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People and Events
The proud peacock replaced by a slug

by Nan
After getting over, or rather, coming to terms with my strong disappointment, rage and shock with seeing the new logo of our national carrier and those huge blue letters across a picture of one of our ‘planes, I got to thinking of who the designer was of the elegant stylised peacock which had been erased. I made my enquiries and had a person willing to get me his telephone number. With the number came the putting-off info that he was inundated by telephone calls and interviews. Being an older me and brasher, I nevertheless phoned him. He was extremely generous with his time and information.

Artist who should go down in history

Shanta Saparamadu is a restrained man; nary a word of sharp criticism or bitter comment from him. But it was obvious he was a disappointed man - at the shabby treatment he’s got. No invitation to either the welcoming ceremony of the misnamed ‘plane with its garish diyabariya looking as if he is killed and strung up, or trying to escape from the tail of the jet. Magnanimously he says its perfectly OK he was not invited but commented it’s a true blue Sri Lankan habit - make use of you and when that is over just kick you away. He did not say that, it’s me that says it and it’s a fact.

I nearly collapsed with getting to know that all he was given for that most elegant and painstakingly designed logo of the red peacock, was a free trip to London - economy class. Can you beat that! The prize offered for the all Island competition to get a logo AirLanka in 1979 was a free ticket and four days paid hotel stay in Singapore. Even in 1979 that was peanuts for such an important design. Well Mr. Saparamadu had not worked for the prize. He had designed the logo because it was a challenge and just up his artistic sleeve. At least he had the sense to suggest to AirLanka they gift him a free ride to London and not Singapore. So he went economy class, the man whose design gave Sri Lanka’s jets such a distinctive air, making them stand out in any and every airport.

And this is the man who was not among the 700 partakers of Hilton goodies at the unveiling ceremony nor invited to watch the Minister of State receiving the VIPs descending from the diyabariya adorned plane. The Minister, remember, had said, just a couple of weeks prior to the foul deed being done, that there would be no logo and name change, even though Emirates had bought 41 percent shares of AirLanka.

A free trip is all he got

What was the bill for the change of identity? All of US dollars 30 million! That is the official figure but it is whispered that USD 50 million was the real cost. Why ever did we need a change of identity? I laboured the point in an earlier comment in this same column that the change of identity was very close to annihilation of the national carrier. So why did we do it, allow it? How can 41 percent shareholders be given carte blanche to dictate terms completely?

I read somewhere how much the diyabariya logo designer was given for his three blobs of colour. Ten thousand times and more than what Saparamadu got for his truly elegant design. His design was so appreciated and thought well of that on his return from London - payment of say USD 1000 in contrast to the millions spent this time around - he was asked by a VIP whether he had taught the British design and art creation. And at that time it was design solely by brain, aesthetic sensibility and sureness of hand. Now the computer does most of the job for you.

A logo must connect

Why was not the design commissioned in Sri Lanka to a Sri Lankan? Who knows best what is Sri Lankan and what is appropriate? This salamander with the thin neck and small head and two oozes of colour on the sides is supposed to be a dandumonara. Help me please, I am dying of laughing.

Shanta Saparamadu said that his red design was a representation of the dandumonara which has great national significance since long, long before aeroplanes took to the skies, the South Asians, more particularly Indians and Sri Lankans - Rama and Ravana - were air travellers according to legend in their dandumonaras. As he says, anyone knows a peacock and his design was instantly recognised as eastern and interestingly exotic. What is the significance of the three blobs of red, orange and green? If it represents a peacock or more specifically the dandumonara, then I am Miss Universe!

To explain what he had been saying - that a national logo should be unique plus identifiable with a nation - he explained how a cross on a church by the sea in the Colombo harbour area gave sailors of yesteryear the idea that Ceylon was predominantly Christian. This because the cross is so well known and immediately identifiable with Christ’s religion. The Chaitya was build on Galle Face Road close to the breakwater to announce to seafarers that here was a Buddhist country. The idea was lost because the shape of the chaitya was not well known. A Buddha statue would have served the purpose better. Thank goodness however, that no statue of the Buddha was built for sighting from the sea. We already have far too many new statues all over the place: in ancient sacred sites, on top of hills and by the roadside.

I know nothing about art, design, proportion et al. But I definitely felt the moment I saw the new logo that it was facing the wrong direction. Instead of ‘going’ in the direction the plane was being piloted, the creature was going in the opposite direction, giving, to me at least, the impression that it was escaping - from an ill fated jet perhaps? Wijesoma captured the absurdity of the creatures posture and direction faced in his cartoon where the slug escapes right off the tail of the ‘plane, capped with the Arab headgear. The revised version of the logo by Saparamadu as given in an issue of the Island, straightened this matter at least. As he says, the bird must look in the direction the plane is travelling. My simple gut feeling that it was wrong, was proved correct.

The lettering too was mildly criticised by Shanta Saparamadu. He says that against a blue sky with, perhaps, white clouds, red shows best. Blue is lost in the blue around whether dull in Heathrow or brilliant in Katunayake. Why blue? Surely not for the utterly puerile reason that the main party in our governing coalition has blue as its party colour.

We have commented earlier on the absurdity of having the name sort of left dangling. Sri Lankan WHAT is your immediate rhetorical question. To me terribly, the answer invariably is a four letter rather rude noun starting with S and ending with T.

Shanta Saparamadu is scheduled to be on a chat show on the 12th over ITN. He was very mild in his soft spoken, reluctantly made comments when he spoke with me. He did not criticise the change of logo and name. He was sorry though. He did not mind being left out completely from the picture but he was sad that local talent was ignored so outrageously.

I hope so much we won’t have more shocking surprises in costume changes and new advertising jingles. I said before I was sure blue would be the in colour but prayed the girl stewards wont be veiled and the men have to wear headgear!!

Proud peacock in airports around the world

A man from Atlanta wrote a letter to the Sunday Island Editor criticising point by point the changes made in AirLanka. He said that the old logo in its single colour red so stood out in airports and inspired feelings of national pride wherever you were. True!

I well remember spending a week in Male as a resource person in a seminar for the Maldivians. The island was charming in its quaintness but soon gave me surges of claustrophobia. Each evening however, I would feel liberated within and happy and close to home seeing the AirLanka flight land and take off shortly afterwards. Much of this was due to the red logo. Pride also was felt each time the name tripped so easily off one’s tongue or the ear was delighted by the advertising jingles. In any airport, among all the proud airlines of pedigree and long lineage, and the brash newer ones, AirLanka stood out and was distinctive. It gave one such a sense of pride - here is one good thing we have.

It will never be thus with its garish coloured slug and incomplete name.

China-Sheeelk - would bring housewives to the door

By Cecil V. Wikramanayake
"There lived a sage in days of yore,
and he a handsome pigtail wore"

Way back in the nineteen thirties, in the pre-independence days, the Chinese community in Sri Lanka were best known by their cry of "China sheeelk!" which could be heard for quite a distance. And this cry would bring housewives running to their front door, for when the China Silk man came round, you could be sure of a bargain. Their prices were astonishingly cheap, and the quality of their goods was high.

The Chinese fraternity of those days did wear pigtails. That is, in those days they wore their hair long, plaited into a ‘pigtail’ at the back of their heads. These vendors wore a white cotton baggy pair of trousers, over which they sported a loose, large kind of blouse.

They were short, sturdy, well built men. They had to be, for their bundles of cloth were so huge and so heavy that they walked, with this bundle on their backs, almost bent in two.

The Chinaman, as we youngsters called these vendors, also carried a wooden pole about four feet long, shaped like a square, and having the inches and feet (in those days the metric system was not known) marked on them.

This square pole not only served as a measuring stick, but also was used for self-protection — against little boys like myself who delighted in shouting "Cheena buku-buku chinaray, Colombata yanne koi-paray ?"

The Chinaman would pretend to chase us, and we would bolt. He never chased us more than a couple of steps, for it was difficult enough for him to walk, let alone run. He had a sense of humour, for he would smile, and then bellow "China Sheelk!" once more, and carry on walking.

If and when he was called by a housewife, the Chinaman would enter your doorway, lay down his burden, and start unwrapping his bundle. He was a patient man and would unwrap everything he had, spread his wares before you and somehow persuade you to buy. He would not leave without making a sale.

"Cheap, Missie, Cheap Very Cheap" he would tell the housewife. "Me no sell expensive goods. Me sell very cheap, very good."

I remember, when we were in Galle, Dad buying several yards of blue drill from the Chinaman. It cost him only 50 cents a yard and Mum thought it was a bargain. Short trousers were made for my elder brother and myself, and it was fine.

Till the shorts were sent to the ‘dhoby’ for washing, they came back a different colour. The entire blue had washed off and the trousers were all a dirty pink in colour.

"But what can you expect for cloth at 50 cents a yard! " remarked Dad when Mum pointed it out.

In those days the Chinaman walked long distances, selling his ‘China sheelk". After a few years, I observed that they no longer walked, but went about on push cycles, with their huge bundle tied on to a specially built luggage carrier.

Then came World War II, and for a time we did not see the Chinaman, not that often.

With the end of the war, or rather shortly after the Easter raid of 1942, when mudalalies abandoned their shops and bolted, a number of Chinese itinerant vendors set up shop, being, I believe, given abandoned buildings by the Civil Defence Commissioner, the late Sir Oliver Goonetilleke.

Some of them continued selling textiles, while many of them set up as "Dental Mechanics" — experts at making ‘dentures’ for those who had lost their teeth.

Even today, as you go down Maradana way, you will see cloth shops with the names of Chinese owners. Perhaps they are the second, third or even fourth generation from the original vendors.

In those days, I remember, in the verandah of the Nippon hotel, there used to be Chinese women selling fancy decorations which they would make there, right before your eyes.

Why I remember them is because they had such tiny feet. For in those days the feet of women were bound from infancy, in accordance to an ancient custom which was followed for centuries. There is a story about that custom, but that can be told anon!

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What tree is that?

A Lay-person’s Guide to some Trees of Sri Lanka
A RUK RAKAGANNO PUBLICATION
by - Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala and P. A. Miththapala
Price Rs. 250/=

Reviewed by Manel Tampoe
It is a sad truth that today, few people, especially city-dwellers, can identify more than a handful of the trees that dominate our landscape. This phenomenon — which is not confined to Sri Lanka alone - is a disturbing symptom of our alienation from the natural world, in turn a consequence of the development road mankind has elected to travel. Tragically this phenomenon is extending itself to the rural areas of Sri Lanka with the bulk of the younger generation caught up in a school-homework-tuition class and examination syndrome in an effort to compete with their urban counterparts. They are deprived of the leisure needed to get to know their environment as their grandparents did. Ruk Rakaganno’s attempt to re-establish a lost link through this book is thus very timely.

As the title indicates, "What Tree is That" is not meant to be a learned, scientific tome on the woody plants we call trees, but a handy field guide to help the average person with no special botanical knowledge, to identify common local trees.

For many years the society has wanted to publish a scientifically valid, yet simple and inexpensive guide for identifying the trees travellers are most likely to see. NORAD has generously helped Ruk Rakaganno to achieve this long cherished ambition.

Kamini Vitarana, President of Ruk Rakaganno says: ‘We hope this guide will enable the reader to get to know the common trees depicted here. We feel that once you know and can recognise a tree, there is a greater chance that you will want to protect it. This is the purpose of this book - to stimulate interest and love for the wonderful trees of our country, and a will to conserve the habitats in which they are found".

This elegant and handy volume is divided into three sections dealing with Urban, Wet Zone and Dry Zone trees. Depicting a selection of the trees from each zone, the description avoids the overuse of scientific terminology. Each tree is assigned an entire page, with a silhouette of the tree to give an impression of its common shape, and detailed drawings of the leaves, fruits and flowers, with a written text giving the salient features of the tree, and information relating to its habitat. A further paragraph provides interesting snippets of general information such as whether the tree is an indigenous or introduced species, and if so, its likely source. It is interesting to find that many trees that form an important part of our lives today, like coconut, mango and jak are trees introduced into the island.

The text and drawings have been ably executed by Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala and her father, Mr. P. A. Miththapala. It is a pity that the illustrations of the trees are small, restricted by the space available on the page for the book to be small enough to carry around comfortably. Within these parameters Dr. Miththapala and her father have done extremely well.

To me the drawing of the tree is the most important of the illustrations, and I would suggest that in subsequent publications the illustration of the tree be larger in scale.

The twentieth century has been one in which mankind has alienated itself from Nature and arrogantly vandalised the very life-support systems of the planet. During the coming century Man has to reverse many of the processes he has set in motion, and evolve ideologies which slot him back within natural systems.

Few Sri Lankans have yet fully grasped that the wealth of the country resides in the remarkable diversity of its flora and fauna. One of the vital tasks facing us is to learn to make the maximum sustainable use of this fabulous gift of Nature to provide the capital for national development. One of our principal tasks will be to re-establish sensitive relationships with our flora and fauna. How better could we start than by learning to identify the trees we find in our country?

What tree is That?" could be our primer in the task of re-educating ourselves about our flora. Ruk Rakaganno has done well to publish it at this juncture. It is important that the book be translated into Sinhala and Tamil without delay and that there should be several follow—up volumes.

Ruk Rakaganno

Ruk Rakaganno, The Tree Society, came into being in the mid-seventies when a small band of nature lovers decided to form an environmental society. Iranganie Serasinghe was the moving spirit of this group of about fifteen that included some of Sri Lanka’s pioneer environmentalists such as Lyn de Alwis, Dr. Upendra de Zilwa, Nihal and Dorothy Fernando and Vere and Cynthia de Mel. Iranganie Serasinghe recounted how they originally wanted to call it ‘The Environmental Society’ but they eventually decided to call themselves Ruk Rakaganno, The Tree Society, even though it meant narrowing the focus to trees primarily.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka Ruk Rakaganno was in existence in 1976, when a foreign exchange starved Sri Lanka decided to log its last remaining block of primaeval rain forest, the Sinharaja, in order to make plywood. Ruk Rakaganno was in the forefront of the campaign to halt this government initiated vandalism. It was the wide public support this campaign generated that led to the growth of a virile environmental movement in Sri Lanka.

Since then, Ruk Rakaganno has continued its work in both town and country, with an enthusiastic if small bend of volunteers. In addition to field trips, lectures and plant sales for members, Ruk Rakaganno has worked an environmental education programmes for schools. It publishes newsletters in Sinhala, Tamil and English, and has worked with grass roots groups in Nuwara Eliya, Passara, Moneragala for rural self employment. With its limited resource, it lobbies to save trees, and to plant trees : one of its current programmes is a tree planting campaign in the city of Colombo.

The book was "launched" on Tuesday the 01st June 1999 at 5.00 p.m. at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute by Prof. 0. B. A. Abeywickrama.

Perimetry- the science of testing the eye’s visual field

by Swarna Sivasubramaniam,
Perimetrist, Rajapoopathy Memorial Glaucoma Centre

The human eye is in more senses than one an invaluable "window" through which doctors and clinicians can gain much needed clues to many illnesses — not only of the eye — that the body is heir to Perimetry is the science that helps doctors, like detectives, to look through that window at the inside of the eye and its ‘visual field’ for otherwise hidden signs of ocular diseases. Of course, a major objective of perimetry is to look for early signs of glaucoma which, like a thief in the night, can remain undetected until too late, leading to permanent blindness. Visual field examination is usually requested by ophthalmologists, physicians, neurologists, neuro-surgeons and optometrists. The purpose of perimetry, therefore, is to provide the clinical information for diagnosing diseases of the eye, of the optic nerve and visual pathway, and for monitoring the progress of ocular diseases and for diagnosing unexplained visual loss.

What is glaucoma? Think of the car tyre which needs to have a predetermined level of air pressure inside it for a comfortable ride. Similarly, in the eye it is a certain quantity of liquid (instead of air) constantly coming into and going out of the eye that provides the necessary stable level of pressure for the eye to function or "see" properly. Glaucoma is a condition where, for reasons that are still unclear, that internal pressure level increases beyond the normal because inflow of liquid is greater than outfolow, causing the eye to malfunction. If untreated, irreversible blindness is the end result.

When one looks at any object one sees not only that object but also the ‘picture’ of the surrounding area from side to side and up and down. This area around the central object is called the visual field. It includes peripheral vision which is the extremes of vision to the left, right, up and down while one’s attention is on the central object.

Ophthalmologists describe the visual field as an island or hill in the sea of blackness. The top of the ‘hill’ is the most sensitive area called macula which gives sharp and clear vision, both for distance and near.

When the eye is fixed on a spot, it can see up to 100 degrees on the outer side, 65 degrees toward the nose, 60 degrees up and 75 degrees down. Sensitivity diminishes on the sides of the visual hill. The peripheral area is quick to detect sudden movement, such as a pedestrian running onto the road from the pavement. This peripheral area also helps adjust the eyes to dim and dark surroundings.

All these visual activities are performed by the retina, the innermost layer of the eye which is composed of tiny blood vessels and nerve cells which get stimulated when light falls on them. The retina is a layer of nerve tissue as thin as tissue paper. This consists of millions of retinal cells which, in computer parlance, are equivalent to microchips. They flash messages to the brain as and when light strikes the eye, and these innumerable messages are converted to electrical impulses that travel along the nerve fibres which make up the optic nerve. All the information, when it reaches the brain, is decoded, understood, recognized and stored as ‘memories’ for future reference.

There is a natural blind spot in the retina that lies about 12 degrees to the outer side of the eye. The blind spot is the area through which the optic nerve leaves the eye through the scleral canal. This area has no sensitive nerve cells and therefore is not activated by light. This non-seeing, or blind, area is present in all individuals and is not an abnormality; hence it should not be a source of worry. People with perfectly healthy eyes will sometimes notice that they do not "see" some things within their range and thereby get unduly disturbed.

There are many different methods of visual field testing, depending on what the doctor suspects could be the problem causing defects in a patient’s vision. The commonly used tests are considered here:

Monocular confrontation feld test. This simple examination can be done any time, anywhere. In the case of bedridden patients, this is the only method. In this test, the examiner compares the patient’s visual field with his own. In addition, this test could be a self-examination procedure for a patient with a field defect to assess his condition from time to time.

Penipheral fields. The field is charted to moving targets. A white pinhead is moved inward from the periphery field about 30 cms from the patient’s and examiner’s eyes. Some field defects can be detected easily and quickly by this method.

Central fields. There are two methods available, both easy and costing little. They are (i) Amsler grid. This is a boldly cross hatched paper with a central fixation spot for the patient to focus on. It is based on the principle that central retinal lesions often distort geometric patterns causing irregularities on the lines and squares which the patient can pin point with his own fingers. Each eye is tested in turn with reading glasses on, if needed. This technique tests only the central 10 degrees of vision. (ii) Tangent screen or Bjerrm screen. This is usually a thick black cloth I or 2 meters square, on which radial lines and 5 degree concentric circles are inconspicuously marked. This method is useful to examine the central field within 30 degrees from the fixation point. Bjerrum, nearly 200 years ago, used the back of his consultation room for this purpose. Colour fields can be charted with a coloured target; the point to be recorded is when the patient recognizes the true colour of the target, and not when the object is first seen. The results are recorded on a simple chart. (iii) The hemispheric projection perimeter. The instrument commonly used in the Goldmann perimeter. This is a precision instrument used for testing both peripheral and central fields. It is used for kinetic perimetry. The patient fixes his eye on the central fixation point. Test spots of constant size and fixed contrast are moved from the periphery to the centre and the patient presses the button on an electric buzzer each time the target is seen. The same spot is moved into the visual field along different meridians; a line that joins all spots of equal sensitivity is called an isopter and charted in at least two isopters, one a large, well seen spot to aid in training the patient, and the second the smallest, dimmest spot recognised by the patient. By recording several isopters, the whole visual field can be tested. The instrument is big in size and expensive.

With advances in medical technology over the past twenty years, visual field testing techniques have become more refined and sophisticated. Today we have either manually driven or computerized instruments to record the response of the eye to light stimulation. With these instruments, the visual field is charted by a trained perimetrist either by drawing on a blank sheet of paper or on pre-printed forms or recorded automatically by computer.

Measurement of the visual field depends on what signals the rod and cone cells in the retina transmit when stimulated by light in the form of spots falling on the eye. When spots of light like fire flies are observed, the patient presses the buzzer button. While taking a visual testing, the patient should be seated comfortably, as the session lasts about fifteen minutes. A patch is placed over the eye that is not being tested and the patient rests the forehead against the headrest on the instrument with the chin placed on the chin rest. The perimetrist will guide and encourage the patient throughout the test, and will constantly monitor the eye movements to ensure that they do not stray from the central fixation point and to help the patient avoid looking at extraneous spots of light rom me sides.

Recently a new approach called static perimetry was introduced for analyzing the visual field. Here, the light stimulus remains fixed in one position at a time while the brightness is increased until the patient can see it. There are three main instruments utilizing this method, the Humphrey, Octopus and Topcon. All these rely on automated computer programming and record the eye’s ability to detect light at threshold, which means the dimmest pin prick of light that the patient can see. A spot of light is first presented at its dimmest and then progressively increased in brightness and size. For example, if a patient has lost vision in a particular area of the eye, he will not be able to spot the light whatever its size or brightness may be. These instruments are ‘programmed’ to make allowances for a patient’s mistakes such as buzzing at imaginary ‘sightings’ of light. The spots of light follow each other quite rapidly and the instrument tests each area four or five times, making the whole exercise seem an endless examination. The Topcon instrument takes approximately 15 minutes for a complete test.

The primary function of the perimetrist using an automated instrument is to monitor patients repeatedly by watching the eye through a camera in front. Taking a visual field for the first time can be troublesome. Four seconds will elapse from the start of the test before any points of light appear. The perimetrist will instruct the patient to press the buzzer-button if and when the spot of light is seen; often patients, in their eagerness, press the button erroneously.

The study of the eye’s visual field has its own pitfalls, for there are millions of nerve cells in the retina and it is impossible to spot all defects. It has been observed that at least 40% of a patient’s visual field is affected before the defect shows up on the field analyser. Before this happens, the patient, if careful, would have noticed a deterioration of visual efficiency. The modern field analyzers focus on certain points where defects are known to occur, because it is estimated that it will take two whole days to study the entire retina, clearly an exercise beyond human endurance.

The test should be done in a room that is dimly lit and distractions such as bright dresses or reflected light should be removed. Other problems include a patient’s reaction time in obtaining a correct visual field. The reaction time is the time that lapses between the patient seeing the light and then pressing the buzzer-button. This depends on the alertness of the patient and also the duration of the test. With automated perimeters, the problem of perimetrist influence is eliminated. Some enthusiastic perimetrists have been known to persuade patients to give anticipated visual field defects.

Many elderly patients complain that the test causes fatigue, thereby lowering their attentiveness. In addition, the mental and physical state of the patient contributes to the outcome of the visual field; stress, anxiety about going blind, fear of instruments, inability to press the buzzer-button quickly enough are contributory factors. Furthermore, tranquilizers and antihistamines decrease a patient’s attentiveness and the necessary allowances should be made where the patient is known to have taken then prior to the visual field test. If either the patient or the perimetrist feels the test was unsatisfactory, another test should be done. The ophthalmologist and perimetrist will then study the patient’s visual field and arrive at a diagnosis.

Jaffna Central College
Founder’s Day — 1st August

A group of Methodist missionaries from Britain, first came to Ceylon in the year 1814 arriving on the 29th June which date is observed every year by the Methodist Church in our country as Methodist Day. After they arrived, they learnt that there was also a need to establish English Schools in the country. Rev. James Lynch and Rev. Thomas Squance, two of the original group of six missionaries travelled to Jaffna to start their mission there. They first mixed freely with the local people and started learning the local language and getting acquainted with the local customs.

On 1st August 1816, they purchased a centrally and ideally situated property, opposite the esplanade, that had earlier been used as an orphanage that had closed down. The buildings and Chapel were quite adequate for their purpose and they established an English School. This school which was a continuous history from that date, was reorganised by Rev. Dr. Peter Percival, a great scholar and Principal who named it Jaffna Central. It was Rev. Dr. Peter Percival, himself a Tamil scholar, assisted by Arumuka Navalar, the celebrated Tamil Scholar who was a student of his at Central that produced a Tamil version of the scriptures for which elegance and dignity of expression has never been equalled.

This school is the oldest Methodist Mission Institution in South East Asia and has had a long line of missionary Principals who were also educationists of their time and they worked untiringly and with indomitable will and spirit to leave the place much better than when they entered it. The Staff too worked with devotion and dedication. The School grew from strength to strength.

Academic education was unbeatable for quality and standards. The goal was excellence. The School progressed, achieved Collegiate status, became affiliated to the Calcutta University preparing students for the FA Examinations of Calcutta and Madras, Junior and Senior Cambridge, London Matriculation and Commerce examinations. The School continued to grow and expand. New buildings were started on the original site and the School expanded. Several students attained academic distinction and went on for higher studies to the university in Colombo or abroad.

In the forties of this century, after the University of Ceylon came into being, the first batch of students prepared for the medical entrance examination, all were successful and all of them entered the Medical Faculty. University entrance to all faculties has been a regular feature with very good results in the entrance examinations.

Side by side Sports and extra curricular activities also flourished and many students excelled in these as well, going further to represent the School in outside competitions. Cricket, Football, Athletics, Scouting, Debating, Oratory, Elocution, Music were all fields in which students excelled themselves. More than a hundred years passed by.

In the House system, all houses, namely, Percival, Romaine, Wilkes and Bullough are all named after former Principals and there is healthy rivalry between houses, especially on the Sports field.

In 1945 the School entered the free education scheme and numbers increased. Rev. C. A. Smith, the Principal at that time, added more buildings to the School and Hostel.

In 1960 when Rev. Dr. D. T. Niles was principal, the School was handed over to the State along with several other Methodist Mission Schools. The Methodist Mission retained only one Boys School and one Girls School, both in Colombo, to be run privately.

Thereafter, Jaffna Central had local Principals many of whom were Old Boys who continued to maintain the standards and traditions that had been established.

Now the School has the status of a "National School" with about 3000 children on the Roll. The School still continues to keep the flame burning. But there are many constraints.

Many old boys of all communities — Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers, Tamils, have all happily studied together in this School and have also lived together in the Rigg Hall Hostel as one happy family without differences or problems.

The Parent Body OBA is in Jaffna and is very closely associated with the School, while there are branches in Colombo as well as overseas in UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany, all showing great and active interest in the welfare of their Alma Mater.

Professors and lecturers in Universities here and abroad, Doctors, Engineers, Civil Servants, Legislators, Politicians, Diplomats, Businessmen, have all been products of this School, that have taken their due place in society, served and continue to serve their country with honour, distinction and pride.

The motto of the School is "In Gloriam Dei Gloriam Dei Optimi Maximi" which means "Unto the Glory of God, the best and the highest" and this the School has continued to observe down the years.

The college song and college hymn were composed by Rev. Percy T. Cash, a former Principal and set to music by Mrs. Cash. Centralites are proud to sing the college song whenever they get together.

183 years is a long and glorious period for Jaffna Central. The spirit of Central still grows and glows. We Centralites are justly proud of the past. But now we know and realise that the past should challenge the present and bring hope and fulfilment to the future. Long live Central!

T. Chinniah,
Vice Patron,
JCC OBA — Colombo Branch.

Savithri’s moving funeral eulogy to Neelan Tiruchelvam
Out, out, common sense

In a voice choked with emotion, Professor Savithri Goonesekere, Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo delivered this eulogy to Neelan Tiruchelvam at the General Cemetery, Kanatte on July 31.

We are present here this afternoon to pay our last tribute and collectively grieve for our friend, Neelan Tiruchelvam.

I first met Neelan and Sithie as fresh faced young and eager students at the Department of Law of the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. My husband Raja Goonesekere and our friends Ranjith and Yvonne Amarasingha forged with them from that time a friendship that has stretched over three decades. We as young teachers and they as young students experienced those Shangri-La days of Sri Lankan campus life. We shared a common intellectual tradition, a word of scholarship and friendship, and eventually became trusted and very dear colleagues and friends. So Neelan and Sithie passed with honours and accolades through the groves of academic and came into our homes and hearts. Over the years they shared our joys and successes; they were always there for us in times of sorrow and pain. It is not easy for any of us gathered here to confront the anguish of his loss.

For Neelan meant so many different things to each of us. He was a cherished and adored husband and father; a Kinsman; a friend; a valued colleague; a legislator; a mediator; a reformist, a statesman — to reflect on his life is to marvel at the manner in which he touched the lives of so many people, with his intellectual sensitivity, vibrance and understanding, and his profound sense of commitment and caring. The scholar and the intellectual of international repute radiated humility and cheerfulness at all times. These were among his most endearing traits which helped him have time for others and bound him to the many young people who he encouraged and supported throughout his life. His devotion to his beloved Sithie, Niggy, and Mithi extended beyond them and to all of us.

Neelan’s intellectual stature in the country, in the region, and internationally is well documented and known. It would trivialise his life to mention the many accolades and recognition he won over the short span of his professional and political career. I would rather like to pay tributed to that other and very special unique facet of his personality. Neelan was above all a brilliant and articulate thinker, to whom scholarship was the very life he breathed. Despite all the demands on his time, he would read the many books in his library, reflect on what he read, and then emerge with a flow of creative ideas that would be difficult for most of us to absorb and articulate. Sterile scholarship was not for Neelan. He represented that great intellectual tradition which recognises that thinking and ideas have no relevance and meaning unless they can contribute to the well being of people.

It is I think for this reason that Neelan did not take an easy path and make an illustrious career for himself in a prestigious seat of learning or international agency in some other part of the world. He chose to live and work in Sri Lanka with Sithie and the boys in the deep belief that he could make a contribution and impact on the familiar world he had known from childhood. And for that he paid a terrible price.

It is almost impossible to believe that Neelan and Sithie, with all the choices available to them, decided to live in this country and work hard for the peace, ethnic and religious harmony that they had seen shattered over and over again from the time of their own childhood and youth. Neelan was a Hindu Tamil by birth and tradition, and yet above all, a symbol of that vision of ethnic and religious tolerance and peace that we so desperately need to realise in this country today. I would like to pay my last tribute to this great and noble son of our country and the world from a translated piece of 'Subasithaya' .

It is futile to have a hundred children lacking in goodness;
Yet a single child of goodness and wisdom is the greatest treasure,
A hundred stars together cannot lighten the darkness
Yet a single full moon can shed light in a darkened world.

Neelan shone brightly and uniquely as a great son of Sri Lanka; a statesman of peace, integrity and idealism in the midst of adversarial politics, and as a cherished family man, and friend and kinsman.

Everyone, including the international community must recognise in this ultimate act of violence the hypocrisy and evilness of destroying precious lives in the name of freedom. Let those who censored by death this gentleman of peace, and the extremists and hatemongers of all communities with our country and outside, understand that Neelan’s voice, his vision and his life will inspire us to say "No" to the hypocrisy, the hatred and the violence.

Sithie, Niggy and Mithi, and all of us will not say goodbye to Neelan and everything he stood for. His life, his ideas, his vision of goodness, sanity and harmony will and must resonate today and into the next century and millennium that he did not live to see.

Fate’s cruel joke

By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya
It was not my belief even in a dream that I would write an epitaph or an eulogy about a class mate of mine Neelan Tiruchelvam. From the time I heard that Neelan had been brutally assassinated by the LTTE, memories of our school days came vividly to my mind like a film which is about 40 years old. The memories would come lingering and fade away but would flow intermittently. At Royal College we were affected by the Bandaranaike revolution. It was a time we found new identities, philosophies and new thinking. This was a time when all youth were drawn into idealistic iconoclastic visions. In hindsight I still cannot say whether the revolution that engulfed us, which made Nalin de Silva to be in the forefront of the ‘Jatika hintanaya’, Indika Gunawardene to defy his father, the great Philip, and Neelan to be in the Tamil United Liberation Front, was good for the country or not. This was a time when Indika and I were driven by euphoria of nationalism and Bandaranaikeism and wore the national dress to College. Some called us ‘waulas’ and our admirers mostly came from the minor staff. I soon reverted into trousers, but Indika remained with the ‘redda’.

Neelan got a double promotion as he excelled in studies in college. All those who got double promotions were afraid of mingling with the seniors. The seniors did not like these small brats coming into their domain. "These chaps are like the Americans who have not gone through the process of civilizations. From green fruit they have turned into rotten fruit without being ripe at all," one senior, now a millionaire businessman, told Neelan, when he quite innocently tried to go past two seniors. Other senior who listened to this euphemism gave a thundering slap to Neelan. I saw Neelan’s face becoming red. ‘That will make you ripe fruit’ he said. Neelan undisturbed and unruffled smiled back at the seniors and went away. Such was his equanimity. His abhorrence of violence to achieve any goal was symbolised by the smile that greeted the bully — at Royal.

Neelan had built up an international reputation as a pacifist and a crusader for peace. 1983, ‘Black July’ turned Sri Lanka in the eyes of the world into the most barbarous state in existence. The other Tamil leaders fled the country and started a virulent campaign against the Sri Lankans and the Buddhists, painting a picture which depicted all Sri Lankan Buddhists as barbarians. Neelan remained in Sri Lanka and carried out a campaign to educate the Sinhalese and the Tamils to close the deep chasm that has separated the two races. The campaign became successful and it was one of the reasons a similar backlash never recurred after July, 1983 though the LTTE on several occasions tried to engineer it.

Fate plays cruel jokes with humanity. A man who has devoted his life to resolve the ethnic difference through a peaceful negotiated settlement, rests in a sealed coffin with shattered flesh. A photograph on top of the coffin reminds me of the frozen picture of Neelan’s face when he received a thundering slap on his face by a senior bully. A peaceful negotiated settlement to an ethnic strife which has killed thousands of youth since the days of the Black July massacre, is only acceptable to reasonable, prudent civilized people who accept the existence of divergent views. The Sinhalese having realized the abyss into which they fell in 1983, have slowly developed into more civilized beings. They agree that Tamils should be given more power to manage their own affairs; they agree that Tamils are being discriminated against. But as long as Prabhakaran’s political power flows from the barrel of a gun and rules the Tamils here and abroad by coercion and duress, to believe that they would leave Prabhakaran and rally round the peace package, is a myth which Neelan learnt by making the supreme sacrifice. Prabhakaran stated that he would kill every single Tamil who would support the political package of the Government. Prabhakaran is no respecter of persons. Whether it is Rajiv Gandhi, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Thangadurai or Neelan Tiruchelvam is the same for him. They are all traitors who have compromised with the ultimate goal of all Tamils-Eelam.

Until and unless we realize this truth and unite to outwit, outfox and destroy the LTTE, the hit list of Prabhakaran will remain in tact. In my view, the greatest tribute that one could pay to Neelan is to realize there could only be peace not through a negotiated settlement but through getting everyone under one banner to destroy the LTTE; public Enemy number one of all peace loving people.

The crime of ethnicity

We are shocked to hear of the assassination of Neelam Tiruchelvam, respected Tamil scholar, intellect and parliamentarian in Sri Lanka who was in the forefront trying to bring about a peaceful negotiated settlement to the war waged by "Tamil Tigers" in Sri Lanka’s North who demand secession.

It is hard to believe how mere ethnicity could turn a group of humans, anywhere in the world, blind to peaceful options of living with other humans. In times like these when even the Nation State is becoming too narrow an entity and redundant, the rebels in tiny Sri Lanka are demanding a break-away and are happy to pursue the most ruthless forms of violence to achieve this goal. The suicide bombing of Tiruchelvam is yet another of these episodes.

The ethnic madness in Sri Lanka has a particularly unfortunate aspect. Sri Lanka is certainly not Kosovo; Tamils and Sinhalese are living in great harmony in the rest of the island and have been doing so for years. There is no hatred among the two communities. Considerable intermarriage takes place and cultural similarities abound.

Behind all military confrontations there is the industry factor. The economic dynamics of the industry must go on and those who take to violence of this sort must keep riding the Tiger; for they dare not get down!

Shyamon Jayasinghe
Australia.

An irreparable loss

Professor A. J. Wilson writing from Toronto on the personal loss he has suffered from the demise of his "close and long standing friend," Dr. Neelan, states:

The untimely demise of Dr. Neelan leaves an unfillable gap in the social, political and intellectual life of this world. Dr. Neelan will be all the more missed because of his immense dynamism and his outstanding scholarship. Within a short space of time, Neelan gathered a wealth of experience, all of which he put to good use so that mankind was the richer for his contribution. His murder proves that a person can be physically removed but you cannot hope to destroy his ideas or his thinking.

Always modest and gentle by nature and appearance, Neelan was never obtrusive or aggressive. My experience of him was that he would meekly set forth his case and leave it to his listeners to accept his arguments or reject them. But these could not readily be ignored for on further reflection, they contained pearls of wisdom. There were times when we strongly disagreed but invariably we ended on Neelan’s side. Sri Lanka has thus lost not merely a great man of peace but has been deprived of the services of a great pacifist. He is indeed the last great peace maker our island will have. Only time will tell the damage this will cause.

Neelan represented a mix of the three strands of Tamil nationalism that evolved in our island. The first was the Arunachalam-Ramanathan tradition. Urbane and sophisticated, this strand of liberal and secular nationalism endeavoured to eschew religious fundamentalism and parish pump politics. It lasted till around the early twenties.

The second strand pervaded the nineteen twenties best manifested by K. Balasingham, Sir Ambalavanar Kanagasabai and the gentlemen of the (Jaffna) Tamil Maha Jana Sabhai. The men of this genre maintained a thin veneer of Tamil communalism but attempted at all times, to preserve the golden ideals of Arunachalam, notwithstanding Ramanathan’s cynicism.

The third strand, essentially the precursor of the Tamil demand for federalism and the vibrant and assertive nationalism of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his Liberation Tigers, was the proto-natinalism given expression to, by the "man of iron" who mesmerized the Tamil people with his powerful oratory and all pervasive charisma, G. G. Ponnambalam.

Neelan’s dynamic mind imbibed a little bit of all three strands but his unfortunate flaw was that he could not use all this rich experience to evolve a new ideology. To this extent, he failed to find a new road to Damascus.

Now that Neelan has gone, we are the losers to mourn his departure. He is irreplaceable and the void created can never be filled. May his soul rest in peace.

Appreciation
Revd. Fr. Basil Mendis (1925 - 1999)
The man who dared to think!

Revd. Father Basil Mendis (Arthadeva) carried the letters C.I.S.M. after his name which indicated his priesthood in the congregation of the servants of the Immaculate heart of Mary. He died in July 1999 while serving as a missionary in the African Republic of Benin.

It was an unfortunate fact of life that this Searcher-after-the-Truth once became in Sri Lanka (only!) a nut of malicious wit of the impious sorts because of the very evidence he had left in his wake as a stark manifestation of this personal search!

He was a one-time member of the LSSP which was perhaps the only fully organized party of genuinely intellectual character that served the under-privileged classes without prostituting its integrity. He was later a dynamic lecturer at the Peradeniya University and in due course became a most respected innovator among intellectual persons in the heart of Rome. In fact he had his own radio programme for over 20 years in this elitist hub of Christian thinking.

One person who wrote admiringly of "Arthadeva" was the Italian Theologian Father Cornelio Fabro, C.P.S., who was considered to be the world’s top exponent on Saint Thomas Aquinas’ philosophy and of the work of the mystical Soeren Kierkegaard! He has described father Basil Mendis Arthadeva as "a real master" among thinkers in his Introduction to "science and Truth", the only book published by the Lankan genius.

Father Basil took the name "Arthadeva" from his mother and the word (appropriately) means "noble or lofty thinking". In 1992 he published "Science and Truth" which was distributed in Sri Lanka by his family’s famous company, W. M. Mendis and Co. Ltd of Kirula Road, Colombo, Wellknown for a quite different "spirituality"!

In this book he repeated his theoretical assertion of the "Flat Earth". Although in casual consideration this is obviously absurd, it is actually a process of purely scientific influences that have been indulged. It is no different to the present so-called "exciting" scientific theorizing going on in America over the postulations of a young professor Green who has invented mathematically an Einsteinian process within Atomic Physics But without the essential physical substance itself being ever found! (It is most unlikely he could ever prove what he says!)

However, unlike with the good fortune encountered by Professor Green with his science minded audiences in every corner of the U.S.A., Father Basil was made an object of derision in small-minded "quarters" of Sri Lanka although the local scientists themselves found delight in listening to him. It was no surprise he found greatest freedom for his work in the wider visits afforded in Europe, as a consequence.

The late Father Basil Mendis Arthadeva’s book has priceless value in many chapters of its tersely expressed contents. Perhaps the finest advice he ever preferred to "thinking persons" is that they should not waste their time by reading too much of the writing of others but do their own original writing instead!

"In paradisum deducant te Angeli....Arthadeva!"

Rohan Jayawardane

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"Easy English" makes English simpler Easy English"

Publisher: Arjuna Hulugalle Dictionaries
42, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 3
Telephone: 576031, 573517
Fax: 576031
E-mail: hajh @sri.lanka.net
Price: Rs. 35.00

There is a saying in rural England that "there are several ways to swing a cat". So it is when one learns a language. "Easy English" is a fast track method to learn English for a Sinhala speaking student. It is one of several efficient approaches to learn English very quickly through self-study.

There is no doubt that speaking and reading in your mother tongue comes naturally. The "Easy English" method is developed on the techniques of playing to the strength of a Sinhala speaking student. The exertion of reading the English word in the English script needs effort and is therefore avoided. The student is made to read the English word in the Sinhala script. This is so much easier. Vocabulary expansion automatically happens as one works through this book. Confidence in dealing with the language grows.

The 64 pages which one can carry in a shirt pocket, gives you a large number of words and expressions for a sound base to build on. As one progresses through this small book an introduction to the intricacies of the language such as pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and adjectives unfold.

"Easy English" is a part of a Fast Track to the English language developed by the publisher. This method is structured to get the student an adequate competency in six months. The books in the Fast Track are

• Know Words (similar to the Reader’s Digest Word Power)
• Simple English - Sinhala Dictionary
• Simple English Dictionary - Extended Version with Sentences
• Words - Phrases

Every part of the system gives special attention to vocabulary and improves the capability to construct sentences.

Why is there a such a demand to learn English? The reason is a very down to earth and practical one. No higher discipline can be studied without English. Whether it is agriculture, sport, sociology or medicine no progress is possible without study and reading. There is no access in practical and real terms to this information for Sri Lankans except through the English language. English therefore is essential for any upward mobility on any subject.

If one is talking of Rupees and Sense, one could take the example of Singapore. There the culture of Confucius and China was carefully nurtured, yet great emphasis was laid on the learning of English. That was the commonsense part. Singapore which in the early sixties was backward and had a weak economy, has today one of the strongest currencies in the world and is considered to be the most efficient economy, second only to the United States.

India is another example of a success story where great emphasis was given to studying English. Today India has one of the highest levels of computer competency and cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad are emerging as global intellectual powerhouses. The key to this development has been the knowledge of English

Today, English is no more the language of the pukka sahibs and the pseudo westerner. Their accents have now been replaced by one, which recognises English as easy as swimming. The Germans, Dutch, French, Italians leave alone Indians and Japanese speak English strongly influenced by their own accents. Why not us?

Purist may shudder and disagree with the approach of Easy English, that is learning English through Sinhala but those of us who have learnt Japanese at the Sasakawa Institute or Pali at school know that we had to use English as the script. We would otherwise have been nonstarters.

This handy book of 64 small pages is easy to carry. It is priced at Rs 35.00. If taken as a part of the entire system, which is being developed it is a winner.

Karen Benedict

Gullible’s Travails
Doing the B.A.

By Cecil V. Wikramanayake
Neil Meegama, Sunderarajah and myself, three little chaps at Ryde amidst a number of bigger boys, were loitering around Hasting’s room, wondering what eatables he had in his room. We little fellows were always hungry, as all boarders in schools are. Raiding a master’s room was considered a legitimate way of easing that hunger, provided we only took what was edible, and left everything else was alone.

One such incident was when a couple of boys ‘raided’ the room of Jim Weerasinghe (Stiffa, as we referred to him behind his back). There was no sign of the master, and on the table was a lovely one pound cake. The boys were looking around for something to cut the cake with, when, from the bathroom came the voice of old Stiffa saying "The knife is in the drawer", and out walked the housemaster in his bathrobe. Like the sport he was, he served cake and tea to the ‘raiders’ and sent them off with a little lecture. No more was said of it.

Quite to the contrary was the reaction of Julius Hastings. The door of his room was padlocked, but being quite an expert at lock-picking — A boy named Shanmugam, of Napier had already nick-named Cecil "trunk-breaker" — I found a piece of stiff wire and was soon inside the room. There was nothing there to eat except a biscuit tin containing some "Murukku", which the three of us shared.

Later, on discovering the empty tin Hastings had hastened to lodge a complaint with the Housemaster of Ryde, R. R. Breckenridge. Nothing would have come of that complaint had the three culprits kept their mouths shut, but Neil had to go into the Housemaster’s room and snitch on me.

The result: Breck called me up to his room and told me that unless I apologised to Hastings within 24 hours I would receive six of the best from him.

Now Breck had a reputation of being even a harder ‘caner’ than Philip Buultjens, and I was not going to ‘bend over’ for six from him.

But where was Hastings? I could not find the "darned elusive pimpernel" however hard I tried. And the twenty four hours was almost up.

That evening, pretending to be going to Asgiriya for games, I left the college premises and, at the railway crossing near Asgiriya, turned left instead of right and walked towards the Kandy Railway station, planning all the while to board a train for Colombo where I knew Dad was staying with Uncle Guy at 7, Dawson Road, Havelock Town.

I did not have a cent on me, but did not give a thought about how I was going to get to Dad when I reached Colombo.

It was getting dark by the time I came along the Peradeniya road to a level crossing, from where I returned along the railway track to the sidings. There were some carriages on the tracks and I got into a 1st class carriage, where I lay down and fell fast asleep.

I woke up early next morning to the sound of carriages being shunted. The one I was in, was being brought along with others on to the platform. After a quick wash in the 1st class carriage where I had slept, I entered a lavatory of a third class compartment and locked myself in.

After some time I could hear people getting into the carriage. I stayed put till the train had pulled out and passed the Peradeniya junction. Then I opened the door and came out.

Imagine my horror at finding myself in the company of four men in prison garb and two Prison guards in uniform.

The latter questioned me and I told them the truth — that I was bolting away from school to get back to my father.

The guards were very sympathetic, but the moment the train halted at Kadugannawa, where the train to Kandy was waiting on the other platform, these guards called the Railway Head Guard and handed over the stowaway to him.

The Headguard was Dick Rulach, who recognised me as the son of his old friend, Wick, the Jailor of Batticaloa. He took me across to the train going to Kandy, and handed me over to the Ticket Examiner, a man in khaki uniform and told him who I was and what he should do when we reached Kandy.

Back at the Kandy Railway station I was taken to the Station Master’s office, while the Examiner rang Trinity.

About an hour later Sam Elhart, the Principal’s Secretary, and a friend of Dad, together with Arthur (Kolla) Deane, the Scoutmaster arrived in the Principal’s car.

As we were getting in Deane said to me "I put you on your Scout honour that you will not try to run away again." This was what I had intended doing. However, I gave him my word, and gave up the idea of trying another shot at the BA. We drove back to Trinity in silence.

I was taken before the Principal, Rev. R. W. Stopford and left alone with him.

"Why did you run away without telling me?" asked the man who later became the Bishop of London.

I was so tensed up at that time that I burst out laughing, rather hysterically, telling him, in between spasms of laughter that if I had told him it would not be running away.

Stopford saw the humour of the situation and gently explained that what he meant was why didn’t I come to him, instead of running away.

Between tears and hysterical laughter, I told him the whole story, and my fear of corporal punishment following my inability to find Hastings and apologising to him.

The Principal must have spoken to Breckenridge later about me, for old Breck behaved as if the entire incident had never happened.

Stopford, meanwhile, gave me a note to my class teacher and sent me back to class.

A few days later Dad and Mum came to college to see me — their first visit since I had joined that school — and Dad said he was unable to afford the boarding fees I would be charged when the period of my ‘exhibition’ was over. I would be leaving Trinity at the end of that term, the last term of the year.

Was I glad to leave Trinity? Yes, for a few reasons, and no, for a few more. ‘Nuff said!

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UDA WALAWE: Where teak furnishes gigantic appetite!

by Rohan Wijesinha
In a glade, surrounded by lofty teak, a herd of about sixty elephants graze on new sprouting shoots of grass, dew laden, on a patch of burnt ground. Uda Walawe is in the grip of drought and ravaged by the fires, natural and otherwise, that scorch its plains at this time. Grateful for nature’s miracle of renewal from the ashes, the elephants, with many babies in their midst, munch on the much needed tender sustenance.

Suddenly, a large male bursts from within their ranks and dashes with remarkable speed towards the far horizon. Fear was certainly his impetus; the others fed on unperturbed. All at once, a large tusker breaks into view, in hot pursuit, of the bull. Though smaller than his retreating adversary, size was obviously not enough to overcome the mating desire and strength that comes with musth; the tusker was streaming with it. His ivory blades gave him extra advantage.

Certain that any threat to his chances of genetic immortality was now over a half a mile away, and still speeding into the distance, the tusker returned to the herd re-checking the females for oestrous, before feeding, himself on the periphery of the herd. As the sun rose higher, and its heat grew stronger, the herd drifted into the shade of the teak. There, as well as finding refuge from the heat of the day, they fed on the bark of the teak, the juveniles squealing and tussling over a fallen tree for the choicest bits.

The tusker, too, used kis scimitar tusks to gouge the bark off a standing tree.

A haven for elephants, but...

Uda Walawe is a National Park barely three decades old, an ancient place of elephants, where there is also evidence of human habitation for a lesser time, though still many centuries old. However, with time, and the building of the dam, the older settlers who had an affinity with the jungle and its denizens, marched into extinction with the greater volume of the wildlife. The newer settlers, unused to the hardships of tilling and harvesting a soil of relatively poor fertility, and meagre rainfall, found the raids of the wild animals, especially of elephants, even harder to bear. Conflicts, inevitably, arose, with casualties on either side. The larger animals suffered the most. The Mahaweli Circuit bungalow in Embilipitiya has a hunter’s log from the early 1960s which show that ten bears were shot by him that year in the vicinity of what is now the National Park.

Today, there are no bear at Uda Walawe!

However, elephants, in large numbers, continued to come here, especially during the dry season when the reservoir is the only place of water.

Finally, sense prevailed, and the Government of the day listened, and acted on, specialist advice, particularly that of the then Director of the Wildlife Department, Mr. Lyn De Alwis. Uda Walawe was declared a National Park. The remaining settlers given more fertile lands elsewhere. Today, Uda Walawe is one of the few places in Sri Lanka where it is still possible to see large herds of elephant roaming wild and free. The increasing popularity of the Park with both local and foreign visitors bears evidence of this.

Same fate

The trees of Uda Walawe had fared hardly better than the bear. Cleared for chena cultivation, for building, for firewood, what are now grass plains was once thickly wooded scrub jungle that spread as far as the eye could see. Apart from a belt of woodland that borders the river, an isolated "palu" (Manilkara hexandra), a satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia), or "wira" (Drypetes sepiaria) are all that is left of what once was forest.

However, this is not so of the entire Park. A plantation of teak had been started a few years before the Park came into being. Hulankapolla, an area that borders the reservoir and close to the Main Gate, now has a mature stretch of teak. though not of the original woodland species, the teak has now assumed an important ecological position within the boundaries of the National Park.

Teak is not a usual food source for elephants. Denied their usual woodland trees for sustenance, the elephants of Uda Walawe have taken to eating the bark end sapling branches of the teak. Jayantha Jayawardene in his 1995 publication, The Elephant of Sri Lanka, comments that "This change in dietary habits is due to the pressure for food in depleted habitats". Elephants require more than grass, which constitutes the biggest percentage of their diet. Fibre, roughage, and nutrients, essential supplements to their diet, are obtained from bark. The fibre from young twigs is also essential in cleaning out parasitic nematodes from its stomach (Jayewardene, 1995).

Significant

Of fifty-five (55) days of observation made by me over the last two years, elephants were seen feeding in the teak on fifty-three (53) of these days (96.36%). It certainly seems apparent that males stay and feed in the teak throughout the year. The herds, too, of females and juveniles, frequently visit the teak. This is especially so during the drought months from July to September when the only reliable source of water in the Park is the reservoir. Then, apart from its bark, the teak provides vital shade to the herds during the hotter hours of the day. This is particularly vital if they have babies in their midst. Babies need to drink several times during the day, and the herds need to stay close to water to enable this.

At these times, it is not uncommon of an evening to see two hundred and fifty to three hundred elephants feeding on the exposed grasses of the reservoir bed, and drinking of its waters. It is this that attracts so many visitors to Uda Walawe.

However, sadly it is now being proposed to cut down this teak for a quick economic return for the Local Government Authority. If the legislation is passed, then not even the National Park status of Uda Walawe will stop its teak being cut. This would be a serious ecological blow to the Park, and dramatically disturb the behaviour of the elephants in it. Not only would they have lost an important source of food, but also without any shade, they would have to travel quite some distance down to water. This would cause serious hardship to the babies.

From the ashes

Fires regularly ravage the Park. They rage between the teak too, but the trees retard its progress, and they survive largely undamaged. This survival ensures that the strong winds that blow across the plains do not blow the ash and soil away. The grass grows again with a minimum of moisture; dew being sufficient. And the elephants feast on this new growth enriched with nutrient.

A further threat to the Park should the teak be cut is Lantana (Lantana camara), which has already clogged many of the former feeding grounds of the elephant within the Park, It doss not grow in the shade of the teak. This non-endemic shrub proliferates rapidly with the spread of its seed by birds. It chokes the growth of all other plants, and apart from its small fruits for birds, gives no sustenance to the large herbivores in the Park.

If the teak is cut, Hulankapolla from providing a feast for elephants, will become a clogged mass of bush on which none of the large herbivores can survive. For not only is it elephant, but sambhur, deer, buffalo, and wild boar feed and find refuge in the shade of the teak. Leopard preys on the weak among them. All this will vanish with the teak.

And what of the elephants, they will have to rely solely on the relatively small area of woodland bordering the river, for their essential consumption of bark. It could not long cope with such large appetites, and would soon degenerate. The elephants would then seek other sources across the river and outside of the Park. The old conflicts, which gave rise to the Park, would begin again, but now there will be no other place for the elephants to go to.

Rather than cut the teak in the Park, plans should be m