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[Book Review]
Path of Destiny
One of the great sons of Ambalangoda Dharmasoka College who is none
other than the genius Jayatissa Bandaragoda has recently published the
autobiography of his illustrious life.
 Born in a beautiful village in the South called Niyagama, his
beginnings were at Christ Church College, Baddegama and thereafter at
the most prestigious Buddhist institute Dharmasoka College.
After his secondary education he entered into the towers of learning
at the University of Ceylon. Having obtained a Bachelor of Science
Degree he proceeded to the United Kingdom to master his knowledge at the
University of Cambridge. While serving in Sri Lanka's administrative
service he proceeded to obtain his masters in the University of Monash,
Australia.
Jayatissa Bandaragoda was fortunate enough to be educated in both
languages Sinhala and English, in which he is a master. He has brought
much honour to his Alma Mater Dharmasoka College of Ambalangoda by being
the first entrant to the Science faculty of the University of Ceylon.
Sri Lanka Administrative Service in the yester years was considered
the best in the South Asian Region and Bandaragoda was one of the
pioneers to excel in this field. Hailing from a rural village with
farming as its livelihood and the experience of working in paddy fields,
it's a coincidence that Bandaragoda had the opportunity of selecting
farming related fields for his postgraduate studies. Like a duck taking
to water Bandaragoda had no hesitation what so ever in mastering the
skills in water management, agriculture irrigation, rural administration
etc. which were not areas alien to him.
Though he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he reached
great heights in life overcoming all obstacles encountered. In his book
he teaches us to think beyond insular way, to achieve your goals in
life. His biography is easily read, poetic and simple and entices one to
read it and even contemplate thereafter. This really is a book to be
read by the masses and it needs to be translated into Sinhala, as a
measure to compensate the Sri Lankan youth who have been deprived of
English education at a certain point of time, mainly due to short
sighted political decisions.
- Jagath Chandralal de Silva |
