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| Wednesday, 10 November 2004 |
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More about Lorenz College
Most of them were, however, a bit overage, some coming from Sinhala schools - after their parents had decided to give their offspring some sort of 'English Education' and yet a few others after having been kept at home-being either rejected or 'expelled' from other schools. We were a bit of a motley crowd of aspiring young students, but we were a happy lot. Very soon there was much interaction between us and the mother college at Maradana. Some of us were taken to Colombo - by train of course - for all kinds of literary, oratorical and other competitions between the two schools. I distinctly remember three of us brothers, Dharmaratne Aiya, Nissanka Aiya and myself travelling to Colombo for this purpose. Where oratory, poetry reading and 'hitivana kavi' (instant poetry) were concerned we won hands down. Also in Sinhala essay competitions. Dharmaratne Aiya was no mean speaker and his oratory captured the audience as if they were mesmerized. Nissanka Aiya was pretty good at writing poetry and I was in my elements reciting Kavi and Sindu. That particular year - it must have been around 1939 or 40 - the three of us brought back at least six first place certificates. We were given gifts of books too. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - my particular certificates said that they were won by one Chandrasoma Jayasena, because that was the name I was known by at that time. Strange fashion I really don't know how the Chandrasoma thing came upon me. At the risk of even tiring the reader a little bit I must add that the six of us, five brothers and a sister were named in rather strange fashion. The eldest, Newton - God only knows what inspired my father to name his first born as Newton - the second, Dharmaratne, inspired I am almost certain by a scholar and social campaigner of the same name at that time whom my father had befriended and perhaps followed too. The third was Nissanka born on a Vesak Full Moon day. The fourth, for some strange reason had been named Wilfred of all names! I wonder if that was one of the reasons why he decided to enter the Sasana, quite early in life and come to be known as Bendiyamulle Sahanthideva as a docile but quite a bright pupil of the most Reverend Balangoda Ananda Maitriya Thera. The fifth, the only female, was Mercy Alice. Even our Ulu Gedara - the ancestral home, or rather family home, was called 'Alice Villa'. Strangely enough I have never heard my father calling her 'Alice' or even "Mercy" at any time of her life. She was always 'Thilaka' for all of us. For me she has always been Thilaka Akka. They say that father had a particularly endearing pet name for her, when he was in a very very good mood, and that was 'Chukkini'! I would have loved to use that name if I had a daughter...And finally, I was Henry. I still don't know why. At home though nobody ever called me Henry. I was Chandrasoma to everybody. Much later, when I came to know that I had been named 'Henry' in my birth certificate, I was rather disappointed and I started using the name Henricus - which I thought was much much better than Henry. Anyway I had a lot of trouble when I had to sit for the Senior School Certificate exam when Henry and 'Henricus' clashed as far as the birth certificate was concerned and poor father had to obtain an affidavit for me, much to his chagrin. If only he had named me 'Chandrasoma' at the very outset he could have saved his chagrin! Carried away I was going to talk about Lorenz College and not about myself. Shows how people, even at my age, could be carried away! Anyway, after P.P. Siriwardhana - I am not sure how or why he left - we had a brand new Principal. I say 'brand new' for good reason. The new man was called Sirinipala de Zoysa Jayatillake and this new man was dynamite! He was totally and absolutely different to our beloved Mr. S. I certainly don't mean it in a disparaging sense. This giant of a man (Mr. S was such a tiny little person) strode the portals of his new domain, our dear Lorenz College, like a conqueror. His step was firm, measured and heavy although he moved pretty fast. He quoted Shakespeare, Byron, Keats or Shelly - even Karl Marx - with the greatest of ease. His diction was impeccable. The new man, Mr. J brought in a whole new order into the school. I dread to call it Marxism, but it was certainly revolutionary! He introduced Shakespeare and other bards into the higher classes. I believe he even brought in a certain degree of the classics. He created Debating Teams in Sinhala as well as in English. He encouraged his students of the higher grades to converse in English. He introduced Drama and encouraged his students to write and produce Drama in school. To cap it all he championed a football team - The Gampaha Lorenz College foot ball team! One of the chaps who played in the team - a devil of a fellow called Donald Wijesinghe - called it Rugby. It made very little difference to me. All I knew was that the ball was kicked all over the ground with all the strength one could carry on one's legs! And There's much more about Sirinipala de Zoysa Jayatillake and his tenure in our school. And there was a visit by Mr. Peter Kueneman too. But that's another story. **** Back **** |
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After a rather shy and unheralded beginning, Lorenz College of Gampaha
was doing extremely well. Students from all walks of life were admitted to
the college.
