• Tilake's brush balloons beyond borders
• High Fashions
  Village feast at five star wedding

• FORGOTTEN HERITAGE
  Teldeniya - the land of sprawling paddy fields

The work of internationally reputed artist, Tilake Abeysinghe does not need the prop of eulogy work speaks for itself!

Tilake Abeysinghe's Trotksky beard dropping down and his matted wavy hair worn long perhaps for Bohemian reason and pipe one the unmistakable identity of the man.

I met Tilake at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel where he was busy redoing his art gallery.

His artistic career spans over four decades, he began dabbling in water colours at the age of three.

While being employed at the survey department, Abeysinghe followed evening classes at the Government College of Fine Arts Heywood and came under prominent art teachers like David Painter and Stanley Abeysinghe (later he went to Italy on a scholarship where at the accadema di Belli Arts Brera in Milas he came under the spell of the genius, Professor Domenico Cantatore.

Abesinghe acknowledges he copiously borrowed from their techniques while being original in his creativity, ideas and the imagery of his theme.

Tilake's obsession is to always create something new. His paintings are individualistic.

"The fundamentals of art and line term and colour. I use line in the may I want. It is not a method of demarcation or an outline that will not give life to a picture," says Tilake.

There are places where a line can be thick or thin. A line in this sense must be able to adopt itself to my own requirement."

"My medium is oil on canvas? The use of colour depends, on my feeling or that particular moment.

"My subconscious mind come into play. However the use of colour is vivid yet subtle in effect.

He had not settled on any particular style to form. From the realistic medium he reeled oft into the figure and abstract. Cubism impressionistic, surrealism semi abstract were some of the mediums he experimented with.

The female form is more beautiful than the male counterpart. His best come out in the female form "It is an ecstatic experience to go over the voluptuos females, says Tilake.

Tilake has captured nude female figures. There were many of them at the gallery.

In most of the paintings of the female form Tilake has not mined any of the downy details.

Now in his late sixties Tilake still betrays an impish streak mirrored in the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. That is a frait with genious artists and Tilake is one of them.

"What is your favourite period we asked" The work of Picaso and Brque thrill me I also like modern artists like Nuan Gabo and Brancuchi because they are in search of a new form of creation. In the case of Picaso and Bragne it is a matter of creation rather than depicting what they see. It is a creation rather than a depiction, he replied.

I am not a commercialised creature. I am an artist I want to paint. Other things don't interest me". That is how he describes himself. He is a clever painter. He daubs his colours on canvas with dedication. The brush and the paint seize him with an unbearable frenzy and he is of a world of his own submerged with colours and the easels.

His works has been on show in London, Paris, Delhi, Hamburg, Montreal. In 1984 he was honoured with the award of Chevalier in the Order of Merit by the Italian Government.

A painter and a sculptor, Tilake uses the plaster of Paris and wood as his medium for sculpture.

He declared that "paintings are like my children. They give happiness in times of sorrow. They have given me life".

The Mt. Lavania Hotel which houses Tilake's paintings provides the ideal backdrops aesthetically meshing in with Tilake's works of art.

Text and Pics by Kirthi Sri Karunaratne
The wedding of Arunodini and Mahes, both Abeywickremas, was indeed a unique event. From the scroll sent out as an invitation, the entire celebration was on ethnic lines. The decor which was conceived and executed by Harris Wijesinghe was a visual of delight. Done entirely in jasmines, it brought a Sri Lankan ambiance to the surroundings.

The poruwa, the arrangement behind the bridal seat, and the table centres were all in muted gold and strands of jasmines. Instead of the usual wedding cake, the guests were given a box of ''pangkolla,'' filled with typical Sinhala sweetmeats, and the lunch which was entirely vegetarian was a village feast eaten on a lotus leaf, at a five star Hotel, the Colombo Hilton.

Arunodini and Mahes

In keeping with the theme, the bride wore a saree of ivory and subtle gold spun jersey, with beeralu lace motifs and edgings, the lace tastefully embroidered in gold beads, mother of pearl sequins and pearls. She wore the traditional Kandyan jewellery consisting of the seven necklaces and a nallal pattiya. Her bouquet was of Araliya flowers, and jasmine buds, and delicate buds encircled her konde. The groom complimented the ensemble in a deep red velvet tuppotiya.

The bridesmaids and flower girls wore sarees and half sarees in burgundy charmeuse, with a dainty narrow vandyke border in gold, the embroidery a tracery of pattern. Their blouses featured puff sleeves, and they wore pattiya necklaces in rubies and gold, and little dimiki eardrops. The bouquets were in deep red araliya and little white blossoms interspersed with gold.

For the goingaway, both the bride and groom effected changes of costume. Her saree draped in the Indian style was in a lovely shade of burnished gold with touches of oranges and a border of gold woven on an orange background. She wore a necklace of diamonds and gold, and carried a bouquet of cattalyea orchids tinted in the matching orange, mixed with clusters of tinted gold berries and spiky leaves, the work of Lucien de Silva.

The groom in a well planned blend, was attired in a national costume of golden biege raw silk. Many of the younger generation of the males present were in pristine white national costumes bringing a refreshing air of noon time elegance.

All the bridal clothes and those of the bridesmaids were the creations of Harris Wijesinghe.

Dinner reception

Vathni and Carlo

Another reception to celebrate the marriage of Carlo Ponnambalam to Vathni Mathiapuran was a quite and dignified occasion. Carlo who is well known in the world of films, and film distribution took as his wife Vathni who is a qualified gemmologist and an active Rotarian. The event was like a Rotarian celebration, with the District Governor of Rotary in Sri Lanka Rohan Hapugalle proposing the toast.

Vathni wore a saree in a flame red with a traditional gold border and pallu, with motifs scattered on the silk also in gold, with a simple blouse with a fine gold edging at the neckline and sleeves. In her hair was a garland of jasmines and orange toned flowers. Provided by the many friends, relations and Rotarians was a choice of fashion.

Devika Prithiviraj's saree of off white with gold motifs and a double border of woven gold, and the other of purple and gold, she wore with a purple blouse, gold jewellery and jasmines in her hair.

Mohini Gunasekera's choice was a deep green checked saree draped in the Gujarati style, with a border in pink and gold and a rich and elaborate pallu. Her blouse was in the gold, and her jewellery in gold and diamonds.

The deep blue saree Yoga Rodrigo wore was bordered in dazzling black and silver, with circular motifs above it, in the same colours.

A wide border in gold kasab thread and colour, on a wine hued saree worn by Sarala Nagendra was in dateless style. The saree of a mustardy gold Anjali Melvani wore was embroidered in the same coloured thread, pearls and sequins.

There was music for dancing and dining provided by Sam the Man and his group, which was in perfect harmony with the surrounding of the Inter Continental Hotel Ballroom.

Birthday celebration
The Colombo Club was the exclusive venue for a dinner party, hosted by well known director of many companies and his wife as a birthday celebration. At this sit down dinner were many elegant fashions as one expected. Sarees set the lead inspite of a sprinkling of western styles.

The most beautiful saree for the evening was worn by Rukmani Maharaja. In a ink blue the border on the saree was done in the typical Parsi style in silk thread in oyster, blue and touches of red and gold. She wore pearls for jewellery, and jasmines in her hair.

Kamalika Panabokke opted for a black saree with the 'ihe' in a bronze hue, she wore with a blouse in the colour of the 'ihe' and gold jewellery.

Sarala Nagendra's saree was in shades of bottle green, sapphire blue amber for her to wear with a magnificent blue sapphire necklace.

Sriani Fernando had black and white in dots and stripes in geometric combination making her smart top to team with a simple black skirt.

The long flowing gown Shirabdhi Aruliah wore in white, was self stripped in diagonals, and came off shoe string straps.

by Gamini G. Punchihewa
Teldeniya is a land famous for its extensive and fertile paddy fields stretched far and wide.

Dr. John Davy who was familiar with Kandy, Hunnasgiriya and other adjacent lands, had described vividly the people, the terrain and the habitations in his book titled "Account of the Interior Ceylon" (1821).

Here is a description of Teldeniya and its rich environs of royal granaries, as he saw it on 1.9.1817:

"… Beyond the river the Mahaweli ganga we mounted our horses and rode eleven miles to Teldeniya, royal farm prettily situated at the foot of a mountain in the fertile valley of Hulu Ganga.

The country through which we passed was not of uniform character, the first half of the way, it was beautiful : Its surroundings consists green hills gently rounded without jungle, spotted here and there with clumps of trees and well cultivated. The latter part of he way, the ground was more rugged and rocky and pretty generally overgrown with forest, in going through which we saw many traces of elephants.

We took up quarters at Teldeniya, in a Atuwa or granary close to the river in a grove of coconut trees and almost surrounded by paddy fields which were nearly ripened very like cornfields in harvest time in England. The Atuwa was pretty extensive and affored our party good shelter.

The buildings formed a hollow square in the middle of which was the principal granary : it was a room with a strong wooden floor standing on short stone pillars. Its entrance resembled a window, being the near roof, and only just large enough to admit which being introduced, the shutter is closed and sealed with a piece of soft clay, on which I believe is impressed the royal signature. To take out the grain, it is necessary to make a breach in the walls."

Submerged town
Teldeniya is also steeped in quaint legends and history. The most popular folk-tale I was able to glean from the old timers and the incumbent of Bambaragala Raja Maha Vihara runs thus.

In days of yore, a yogi going past the Dumbara valley had with him two bowls - one of them contained a sapling of a Bo tree, while the other was filled with some valuable medicinal oil. Being tired he kept those vessels on a slab of rock and rested for a while.

Following morning, he resumed his journey forgetting the two containers. When he came back to fetch them he found the vessel containing the oil was stuck in a muddy water hole. Failing to retrieve it he went without it. As the oil container was stuck in a rockoutcrop embedded in a muddy hole which actually resembled a basin. The place came to be called Teldeniya. The place where the Yogi stayed is still called Yogawa (meaning the path Yogi walked through), lying close to Teldeniya now submerged.

Dumbara valley
Teldeniya nestles in the lap of the verdant Dumbara valley surrounded by another beautiful mountain frontier. Even the kings of old in Kandy retreated to the Dumbara valley in times of internal strife and possible alien invasions to take safe asylum.

The sacred Tooth Relic was also once kept in safe custody in the old temples and other rock cave hermitages in the Dumbara valley which had the strategic fortification of hills and rivers.

Bo sapling
The Bo sapling left behind by the Yogi on the rockoutcrop along with the bowl of medicinal oil tells of another interesting folk tale. That Bo sapling which was said to have been planted at a place called Uduwela on the Teldeniya - Weerapitiya road in the vicinity of Bimpusse Yakdeniyage Watta was uprooted during the floods of 1957. A branch of this old Bo tree had sprouted and is now venerated by the people.

Shrines peep out
With the construction of the Victoria reservoir, Teldeniya town, with its self contained township of public utilities, like a post office, rest house, banks, clock tower, market, hospital, and permanent habitations of people, all ended up is a watery grave. The displaced people are re-settled on new lands in Digana where its new township is located.

When Victoria reservoir goes very dry, these old landmarks, the relics of old Teldeniya bridge, surfaces to the naked eye.