Music and Dance in my life by Dr Nihal D Amerasekera

We were fortunate to have spent our childhood in an independent Ceylon out of the shackles of colonial rule. One hundred and forty six years of British rule had left an indelible mark on Ceylonese society. We emulated the British and their ways infiltrated every aspect of the lives of the middle and upper classes.

When I was growing up what I saw around me had a tremendous and lasting effect on my life. I have fond memories of seeing the British way of life in my home town in Kegalle. Although the country was independent there were many British “up country” Planters still around. Those were the lazy hazy days of the immediate post Colonial Ceylon. There were bridge parties in the afternoon and all-women tennis fours at the Kegalle Planters Club. The Club was the hub for all social events in the district. This was the watering hole for the British planters and for our own Brown Sahibs. They drank whisky and played billiards. Those were the days of proper ballroom dancing of fox trots, quick steps and waltzes to the music of Victor Sylvester or Joe Loss Orchestra. Cricket matches at weekends and dancing in the evenings kept the members entertained. These close encounters fuelled by the booze often became a hotbed of gossip and innuendo. Our former British rulers believed we’ve never had it so good. Perhaps they were right!!

My early childhood was spent in rural Nugegoda with my grandparents. My father was serving in the “outstation” as a government  servant. I grew up with several cousins who lived in the same house, schooling with me. Then my aunts played the guitar and made us sing the Sinhala music of the day and also the popular operatic arias like Santa Lucia. We enjoyed entertaining the visitors and loved the applause and the sweets that followed.

I must not underestimate the part played by Radio Ceylon and its commercial arm in popularising both Sri Lankan and Western music. Lama Pitiya is one of my earliest recollections of a childrens program with stories and music. Siri Aiya, Karu Aiya and artistes like Indrani Wijebandara and Chandra Cabraal produced wonderful entertainment for children. There were many guests attendees like Rukmani Devi and GSB Rani Perera who enlivened and enhanced the reputation of this marvellous program. The Radio Ceylon English service too had some fine presenters and announcers who brought the music of that era to life. Hit Parade and Sunday Choice had an enormous following. We were glued to the radio when those programs were on. The passage of years has dimmed my memory of those tremendously exciting times which captivated and enraptured us during those heady days of our youth.

As I was boarded at Wesley College my love of music prevailed. I joined the choir. Then much of it was Church music.  It was Hymns during Sundays and special songs for the period of Lent. Carols services during Christmas were a colourful event. Singing together as a group was great fun and had enormous camaraderie. We formed barbershop quartets singing in four part harmony and also took part in Operettas. Those were immensely exciting times.

Our generation became part of the music revolution in the mid 1950’s.  The slow music of the crooners like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como gave way to the intoxicating rhythm and the stirring beat of Bill Haley and the Comets. I well remember seeing Rock Around the Clock at the Savoy when the Bambalawatte boys danced unashamedly in the aisles of the cinema to the rousing and electrifying music. I was in the school boarding then and could only watch in awe and amazement the craze unfold amongst teenagers in Colombo.

It was not until I entered the Faculty of Medicine that I saw freedom. The permissive society had reached our shores with the hippie culture and the contraceptive pill. The excitement and the pleasure of dancing has no equal. The pounding rhythms drove us all into a frenzy. Being so close to female company in such subdued lighting heightened our sexual desires and sent our pulse racing. It was at University I learnt to combine the rhythmic music and the twirl and swirl of the gyratory dancing. The combination was awe inspiring, truly magical and immensely exciting. The University calendar had many dances held at its halls in Reid Avenue. It was here the students showed off their wares, girl friends, boy friends and their ability to dance. Alcohol gave them the confidence and lubricated the joints while the hormones did the rest. Live music of Harold Seneviratne Combo or Sam the Man provided the music putting us in the mood. There was the inevitable Baila session to end the night. Those were wonderfully exciting years.

When Duke Ellington visited Ceylon in 1955 he played in an airport hangar in Ratmalana. The school decided it wasn’t to be missed and we were taken for that thrilling performance. I still remember him play that simply magical piece “syncopated clock”. But it was in 1956 the film “High Society” with Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra . that brought jazz into my life giving it a new dimension.  Dixieland Jazz began in New Orleans. It was characterised by improvisations. I loved the sound of the brass and woodwind instruments and the strumming of the banjos. Radio Ceylon often played the piece called “Ice Cream” by the Dutch Swing College Band and this got me hooked on Dixie. I recall our batchmate  M.H Cassim was a fan of Dixieland music too and invited me to his home in Colpetty to listen to the Dutch Swing College Band and Eddy Peabody on his superb HiFi system in full stereo.

Exams came and went with monotonous regularity until it was all over. We were all doctors now and the rapid dispersal began. Internship was a baptism of fire. Onerous on-calls and busy schedules filled our days and nights. I was then working in Kurunegala. There were social gatherings and dances at the Upper and Lower Clubs. Those were a magnet for the hardworking interns. With my two left feet I was never going to set the dance floor on fire but enjoyed the drink and the camaraderie of those lavish events. Many parties were held in the House Officers Quarters with much singing and dancing. By 1968  the beat had died down to the music of the Beatles- now more subdued, Englebert Humperdink and Tom Jones.

After emigrating to the UK, family and career took precedence and dancing went on the back-burner. There were parties and dances in hospital during Christmas and on special occasions when it was mostly sedate and proper. However my love of music remained strong as ever. With the passage of years classical music became my first love. London is the Mecca for music lovers. Now I live 20 minutes walk from the Royal Academy of Music and easy striking distance of the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. These venues have classical music events everyday. Music now fills my life and I have no words to describe the peace and contentment I feel.

Since its origins in 15^th Century Italy, Ballet has captured the imagination of audiences worldwide. Breath-taking choreography and graceful movements make it so pleasing to watch. I see most ballets on TV but see some of them live in London. Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn are recognised as the best dances of the 20^th century. Much has been written about their sad lives and their tragic deaths away from the spotlight. The Opera is not for everyone. Much of the old operas are in Italian and the stories are hard to follow. They require much homework to read up about the story. Operas of Puccini and Verdi are popular for their fine music. Georges Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” is set in ancient Ceylon. Although not as famous as “Carmen” which he wrote 10 years later I like it for its connection to my homeland.

Retirement gave me the time to travel the world. One of the best trips was to South America. Watching the Tango danced by professionals in El Viejo Almacén in Buenos Aires was simply a magical experience. The Tango is a mesmerizingly beautiful dance. Its elaborate movements relate a story. The tango music is a mix of Spanish, African and South American rhythms that became popular in the 19^th century. This music and the dance initially began in brothels and its movements show the titillations of the ladies and the fire in the belly of their clients. Soon the Tango caught the imaginations of the people and  began to be accepted by high society in Buenos Aires.

Despite the 42 years in exile my love for Sri Lankan music hasn’t left me. Listening to the old music from back home is always an emotional journey and a reminder of those places and the people. The music of Sunil Santha, Chitra and Somapala from my childood days in Nugegoda.  CT Fernando, Sanath Nandasiri, Amaradeva and Victor Ratnayake from those later years will always be with me. How can I ever forget the ubiquitous Hindi music that was ever present in the  tea boutiques and shops all over Colombo. I still own a fine collection of Lata Mangheskar, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle songs to remind me of those years in Sri Lanka.  I was an avid filmgoer in my youth and saw many of the Sinhala films right from the old BAW Jayamanne’s “Broken Promise” and “Kela Handa” to the later films of Lester James Peiris. Their music have a special appeal and a place in my memory. Rukmani Devi and Mohideen Beig featured prominently in those films with their memorable songs. Their haunting melodies and the poignant lyrics will always remain with me. Many of the old favourites have been revived by younger singers with a faster beat and modern instruments. I love these new versions which have instilled life into the old.

 Baila entered our mainstream culture when the likes of Wally Bastian, Patrick Denipitiya, MS Fernando and others made it popular by their live performances on stage and on radio. This music had tremendous appeal with its pulsating beat which is an invitation to dance. The love for baila with the lively music and the rhythmic dancing is a constant reminder of my medical student days. In the Faculty there were events held in the Common Room in the evenings when the booze flowed freely and music filled the air. I recall JC Fernando singing and playing his guitar with students dancing around him. RL Thambirajah singing “Come and see the wild west show” was a regular feature and was so well received. The final year trip was a journey full of wonderful memories and the final fling of an incredible 5 years.

Music and dance have been a large part of my life. It has given me immense pleasure and continues to do so today.

The ‘Whys’ and the ‘Wherefores’ of Sri Lanka

This thought provoking article I thought was worth publishing. But we must not make the mistake of judging the current generation of Brits on the basis of behaviour of their predecessors just as we cannot blame the current generation of Germans for what Hitler did. One could go further back in the history of Sri Lanka and recall the oppressive feudal spirit that prevailed in the days of Kings with unbelievable acts of cruelty to human beings. Yes, we must learn from history but we cannot hold the present generation as hostages forever. The way to overcome hatred is not through hatred but by love.

 The ‘Whys’ and the ‘Wherefores’ of Sri Lanka

One ‘Son of the Soil’s’ reading of the

Past and the Present

By

J.B. Müller

 The Sri Lankan Diaspora overseas (mainly in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) eagerly and indiscriminately absorbs everything appearing about their Motherland in the international print and electronic media.  All what is done is done in the naïve belief that there isn’t a spin on the news and that it is completely unbiased and objective.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Of course, expatriates would like to believe that the BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle, CNN, Al Jazira and others are feeding their hungry and even curious minds with the unadulterated truth.

It might be useful for those in the Diaspora to know, understand and acknowledge that Sri Lankans are no longer Eurocentric Anglophiles having at long last seen through the various Anglo-Saxon-Celtic ploys to continue their domination and exploitation by other, indirect means.  No longer are Sri Lankans willing to regard their erstwhile masters as ‘superior’ beings with a ‘higher’ civilization to which they should slavishly defer.  Those ‘good old days’ are gone and good riddance!

Sri Lanka is a very old country with a long history of civilization and a matured polity unlike some ‘Johnny-come-lately’ countries with hardly 500 years of history.  The latter period of its history was marred by 443 years of European exploitation, each European power building on its predecessors to refine its instruments of exploitation.  The British were the worst and the bloodiest when it came to merciless brutality as is evidenced by the manner in which it quelled the uprising of the Kandyans between 1818 and 1822.  It committed genocide before that word was coined by slaughtering every man, woman, and child (including babes suckling at the breast!) in the Uva Province.  That province comprised of the present Badulla and Moneragala Districts is yet to recover and is just now being developed by government.  The Colonial Office 54 series of documents available at the Public Records Office in London holds all the General Orders issued by Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Brownrigg, governor and c-in-c, to Maj. General Hay McDowall and the correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Bathurst. (The Great Rebellion of 1818 by Prof. Tennekoon Vimalananda, Five Volumes, Gunasena Historical Series, Colombo, 1970)

In 1823 the British began selling Crown Land at two shillings an acre to British entrepreneurs—first, to cultivate cinchona [from which quinine is obtained], then coffee, then tea and rubber—from which they made huge profits for 149 years—and Mincing Lane and the members of the London Stock Exchange prospered beyond the dreams of avarice. (Land Reform Commission Report by Colvin R. de Silva, tabled in Parliament)

They created a huge ethnic and social problem by transporting indentured labour from the Ramnad district of Madras Presidency (present day Tamil Nadu).  These helpless people were auctioned off at Matale like the African slaves at Charleston, SC, and families were cruelly torn apart.  They reached Matale walking over 100 miles from Talaimannar along a route that came to be known as the ‘Skeleton Road’ because of the numbers that had perished by the wayside from hunger, thirst, snakebite, attack by wild beasts, cholera, dysentery, and what-have-you.  Their tragedy has been carefully documented by Donovan Moldrich in his‘Bitter Berry Bondage’—the story of the 19^th century coffee workers in Sri Lanka.  Another Burgher author, Lorna Ruth Wright, OAM, wrote “Just another shade of Brown” which graphically details the sexual exploitation of the women plantation workers and the creation of the Eurasian Community (disowned by their very prim and proper British fathers!)   Many authors domestic and foreign have written about what colonialism did to Sri Lanka (Ceylon up to 1972) and it is a wonder that the people of this country tolerated what was done to them for so long, so patiently. (‘Bitter Berry Bondage’ by Donovan R. Moldrich and ‘Just another shade of brown’ by Lorna R. Wright)

Father Paul Caspersz, SJ, head of Satyodaya, Kandy, has been labouring amongst the Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin for decades and has written extensively about how these human beings have been mercilessly exploited.  They have lived in sub-human conditions for over one hundred years and their emancipation has been a long and hard struggle to restore to them their intric dignity as human beings. (Satyodaya Centre, Kandy, sri Lanka)

When I was working at the then Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation as a Relief Announcer on the Commercial Service I distinctly remember reading a sign affixed to the gate of a British Club facing the Dutch Burgher Union headquarters which said: “Natives and dogs NOT allowed.”  This was in 1969!  I phoned friends working on the ‘Ceylon Daily News’ and they sent a photographer round to snap a picture.  It was published and shortly thereafter the Government ordered the Club to take down the offending notice.  Do any self-respecting people endowed with inherent dignity have to tolerate such barefaced arrogance?

Britain was one of the most ‘successful’ imperial powers on earth and they created a worldwide empire (on which the sun never set because it was everywhere on the globe) and bled its colonies.  London is such a magnificent city despite its foul weather because it has risen, literally, on the blood, sweat and tears of countless millions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Australia.  In their imperial schema of things Australia produced the wool, New Zealand the milk, Malaya the rubber, Ceylon the tea, Rhodesia the tobacco, South Africa the diamonds and gold, Mauritius the sugar, West Africa the cocoa and so on—to the great delight of those who sat in London and counted their pounds, shillings and pence.  They didn’t mind exploiting their own in the textile mills of Lancashire and the coal mines of Scotland. [Charles Dickens]. The exported their poor Scots, Irish, and Welsh to all these colonies to supervise the black, brown and yellow natives [and the ‘half-caste’ Eurasian offspring known as Burghers, Anglos and even bastards].  The slightest rumble from their workers and the Redcoats (now Khakied) were there to shoot their b***s off!

Look at the Burghers.  The British looked down on them with great disdain classifying them as ‘half-castes’ and included them amongst the indigenous population.  In 1796 they issued the Burghers an ultimatum—learn English or leave.  Many who had the means went to Batavia (modern Jakarta).  The others stayed and learned the new tongue.  Very soon, these Burghers knew better English than the British themselves and were therefore enlisted in that great corps of clerks that they employed.  These Burghers also learned how to play cricket and challenged the British to a one-day on Galle Face Green.  They were superciliously asked what the name of their ‘club’ was to which a Burgher sharply retorted:  “Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sir!”  The name stuck.  The club still exists (from 1889).  So do the ‘nondescript’ Burghers. The entire British establishment including the ‘shoppies’ turned out one fine Sunday morning to watch these half-caste upstarts being licked.  The imperial governor himself came and occupied the clubhouse that now stands before the Taj Samudra Hotel.  Well, to cut a long story short, the Burgher ‘nondescripts’ beat the British who were ‘hoist with their own petard!’  They were learning, ever so painfully, that other people were not only their equals but could also better them in many spheres and they learned this lesson on this Island.(People Inbetween by Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheem, Percy Colin-Thômé, Sarvodaya, Ratmalana, 1989).

There is no land on the globe that the British touched that has not been left with a wholly untenable legacy of problems:  India with Pakistan have Kashmir; the Holy land has Jewish Israel contending with Arab Palestine; the Cypriots are divided between the Greeks and the Turks; Africa is an indescribable mess.  Glaring problems were created on the North American continent with the marginalization of the native Amerindian and Inuit peoples not to mention the stand-off between Blacks and Whites.  In Australia the original inhabitants, the aborigines were decimated and then marginalized whilst their land was robbed from them by white colonists.  It is a despicable record of man’s inhumanity to man carried forward on the specious premise that ‘White is Right’ and because they had a head-start in the practice of barbarism!  What is even more despicable is that their so-called ‘Christianity’ condoned their barefaced discrimination and unfettered brutality.

Today, these Anglo-Saxon-Celts pontificate o the whole world about human rights—yes, fundamental human rights which they denied millions from the 16^th to the 20^th centuries of the Common Era.  They sanctimoniously presume to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that attempt to stand-up to their bullying (amply exposed by Wiki-Leaks).  The ongoing bloodletting in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate their manifest hypocrisy.

They left behind what were basically alien concepts, structures, systems, and constitutions that have confused and confuted the peoples they formerly ruled.  They uprooted and deliberately destroyed indigenous systems that had endured for millennia and which the indigenous people were comfortable with.  Today, the peoples of these lands are divided into innumerable factions and cliques contending bloodily for command and control in the name of the ‘democracy’ they left behind.  They are happy with what they see because it is a continuation of their ‘divide et imperia’ or ‘divide and rule’ policy.  It is easy to manipulate and exploit those who are divided!

Sri Lanka’s problems which some expatriates gleefully point out (as a justification for their living overseas) is a damaging inheritance bequeathed by the departing British to a class of indigenous people brainwashed and nurtured by them in their own image:  the English-speaking Middle Classes represented by several leading families of Low-country upstarts and Up-country traitors.  These families have lick-spittle hangers-on who have attained some upward social mobility and the privileges that go with that mobility and occupy the second and third tiers of governance.  Whether they inhabit the governing party or the Opposition or their sundry and various coalition cohorts they have become the ‘corrupt of the earth.’

The decent and law-abiding majority are a patient, tolerant and hospitable people (sometimes referred to as the ‘broad masses’) who have taken much abuse. If you believe the many travellers who passed through, they are a giving and forgiving people.  If we are to trust the historical record, these gentle, hard-working people have been driven to and fro by the Pandyans, Cholas, Cheras, Pallavas and Javakas; then, by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British—each, in turn, more subtly brutal than the previous.  Ever since 1186, when the indigenous polity began disintegrating with the breakdown of central authority [and fissiparous tendencies manifested themselves], there has been a traumatic crisis that is yet to come to a conclusion.  We know that history works in cycles and that that conclusion will come, perhaps unobtrusively or dramatically to sweep away the detritus of several centuries.

True civilization does not consist of the worship of science & technology or the tinsel and glitter of modernity or of roads, railways, harbours, airports, and the frenzied rush one might be bemused by.  It consists of the maturity and wisdom gained through the practice of virtue, the development of good moral character, to decent family life and values, the unswerving commitment to social justice and equity.  This also means and implies the practice and active pursuit of harmlessness and a belief in the sacredness of all life—all mankind is of one blood.  The serene tranquility of spirit thus attained is a universal norm that needs no sectarian labels.  This is the civilization that grew and was nurtured on this Island for centuries until rudely and repeatedly disturbed.  It is yet the goal of those who appreciate the intrinsic beauty of Nature rather than that of soulless concrete, glass and steel.

Let’s discuss this further if you are minded to,

jb.muller@gmail.com

Electric Tram

Colombo - early 1900s

Recollections of a bygone era in Sri Lanka by the 70 plus
Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about..

1. Bulto toffees
2. Alerics Ice chocks
3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles and a few bread deliveries too.
4. Wrack denims
5. Newsreels before the movie and the National Anthem
6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the evening (This was after 1979)
7. Catapults
8. 33 rpm records/ 45 rpm’s
9. Enid Blyton/Hardy boys books
10. Record players instead of High Fi’s
11. Metal ice trays with levers
12. Kerosene Fridges
13. Cork popguns
14.Hardly a Jap car on the road. First Japanese car was the Datsun Bluebird.
15. Cops in long Khaki shorts  (ha! ha! ha! that was a sight with their skinny legs!) and hats. At big matches kids loved to tease them as "Kossas'
16. Same goes for Grade 10 students in mini shorts with their skinny legs (ha ha ha, -another sight was when they were made to stand on their chairs by teachers for not doing their homework to be teased by primary school kids, after school )
17.Imported apples sold were wrapped in purple tissues.
18. Full meal of wadai at Saraswathie Lodge for a large family for less than two bucks.
19. What was served at kid's birthday parties were, sandwiches, ribbon cake, marshmallows, kebabs in a half pineapple and iced coffee.
20. Elephant House Ice Palams in triangular cardboard cases for 15 cents
21. Those privileged to go overseas brought home as gifts Wilkinson blades and Parker refills.
22. Imported popsicles sold at Perera and sons, were delicious.
23. Soft drinks were delivered to homes.
24. Many had accounts with Cargills and Elephant House
25. Clothes were laundered by Dhobies who called at home to collect dirty linen and deliver cleaned ones The clothes were heavily starched so much so that when school kids were administered corporal punishment, the cane strokes on their starched shorts sounded like balloon bursting.
26. Repeating groves on 78 rpm records were so funny to hear.
27. The best gift a kid would expect for their birthdays are Meccano sets
28. When a kid gets through his/her OL's, the normal gift the kids get from parents is a Raleigh bicycle from Hunters costing Rs 100/.
29. Black and white striped candies for 2 cents.
30. A hundred Rambutans sold at Alexandra Place costs Rs 2 and 50 cents.
31. School kids were allowed only fountain pens to class. 'Fights' among kids were spraying of 'Washable Royal Blue' ink on others' uniforms.
32. Cial fountain pens used by school kids was Rs 2/50.They carried their books in suitcases, which were used as chairs after school and also as wickets for cricket.
33. Naughty children used to cut school and go for 10.30 shows.
34. Pocket money, about 25cts, given each morning is sufficient to buy 10 string hoppers or 2 thosais with 'hodi' and a wadai with a plain tea for 20 cts. at the school 'tuck shop'. Balance 05 cts. is for a ice palam from the vendor at the gate
35 One cent toffee sold at Cricket matches.
36. England Vs Australia cricket commentaries on Short Wave radio typically waxing and waning with something like the rush of wind always screeching in the background.
37. Mobile “Bothal karayas”  (Bottle collectors) who used to go from house to house collecting empty bottles for which he paid a small sum of money.
38. “Cheena redi velenda” wearing Khaki shorts and safari hat selling textiles plying on bicycles and calling at homes.
39. The Maalu velenda with two round flat baskets at the ends of a flexible pole which was balanced on his shoulder selling fish and calling at home.
40. The "sastara karaya", sarong clad with leather shoes and black umbrella calling at homes to read horoscopes and advice on best times to embark on new ventures etc.

Galle.

Sri Lanka December 2013

THE GOOD OLD DAYS - CEYLON in the 1950s and 60s

This is an edited version composed by a very good friend of mine a couple of years ago who recalls fondly the wonderful 1950s -1960s which people from my generation treasure so much.

Remember when the worst thing you could do at school was to smoke an Ardath cigarette in the bathroom, and the banquets were in the tuck-shop where a glass of heavenly lime juice was just 15 cents and a roll was 25 cents.

When the ultimate car was a '62 Sunbeam Alpine or a ‘63 MG Magnette. Or even the Triumph Herald. Even new cars had to be “broken in” by being driven carefully for specified lengths of time. No bench driven, ready made engines then. No one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in the ignition, where else could a car key be? Car thieves? Unheard of. Anyway how many could really drive a car?

We danced to radiogram (Grundig), music swinging to the rock beat of Bill Haley and the Comets and the glorious strains of Edmundo Ros’s - Mélodie D'Amour or the Wedding Samba. All the girls wore dresses (Not jeans then or dull unisex looks) and hemlines ending  just above the knee. People went steady and it was a great weekend to go to the Galle Face Hotel's COCONUT GROOVE with the JETLINERS. Visit Ceylinco Ball Room with the SPITFIRES or go to the LITTLE HUT for the sundown dances with AMAZING GRACE.  Or to the Akasa Kade with SAM THE MAN or slipping into the BLUE LEOPORD, the  GOLDEN EAGLE  or the ATLANTA near the CLTA courts Wow! the forbidden thrill of braving it, with adrenaline pumping.

Remember the Galle Face Green, (not brown) lying on your back on the grass with your friends reflecting on life. People and kids milling about freely taking in the Sunday Ozone, sans soldiers asking for IDs. 

Playing tennis ball cricket with no pesky adults to help make up the rules. When you applied linseed oil on the face of a bat and hit a leather ball inside an old sock hanging on a branch, to kingdom come to ‘season’ your bat. No pre seasoned bats those days either. Back then, cricket was not a psychological learning curve - it was just a game! Played for the sheer fun, and the love of it. “Ado, umpire hora” was a favourite expression.

Remember the Famous Five & Secret Seven book series? Roy Rodgers & Dale Evans, Lone Ranger & Tonto, Gene Autry, Billy the kid and Tom & Jerry and Little Lulu comics. ‘Giant Comics’ and “Classics” on the Maradana railway bridge at Rs.2 something each. Piccadilly at Wellawatte, 'house-dances', Zellers at Bambalapitiya, the Maliban Cream House at  Kollupitiya,(opposite the infamous White Shop).

"Sunday Choice" on Radio Ceylon that even the Indians in Bombay still talk about!  Jimmy Bharucha, Chris Greet, and Vernon Corea. All giants  and Connoisseurs of a bygone art and era in broadcasting when Radio Ceylon ruled the waves. Wikipedia notes that the first gramophone music broadcast in Ceylon was from a tiny room in Colombo's Central Telegraph Office with the aid of a transmitter built by Telegraph Department engineers from radio equipment salvaged from a captured German submarine. Late Donovan Andree was responsible for organizing shows like "Holiday on Ice" and the "Harlem Blackbirds" at the B.R.C. Grounds, Col. 7. This nation is starved of “quality” entertainment. Today the cinema has deteriorated and most TV programmes have become monotonous and stale. Many of us can still remember how members of the working class irrespective of ethnicity, caste or creed met at the Dominion, the White Horse or Brown’s Bar in the Fort.

Recall Bill Forbes, the Jay Brothers and the Jay Cee Shows at Mount Lavinia Hotel ? The 'Bambalapitiya Flats’,  eating Fish & Chips & Sundaes with that special chocolate  sauce at the 'Fountain Cafe.' with its booming juke box. Then there was Buriyani at Pilawoos...! Mayfair....The list was endless.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited us at home. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we all survived....because their love was greater than their threat. Didn't that make you feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!' ... And was it really that long ago?