Nawala gets a facelift
by Prof. Bernard W. Dissanayake
The village of Nawala in the 1950s was in a beautiful rural setting
with a touch of grandeur, not typically seen in other villages located
close to Colombo. I was struck by the unique rural environment the
village had in the early fifties when I rode my bicycle through it going
from Gangodawila, Nugegoda to Colombo public library, down Green Path,
Colombo 7. Though the village was close to Borella, a major entry point
to the city, from Sri Jayewadenepura, Kotte. Nawala had not been
subjected to heavy commercialisation or population growth in the 50s. It
had retained its rural charm despite the pressures exerted by the
post-independent changes. Thus what I saw in the early fifties was in
contrast to what could be observed in Nugegoda and elsewhere. Two
factors were responsible for this pleasant state of affairs in the
Nawala village. One was its unique geography and the second the quality
of the village leadership who preferred to keep old world charm intact.
It remained so till the end of the 1970s when it began to change
unfortunately haphazardly.
The Nawala village, however, went through changes since the late 70s.
In the past roads were narrow and devoid of heavy traffic and noise.
There were lots of shady trees on both sides of the road right up to
Borella giving shade to travellers mostly pedestrians. The houses there
were of large traditional type with well-kept compounds and large
gardens surrounding them which were cultivated with fruits and flowering
trees. Invariably the gardens contained few coconut and jak trees.
Impression
Compared to Nugegoda, Nawala then appeared more rural and distinct,
creating the impression that residents were upper middle class. Most
houses had garages with cars. The unique features of Nawala were not so
much its upper class status, but, its rural and unique geographical
setting where the entire village was surrounded by open country of paddy
fields and water ways fed by Diyawanna Oya.
The road from Nugegoda to Borella via Rajagiriya ran on the crest of
the hilly terrain which began near the present Open University campus
which was originally a part of the abandoned stretch of the paddy fields
with Diyawanna Oya crossing the road. The road from this point stretched
on the crest of the hills and ran right through Nawala Village dividing
into two halves.
The road then passed Kosswatte, the well-known grove of Jak trees
hence the name Koswatta, and then it then dips down to cross Diyawanna
Oya again at Welikada-Rajagiriya boundary.
From this location one could see the large stretches of ancient paddy
fields of the Kotte Kingdom, evident as marshy open area in the 50s.
When proceeding towards Borella via Welikada, which could have been
the ancient entry point to the old kingdom of Kotte. From this location
one could see and identify the gently flowing Diyawanna Oya almost
encircling Nawala village from the North, East and South.
Diyawanna Oya
It appears to fit in very well the famous Selalihini Sandeshaya
descriptive analogy, akin to the scarf (salu pota) worn by Sri
Jayewardenepura city lady, as beautifully visualised and described by
Sri Rahula Maha Thera, the great poet.
The Diyawanna Oya would have then added a charm and grace to the
village of Nawala and Sri Jayewardenepura as one can imagine even today.
While cycling through this historic area, I could see from the road
many a water body that Diyawanna had created in several spots with
lotuses in full bloom in midday sun. There is a popular belief among the
people here that the Kotte kings sent their royal elephants to Nawala
village for bathing, hence the name Na-wala. It could have been a grand
spectacle then to see a group of royal tuskers (elephants) marching down
to Nawala from Kotte accompanied by royal officers and Gajanayaka Nilame
in front.
These royal elephants then, bathed in open pools at Nawala village,
while the Royal drummers were played on the bank of Diyawanna Oya.
It would have been a marvellous scene at that time.
After riding past Nawala village and going through Rajagiriya turning
up at Borella intersection which was the entry point to Colombo, I
experienced an utter contrasting setting.
The Nawala village, then, with large open green fields interspersed
with placid pools made by gently flowing Diyawanna, lying silently then,
in contrast to the noisy and congested major intersection of Borella
where tram cars, lorries and rickshaws were fighting for space, at the
intersection.
One had to carefully creep through such traffic, when riding a
bicycle to reach quiet and shady areas down Horton Place or Ward Place.
Going through all these different settings to arrive at Green path where
the Colombo Public Library was located peacefully indeed was refreshing.
Change
Like all things the Nawala village was bound to change over the
years.
However, the village leaders during the early period had taken great
care not to dismantle the old monumental type houses that the ancestors
had built for them in a haphazard manner.
'The village leadership then was in hands of two leading families,
the Coorays and the Rodrigos (C.R). Both families were related through
inter marriages and were strong Buddhists despite their adapted
Portuguese names after the Kotte period.
They were strong supporters of Anagarika Dharmapala who had set up a
weaving centre and a school for the community in Rajagiriya after his
visits to India. The C.R. families were leading land owners in the
village and were philanthropists who donated generously their prime
lands for public purposes. They established the Nawala Temple, the
school (present Janadhipathi Vidyalaya for girls), and the public
cemetery at Nawala.
A leading member of the family, Abraham Rodrigo had established a
free Ayurveda clinic for people in the area and it had functioned for
many decades right up to the 50s.
The families also built for themselves impressive houses with large
gardens for comfortable living. The houses were easily seen from the
road on both sides and gave the village a unique setting. Even today a
few of the large elegantly built houses can be seen a little away from
the main road, if one ventures into the interior, beyond the modern box
like monstrous commercial buildings.
Concrete blocks
It is unfortunate that some of the descendants of the families, no
doubt misguided, had thought it fit to dispose a few of their ancestral
properties, elegantly built to commercial operators who built concrete
blocks. In the wake of the so-called open economy and property boom the
lure of money had enticed the new owners to dispose their ancestral
properties for easy money forgetting the ancestry and heritage value.
Lack of public policy then for preserving old buildings even
privately owned as operated in many countries facilitated the
obliteration process of old elegant buildings.
However, like all things, Nawala possessed a unique rural setting
with Diyawanna encircling gently round, faced a spate of changes. But
much of that change was not for better aesthetically and even
functionally.
Complete lack of proper planning and standards for urban renewal on
the part of the Kotte UC (now municipality) had rendered Nawala, to be
an ugly and mismanaged residential area upto recent times.
The corrupt practices of the UC would have helped the process. Nawala
inherently possessed a beautiful environment not easily found in other
villages around Colombo.
The physical attributes of the environment are: water ways created by
Diyawanna, and open spaces subjected to slight flooding and more
importantly a hilly terrain in the centre of the village.
Endowments
These no doubt provide rich endowments for a good town planner and an
urban manager to plan and build a salubrious residential area with
fitting commercial activity for people to live comfortably and safely.
Though much of the prime space is lost for haphazard development in
the 70s and 80s, there is hope in Nawala that better things can come
under the new leadership and direction of the UDA under the present
Ministry of Defence. The organisation under the visionary leadership of
its Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had turned an ugly looking marshy area
of the upper reaches of Diyawanna, around Parliament ground to a
beautiful park land for recreation and flood control.
If this is indicative of what can be done in the urban renewal Nawala
village certainly has hope for better things to come.
The role played by security forces in securing peace in the East and
the North during the terrorist war can now be turned to produce a range
of public goods and services for people in the country. The efforts can
be turned to create a range of urban assets in the form of flood control
systems, parks and roads and they would certainly enhance the value of
urban properties, neglected in the past or abused by haphazard
development.
All these would create wealth and generate income and employment for
people. Hopefully, the old Nawala village will sooner or later is bound
to get a good dose of the urban renewal, which is now unfolding
elsewhere. |