A Final Educational Fling – 21. Transitions

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Aluwihare, Anne Ranasinghe, Clara, Daniel Ridicki, Dodo Fernando, Ena de Silva, English Writers Cooperative, John Keleher, Lakmahal, Maureen Seneviratne, New Lankan Review, Nihal Fernando, Nirmali Hettiarachchi, Rex Baker, The Past is Another Country, Theja, Vijitha Fernando, Vimala Navaratnam, Yala, Yasmine Gooneratne

but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done

If 2016 saw the end of Lakmahal as it had been known and loved for near 80 years, ‘ a home to so many’ as my cousin Nirmali described it recently, that year had also seen the deaths of many who had been part and parcel of my life, and the life of my parents. In fact the period since my father’s death, at the end of August 2014, had seen the departure of many of those who had been integral to our lives.

In November that year I heard from Anne Ranasinghe that Dr Vimala Navaratnam had died in England, having gone there to look after her daughter during some surgery. She had looked after all of us with enormous dedication over nearly half a century, and had kept me going, along with my cousin Theja, in that last week when I was alone at home with my father as he faded.

Anne was as appreciative of Vimala as we were, stating matter of factly a couple of years earlier that she was still alive only because Vimala had insisted she go to hospital when she had suffered a heart attack. Anne had been determined to stay at home, which she later realized would have meant death. But Vimala, ably assisted by the admirable equally kindly and impeccably professional Dr Sheriffdeen, had got her to hospital. I interviewed Anne shortly after she returned home, and was admitted for I think the first time to her bedroom upstairs, where she held forth admirably for the series called ‘The Past is Another Country’.  This was devised by the brilliant Croatian television producer Daniel Ridicki, who  has now set it up on vimeo, as what he sees as a seminal aspect of Sri Lankan cultural history. The series, which includes interviews with Iranganie Serasinghe and Laki Senanayake, can be seen on http://www.ridicki.net/the_past_is_another_country.html

My aunt Ena refused to be interviewed, which I was sad about, but perhaps she knew she would not have done herself justice. She was fading by then, and in October 2015 she passed away, having memorably told me  the week before, when I had gone up to Aluwihare for her 93^rd birthday, that I should not be sad, for we had had such good times. When I spent the night of 31^st December with her the previous year, on my way back from electioneering for Maithripala Sirisena in Jaffna, she had told me she was ready to go. I told her this was unthinkable for, citing my grandmother and my father, I told her that our family lasted until they were 93. She was only 92 then, and she asked me whether I thought she had to go on for another year. She died, in fact, a week after her 93^rd birthday.

New Horizons – 13 – Consolations

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Aluwihare, Anne Ranasinghe, Arjuna Parakrama, Batik, Belihuloya, Bill McAlpine, brass foundry, carpentry, Dileeni Raheem, Diyaluma, Embroidery, Ena de Silva, Fr Stephen Abraham, Gale Bangalawa, Harin Abeysekera, Horton Plains, Ian Goonetilleke, Ismeth Raheem, Jean Arasanayagam, JVP, K1, K2, Kadurupitiya, Knuckles range, Maduru Oya, Mahaweli, Michael Ondaatje, Nihal Fernando, Nirmali Hettiarachchi, Nuwara Eliya, Peradeniya University, Peter Burleigh, Priyani Abeysekera, Punyakanthe Wijenaike, Shanthi Wilson, Shirley Perera, Suja, Uda Walawe, Wasgomuwa, Yala, Yolande Abeywira

In those years of constant change in the mid-nineties, continuity in terms of family life was provided most solidly by my aunt Ena. We had become great friends way back in 1983, when my adventures at S. Thomas’ had prompted her to seek to get to know me better. We got on superbly from the start, and as she said on her 90^th birthday, when it was clear that she was dying, there was no reason to be sad for we had had such good times together.

These were first and foremost at Aluwihare, her wonderful home in the hills, which she had transformed into a magic retreat, full of colour and exotic artefacts. In addition to the batik and the embroidery done by her girls, as she still called them a quarter of a century after they had begun working with her, she had created employment for the boys of the village too, a carpentry shed and then a brass foundry. And then she had also started a restaurant, not one but two for she had no sense of restraint, K1 as she called it down the hill from her home where meals could be booked by tour groups, K2 on the roadside, which was not only a Kitchen but also provided rooms to stay.

The first was catered to by her own cook, Suja who she claimed could not boil water when she had first come to work, but who now produced the most marvelous concoctions. The other provided work for the middle aged ladies of the village, some of them relations. Though they exuded confusion as they bustled about, they were quite charming, and those who stayed and those who ate were entranced. The American ambassador, Peter Burleigh, used it seems to stay there often, which may well have been for nefarious purposes, but he was dearly loved by the ladies.

We had gone down often to Yala in the eighties, with memorable holidays during the times of turmoil, when we had the Park practically to ourselves. But when the JVP insurrection was over, more and more people began to visit, so we found other places too, Uda Walawe and Horton Plains and more frequently Wasgomuwa, which was a relatively short journey from Alu, over the Knuckles range to the Eastern plain.

Travels with Ena: Home Stays – Part 4

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A Way in the World, Affiliated University College, Anil’s Ghost, Anuradhapura, Australian High Commissioner, British Council, Commonwealth, David Woolger, Dileeni Raheem, Dodo Fernando, Ena de Silva, Ena de Silva Fabrics, GELT Centre, Gill Juleff, Herbert Keuneman, In the Skin of a Lion, Ismeth Raheem, Jeevan Thiagarajah, Many Voices, Michael Ondaatje, Nihal Fernando, Nirmali Hettiarachchi, Peter Rowe, Phyllis Ratwatte, Raji Ratwatte, Regi Siriwardena, Richard de Zoysa, Running in the Family, Scott Richards, Shanthi Wilson, Suren Ratwatte, The English Patient, The Enigma of Arrival, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Moor’s Last Sigh, Yala

In addition to writing and loafing, there was also much talking. In the early years there was usually some sort of a party there, one or other member of what we termed the Hard Core, the group of relations (which of course included Shanthi Wilson, her parents having been close to both Ena and Phyllis for decades) which went to Yala. As that generation, my sister and Raji and Suren Ratwatte, and those they wed in the course of the eighties, became too busy for more than the occasional trip, I found an older generation in attendance, to go with Ena to Yala and also spend time at Alu. Nihal and Dodo Fernando were the main figures early on, and later  Ismeth and Dileeni Raheem, all of them entertaining companions, full of fascinating information, not always the most useful.

I also took up several of my own friends, all my foreign guests whom I thought worthy of the honour, and the few local friends I thought Ena would find congenial. Ena’s favourite amongst them was Nirmali Hettiarachchi, who also took her family up on occasion, while Jeevan Thiagarajah also got on extremely well with Ena though I would have thought they did not have much in common. But, like Richard, his ancestors had been part of the circles Ena had moved in, and even more than Richard he had extremely good manners of an old fashioned sort, which Ena much appreciated. She did not however have any good words to say about Jeevans’s wife, and as usual her instincts proved correct, for some years later there was a most acrimonious parting.

Travels with Ena: Yala and other travels – Part 5

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Ambepitiya, Anderson Lodge, Ena de Silva, Horton Plains, JVP, Lucy Wood, Nihal Fernando, Raji Ratwatte, Rapp’s Lodge, Richard de Zoysa, Shanthi Wilson, Sheran Fernando, Suren Ratwatte, Wasgamuwa, Yala

The most unusual wild life trips were those to Horton Plains, where Anderson Lodge still provided log fires and a certain amount of hot water. I have strong recollections of a couple of trips, though there may have been more. One was with Nihal Fernando, and we actually saw a leopard darting across the Plains early one morning.

The other I remember for a radiant full moon, which kept bobbing up over the clouds when we had stayed out late one evening, and we saw sambhur silhouetted in the distance in its light. That I think was when we entertained Ambepitiya, who must have been quite bemused at the conversation, Shanthi being at her sophisticated best. I was reminded then of a glorious holiday we had had in Cornwall when I was at University, when we had decided to thank the lady in the cottage next door who had helped us find our feet.

Travels with Ena: Yala and other travels – Part 3

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Acts of Faith, British Council, Days of Despair, Ena de Silva, Harin Abeysekera, Ismeth Raheem, J R Jayewardene, Mahasilawa, Nihal Fernando, Patanangala, Philippine People’s Revolution, Priyani Tennekoon, Richard de Zoysa, Romesh Dias Bandaranaike, Shirley Perera, Steve de la Zylwa, Tangalle Resthouse, Tissamaharama Resthouse, Waruna Karunatilleke, Yala

Work at the British Council prevented me from going on all the Yala trips that Ena and her troops indulged in that year. Richard joined them quite often, more than once having to travel in the back of the pick-up so he could stretch out a leg swathed in bandages or otherwise requiring special attention, after yet another motor-cycle accident. Once he was accompanied by Steve de la Zylwa, which prompted an exciting story of being confronted by a leopard when they had gone swimming at Patanangala, though the rest of the party were not entirely convinced that there had been any real danger.

I was actually only once on a Yala trip with Richard, in 1986 when the Philippine People’s Revolution was happening. By then he was very close to Waruna Karunatilleke, who was helping in his work for Lalith, and had brought him along too, though Shanthi disapproved thoroughly, and even Ena found Waruna not exactly sympathetic. His determination, which Richard indulged, to listen to the news as the drama in Manila developed, seemed perfectly understandable to me, but Ena and Shanthi thought it quite alien to the Yala spirit. Richard, who of course sensed what was going on, gradually then moved away from the group, though this may have been as much because of the political involvements that were beginning to grip him, which also moved him away from Waruna too by the end of the decade.