MEMORIES - DRIFTING THROUGH THE PAGES OF MY MIND...
PROLOGUE
In the past week many emails have been circulating regarding Kumar Sangakkara not being enrolled in St.Anthony's, resulting in a big win of the toss for Trinity College. This email has been received by Anthonians in all parts of the Globe where Anthonians are domiciled, and some of them have emailed me, thankful for the memory. To set the scene for this article, I have to be thankful for the frequent bouts of insomnia which plague me at night when I have constant battles with Morpheus who in Greek mythology is the God of sleep and dreams. Morpheus, according to the ancient Greeks, slept in a cave of poppy seeds while shaping mortal dreams. This could be the reason why the opium based medication for severe pain is known as Morphine. Poppies too have been used to treat insomnia due to their hypnotic properties. In all my battles with Morpheus, he is always the winner.
With tongue in cheek I blame the ringing of the College bell at the ungodly hour of 5.30 am. from the year I joined College in 1951, to awaken the Boarders. As I went on to the Mansion, Villa, and finally The Journey's End, the mosquitoes and bed bugs formed a bloody alliance at night to ensure that Boarders got the minimum sleep possible. The cockroaches too joined in to form this deadly trio, although all these revolting creatures did was creep out of their holes at night to crawl all over the place! I am sure many Boarders will confirm this. In his speech when India received independence from the British, Prime Minister Jawarhalal Nehru began with these words "At the stroke of the midnight hour when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."...We Boarders at College awoke bleary-eyed, drained of energy to get through the long days ahead, wishing that we could have stayed in bed much longer !!
A few nights ago when sleep evaded me, many memories of happy times came to mind as they usually do. Suddenly it occurred to me that Saint Anthony's lost another talented cricketer who joined the Boarding if I remember correctly in 1952 but did not last very long because his Father was transferred to Colombo, and his parents enrolled him in St.Thomas' College Mount Lavinia. Many boarders like Tilak Pananwala, Michael Joseph, Kenny Duff Tytler, Andre Titus, Christopher and Robin Duff Tytler , Steve Morrell, and a few others will remember Anura Tennakoon. He went on to captain St.Thomas's College and later Sri Lanka. He captained the national side when Sri Lanka played in the first-ever World Cup in 1975, long before the country gained Test Match status. No doubt had he remained at Saint Anthony's, he would have contributed much to Anthonian cricket. Our loss was St.Thomas’ gain. One memory I have is some of Anura's friends during recreation would gather around him and begin a song with "One - a Koon", "Two - a Koon ", "Three - a Koon" and you guessed it, the song would end with a rousing "TEN - a Koon" !! All in good fun when life and values were simple and confined to the limits of decency.
Pardon me if I digress, but most of the articles I have written had their genesis in the darkest nights when in the dead silence the thoughts came fast and furious enabling me to do the drafts to get started - or to use a another literary phrase - " to put flesh on the bone", aided by strong cups of ginger tea. (I often wish I had the Tuck Shop tea with that unique flavour, thanks to Mrs.Pillai and Banda).
There was another Anthonian who left College about seven years after he joined, enrolled in another Colombo College and proved to be the biggest surprise of all. I am sure that many Boarders of the vintage I have referred to will remember Mahinda Bogollagama. The affable Mahinda was a good tennis player and could swing a mean tennis racquet. One term after the holidays there was no sign of him, and some thought that he may have stayed back at home due to an illness. As time passed, Mahinda slowly faded off into the ether as we had many other matters on our minds, given the complexities and demands of boarding life ! Imagine the surprise when that year, Nalanda College came to College to play the annual cricket fixture and who should be a member of their team but Mahinda Bogollogama !! The news spread faster than the worst wildfire and many gathered to watch Mahinda play for his new school. I remember when he walked in to bat he received a rousing cheer with some good-natured comments thrown in. I distinctly remember he walked in to bat with a smile on his face. He did not last long at the crease and was out having scored 17 runs. What I remember to this day is that he walked back to the pavilion the smile still on his face as he received the cheers from his old Anthonian schoolmates! I heard that in later years he took up to Law but that is all we heard of him, as we all took different directions on the road of life. However, a few years ago I heard that Mahinda was domiciled in the USA.
EPILOGUE
If many more memories surface when I am wide awake when the world sleeps - and snores (!) - I shall confine my thoughts to paper, working on another article.Meanwhile, I conclude with the hope that this article did not send anybody to slumber land!
