On looking back

Let me begin from the very beginning. I was born in 1941 - so I am 66 plus today. My hair has turned grey except for a few strands, fortunately I have strong teeth-may be because I used to eat a lot of village fruits when I lived in the backwoods of Wellawaya.

I used to run after butterflies and once rode on the back of a buffalo. Our little house had a roof covered with straw. I enjoyed bathing in a little stream called "Radapolara."

I used to play in the rain and my mother never warned me against doing so, sometimes I got a mild flu, a running nose or fever. The only remedy I had was a steaming cup of boiled "Paspanguwa.' In a couple of days I was back in school.

There were no private practitioners, dispensaries or pharmacies. If my memory serves me right, there was a tablet called "Aspro" which was something like "Disprin" or "Panadol" available today. If there was a major problem we consulted vedarala who used to give "arishta", "Guli", "Kalka" or a bitter decoction.

Very few children had toothaches not because there were dental surgeons to look after their teeth. They cleaned their teeth with charcoal. Everyday the class teacher selected one student who had the best set of teeth.

One day the teacher praised my teeth and I ran home to show my gleaming teeth to everybody.

Some of our elders, however, used to chew betel and smoke "beedi". They did not brush their teeth with brushes and toothpaste. When they went to the river for a bath, they used to brush their teeth with fine sand on the river bank using their forefingers. Some of us used "Bovitiya" twigs to brush our teeth. Some of the elders had big cavities in their teeth.

Whenever they could not bear the pain, they filled the cavities with a wad of tobacco. The pain vanished for sometime and they were quite happy with the treatment.

If a villager suffered unbearable pain he was taken to the government dispensary which had only an apothecary and a dispenser who could not read English. When the apothecary wrote out a prescription, the dispenser took it back to the apothecary who read out his own prescription.

As there was no dental surgeon, the apothecary used to extract teeth using some instrument while the patient is held by two strong men. The patient yelled out in pain and the apothecary had to do his unpleasant job. When the ordeal was over the patient went home with his helpers probably cursing the poor apothecary.

Fortunately, I looked after my teeth only to please my teacher. That saved me from the torture of pulling out a tooth without local anaesthesia - a substance that made the patient unable to feel the pain.

We went to school bare-footed through paddy fields and muddy roads. We had no uniforms or school ties. And we thought only teachers could wear shoes and sandals.

When we were in grade five, our class teacher asked us to stay after class for a few more hours. Then she taught us arithmetic and general intelligence free of charge. We thought teaching after hours was their duty.

On the day of the examination we were taken in a van to a remote school in deiyandara although I failed the examination, most of colleagues passed it with flying colours and were admitted to prestigious schools in Matara, Galle and Colombo.

We saw them coming home wearing white shirts, black shorts, black shoes and colourful ties. They also were some kind of hats usually worn by white planters.

When I look back I feel sorry for myself because I could not attend any of the leading schools. I attended several government schools which did not have even basic facilities. One day I met a white man smoking a pipe. I ran after him just out of curiosity.

He asked me what I was doing as I did not understand what he asked I ran away. But that day I made a firm decision to learn this fascinating language.

This incident took place more than 60 years ago. From that day onwards I went from one teacher to another but I was not satisfied with their teaching. Then I came to know of a private English school run by one T. Max Perera at Horana.

When I told my father that I wanted to join this school known as "Queen's College," he took me there on the following day itself. I travelled daily from Panadura to Horana and learnt English from Mr. Max Perera who knew English better than an Englishman.

He was a great teacher who taught us English grammer, literature, speech and many other aspects of the language. I think I spent three to four years at Queen's college until I moved to Colombo for higher studies.

While working as a postal employee I came to know of a teacher conducting weekend classes in English and Western classical culture for G.A.Q and BA examinations. When I joined this class it became another turning point in my life. Mr. T. Max Perera had already laid the foundation and Mr. A.M.G. Sirimanne introduced me to classical literature and Western classical culture. It was a journey of discovery.

Mention must be made to A.B.P. Santiago who taught me English and logic. Although he was a strict disciplinarian, he was a great teacher who never advertised his classes held at Dean's Road, Maradana. When he came to the class in full suit we were awestruck.

He would quote Shakespeare, Dryden, T.S. Eliot and we were transported to a world of English literature.

After passing the B.A. examination I wanted to do higher studies. As I was a journalist I followed a post graduate course in mass communication leading to MSSC at the university of Kelaniya my name appeared in the pass list and then I submitted my thesis on December 07, 2005. However, I still do not know what happened to my thesis.

In foreign countries education is a lifetime process. Even senior citizens follow university courses. However, Sri Lankan universities do not wish to impart education to elderly people. There are age limits for most of the post graduate courses. This is a sad plight.