Making the most out of life

by Chandra Edirisuriya

The world is so full of a number of things

I am sure we can all live as happy as kings - R. L. Stevenson

It is said that life is what one makes of it. One is very fortunate if born into a family that knows no hypocrisy. Material comforts also matter a great deal in a happy and contented life. It does not, however, mean being born into riches with the proverbial Silver Spoon in the mouth.

The real happiness in life starts in early childhood if one happens to be born to intelligent parents leading an honest and unobtrusive life.

My fondest memories are of the life I led up to age eight and a half at Katupitiya Government Mixed School / bungalow where my father, mother, myself, my younger brother and younger sister resided - my father being the Head Master and my mother an assistant teacher of that school.

The school garden was taken on a lease from the Government by my father and we enjoyed the produce of the coconut trees, a large cashew nut tree, a jak tree, a mango tree, (mee amba or honey mango), an orange tree that bore a large number of fruits and sour sop (katu anoda) trees etc.

At the back of the school garden was a thick jungle where we used to go to dig for wild yams like katuwala, hirithala, jawala etc. and to pluck guavas.

We bathed in a rocky steam that had its source in the hills. Overhanging the pool in the stream where we bathed was a kekuna tree whose nuts fell into the water. The kernel of the kekuna nut had been used from time immemorial by the Sinhala people to extract oil which lighted their homes. In the jungle when wild boar cracked kekuna nuts the spur fowl enjoyed a feast giving rise to the pithy Sinhala idiom, "Wal uran Kekuna thalana vita Haban Kukulanta magul".

Such idyllic surroundings as were found in Katupitiya moulded me as a lover of nature and of agriculture and horticulture as supplements to intellectual and artistic pursuits.

I developed a liking for Hindi songs and music since the time I was in Form I at my alma mater Ananda College, Colombo and was staying initially at Navaratne hostel at 18, Hedges Court run by my Mathematics teacher in Form II P. S. Navaratne of Kadugannawa and later at the college hostel. Songs from films such as 'Dulari', 'Awara', 'Aan' captured our hearts.

The love of Hindi films in addition to Hindi songs and music developed in the 1960s when I was a university student. Films, such as, 'Mother India', 'Hum Hindustani', 'Manzil', 'Dil Apna Aur Preeth Parai', 'Junglee' fascinated me and instilled patriotism in me. The close affinity of the Sinhala people with North Indians may well be the reason why they like Hindi films, songs and music. When the late Rajiv Gandhi came here to sign the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 he said; "Sinhalese are our brothers".

It is said that reading maketh a man. It helps one to lead a full life. The contentment that one gets through knowledge is unsurpassable. The best way to acquire knowledge is through extensive reading.

My father was well read having been a contemporary of the late Dr. W. Dahanayake at the one and only Government Teacher Training College at the present Thurstan College premises, residing at the Denham Hostel there. I have pleasant memories of my father's influence and the songs and lessons my mother taught me making me sit in her chair, while taking the class standing, through nursery to six months in Year Three.

My class master in Form II and hostel warden at my alma mater G. W. Rajapakse drove home to us the desirability of being physically clean, of wearing clean clothes and even bearing oneself properly not only through precept but also by example. He wanted us to collect newspaper cuttings of the life of our kings from Vijaya when we were in Form IV, thus cultivating in us an appreciation of our rulers.

Our Sinhala Literature teacher R. M. Abhayawardana made us learn by heart the verses in the 'Selalihini Sandesaya' under threat of punishment from a thorough spanking on the back, making us stand on the chair to keeping us after school and getting us to write imposition of 1,500 lines.

It was his advice to read even the piece of newspaper with which sugar was brought wrapped from the boutique that made us read widely. When I was in the college hostel my father used to give me five rupees pocket money when he came to see me on Fridays.

With that money I used to buy a book like Sir Ryder Haggard's 'She' or 'Ayesha, the Return of She' in Pan edition for Rs. 1.60 cts at Ceylon Readers' Book Shop at Regent Building. Permission was readily granted by Professor S. L. Kekulawala, one of my dormitory masters, to come to the bookshop to buy books.

The climax in this respect was reached when my Political Science teacher in the University Preliminary Class, J. R. P. Suriyapperuma told me "Ediri, go to university and finish the library." Finish I did not only the university library but the American Center, the British Council and the Public Library as well.

A life well spent pursuing virtue, intellect, the arts, philosophy and the whole spectrum of knowledge is indeed a full life and a life well lived. A life of malice towards none is the pinnacle of human achievement.

The inspiration that one can draw from Buddhist Philosophy to make life meaningful and free from wrongful conduct, in its widest sense, is immense.

Unfortunately, most of our elders today do not make the most of their lives but lead empty lives. They break the Five Precepts and commit the Ten Demerits. A wife who killed her medical doctor husband in collusion with her carpenter paramour, languishing in death row, for the last 20 years is reported to have said recently that she prefers to die at the hands of the executioner, to end her agony.

This is exactly why Capital Punishment should not be implemented. Most recently, a carpenter who got round the daughter of a rich man, married her and got rich himself, allegedly killed her by pushing her into a stream, feigning an accident after travelling to a lonely spot in their luxury vehicle, to live freely with his paramours.

However it augurs well for the future of our country to see large numbers of Dhamma Schoolchildren pouring on to the Colombo-Kandy road opposite Vidyalankara Pirivena Dhamma School, Kelaniya at closing time on Sunday's causing traffic jams.

These children are our hope and among them will be our philosopher-kings of the future. They will indeed lead a virtuous and full life, make the most of the life and bring prosperity and solace to the country by their guidance.