Professor Ashley Halpé in his address to the Colombo Branch of the Alumni Association of the University of Peradeniya reminisces the good old days of this magnificent university.

It is in the same spirit that I now venture to claim one of the privileges of age, the privilege of the recollection of times past. Not, I hasten to say, in a lapse into self-indulgence but to add to your act of piety one of my own: to carry you back to honour and celebrate our beginnings.

Back to that October of 1952 when we – happy few! – arrived on a sopping wet day in the promised land envisioned by the founders of the Ceylon University Association in 1905 when they began the move to obtain a national university for this country. The Peradeniya location was actually decided only three decades later after the “battle of the sites,” the alternative proposed being the Dumbara valley…

The first impression was of rain sluicing down, inexorably, dampening even the unmistakable tang in the air that swirls into the carriages as the train pauses at Balana before undertaking the final climb to Kadugannawa Junction. Most people went up by train in those days, the buses being rickety, scruffy and unreliable. We were all pioneers, the first phalanx of Arts students, all fresh to Peradeniya, no one, senior or junior had any idea where to go.

It did not matter – Sir Ivor and Artie Samarawickreme, the indefatigable clerk of the works, had sent five lorries to  Peradeniya  station, as it was known then. There they were, labelled Mars, Jayatilaka, Arunachalam, Peiris and Hilda Obeyesekere.

Disoriented

We piled in and were trundled away through the downpour to be delivered to…it was Peiris for me,  some place on some hill and little else yet. I was so disoriented in the endless rain that I didn’t know north from south and east from west for pretty nearly a week.

Though we had got to Peradeniya well before noon, the kitchens weren’t operational by lunch time – nor by nightfall. Dinner was quite late, but no one wanted to go looking for food elsewhere in the rain and dark. Around eight o’clock  Sir Ivor and Lady Jennings came around and apologised to all the hungry, as Lady Jennings called us.

Nothing was quite ready, I slept on a mattress on the floor for a couple of weeks, but we managed, rather enjoying the picnicking and the novelty. I, for one, felt like a king when I got to my room, even though freshers like me had to share rooms since the original  plan of a room for every undergraduate (complete with an alcove of a bed-cum-dressing room and a balcony with a view) had already been changed under the pressure of numbers. I had grown up in the steadily increasing family of a poor teacher and was quite used to living in a crowded house where money was chronically in short supply.

In Peradeniya I had the room to myself most of the time, for my room-mate Christie Candappa was addicted to library, attendance and suchlike with religious zeal. Soon food was plentiful, afternoon tea was practically a fourth meal, every dinner was accompanied by a dessert and Sunday lunch was always special.

The whole concept was tremendous. This was no Oxford or Cambridge growing at its own sweet pace over the centuries and evolving a visual splendour of dreaming spires or colleges by the Cam by imperceptible increments.

Peradeniya was all planned, its variations of Kandyan architecture daringly blended with elements from Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, with touches of the modern where these could contribute to the amenities, the whole a “huge flower, fragrant with shadow” intricately balancing formal landscaping and  chaste permitted wilderness. Complete with winding walks and warbling stream, designed to breed debate and poetry.

Bowl of plenty

Peradeniya was for me very much a bowl of plenty, the perfection of a dream, the embodiment of that way of life I had dimly envisioned as “the university” (I cannot remember ever having thought of it as just a degree factory). I had a heady sense of walking daily in a Lankan Forum where opinions and prejudices were as likely to clash over tea and cigarettes in the central canteen or at a union meeting as on the way to football or tennis, in the toilets with those open-at-the-top cubicles or in unlit rooms alive with fervent voices into the early hours of morning.

When the spirit moved us we Peiris men descended to the road below where there was a little teashack for construction workers which we christened the Bistro (this was months before Wilbert Mudalali set up at Hindagala with his hoppers and ‘dynamite’ for mornings and the wonderful fresh bread and corned beef or sardines with onion sambol at night). 

The ‘in’ bell for girls (‘out’ for their male visitors!) clanged into the balmy evenings from Hilda Obeyesekere, then a hall for women, for several months the only one at seven! This so infuriated Audrey Roberts that one evening she and a friend charged out of the hall and half-way up Peiris hill screaming war-whoops. They were ‘gated’ for a month.

Firm discipline

Though we lived and thought in a freedom unknown in our middle-class homes, campus discipline was clear and firm. Lambert de Silva was sent down for a month for riding a noisy motorbike; I was sent before the chief marshal for inviting Dennis Aloysius to stay over in my room unauthorised. ‘Proper’ clothing was expected. Saronged loungers in the common rooms would leap out through windows when the warden was glimpsed coming up the drive.

In the circumstances the thrice-weekly films at the Arts Theatre, the occasional concerts, the after-dinner debates and Philosophical Society meetings, the Hall Socials, Colours Night and what have you had the added charm of permitted female participation after seven, even though marshals were on hand to shepherd the women back to their halls the moment an event ended.

Eagle-eyed Mr. Boulton, stocky Derek Raymond and the avuncular Messrs. de Alwis and Jayaweera permitted no lagging, though walking with the women the half-mile up the road to Hilda was the usual coda to our socialisation.

Mornings came crisp with wisps of mist especially on days we opted to walk across the campus for Mass. I don’t remember many wet mornings, though evening showers, even deluges, were almost expected. A short scramble down the Peiris hillside facing the Lodge, pioneering again; when we came back after the long vacation the curator had wisely put in steps where we had scarred the slope – and we had hardly a hundred yards to go to the Arts block.

We went into those staid and cheerless rooms and sat at the feet of giants: E.F.C. Ludowyk and ’Doric de Souza, G.C. Mendis and Fr. Ignatius Pinto, Cuthbert Amerasinghe and G.P. Malalasekera. H.C.Ray would saunter elegantly down the corridor, George Wickramanayake or D.E. Hettiarachchi pounded past,  Sarachchandra seemed to float ethereally.

J.L.C. Rodrigo found a small tutorial room quite adequate for the office of the Dean of Arts. Younger men contributed their flamboyance or eccentricity. The ornate eloquence of Arasaratnam, the jerky mannerisms of ‘Tawney’ Rajaratnam, the famous accent of Roland Sri Pathmanathan and the ready smile of F.R. Jayasuriya, the awe-inspiring scholarship of ‘H.A.de S,’ Karl Gunawardena, Ian ‘Vandy’ Van den Driesen.

– To be continued next week

Children’s classics top ‘best’ list

Classic tales including Just William and The Railway Children dominate a list of best books for young readers, as chosen by children’s laureates.

Just five of the 35 books selected by Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen, came out in the past 20 years.

A fifth were published in the 19th Century, including the oldest - Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist from 1838.

There was no place on the list for any of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books.

E Nesbit appeared twice on the list — for Five Children and It, chosen by Blake, and The Railway Children, chosen by Wilson.

Robert Louis Stevenson also appeared twice — for A Child’s Garden of Verses, chosen by Fine, and Treasure Island, chosen by Morpurgo.

Morpurgo, whose books include Kensuke’s Kingdom and Private Peaceful, said he “lived and loved” Treasure Island the first time he read it.

“This was the first proper book I read for myself,” he said.  “Jim Hawkins was the first character in a book I identified with totally — I was Jim Hawkins.”

Seven of the chosen books were from the 1930s, including Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, T .H. White’s Sword In The Stone and Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers.

Wilson, who chose Mary Poppins, said: “I would love to be Mary Poppins, admired by everyone, totally in control, never turning a hair even when flying through the air with her carpet bag and parrot-headed umbrella.”

The most recent book to make the list was 2008’s Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton. Sarah Clarke, of list organiser Waterstone’s, said: “I’m sure it will be a surprise to many that the list does not include more recent bestsellers like JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.

“But it’s great to see the laureates choosing some timeless greats like The Railway Children and Just So Stories and introducing them to a new generation of readers — that’s what the laureates are all about.”

The children’s laureate prize is awarded to a children’s author every two years to celebrate achievement in writing for a young audience.

Current laureate Michael Rosen will shortly end his run in the role, with his successor due to be announced before the end of the month.

Tee off from Jetwing St. Andrew’s, Nuwara Eliya

Stay and play at Jetwing St Andrew’s with their exclusive golf package offered from May 1st to July 31. Be welcomed to a superior room and step back in to history of the late 1800’s with the charm of the property. A selection of fruits awaits you after you have absorbed all the excitement of arriving at your retreat.

On the afternoon of your arrival, you will be treated to high-tea for two persons served at the Hi-Tea Terrace overlooking the historic golf course. You will also be pampered with a Rs. 1000 voucher, which you could avail of at the Taste of Asia Restaurant during dinner. The package also offers a 10% discount on all beverages.

After an enjoyable breakfast, the remainder of the day is all golf. Have a pleasant walk to the golf course where you will enjoy discounts ranging from 5% to 15% as green fees offered exclusively by the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club.

The package is for a  minimum of two nights and three days and on half board double room basis offered at a special rate of Rs. 9415 nett per room per day.

Jetwing St. Andrew’s is part of the Jetwing family of hotels. The collection of hotels that Jetwing offer include eleven properties situated in pristine locations around Sri Lanka. They are in Negombo: Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions, Jetwing Beach, Jetwing Blue Oceanic and Jetwing Seashells; in Beruwela: Jetwing Tropical Villas; in Galle: Jetwing Lighthouse and Jetwing Kurulubedda; in Kandy: Jetwing Hunas Falls; in Ambewela: Jetwing Warwick Gardens and in Sigiriya: Jetwing Vil Uyana

Serendipity — An exhibition of floral arrangements

The poem by William Wordsworth says “What is life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare! No time to stand beneath the boughs…”

 Sri Lanka is abundant in flora, but do we really have time to admire nature? Especially in Colombo, where large gardens are being transformed into multi-storey buildings; soon our children will have no greenery left! In today’s fast emerging concrete world, flowers may soon become just pictures in books.

The Shi-en Ikebana & Floral Art Society of Sri Lanka, the leading promoters of floral art and design will create floral artistry in Japanese Ikebana and Western styles, for the benefit of all. On view would be over 50 arrangements done by the 70 members — some  are beginners and many  are well experienced floral artists.

‘Serendipity’ is a word coined by English author Horace Walpole in one of his letters written in 1754. Walpole says that “this discovery, indeed, is almost of the kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.”

Walpole formed the word on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was the title of a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princess of Serendip — as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accident.

This floral exhibition Serendipity will use material and accessories found in Sri Lanka and promises to be a discovery of delightful and pleasant creations. It is not meant for the ordinary, but for those looking for something unusual.

The power of flowers in all its beauty, this exhibition will be held at the Lower Crystal Room of the Taj Samudra Hotel, on May 3-4 from 10.30 a.m to 7 p.m. Demonstrations in the art of Ikebana and Western flower arrangements will be held at 5.30 p.m. on Sunday,  May 3 and Monday, May 4. The proceeds will go towards helping the suffering Thalassaemia patients at the General Hospital, Badulla.

Hilton unveils new ‘meetings for free’ promotion

Hilton Hotels Corporation (Hilton) in Asia Pacific has launched a new industry first.  Anyone making a bedroom booking before  June 30, for any date in 2009 will be eligible to receive a complimentary day meetings package including meeting room facilities, refreshments and lunch.  The offer extends across all Hilton Family hotel brands in Asia Pacific: Hilton, Conrad and Doubletree by Hilton.

‘Meetings for free’ applies to any conference, training or sales event held at any one of 47 Hilton family hotels across 14 Asia Pacific countries for meetings from as few as two to as many as 100 residential delegates. The promotion is open for bookings made during a limited period between  April 15 and  June 30, 2009, for events taking place throughout the year until  December 31, 2009. 

Hilton’s meetings for free represents an inspired solution to one of the problems currently facing modern businesses – how to ensure effective business communications whilst meeting and travel budgets are being cut. Supporting Hilton’s belief that meetings matter is some independent research commissioned by Hilton across Asia Pacific.

This found that 77% of those surveyed believe that off site meetings are a necessity not a luxury, 94% that meetings can build stronger business relationships and 91% that meetings build stronger bonds between teams.

Meetings were also perceived to provide solutions to business problems with 84% of people believing that meetings result in people feeling more inspired than through other forms of communication, 85% stating that meetings are more likely to result in breakthrough thinking, and 82% that meetings can bring the best out of people when compared to other communication forms.

Other insights that should inspire businesses to take this preference for meeting in person even more seriously are the details of exactly what people do whilst on a conference call; 81% admitted to carrying on working, 81% check their emails, 75% have side conversations with colleagues, 35% visit the bathroom with their hand phone whilst on the call and 20% help themselves to an alcoholic drink.

Meetings package includes a free buffet lunch, regular refreshments and standard meeting facilities.

The survey was conducted by Prophisee, an independent research house based in Sydney.

When compared with video / internet conferences, conference calls and emails were the other alternatives listed.

For more details log on to Meetingsforfree.colombo@hilton.com

or www.hilton.com/meetingsforfree.