Don Jackolis was a
youngster who had got the coveted title ‘Notharis’ and had arrived in his home
town to set up ‘Practice’ in Sri Lanka’s hinterland, in the south of the
Island. He found a suitable office building and wanted a name-board for his
office. He got down a name-board painter, gave him instructions on the needed
dimensions of the board and how the lettering on the board should be. It was to
be as :-
Don Jackolis
Prasiddha Notharis
It had to be ready in two
days and he gave an advance of Rs500/= of the total estimated cost of
Rs.2000/=. This included mounting the name-board on the roof of his office
facing the highway. The name-board painter promised to do his best and to be
punctual on his delivery of the required item.
The two days passed and
when the Notary came to his office in the morning, the name-board painter was
at the door-step and pointed at his handiwork, which was already mounted on the
roof above the office. The Notary looked at the board and was so pleased with
the appearance of the name board that he
paid the balance of Rs.1500 due to the painter with a big ‘Thank-you’ and sent
him on his way.
The Notary settled in his
chair in his office and waited for any would-be clients to arrive.
Then he noticed that the
first few ‘clients’ to arrive looked up at the newly mounted name-board, smiled
and went on their way. This happened once too often and the Notary went out to take
a detailed look at the new name board. This is what he read on it:-
Don Notharis
Prasiddha Jackolis
It meant in the local
lingo – ‘The Honorable Notary is a notorious Joker’
The
story of "Don Jackolis Prasiddha Notharis" was related to me by the
Late Dr. Somadasa in the 1980s.
Another Golden Oldie
2. https://youtu.be/OlN3mQpBngs
Another Golden Oldie
Stranger
on the shore
Acker Bilk said he wrote the tune in twenty minutes for his daughter
in his lounge
while watching his daughter.
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