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by Chandra Edirisuriya

It was Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher and satesman, author of 'The Advancement of Knowledge' (1605) who, said, "Reading maketh a man'.

Although I have heard school teachers parrot out this saying the message was for the first time effectively conveyed to me by R. M. Abayawardane who taught me Sinhala Literature and Geography in Form III and IV at my alma mater Ananda College, Colombo and later headed Kegalu Vidyalaya and Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya. All he told his students was "read even the newspaper sheet with which sugar is wrapped". He wanted us to memorise and recite in class verses in the famed Salalihini Sandesaya by Totagamuwe Sri Rahula.

Failure to do so was invariably met by a thundering blow with his thick hand on the back. The advice given by this stern but sincere pedagogue whom we had nick named Brahmaya and who genuinely felt that we should all become "men" in Baconian terms, induced me to buy a book every week with the pocket money of Rs. 5 per week my father gave me when he came to see me at the college hostel. The trolley bus fare from Paranawadiya to Fort was 10 cents one way and a Pan title like 'King Solomon's mines', 'She, Ayesha - the Return of She' or 'Alan Quartermain' by Sir H. Rider Haggard.

Dr. R. L. Spittel's books like 'Vanished Trails', 'Savage Sanctuary', 'Where the White Sambur Roams' available at the college library were favourite reading in addition to the text books like 'Every Day Classics', Captain Marriot's 'Masterman Ready', 'Modern Autobiography', 'Golden Treasury of Longer Poems', Charles Dicken's 'A Tale of Two Cities', 'The Plate of Gold', an anthology of poems, J. Wijayatunga's 'Grass for My Feet' and of course, the A. L. Bright Story Readers in the class libraries. The poems 'Abu Ben Adam' in 'Every Day Classics', Thomas Gray's 'Elergy Written in a Country Churchyard', 'Summer', 'Autumn', 'Winter and Spring' by poet Kalidasa and 'The Atheist and the Acorn' in the 'Plate of Gold' were memorable. In addition there was the complement of Sinhala books by Martin Wickramasinghe, Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Siri Gunasinghe, W. A. de Silva, Piyadasa Sirisena, et al.

The famous author of text books in history, geography and civics at the time was S. F. de Silva who became the Director of Education. Although the medium of instruction was English the leading schools like, Ananda, Dharmaraja, Mahinda, Nalanda, Maliyadeva, Dharmapala Vidyalaya Pannipitiya, S. Thomas', Trinity and St. Joseph's encouraged students to read Sinhala books and consequently produced Sinhala scholars of repute. The Central Colleges founded by the Father of Free Education C. W. W. Kannangara were not second to other leading schools in this respect. Extensive reading in both the English and Sinhala languages in schools as well as at the university was instrumental in bringing forth an intelligentsia that ador ned the various professions here and abroad.

In the 1940's even Sinhala was taught in the English medium, Sinhala grammar and literary criticism was learnt in English.

Oriental languages, Pali and Sanskrit, were taught in the English medium up to about 1960. The result was world class scholarship. The advice given to me by our Political Science teacher at the University preliminary class, J. R. P. Suriyapperuma, who had freshly passed out from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya having been the first to enter university from Siyane Korale was 'Ediri', go to university and finish the library. I not only finished the university library but also the American Center, the British Council and the Municipal Public Library as well. I thus followed the 'golden' advice given by him to the letter and it has put me in good stead.

These libraries have most of the books published by the leading universities of the world like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, California, Delhi among others and also by the centres of learning and publishing houses in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China on various disciplines. Reading these books was like being educated in those institutions of learning and countries. In addition the books of world famous authors like Homer, Virgil, Horace, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Dante, Valtaire, Rousseau, Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Maupassant, Zola, Satre, Moravia, Tolstoy, Checkov, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Turgenev, Gorky, Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Solzhenitsyn Pearl S. Buck, Michener, Mailer, Steinbeck, Updike, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Veblen, Gorden Fraser, Mark Twain, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russel, H. G. Wells, Toynbee, Henry S. Lucas, Preserved Smith, Will Durant, Arthur C. Clarke not to mention. Shakespeare, Shaw, Thomas Hardy, Emily and Charlotte Bronte et al, are available at these librar ies. Mention must also be made of Jawaharlal Nehru who was one of the ten best writers of English prose in the world.

I also cannot forget the collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, Troyat's biography of Tolstoy, Schlesinger's 'John F. Kennedy's and the writings of Henry Kissinger. James A. Michener has been called the master story teller.

By reading books on history, geography, exploration, mountain climbing etc., novels and even the classics one can experience and live in the times and the environments described in them. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike once said that he was transported to ancient Greece when the famed Gilbert Murray of Oxford was doing Homer with the students.

Most of today's student's both in the universities and the schools are not proficient enough in the English language to read the world's masters in the original or even the scholarly works of our own Venerable Walpola Rahula, E. W. Adikaram, Senerath Paranavithana, Colvin R. de Silva, G. C. Mendis, Tennekoon Wimalananda, Karl Guanwardane, S. M. Dolapihilla, D. C. Wijewardane et al.

Today a rapid change is taking place in the world and our country cannot stand aloof. More emphasis is laid on computer literary and reading on the Internet than on reading books the traditional way. Specialised knowledge in the various fields of academic activity is the end all and be all of learning. Intellectual pursuit is the privilege of the few who have access to the choicest International Schools and private universities here and abroad.

It is time that the reading habit is inculcated in the ordinary student in this country and bring back the times when village boys and girls who passed the 5th standard scholarship examination held by the Education Debarment or the Examinations Department, gained admission to the leading schools and the Central Colleges which were co-educational boarding schools with all facilities, rose to the top in academia. One fifth standard scholar headed the public service here and went up to the International Monetary Fund. Once a poor relative of mine came up to me with tears in his eyes and said "Podimahattaya, I passed the 5th standard scholarship examination coming first in island but my ignorant mother did not like the idea of my leaving home and going to Colombo.

So the boy came second was given the scholarship to Royal College. It was this boy who went up to the IMF. My cousin Steven Singho remained a farmer to the end of his life. There are a number of other village boys and girls who passed the 5th standard scholarship examination, entered Royal College and other leading schools including the Central Colleges like Galahitiyawa, Poramadulla and Anuradhapura, who are in positions of eminence in this country today.

The habit of reading inculcated in them by the teachers and principals of the schools has made the acquisition of knowledge through reading a life-long pursuit.

Now that the teaching of English has re-commenced from Year One in Government schools and education is given in the English medium to GCE Advanced Level students in selected schools, the time will come again when there will be a very large number of the well read in this country.

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