Those were the good old days

Our batch get together was a partial success. Some of us met after nearly 45 years. We were the first set of engineering graduates to pass out from the Peradeniya Engineering Faculty. That was in 1965 - a long time ago. It was the first batch to include students from the Sinhala and Tamil streams. All Anandians in this batch did their A Levels in Sinhala and similarly there were those who followed in the Tamil language too. It was also the last ‘males only’ batch, although the batch before us included Miss Sivaprakashapillai (Mrs. Sivasekaram), the fist lady engineer in Lanka.

Hundreds of our batch mates passed out and went all over the world; of course some stayed in Lanka to become the heads of the institutes they served. Ranaweera became Dean of the Faculty, but to my knowledge he was not interested in becoming Vice Chancellor! Basil Tennakoon was a head in the Moratuwa University. Jinadasa and Weerakoon both became the head of irrigation in that order. Weragama headed the railways. Link Engineering was created by Siripala and Wimu. Some shifted to architecture and made a significant contribution to make it an independent field of study in this country. I am sorry that I cannot give the entire list, as I do not have it. So, I selected a difficult but a unique path and became a leader of Sama Samajists!



Nandasena and Jinna, both Royalists, harassed me claiming that their classmate Chris who converted me to Marxism, later joined the World Bank as an energy expert while I got stranded on the streets of Colombo! "



However, it must be emphasised that I did my engineering studies well and I was one of the six who got first class passes in both parts of the final examination. That achievement entitled me to go to Cambridge for higher studies, and I obtained a doctorate in electro magnetic theory. In this occasion they all, irrespective of politics, were happy to see me and as Dayantha, the younger brother of the late Lalith Atulatmudali, said that each of them echoed: ‘I never allowed to question your integrity’.
We chatted like teenagers but all of us are now above 70 and all I believe, are grandfathers. We passed through the university under Sir Nicholas Artygalle, the last grandmaster of aristocratic academics. The 1965 rebellion of students threw him out of the university and an aristocratic Kultur rule came to an end. However, what came after proved to be unstable and irrational. Now the university administration has become a sad painful joke. It is less so at Peradeniya but more prevalent in others. As Nandasena said we had something in common which is still strong - that is why we felt happy and open. We had nothing to hide and we could trust each other. Unfortunately the only Tamil who attended the get together was Mano Ponniah. If I remember correct, out of the hundred of our batch mates nearly thirty were Tamils. Also, we had several Muslims, two Burghers and one Zoroastrian. However, they have all gone away, perhaps unhappy about the prevailing situation in the country. We all studied in the English medium and we knew each other well. But still, those who were in smaller national and religious communities have departed due to reasons that are obvious. On this count, I felt our batch had lost its richness, at least to some extent. None of us are responsible for this evil effect that pushed them away and I am happy about that.





None of them were enthusiastic about the way things were handled. Several were very critical and they were agitated about the corruption that took place under their noses "




Donald gave me something to drink. I do not know what it is, but I felt happy and I enjoyed what Royalist Jinna said about the development that was going on. As engineers we all are entitled to comment on the infrastructure development. However, none of them were enthusiastic about the way things were handled. Several were very critical and they were agitated about the corruption that took place under their noses. Nandasena and Jinna, both Royalists, harassed me claiming that their classmate Chris who converted me to Marxism, later joined the World Bank as an energy expert while I got stranded on the streets of Colombo! On the other hand Sarath Chandrasiri, once Chief Engineer Petroleum Corporation, who was very close to me during the undergraduate days, complained he was harassed by the beggars in Lanka and said “So you see guys, after all that, I decided to spend the rest of my vacation indoors and only venture out disguised as a beggar for errands that I could not avoid. The beggar part is easy. All I have to do is to dress in my normal way.”

But Jerry backed by Basil gave an interesting answer. “This might have something to do with Sri Lanka being in the top 10 giving nations as in CAF World Giving Index 2013 reports. The next five most generous countries were the UK, Australia, Netherlands, Qatar and Sri Lanka respectively. Greece was bottom of the World Giving Index with Croatia just above them.

Populous developing economies such as Indonesia and Thailand feature strongly in the top 10 countries for the proportion of people giving money, while the presence of Sri Lanka and the Philippines in the top 10 for volunteering offers a glimpse into the potential future of global giving. Anyway as Godage says:  “It was nice to meet so many of our batch mates - some after many, many years and I think you missed it this time. Please make it next time.”