Sunday Times 2
The Bastille: Where the bottle saved the day for raucous law students
(The first part of this article appeared last week.)
The sergeant carried a baton and was sporting the police hat, which in those days, was big enough to cover one’s face. He looked like Lee Van Cliff from the Hollywood Blockbuster, “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly”.
Those days the police sergeants wore shorts, which were hugely oversized and one could hide a few bottles of arrack tied to the legs and cover it with the oversized trousers. The sergeant inquired about the rampaging law students who had become a huge nuisance to the innocent school going damsels. The boarders who were occupying the ground floor gladly showed the sergeant the way to the 1st floor of the Bastille.
D.S. Rajapakse saw the sergeant and heard the thumping noise he made when climbing the narrow, rickety wooden stairs. He quickly summoned the cook and gave him some money and wanted him to bring bottles of Gal Arrack from the tavern. DS knew he had no money to buy Pol. ‘Long John’ was sleeping on the old crumbling wooden settee; his legs were too long to fit into it. He was snoring like a mummy inside an Egyptian Pyramid. Siri Perera was playing cards with Lal and Priya. The sergeant came in and shouted at them saying,” Get ready to go to the police station and you’ll be locked up and produced in court.” Priya said: “Sergeant mahattaya, may we know what offence we have committed?”
“You have been a nuisance to the girls at the convent and the Mother Superior has reported your behavior.”
“Surely Sergeant Mahattaya we did not fall in love with that old nun, who calls herself Mother Superior? How did she become mother and remain a Nun?”
“Don’t play the fool with me. You have been dancing and singing on the balcony when the girls were passing by and had become a nuisance to them”.
“Sergeant mahattaya did they complain? Surely, they would not complain as all of them or most of them have sent us buckets of ‘love letters’ and we have become pen friends, so the Mother Superior must have become jealous of the young girls”.
“Don’t bring the Mother Superior into this,” said the sergeant, “I have no time for this nonsense. Get ready, otherwise I will call the police jeep to take you to the station. The OIC is waiting for you.”
Then, there was a big knock on the door. In came the cook with a few bottles of Gal and some Ulundu Vadai and Isso Vadai from the eatery,
“Now what is this?” the sergeant asked. “No sergeant Mahattaya, this is our drinking time. We will take one shot each before we are locked up.”
Before the sergeant could say anything, D.S. Rajapakse opened the first bottle of Gal Arrack and poured it into some glasses and tea cups and then took a gulp from a glass and shouted at the cook saying, “Serve the sergeant sir with a cup and saucer.”
Sergeant said, “I cannot drink when I am on duty. Then Priya Jayawardena said, take one small sip, otherwise we will be embarrassed. Sergeant mahattaya, do you know why this is called the ‘Bastille?”
“No,” said the sergeant.
Priya said, “no one leaves the ‘Bastille’ without having worshipped Bacchus and taking a sip from his royal bowl.”
The sergeant did not know anything about Bacchus or the ‘Bastille’. But he knew a lot about Gal and Pol Arrack. When the elixir of life came in a white cup and a broken saucer, the sergeant could not hesitate but take the entire contents in one gulp.
To make a long story short, all the bottles that DS bought had been finished in next to no time and Long John was now singing and dancing with the sergeant and a few minutes later, he was wearing the sergeant’s hat and dancing on the balcony. This went on for nearly two hours and everyone was pissing drunk, when the OIC appeared at the ‘Bastille’.
When he climbed the stairs, he could not believe his eyes. Long John was wearing the over-sized police hat and dancing, while the drunken sergeant was sleeping on the settee. When the OIC came and shouted at him, he barely got up from his slumber and muttered, “I say, oya Sirtath podi shot ekak denna. Miniha jolly good baduwak. (Give a small shot to the OIC. He is a jolly good fellow)”.
The OIC did not know whether to explode in anger or to laugh, but if he was arresting the law students and taking them to the station, he had to take the sergeant, who couldn’t stand straight, too and this would be seen by the people of Kotahena. He shouted saying, “I’ll come back in a vehicle to take everyone of you into custody.
The OIC never came back. The sergeant got up after a few hours of deep sleep and kissed D.S. Rajapakse, ‘Long John’ and Lal Perera and took a shower and went to the police station. The matter was settled on the undertaking given by ‘Long John’ to find another boarding house. DS said, “That is why I always say, never give up the bottle, otherwise we would have never been lawyers.”