricket ground to pick the grub in the grasses before they fly away to distant feeding grounds.   

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Away from the Galle Town, towards Matara in Katugoda is another communal roost that of the Rose-ringed Parakeet. This again is unique with the coconut trees laden with hundreds of parakeets at sunset. They would stay on the palm fronds until darkness falls to move to the underside of the frond. They have a very peculiar way of roosting in the underside of the palm frond hanging with their feet apart locked in the leaves; some hanging upside down and some keeping upright by holding onto another leaf by the beak. This strange acrobatic roosting method could be explained as a precautionary adaptation to predation from nocturnal owls etc. When hanging from under the palm frond it's completely hidden needing special predatory adaptation.

This roost has now shifted inland with the development of the new Galle Port access roadway connecting to the Southern Highway cutting through this area. The Rose-ringed parakeet being monogamous, the numbers in these communal roosts could also be noted as non-breeding young birds. The more prosperous eligible ones will wait for the lifetime pairing when they would be leaving this community to bring up their young in tree-hole abodes.

There are other special communal roosts in many urban locations in the country. Of them, the millions of barn swallow that roost in the electrical and telegraph wires in the Ratnapura and Pelmadulla towns during the migratory season is unique.

 

MOST UNUSUAL BIRD BEHAVIOR.... 2011

This happened in April 2011.  In Denawaka; a village off Malwala on the Ratnapura Palabaddala Road to Adams Peak. I was assigned to the construction of a mini-hydro project across Denawaka Ganga the main tributary of Kalu Ganga.  My living quarters were beside the road from Malwala to Balangoda via Rassagala.

It had a small garden that the owners living in the lower ground area maintained and was just opposite my window in the upper-ground area.

Black-naped Monarch and Indian Paradise Flycatcher in their nests -Pic Curtsy Wikipedia  

I noticed a pair of Black-naped Monarchs busy, nest building opposite my window on a liana scaling skywards in this garden patch in early April 2011. Every morning before going to work, I noted the progress of the nest and was a bit nervous to part with the Monarchs when soon it will be time to go home for the Sinhala /Tamil New Year that came in the second week of April.  

Back to work after the holidays, I noticed the two eggs laid in the nest and the birds were taking turns incubating them. The climate during this time in the Peak Wilderness was not at all favorable for brooding birds but they did brave the thunder and rain that was to fall on the last two days of the month

On 28th April 2011, I was away in Colombo at a workshop. I inspected the Monarch nest before leaving and she was seen trucked up neatly in the nest. It was 6:00 am when I left for Colombo.

I was back in Ratnapura late in the night and was too tired to check on the nest. But the following morning (29th April 2011) I saw the nest abandoned. I was tilting to aside with the two eggs about to fall out. My immediate reaction was to inquire about the nest from the cook boy and caretaker of what came by the nest.

His story was almost unbelievable….During the day he had seen the Indian Paradise Flycatcher (male) that also foraged about in the garden sitting on the Monarch nest. But he had not noted the damage to the nest until then. "Not all persons are crazy about nature and birds I realized."     

The nest with the two eggs had taken a heavy beating from the night rain and was soggy and delicate to be positioned manually without further damage. The Monarchs were now calling out and flying about the nest unable to sit on the tilted cup. Not much that I could do and preferred nature to take precedence.   

On the 29th evening, the nest was found to have detached from the main liana attached to the bush and was hanging from a supporting strand. One egg was still held in it and the other gone missing. I did not find the Indian Paradise Flycatcher. The destruction cannot be by a Palm Squirrel, for it would not keep the other egg in the nest.

I am still trying to figure out the behavior of the Indian Paradise Flycatcher? This bird at this time in the wet zone could be a straggler migrated from India or from the dry zone (there are proven records of a local migration from dry zone to the wet zone of the native species).  It could be the bird in its breeding instincts sat on the nest which is similar in shape to its own, but this was smaller and less sturdy. I did not see any female Indian Paradise Flycatchers about the garden to be a prospective mate for it. It is disappointing to have missed the photograph of the Indian Paradise Flycatcher sitting on the nest though.

Please let me know if you have observed such unusual breeding behavior before.

Today with Google facilities to check back of such behavior it is noted that both the Indian Paradise-flycatcher and the Black-naped Monarch both are noisy birds uttering a common sharp skreek call. It breeds from May to July. Both male and female take part in nest-building, incubation, brooding, and feeding of the young. Three or four eggs are laid in a neat cup nest made with twigs and spider webs on the end of a low branch. This description matches quite like that of the Black-naped Monarch's nest building. There is but a record of an interspecific feeding case noted with paradise flycatcher chicks fed by Oriental white-eyes.

Therefore there seem to be some noteworthy interruptions and interactions related to the Indian Paradise Flycatcher's breeding behavior.

I did forward this observation back then when social media was limited to Emails, to Mr. Jagath Gunawardane and the FOGSL. Both institutions took note of the scenario and conveyed the interest of the observation.

This is also recovery from my old hard drive that crashed with many such recordings,,,,, this I would be of interest to bird enthusiasts. The photographs are not that clear as my better camera was not in Ratnapura then. My intension was to photo record the breeding behavior of the Black-naped Monarch from my window which ended thus with an unsolved mystery.