Our batch-mate
Dougals Arulanandam, was ever a jovial person. I met him after a long time in
the UK in 1976. He was retired but was working as Consultant Geriatrician on
and off. We had an enjoyable chat. He related the following stories.
- Dougie was with Sydney Hettiaratchi our
batch-mate at Trinity. One day Sydney had been ‘gated’ for some
misdemeanor inside the Trinity premises. The master who ‘gated’ him was
Mr.Jacob, Mary Jacob our junior
batch student’s father, while shopping in the Kandy town, thought that he
saw Sydney walking ahead of him. He walked fast behind the presumed Sydney
and gave him a slap on the back to see that he had mistaken someone else
for Sydney. It was time for the master to look foolish in front of a large
crowd. He apologized profusely to the injured party and vanished from the
scene quickly.
- Dougie was working at Medamahanuwara as
Medical Officer of Health, in the late 1960s. He said that while trekking
on a foot path, to go to a remote village, he was surprised by wild
elephants and had to beat a hasty and breathless retreat. Luckily the
elephants did not chase him very far.
- Unlicensed liquor sales were common in the
remote villages. The two brands sold were the cheaper Gal-Oya arrack, also
called ‘Gal’, produced from sugar cane molasses and the more expensive
Coconut arrack, also called ‘Pol’ produced from coconut toddy. If you
wanted to acquire these from the shops in these remote villages, there was
a secret pass word used, as police raids were a perpetual danger. It was
‘Ballata Gahana Badu’ (The item you use to throw at dogs) for ‘Gal’ which
meant ‘stone’. For Coconut arrack the term used was ‘Deiyanta gahana badu’
(The item you smash in front of Gods) for ‘Pol’ which meant coconut.
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