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| Sunday, 31 October 2004 |
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Student life in an alien world : Lonesome for Lankan company by Jeevani Mantotta
"Surely," I thought, "there must be loads of Sri Lankan undergrads at Oxford..." So, if I thought someone looked Sri Lankan, I had a tendency to go and introduce myself. "Excuse me, are you from Sri Lanka? Me too!" Some people looked horrified at this and ran away. The ones who hung around tended to be very nice people - like the lady who fed me once a term (proper food!) and the girl who hailed "Ayubowan Menike" across the street. There are plenty of Sri Lankans in Oxford, but you'd be hard pressed to get them all together. The older ones, usually postgrads or lecturers with families, meet up at dinner parties and grown up gatherings. But what of the young ones? Sometime in 1995, the Oxford University Sri Lanka society (OUSLsoc) was started up by a group of guys who put a lot of hard work into it. They advertised it by going into every college and putting a note in any pigeonhole that had a Sinhala or Tamil sounding surname. They would have missed me, if I hadn't run into one of them at a party. I was a little apprehensive when I went to the launch, but I needn't have worried. They were a friendly bunch, mostly guys, mostly studying medicine, law or economics (few Sri Lankans seem to study anything other than medicine, law or economics). They ranged from people born and bred in Sri Lanka to people whose parents had emigrated years ago and were a mixed bunch of characters from the smooth politician to a guy who went to lectures in his pyjamas. I joined the society on the spot. After the launch drinks, for one reason or another, fewer people came to events. So much so that when the lads organised an Oxford vs Cambridge SLsoc cricket match, Cambridge had to lend us a man to make up a full team (he was known forever after as Judas). We met every so often for laser quest, cricket or godhamba roti brought up from London (usually eaten in someone's room, sitting amongst the books and cricket gear). There was even a ball to mark 50 years of Independence. People came up from London and Cambridge for it, which made for a really good party. It was the first baila I'd heard since leaving Sri Lanka! After the initial committee 'retired' the official biscuit tin (containing the constitution, the chequebook, the flag, the corkscrew and other essentials) passed to a committee that included myself. It went to a different committee each year thereafter, until a few years ago when there were no takers and the society fizzled out. If anyone fancies reviving it, the biscuit tin is out there, waiting. |
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Most Sri Lankans in England live in London, where there is a thriving
community who meet up at parties, cricket matches, concerts and other
events. Since London is 50 odd miles away from Oxford, I didn't meet
people as often as I would have liked.
