greetings from dr ranaweera - efac7075.files.wordpress.com · 7/2/2015 · greetings from dr...

Greetings from

Dr Ranaweera It gives me great pleasure to send my greetings to the 71-Batch reunion, and I thank the organizing committee for inviting me to do so. I was intimately associated with the E’fac for more than 40 years, and for me, the Seventies period you were at the Campus were the best of times. At that time the University had a fair amount of autonomy and at the Faculty we had very good rapport between staff and students. We had a very dedicated set of staff, and an advanced curriculum, and we produced world class graduates who performed well in industry and academia anywhere in Sri Lanka and outside. Your own careers bear witness to this. Campus was full of activities, and the experience you had at the Campus was varied and outstanding.

I had just returned from my graduate studies and was living in the Akbar-Nell Hall, like most of you were. I was a young Lecturer just starting my teaching career, and you were fairly free with me. Faculty has started teaching in Swabasha and I was teaching first year Surveying in Sinhalese to you, and I can still remember the following incident. Short time after you started your first year work the University was closed because of the JVP activities, and you came back to continue with your studies after some time. When I started lecturing to you I had my customary beard and when you came back I have shaved it off, and I can remember the first lecture I took after your return. Soon after I started my lecture one of you wanted to know what happened to my beard. If I remember right I said; “I only lost my beard but many lost their heads”, and continued with the lecture.

Over the times things changed socially and politically in the country with their inevitable influence on the University. Funding priorities changed and free education and state universities felt the brunt. However after the dramatic political change which took place in January this year, there is much optimism in the country and in the University.

Even though I am retired now I still keep in touch with the E’fac, mainly through the Peradeniya Engineering Faculty Alumni Association (PEFAA). I know some of you are members of PEFAA, and I urge others to do so and keep in touch with your Alma Mater. Through PEFAA you can help the Faculty individually or as a group.

I wish all of you a very enjoyable reunion.

Munidasa P. Ranaweera

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Faculty of Engineering Batch 70-75 Souvenir 2015: Then Now & Transition

life at

halls of

residence

arul britto

early bird

This happened in our first year in Nell Hall when I shared a room with batch mate

Nagodavithane. When I woke up one morning I found Nagodavithane’s half of the room all

in a mess with everything turned upside down – as if a cyclone had ripped through

Nagodavithane’s side of the room whereas leaving my side of the room untouched.

His bed sheet was half draped on the

overhead metal clothes hangar. The

table lamp was lying on its side. His

books and notes were scattered on

the floor. It was complete disarray on

his half of the room. Embarrassingly the

very second I opened my eyes and

was surveying the chaos on his side of

the room, Nagodavithane opened the

door and witnessed the disorder. I

looked sheepishly at him. All this has

happened on my watch made me

cringe.

Having got up early, Nagodavithane

had gone to brush his teeth in the

washroom which was at the end of

the corridor, leaving the room key just inside the ledge of the window grille (which was quite

customary). Friends (?) of Nagodavithane on their way from the New Wing to the dining hall

must have felt the key inside the ledge which they duly found. They had let themselves in

and perhaps as a practical joke they turned his half of the room upside down while I was

asleep. My reputation as a heavy sleeper meant that the intruders did not have to keep the

noise down. That had duly replaced the key and long gone.

Nagodavithane had his suspicions as to who the culprits were. However they were never

identified and have not owned up to this day.

E’Fac 70-75

OUR CAMPUS

DAYS

katunayake

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the flood

This was our final year and we (Arunanthy and I) were sharing a room. I woke up (this was no

easy matter) hearing a commotion in the corridor and it must have been well past midnight.

All the corridor lights were at full blaze. I could hear the ripples of waves and animated noises

apparently from the floor mates.

This being the first floor of the New Wing, thoughts of a flood of biblical proportion flashed

through my mind. Peradeniya is in the central part of the country which was one thousand

five hundred feet above sea level and some hundred odd miles from the nearest coast and

the hall of residence we resided in is atop a hill which had been partly blasted off to build

the trio of the halls of residence.

We switched the room light on and our first concern was to determine what the damage and

how bad the flooding situation was. I checked to see how deep the water was inside the

room. Surprisingly there was hardly any water except for a few trickles which came from

under the door. Arunanthy and I gingerly opened the door and took a peek outside. The floor

was flooded and most of the floor mates armed with broomsticks, were trying to sweep the

water towards the ends of the long corridor. Was it a burst water pipe causing this problem?

No it was not.

Later I found that this was the latest act of a

series of pranks in a long running tit-for-tat

episode, which led the students from

another floor to block off all the sink holes

and also the drains in the floor with pieces

of rags. The taps in the wash basins were

left open to full blast in the middle of the

night. Water from the washrooms at either

end slowly flowed into the corridors causing

the floor to flood. It took a few days to dry

up. Musty damp smell emanated from the

floor for a week or so. The spirits of the floor

mates were down at the humiliation. How

can one top that and get back at the

instigators?

A week passed and all this had been forgotten. The floor mates were soon back to their

irrepressible high spirits. I never discovered which floor were the students from or with whom

this dispute was.

the siege

This must have been the third year when Arunanthy and I shared a room in the Ground floor

of the New Wing. Practical jokes were plenty, with the occupants of the halls being inventive

and researching new ways to inconvenience fellow occupants. All was done in good

humour. In some cases ropes would be tied tautly to the door handles of opposite rooms that

would require the occupants inside to climb out of the window and walk around to cut the

ropes in order to be able to use the doors again. With due consideration, this was only done

to rooms at ground floor levels. As it was easy to jump out of the window and cut the ropes

off. Never done to any of the higher floors which would have left the occupants stranded as

escape through windows will be out of the question and dangerous with a potential for

serious injury.

!!

Great, we now have a

room with running water

4 | P a g e


That did not stop a senior student from making the attempt to walk along the thin ledge

presumably as a short cut to another floor mate’s room which was on the same side of the

corridor. He thought going from open window to another open window for a discussion

rather than going through two sets of doors was more efficient. I can see his logic. He was

aptly nicknamed “wire” because of his very slim build. The story is he did fall off the second

floor ledge but luckily did not sustain any major injury.

Now returning to the original plot, for some reason the door handles of the Ground floor in the

new wing were flatter compared to the rest of the floors which were more round. This would

mean that a sturdy stick cut to the right length could be slid under the door handle and

neatly jammed tight preventing the door handle being turned and hence opened from the

inside, preventing the occupants from the normal use of the door. This would require the

occupants to jump out of the window and re-enter the hall and corridor and dislodge the

offending stick.

Some of the occupants soon learnt that the gentle rattling of the handle was a prelude to

somebody placing a stick under their door handle. They would be prepared for such

eventualities like the occupants of a castle under siege. No boiling oil here (the student

allowance did not stretch to that extent or the natural compassion for the fellow student

overriding even the case of students who could afford it) The retaliation would be with a

bucketful of cold tap water poured through the ventilation grille which was situated directly

above the door. They would place a board at an angle (so that the water did not splash

back into the room) and then empty the bucket of water either catching the unsuspecting

miscreant just when they were placing the stick or just after it. There was one instance where

one of my batch mates (none other than the (Tom) Christopher Thomas a Parson’s son who

also happened to live not very far from where we lived in Colombo) who was just standing up

with his face wreathed with an impish smile which was spreading across his face at

successfully completing the sliding stick manoeuvre only to be drenched by a deluge of

water through the grille above the door which caught him completely unawares. The smile

was immediately wiped off by the water and replaced with an embarrassing grin. It was

doubly painful for him to suffer the ignobility of being “bucketed” and it being witnessed by

someone else. He must have had a tough time explaining his wet clothes to his room-mate

on a perfectly dry day.

Footnote: Recently the author had checked the veracity of this incident with Christopher Thomas who

now works in Birmingham, UK. As one can expect, he did not have such a recollection. However he has kindly given permission for his name to appear in this article.

We still remember …

Photo: courtesy of M D Amaratunga

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Source: Unknown

Snippets…

During his retirement speech Arul Britto said, “When you get to my age

three things happen. First the memory goes.” Then he scratched his

head and said “I cannot remember the other two.”

Dentist’s son: My father is a dentist. I can have good teeth for nothing.

Teacher’s son: My father is a teacher. I can know everything for

nothing.

Preacher’s son: My father is a preacher. I can be good for nothing.

6 | P a g e


… our

adventures

nimal jayaratne

visit to jaffna

It was 1974, the end of our third year at Peradeniya. Having finished the (postponed) third

year exams Bahar and I were at Arunachalam Hall and had the most carefree time of our

lives. Doing crazy things were on our minds always after completing an examination. A bright

idea dawned on us guess what? Visit Jaffna, the Northernmost region of Sri Lanka where most

of our Tamil friends have come from.

Our batch mate Nandakumar (alias Sai Baba) was one of our likeminded good friends. We

mentioned this to Nandakumar and he was all out for it. He invited us to visit Jaffna and

offered to give us accommodation in his home.

A few days later we rushed to our homes to let our parents know about the trip. The next day

Bahar and I met up at Peradeniya Railway Station and took the South-bound Colombo Podi

Menike train and travelled up to Polgahawela where we changed to the North bound Yaal

Devi night train to head towards Jaffna.

This was my first experience of travelling with a batch mate on a trip like this. It was fun as we

knew each other very well, having entered the University from Kandy schools and having

been room- mates for a while at Hilda Obeysekera Hall. That was during our third year prior

to closure of the campus due to the food crisis in August 1973. There were no dearth of topics

to talk about to fill the time on this long journey.

We travelled all night and it was about mid-day when we got off the train at Chunnakam

Station as instructed by Nandakumar. We had agreed to meet Nandakumar at the

Chunnakam Station. We looked around for Nandakumar, strolling up and down the platform

a few times, but he was not to be seen.

We did not know anything about Jaffna, not even the street address of Nandakumar's

residence. The other difficulty was communication. We have heard that Jaffna folks will not

speak in Sinhala even they knew the language, just like the French do not like to speak in

English while on their territory. This was proven on this day. I did know a few words of Tamil but

the pronunciation was so different that no one could understand what I said.

Fortunately Bahar's mother tongue was Tamil and the obstacle was easily overcome. After a

bit of running around we managed to speak to a local guy and described Nandakumar by

his appearance. Bingo, he knew who we were referring to. The person told us that

Nandakumar was the son of the Principal of Vembedi Girls High School and took us towards

her residence. Half way through the journey a Sai Baba like person was walking towards us. It

was Nandakumar. He had a huge apology to make for deserting us at the Chunnakam

Railway station. Nandakumar had simply forgotten! Or, may be, he never thought we would

show up. There were no mobile phones those days....

E’Fac 70-75

OUR CAMPUS

DAYS

7 | P a g e


Nandakumar took us to his home and introduced us to his mother. What a graceful lady? She

started apologising for her son's forgetfulness a few times, but by that time the incident was

long forgotten. She prepared us a lunch comprising of string hoppers and goat curry. We had

not had a decent meal for a while and that meal tasted fantastic. That was the first time I

have tasted authentic Jaffna cuisine. An amazing experience.

After the meal Nandakumar took us around to show the township of Chunnakam where we

were ordered to listen to Nandakumar's instructions. We were advised not to visit any

roadside eateries without his consent, of which we were confused at first but later we

understood the reasons. Nandakumar belonged to Brahmin Caste and he was not supposed

to eat at any random place which was a disciplinary requirement of Brahmins. What a world?

That day we tasted the 'moru' drink, a diluted butter milk slightly spiced. It was quite

refreshing in the warm and humid climate of Jaffna. The next morning we visited Jaffna

passing through shopping malls, visiting eateries and tasting many Jaffna dishes. In the

afternoon we visited Velvettithurai passing through the beach line where Nandakumar

described as the belt where contraband goods supply from South India was commonplace.

There were boats paddling between Sri Lanka and South India, regularly, few times a day,

which was understandable considering the 30 km distance between the two counties. Some

Jaffna residents were said take a boat to South India in the morning to watch latest Tamil

movies and return to Velvettithurai by sunset. There was no passport control or visa

requirements or customs. What a contrast to what is happening at the other ports in the

country? Sri Lanka government's immigration department did not appear to have any control

over there at that time. Indian sarees and suit material was being traded openly at very

'reasonable' prices. No wonder this stretch of the beach line later became the strong hold of

Prabakaran's quest for an independent state.

As far as I can remember (after 41 years), then we left for Keerimalai Naguleswaran Temple

and to have a dip in its salt water natural pool. I looked up the pool we bathed in 1974 on the

internet this morning. Nothing seems to have changed since we had been there. Still the

separation of areas for men and women appears to be in place.

The next day we visited the Nagadeepa or Nainativu island. We boarded a boat at

Kurikattuwan Jetty for a 20 minute ride. Nagadeepa is one of the clusters of islands in the

Palk Bay off Jaffna Peninsula. Visited the famous Buddhist temple where Budda is said to

have visited 5 years after his enlightenment to resolve a dispute between two Naga kings.

After visiting this sacred place we were keen to do some less sacred thing as well. It was

tasting of the Palmyra toddy at a local tavern. We had to walk a fair distance to get to a

toddy tavern probably taverns were not allowed close to the temple. Drinking alcohol was

against the teachings of Buddha. The tavern was very primitive and had less than basic

hygiene. Flies were whistling past the toddy barrels and around the drinkers' mugs. The mug in

which the toddy is served was made of Palmyra bark worked in to a shape of a small vessel.

We had a few drinks just to get the taste of it but it was stronger in alcohol content than we

anticipated. I was feeling a bit tipsy-turvy after a while and I could not remember much of

the return journey to the main land. We came back to Nandakumar's home for the night and

had some dinner and went to bed. I could not sleep as my tummy kept on churning like mad.

Before long I could not hold any longer and I vomited all over my bed and on the floor.

tour of uva highlands

Six of us (Bahar, Ranjan, Vasantha, Wanky, Bob and NS) took a tour of Sri Lanka's Uva

highlands. It was in late1972, and we set off directly from Peradeniya, after the Part 1 exams,

8 | P a g e


before going to our homes. The trip was made

possible by the kind invitation of two young

planters, living in the highland tea estates of Uva

Province. We took the ‘Uda Rata Menike’ to

Badulla and then CTB bus to our destinations.

The first tea estate we visited was in Passara,

about 20km from Badulla - then probably a 45

minute journey on the winding upcountry roads.

Our host was Marcel Peiris (Lumpy) – who had

been a classmate of Wanky’s at school. As a

young planter (SD – Sinna Dorai), he lived in a

comfortable bungalow, with a cook and

gardener provided by the estate management

company. Everything was modelled on the

colonial era, when tea estates had European

planters. The bungalows were well laid out –

usually in scenic spots – and the only negative

factor for the young planter was remoteness and lack of company. As SDs they had to work

hard, usually from 6am to 6pm, manage labour, check on tea plantation activities, check the

accounting, see to upkeep of estate etc. They would have a supervising PD (Periya Dorai)

also stationed on the estate. The larger estates could have more than one PD and many SDs.

We stayed about 4 days at Lumpy’s enjoying his hospitality, and moved on further into the

interior, taking bus to reach Madulsima, a further 20km away.

Lumpy is second from right

In front of Lumpy's bungalow

In front of Burp’s bungalow –with visiting SD Admiring the beauty of a valley …Burp’s Mahadowa Estate, Madulsima

9 | P a g e


Our friendly host was the SD of Mahadowa Estate – B R P

Perera (Burp). He was a classmate of Ranjan’s. This tea

estate had 2331 acres and was divided into 4 divisions. It

had one PD and 3 SDs to manage the operation. At both

homes, the cook turned out nice meals for us. They could

cook both Eastern & Western cuisine. While we were at

Burp’s, he invited two SDs and wives to dinner to meet us.

We slept in comfortable well made beds with soft sheets,

warm blankets etc. It was wonderful - since we’d travelled

straight from Campus hall life!

We stayed 4 days at Madulsima too, and finally bade

good bye to Burp. The young planters looked after us well

providing all the necessities and more. The only problem

was they would not let us leave! Probably the loneliness of

the beautiful surroundings was more accentuated for

them, having grown up in busy Colombo. Their families

were far away, and in those days there were no mobile

phones or email. They tried all their tricks to get us to

extend our stay with them, even resorting to some lies –

such as the road being closed due to a landslide…

With Mr K.H De Silva (in sarong in the below right picture),

my Chemistry teacher at Kingswood, we all shared a half

litre bottle of Beehive brandy that night. We slept on the

floor at KH's house.

The complete tour

took about ten

days and in the

end all were

relaxed and free of

exam stresses,

ready to take on

vacation training if

we were lucky to

get assigned to

some workplace.

1973 food crisis

The 1973 global food crisis was sparked by global drop in rice production and resultant price

increases. The government was forced to cut the subsidised rice ration in half and increased

the guaranteed price of rice by 40% to intensify the push for domestic production of rice. The

immediate impact of this policy was a general scarcity of rice in the country and a sudden

price rise of rice. The University could not absorb this increase and the decision to close the

campus was taken in October 1973. It was just weeks before our Final Part II examinations.

Our third year in the campus was totally different to the previous two. In the first and second

years despite the disruption to studies by the 1971 JVP insurrection, education was our

priority. However, by the third year we were more inclined to enjoy the free life in the campus

On the road towards Badulla

… waiting for a bus at Passara

10 | P a g e


before the opportunity slips away from us. I was assigned to Hilda Obeysekera Hall and that

had a big impact on my attitude to studies that year. My room was on the second wing and

my room-mate was Mohamed Bahardeen. To make matters more interesting our neighbour

was the president of the Arts Faculty Student Union Navaratne Bandara and we shared the

same balcony. How can you study in an environment like this? People in and out of his room

all the time, then naturally dropping in at ours, political discussions on the balcony and on

corridors, making posters with communist slogans etc, were common place.

Amidst this carefree life I was keen to do

well in athletics that year and spent quite

a bit of time on the athletic track and at

the jumping pits. My determination paid

off with my doing well in my pet events

high jump, long jump and 400 m. I

managed to improve the University high

jump record at the inter-university sports

meet held at the Police Park,

Bambalapitiya. That achievement lead to

me being awarded the University colours

in 1973 and subsequently being elected

Athletics Captain of Peradeniya

University.

Added to these were the hall socials,

Docs, Soc and Wala......Bahar and I were

heading for disaster, come Part II exams. If

the exams were held on schedule, we

and a few around us would have definitely crashed. Then came the closure of the campus

due to the Food Crisis.

At first we did not know how long the closure would last, however I was determined to use this

opportunity put in a concerted effort in to preparing for the Part II exams. Several others

opted to find vacation employment but the the three ratne's; NS Jayaratne, PW Thilakaratne

and VGP Widyaratne or the 'thrivida ratnaya' (meaning triple gem) as others used to call us

then, got together in a bid to find a strategy to get us over the line at Part II exam. We were

least worried about vacation employment as we knew we could earn enough money later if

we get through the four years of engineering.

The first consideration was 'where should we base ourselves at?' Widyaratne was from

Madugaoda and Thilakaratne was from Mawathagama and I was from Gampaha. At that

time none of the three houses had electricity! How can we study under the Petromax lamps?

We have been enjoying quality accommodation in University halls of residence and we

could not go back to kerosene lamp days again. The verdict was to rent a place in

Gampaha town. My home was only five kilometres away and it was close to many main bus

routes. I asked my father to look for a place for us and he used all his contacts in Gampaha

and found a small annex like property more suited for a boutique. The building belonged to a

popular personality in Gampaha, who was known as 'Volley-Ball Charles' and it was located

along Vijaya Road. There was no kitchen or attached baths and the facilities were basic. The

front was a four leaf wooden panelled shopfront door. As I can recall the rent was only Rs 40

a month, more importantly there was electricity! We decided to rent the property and we

borrowed three beds and bed linen and some basic furniture from my parents to fill the

space.

Next problem was how do we eat? Thought we would manage our meals from many nearby

eating places but my parents were not happy with our plan as one indigestion would cripple

1973 N S Jayaratne accepting the inter faculty athletics trophy

on behalf of Engineering Faculty. Our batch-mate and champion

athlete Colin Thilakaratne can be seen in background; sadly

Colin departed few years ago.

11 | P a g e


our study plan, let alone the cost. My mother offered to cook for us and my father agreed to

cart the food from my parents place to our new study residence a distance of about five

kilometres, on a daily basis. My father had to take a bus and a brief walk to reach us and he

did that service until the University reopened in February 1974. We three enjoyed each

other's camaraderie at its best. Guess what? All three passed Part II exam in all subjects.

Closure of the campus due to food crisis was a blessing in disguise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M S Gajanayake – passed away in 1991

by N A K Perera

Our Gajanayake was married to the famous radio personality - Irene Gajanayake. At the EFac Gajaya was always seen coming and going on his Vespa scooter. He was possibly the oldest person in our batch and was also

married at the time. Here’s why he entered EFac as an older student. He could not go to Uni at his first sitting even though he had obtained great AL results.

This was because around that time he had got caught attempting to help another person at GCE (OL) by impersonating him. As a result he was banned from

sitting for any exams for 7 years. Gajaya had then started a career as a school teacher. After teaching for 7 years he sat for his ALs again and ended up in EFac with

our batch in 1970. At the EFac he met some of his former students in the senior batches. He was obviously a brilliant student as he graduated with an honours degree

with very little effort. He worked as an Executive Engineer for the Department of Highways and his last position was Executive Engineer for Avissawella. Sadly,

Gajanayake died in a tragic accident while working in Dubai in 1991.

Haran Snell – passed away in 2000

Extracted from an account by Ranjan Abeyasekara The war had taken a mental toll on Haran for some years. In the words of his

friend Rajan Hoole, writing in the dedication of his book published in 2001, Haran was "Too brilliant, too sensitive and too just for this mortal frame to hold".

Mahes & I had been used to cycling in Colombo, so we enjoyed the flat terrain of the Jaffna peninsula, and the many cycling outings with Haran. He showed us significant places of interest like Chundikuli Girls School and homes of certain

girls at University etc.! He also took us to meals at batchmates such as E S Daniel in Kopay. Mahes & I had not taken a camera on that holiday, as we'd

thought we could go again in later years. I've regretted not having captured some of the wonderful moments on film. The war and the immeasurable cost in

human suffering was something that we could not have foreseen.

12 | P a g e


life as

university

students

anonymous

honest mistake

It was a full moon day in 73 or 75. Many undergrads would visit the Temple of Tooth Relic on

Poya days irresepective of their faith or belief, as if they were very religious. Some would go

with a pocket full of addresses to handover to attractive girls. Although, many of us would

wear simple casual dresses with thongs, very few tried to dress smart and wear shoes.

One day we visited the temple as usual on a poya day leaving our footwear at the entrance.

When we returned to collect them D.W’s pair of shoes was missing. He was very upset as it

was a new pair. He looked around and found a similar pair nearby. Reluctantly, he put on

that and came back to the hall (Akbar-Nell New wing). He would have thought that the

owner of that pair would have taken his shoes by mistake. After an hour or so, we heard that

someone was cursing that he will never go to the temple again as someone has stolen his

shoes. We came out of the rooms and it was Karunakaran. DW realised what has happened,

but kept quiet, ashamed of revealing the truth. Probably, now Karu knows the culprit. I hope

he will not have a grudge against him and take him to courts.

hopper pudding at haraqueens

This happened when we were in the 3rd year or final year. It was an unusual dinner out in

Kandy. Every now and then few of us would get together and go out for a dinner. This

particular day we decided to go to Hara Queens (a familiar place to many) to have

hoppers, pittu, string hoppers etc etc. There were about 8 of us. As usual, we placed the

order at Hara Queens and went to UKD to quench our thirst. We spent about an hour there

and returned for the dinner about 7.00pm. While we were about to start dinner, Vasantha W

came to join us. He wanted to have a drink before the dinner and asked if anyone wanted to

join him at the next door Charlie Bar. Only his roommate joined him and returned after a

couple of drinks. We all enjoyed the dinner and we settled the invoice jointly. No one would

worry about how much the other person pay, and one pays whatever the amount one can

afford. That was an excellent friendship that you do not find in many western countries that

everyone pays for ones’ own consumption. Anyway that is not the fun part. Once the invoice

was settled, a waiter started collecting plates and dishes. All of a sudden, we saw that the

friendly waiters face changed and waited a couple of minutes looking at a plate in front of

Vasantha’s roommate. Slowly and very carefully, he took it away keeping that away as

much as possible from his body. It was full of some sort of a pudding like stuff and the guy had

his head supported on the table. Every one realised what has happened and quietly went

back to the hall with our friend supported by two friends.

E’Fac 70-75

OUR CAMPUS

DAYS

13 | P a g e


treat from ratnapura

One day few of us were near the entrance to the New Wing (Akbar-Nell) when Nimal R’s

mother visited on her way home from a trip/holiday. She came with a friend of Nimal as he

knew Nimal’s hall and the room. Unfortunately (not for us), Nimal wasn’t there. We were not

sure where he was (of course some would have known but didn’t want to tell). His mother

was unhappy that she could not give the box of goodies to him, and she couldn’t wait as

there were some others too. Nimal’s friend who came with her also didn’t want to waste time

and he (he visited Nimal few times and Amare knew him) told her that Amare is a very good

friend of Nimal and she can hand it over to Amare to pass it to Nimal. Amare took the box

and she thanked and left. When Amare was going to the room with the box, the guys

surrounded him like bees. As soon as he entered the room, they opened the box and found

plenty of fruits and other goodies to eat. Everyone agreed that Nimal is a very generous

friend and definitely share the stuff. So without waiting for him we divided the stuff evenly

among us including Nimal. Amare took Nimal’s share and locked it in a drawer as he did

want to give him some thing. Late afternoon Nimal returned and we gave him the gift

without telling from whom it was. He took them happily and thanking, and few minutes later,

someone told him the story and he shouted at us jokingly. He wasn’t angry as he would have

done the same thing even without leaving anything for the owner.

unbelievable

This happened after the exam was over in our third year or final year. Few guys started

collecting money to have a party and almost every one contributed in whatever the amount

one can. When they approached M, he said that he would give them a bottle of urine if they

bring an empty bottle. They didn’t forget that, and he was given a surprise gift. When

searching for a gift, they found the perfect one with another batcha. M and another batch

mate occupied a room at ground floor in New Wing. The guys wanted to deliver the gift while

they were sleeping and to find a time that both were sleeping was an extremely difficult task.

Among those guys, they found the one who goes to bed last and another one who wakes up

earliest. For several days these two were monitoring the room to check if M and the rooma

were asleep. One would check in the night, before he goes to sleep and the other one, as

soon as he wakes up. Bingo. One day, one guy came running and woke up few others.

Slowly they went and delivered the gift through the grill above the window. It made a huge

sound and the boys ran back to their rooms. From that day, no one was willing to go pass

that room. Normally, we would go along the corridor to go to the dining hall, passing that

room. There was a rumour that M and rooma were too busy studying and didn’t want to

waste any time going to the end of the hall for various duties, such as showers etc. and used

the bins in the room. The smell lasted for a long time and it appeared that they were not

concerned about it. Some people said that M suspected the smell is coming from the rooma

and rooma suspected the smell is coming from M. Neither M nor the rooma wanted to upset

the other by raising the issue and both maintained silence to carry on their lives as nothing

has happened. The gift was a parcel of eggs lying in a batcha’s room for few months. He

used to get plenty of eggs and these were too old. The sound and the smell were created by

the eggs when they were dropped through the grill.

Language cracks… Every Wife is a "Mistress" for her Husband.

"Miss" for one hour & "stress" for the remaining 23 hours!

14 | P a g e


accounts at the canteen

There were two men operating the Akbar canteen. One is called Captain and the other one

corporal. Many of us would go there to have a cup of tea or buy cigarettes. One would

open an account when one doesn’t have money. Anyone who goes there towards the

closure time would have noticed that corporal was doing Bowdich correction in accounts.

Everyone had the suspicion that corporal was adding the cost of a tea, a cigarette etc. to

every account. Some people leave the campus without paying the balance for the last

month or two. One guy senior to us (will call him Elton) had a huge account to settle by the

end of his finals. He disappeared without paying it and corporal was asking each and every

one about him. After some time, corporal gave up on him and the business went as usual.

After the finals results were released, Elton had to return to the faculty to repeat the exam.

Corporal was very happy to see him and asked for the money. He told him not to worry and

the money will be paid at the end of the month as soon as he gets his pay. He told corporal

the he was offered the position as an instructor. Corporal was very happy and reopened the

account. After repeating the exam, Elton disappeared again and never returned.

One of our batchas also had an account to be paid and when he was asked to settle it, he

told corporal “I will pay that only if you tell me the correct amount”. Corporal said that it was

the correct amount and the batcha said that it is not correct and went away. That was the

end of that account too.

parippu pudding

It was in 73 or 74. Due to the food crisis we were given tea with a piece of jaggery. Our friend

Mervyn A didn’t drink tea but collected the pieces of jaggery. Once he collected a bag, he

would take it to Ramanathan and few days later come with a bowl of watalappam or

pudding. He is very generous and will share it with us. One day, he informed us that he was

bringing pudding and wait at the dining hall after everyone else is gone. So few of us were

waiting for him around 9.00pm and Mervyn arrived with goodies. We emptied the container

and filled with “Parippu” and gave it back to Mervyn. We went with him and started asking

for the treat when he was near his room. Guys in that floor heard the noise and came out of

their rooms. They also joined us and they said that they should be given the priority as they

are from the same floor. Pretending some reluctance, we moved to back of the crowd.

Mervyn took a large spoon and gave the pudding to the few mates in front. When they

realised that it was “Parippu”, others disappeared. We started laughing and used to ask them

every now and then the taste of the pudding.

Those were the days …

Photo: courtesy of

Anura Abeygunawardane

15 | P a g e


Source: Unknown

Snippets…

Language problem:

Each pair of the following

means the same thing:

flammable & inflammable

loosen & unloosen

ravel & unravel

Language cracks:

When the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are out they are invisible.

When we wind up a watch we start it, but when we wind up a conference we stop it.

If you are wearing your left shoe only, then your right shoe is left. Right?

16 | P a g e


vortex ‘74

–an event of a lifetime

rohan bandarage

(bob)

End of 1974 was an anxious time for us at the Campus. Finals exam was looming but we also

yearned for a memorable valedictory night. To our dismay, the ‘anti-social’ campaign had

resurfaced and ‘end of year’ socials on Halls and Faculties had become taboo. This

sentiment was ripe within elements of our junior EFac batch, who also nursed a grudge

against our batch because we boycotted their recent union strike action. They were

determined not to let us have a Social but that made our resolve even harder to organise

one.

The route we used for this was the Civil Engineering Society, run solely by the final year Civil

Batch and the academic staff. The Society was predominantly a forum to introduce students

to professional discourse, but we managed to convince Prof Thurairajah that an ‘end of year

party’ is within its realm.

We had Lakshman Fernando (Elect batcha – may he rest in peace) aided by Toja and

Susantha to write the limericks. I was one of the victims with his verses that divulged a

Saturday night tryst which I thought no one knew about.

Much thought went into selecting a name and

finally ‘Vortex 74’ was chosen in line with the vortex

theory, also reminiscent of the disastrous 3rd Year

Fluids Paper. The Event Souvenir became a major

part, where we harnessed the talents of our

batchas. Who better than Mervyn Alwis, our Kala

Wiz to design the cover page? There was complex

interpretation over the meaning of the female

figurine, the guitar, the Intz Tower, plumbing and

building works on the front cover - a mystery yet not

unravelled by Mervyn.

The planning and preparation for the event was

quite momentous. We had a very enthusiastic

committee that comprised Mech & Elect reps. The

Social was restricted to our batch and for their lady

only guests. A close scrutiny was placed to monitor

the tickets. We also took care of the sabotage

element. The elect batchas together with Dr

Rambuks set up a bypass in case of power is

disrupted.

E’Fac 70-75

OUR CAMPUS

DAYS

17 | P a g e


In fact, this happened twice during the show, and drove the saboteurs into a quandary as to

how the proven short circuiting from the Akbar end did not work that night. The Campus

Marshalls were put on alert so to make sure no mischief and no bucketing of our guests while

crossing the Mahaweli Bridge.

A 20% commission was given for those who brought in the advertisements and sure they kept

coming. Am certain many regretted the precious cram time they wasted, touting for ads in

Colombo. Josh and Ashantha did a wonderful job, as editor and deputy. Unlike now, the

artwork needed type setting and Souvenir printed by hand machines.

Then, we had to excite those within our batch who were wary of dancing and socials. Who

better than Wanky to give dancing lessons, just to be able to waddle round the floor? I had

no trouble getting dancing partners, having a Fresher sister at Sanghamitta Hill, whose mates

were eager to meet the budding engineers. I am sure the likes of KMG and Abey would

have enjoyed the night as a result.

With total support and excitement of the entire batch, there was no shortage of help for

decorating and setting up the show. I recall Roy, Upali Vandabona & possibly Amare on the

back of the Faculty Pickup truck, carting goods. We had Hezonites, the Penideniya band

with young vocalist Carmen and Upali W from the 2nd year batch playing for us. We had Dr

Galaps and staff selecting the Vortex Queen. ES Daniel proved to be a gallant MC.

The Social was a boon for those batchas who were courting or were about to take the

plunge. Quite a few of them, I think emerged as confirmed couples at the end of the Social.

Among them were my closest buddies at the time; Josh/Mangala & Gemunu/Pat. There were

many others who pursued their Votex conquests to fruition, soon thereafter.

It wasn’t all rosy for all, with some getting into strife for not looking after their guests and others

for getting too cosy on the dance floor! As for me, I can blame the hidden special Arrack

bottle in the Materials Lab, which I shared with Bahar and Josh (both of whom I believe are

teetotallers, now). When I went home after the finals exam, my mother produced an

anonymous but a hilarious letter she received in the mail about her son’s indiscretions. My

parents however did not think it was funny.

It was indeed an eventful night for many and to some, one that had a lasting impact. To us

the organisers- it was a great achievement, having realised our goal amidst fierce opposition

to near perfection. Forty years since, I doubt I had a more satisfying accomplishment.

We still

remember …

Photo: courtesy of

Anura Abeygunawardane

18 | P a g e


Source: Unknown

This happened to a one of

us:

We were in the surveying

camp in Kanthale, and one day

managed to get hopelessly

lost in the jungle. Our group

leader studied the map for

some time, turned it around

this way and that way, aligned

it with distant landmarks and

fiddled with theodolite with a

serious look.

Finally he said, 'OK see that

big mountain over there?'.

'Yes', answered the group-

mates eagerly. 'Well,

according to the map, we're

standing on top of it.'

Snippets …

Three engineering students and three science students were travelling to Colombo

by train. Before the journey, the science students bought 3 tickets but engineering

ones said they will take a risk and bought only one. Science students laughed at the

engineering students because it was known there are regular ticket inspectors.

However when the inspector was approaching their compartment, all three

engineering students went together to the nearest toilet. Inspector noticed the

closed toilet, knocked on the door, and in reply saw a hand with the ticket. He

checked it and thanked apologetically.

On the return to Peradeniya after the break, science students decided to use the

same strategy. They bought only one ticket and noticed that engineering students

did not have money to buy even one ticket! When the science group heard the

ticket inspector arriving they went to the loo, and when they heard the knock one

hand presented the ticket. The engineering student standing out there promptly

took that ticket and walked away with his two friends to a toilet further down.

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