The cut table

Lakshman Karalliedde

Sun, Oct 13, 10:57 PM (6 hours ago)

Good Old Sivapatham's response confirming the presence of the cut table at the Medical College common room, to your face book posting re Dr Joe Fernando, brought back  a "bountiful" of pleasant memories. I tried to contact Siva and failed as I do not subscribe to Facebook or Linkedin. Siva was a stalwart of the cut table-other regulars being Rajindra Cooray (baby faced assassin when it came to bridge and cut table), Muarice Wikramaratne, Vas Gunawardena, of course the maestro Chandra Mohan and your truly was a regular. Few seniors with penchant for gaming  ( I do not believe in using the word gambling!) such as Priya (Pappa Samarasinghe  used to join us  and also there was Count Don Derricko (aka Derryck de Silva), Basnayake (Prof's brother) Sarath Kapuwatte and Sunil Liyange. I always enjoyed playing with Siva - a thorough gent  and if it was horse racing (another passion of mine) I would have called him a thoroughbred.My memory is fading and I cannot recall whether the minimum bet was two cents or five cents (five cents was the cost of a three Roses  (called three flowers by Prof Sinna) that was shared by about five of us. We were all on time for the start of the session though we never ever knew what time our lectures began. On a very regular basis , our lovable Dean, OER used to come roaring  towards the Common Room and the roar began at the footsteps of the stairs leading to his office -shouting  "I know that these fellows are  playing "booruwa" " etc giving us time to scatter in all directions. Then he reached the table and with a big smile, shouted" I nearly caught them" . But not was never his intent to catch anyone and for an administrator, I have not known many who  were like him -vindictiveness, revenge never entered his mind set but he was after all , responsible for the discipline at Medical College. After collecting the few coins from the cut table  and pocketing them, he waited for the Manager of the canteen to bring him a cigarette and light it  and he puffed away as if he had caught  an international drug cartel,  At the cut table , the rivalry was remarkably benign-if a player lost, he was quickly offered a few puffs from cigarette going around. No loans were taken but it was a compassionate sharing of limited resources- a few cents  gratis to continue playing. When I met Chandra Mohan at the get-together , I had been informed that he was among the elite bridge players in the US. It was delightful reminiscing about our cut table days , albeit briefly and he said to me "Karals, all my life , i have been a gamer (OK ,concede gambler is what he used)  and nothing gives me a greater kick". I was not one bit surprised that he a bridge player of repute in the US.  Siva was milder  and often got the better of Chandra Mohan. This what I recall of the years 1960 to 1965,- lapses are likely, but they were wonderful years. Friendships were sacred and as for me, it was not a misspent youth. Siva , I hope you are well  and continue to be hawk eyed and slick as at the glorious cut table. Karals   

Sivapatham Thamotharampillai There was a cut table in our medical college common room those days.
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  Philip G Veerasingam Sivapatham. Lakshman Karalliedde your cut table partner wants you to contact him. Here are his details - Karalliedde Lakshman
  lakshman.karalliedde@gmail.com
  0208 670 1517…See more
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  Sivapatham Thamotharampillai Thank you Philip.
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  Sivapatham Thamotharampillai Ours was not a cut table but we played contract bridge.

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Milroy De Silva Karals has beautifully written. Reminds me of Hamim Magdon Ismail's bother Nilam who was for big stakes, especially putting his hostel fees on the table!

Lakshman Karalliedde

1:20 PM (4 hours ago)

to me

Phillipo, at least one person has read it!. Milroy leads a very quiet life -spoke about him to Blood Bank Karu,he says he lives in a one bed roomed flat with Punya and is passionate about his grandchildren, does not get about very much and talks even less. Last year I had a long chat with him and Punya but somehow, filed to call him thius time around. Milroy is admirable in many ways , never flaunted the fame and talent of Punya, lived a simple life and always had a great sense of humour. The Magdon Ismails' were from a very affluent westernised family in Galle Fort- very clever chaps and Nilam , if I am not mistaken , was bridge  and snooker champion at the SSC. Hamim contacted me some time back- they were   what we called "kana bona minussu".