In the mid-1960s in Ceylon, we drove
cars (I owned a FIAT 1100) with Dynamos which did not adequately supply
the electric power needs of a car, with head-lights using tungsten bulbs
and a windscreen wiper working constantly, to clear the windscreen. The
headlights would be very dim on the way home. Next day morning the
battery would be down and the car would need a push start. I had read
about alternators which had been fitted to farm tractors in
the USA in the mid-1950s, in the ‘Popular Mechanics’ magazine, in our
school library at Hartley College, Point-Pedro. In 1974, I imported a
Toyota Corolla from Japan – Japanese cars were a rarity in Ceylon of
those days – this car had an alternator. This solved the electrical
problems of British and Continental cars, then in use on the roads in
Ceylon.
In 1966 December, I was driving down the road from Haputhale
to Beragala, around 10 pm, after a day’s work in Badulla. My First
Apothecary Thiru was in the front seat and my mother was in the back
seat. There was mist on the road coming down-hill from Haputhale town.
It was very dangerous driving, with a sheer drop on one side and the
road wet with a constant drizzle. At one point there was a severe mist
and fog with visibility limited to a few yards in front of the car. We
could have stopped and waited for the mist to clear, but the danger of
being knocked from behind, by a following vehicle was great. Thiru got
out of the car, went in front and literally ‘walked me’ out of the patch
of fog. We went home dog tired.
A friend of mine Mr. Ranatunge,
was driving to Nuwara Eliya through Ramboda when he came across severe
fog on the highway. His wife was seated in the front seat. Another car
overtook them and went on its way. Ranatunge’s wife suggested that they
follow the tail lights of the car in front, because he seemed familiar
with the road. They went along covering a lot of ground when all of a
sudden, the driver in front turned right and braked sharply. Ranathunge
could not react fast enough and crashed into the car in front. He
hurriedly got out and went to meet the driver in front, for not using
his blinkers when he turned unexpectedly. The man replied ‘Excuse me, I
did not know that I had to use blinkers, to turn into my own garage’.
Ranathunge had followed a fellow-planter into his own bungalow. There
was very little damage to both cars – they were made of stronger steel
those days. Amity was restored, they were afforded bed and breakfast and
were sent on their way to Welimada via Nuwara Eliya, the next morning.
