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| Sunday, 6 November 2005 |
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More on the 'Battle of Thurstan Road' by Sunil Karunanayake Ajit Samaranayake's contribution on "Battle of the Thurstan Road" on last Sunday's Observer was interesting. Being a product of Thurstan Road of the same era may I take the liberty of using your column space to add little more light to this interesting duel? Thurstan College was a creation of the educationists of the fifties to cater to the overflow of Royal or in different words those who failed to enter Royal College from Primary. In this scenario Thurstan too was a multi cultural institution with Burghers, Malays and Tamils living happily among the Singhalese and also catering mostly to the urban elite, gradually this position was changing with competitive entrance examination opening the doors for those outside the urban ring. This was also the post 56 era with Sinhala language and culture gaining prominence and Thurstan's teaching staff at this stage was enriched by personalities such as Lionel Algama the prominent musician, renowned dramatist Dayananda Gunewardena who produced "Nari Bana" from Thurstan and Mr. Gunerathne a fiery maths teacher who chose to speak more of his left oriented ideas and not to forget Dr. Abraham Kovoor a free thinker. It was during this time that Mahinda entered Thurstan and true to his rural links he opted to remain in this nationalist camp, which perhaps modelled his future political path, he was a member of the Sinhala debating team. Though in later years he ran around with the oval ball (then a dominance of the privileged few) and was also a member of the award winning relay team in another elitist event of that time in the "Pubs" he clearly struck to his image as a son of the soil. On leaving school Mahinda also faced a fiery baptism at Vidyodaya library where he began his career in librarianship amidst many a budding revolutionaries who today are scattered in red, blue and green camps, before proceeding to Hulftsdorp to adorn the black coat, which too he took to Tangalle and Walasmulla in the deep south. Ranil in contrast led a quiet school life and opted to remain in Thurstan Road educational triangle and entered the Colombo Campus Law faculty to read for his Law degree. In later years as the Minister of Education Ranil did not forget his erstwhile neighbours and was instrumental in paving the way for a revival at Thurstan by backing its master plan put forward by a rejuvenated old boys union which resulted in additional classrooms, play ground and a computer lab which certainly reshaped Thurstan's destiny. Presiding at a Thurstan OBU dinner to mark this occasion Ranil did not mix his words when he said that it was two Thurstanites who stood by him at his 1977 election and the heady Law faculty days. It was Ranil's uncle late JRJ who donated the land from racecourse for a playground for Thurstan which today is getting into great shape with the leadership provided by Mahinda to his fellow Thurstanites. As Ajit quotes, snooty Royalists preferred to treat Thurstanites as poor relations and it was one time Ajit's newspaper buddy and former Thurstan boxer T. M. K Samat writing for Observer, who called Thurstanites who were then struggling for identity without a "big match" of their own and running around in the Royal camp during Royal Thomian times as orphans watching the neighbours party fun from the kitchen door. However, much water has flowed since these interesting times and today the "Battle of Thurstan Road" explains the change of times where the poor cousin is throwing a mighty challenge from his rural base. Once the dust settles after the 17th of November one would hope Ranil & Mahinda will forget all their rivalries and jointly carry the " Thurstan Road spirit" to bring peace and prosperity to this divided nation in keeping with the noble ideals of their educational institutions. |
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