|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 03 November 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Artscope | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
A visitor in our village
They did speak of Botale Senanayaka Mahattaya, Sir D. B. Jayatilleke and about a gentleman called Soulbury and a host of others such as N. M. Perera Mahattaya, Colvin Mahattaya, Kueneman Mahattaya and also about a man called Dahanayake Mahattaya from Galle. Mind you the suffix 'Mahattaya' is NOT my addition. That is how those pioneering politicians of the good old days were referred to by our elders. They never used first names, abbreviations or even initials of their would be leaders like now. There were no patronizing references such as Chandrika, Old Ranil, Satty, Toothy, Old Fox etc. Not even pseudonyms like Hot Garden, Weeflower and such references. I believe the politicians of yesteryear fully deserved to be called 'Mahattaya'! I shall not attempt to elaborate further lest I hurt the feelings of lots of our citizens - not necessarily politicians. Of course, some of the rebellious young referred to some of their leaders as N. M. Sahodaraya, Colvin Sahodaraya and some more fashionably - like Comrade Kueneman. I have digressed as usual. I was going to speak about the visitor. Well, one fine day, we 'kolu getayas' were returning after a rather
long dip in the Oruwal Oya. We were bleary eyed after so much water sport and dripping wet. No self respecting kolla carried a towel for a bath in those uninhibited days! Anyway, we were just clambering up the rather steep climb to the main dust path when we were confronted by a huge white limousine. We seldom saw a car on our roads and this was not just any old jalopy but a real stunner. As we stared in disbelief, the car stopped right in front of us after negotiating the bend with difficulty. Gentle giant And out of the car stepped out a very smart, very fair - 'suduma sudu' man clad in immaculate white. He was a tall man towering above us like a giant - a gentle giant smiling broadly, a different kind of smile. We were so flabbergasted, we had even forgotten to smile back. "Ah, "There you are...!" declared the Sadhu-like man as if he had come upon some long lost brood of brats. "You must be children of this village, yes?" He queried gently, still smiling that enigmatic smile. We could only nod our collective heads in affirmation - rather like in silent pantomime. "That's very good..." Declared the man and delving into the belly of his limousine he brought out a huge heap of sweets - toffees, jujubes and all kinds of other goodies, not that we could identify them. He held the goodies in his cupped hands - a large pair of hands - like some sacred offering and invited us to take as much as we wanted. When he noticed that we were a shy set of brats clad only in our 'amudes' he smiled and poured them out from his cupped hands into our own cupped hands. Since we were not equipped with any shirt or trouser pockets at the moment we could only hold as much as our cupped hands could. "There you are. There's a nice set of boys...!" declared the delighted visitor. "Now you must go home and enjoy your sweets. Share them with any brother or sister at home, okay? And then tell your parents that you just met Mister J. R. Jayewardene and that he gave the sweets to you.." We must still have been looking bewildered and he added. "Don't worry, they are good sweets. I am sure your parents will know me. Tell them you met the candidate for the Kelaniya seat and they will know what to do, okay?" And with that he patted a few of our wet heads, smiled again and got into his vehicle. The vehicle departed slowly up our dust path leaving a thin veil of dust and a rather sweet smell of petrol between us and our illustrious visitor. I do remember sharing some of the sweets with Akka and I am sure the episode of the visitor too would have been conveyed to father, Kudamma and the others. I have a vague memory of father smiling rather tolerantly and nodding his head but upto this day I don't know if he voted for J. R. Jayewardene. Later we came to know that he - Mr. Jayewardene had won the Kelaniya seat at the elections. Perhaps the toffees helped, even in a small way...! I have been wracking my brains to identify the particular year this happened. Fortunately my good neighbour J. R. P. Suriyapperuma came to my aid. Results He tells me that this happened in 1943 in a by-election for the Kelaniya seat in the then State Council. E. W. Perera, the veteran politician and campaigner for the protection of Buddhist values was the opponent to young J. R. Jayewardene. The by-election had been held on 17 April 1943 and the results were announced the very next day. Mr. Jayewardene, the illustrious visitor at my village, had polled 21,765 votes as against 11,570 by his opponent, E. W. Perera. The voter in those days had to vote for a colour which identified his choice of candidate and not a symbol, as in the present. E. W. Perera had the colour green allotted to him. We are not sure what colour was allotted to Mr. Jayewardene - perhaps it was red. Mr. Suriyapperuma supplied me with a couplet that was used to discourage the voter from voting for old E. W. Perera. It goes thus: Kola paatata chandaya dena savoma asav me kathava Thola vevlana seeyata den raja sabave baee kathava May all those men who would want to vote 'green' listen The grandpa with the quivering lips - How could such a person deliver the goods - In State Council...? (This is a rather loose translation of the original - but nowhere near its lucidity.) I chose to quote this for only one reason. I would like the reader to compare this vote-winning couplet with some of the more scurrilous election 'literature' of the present day! Or should I say scandalous? I am longing for the day when we could witness and participate in a 'clean' election - if that is possible in these days of mayhem and cut-throatism! Yes. I know. as far as I am concerned there isn't much time for waiting. But most of you readers, have. **** Back **** |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
I mentioned in my last column that I had met the man who presented
me with the crisply fresh one rupee note, earlier in our dust paths. It
was election time for the State Council, if I am not mistaken. We kids had
only a hazy idea about it. I can't remember even the older folk making
much of a fuss about it.
