Sunday Times 2
When undergrads flexed their biceps at the Peradeniya Campus…
When the barrel-chested Victor Mature was baring his upper body in the 1951 Hollywood epic “Samson and Delilah,” he apparently drew women in droves into movie theatres in the United States.
The movie, by Cecile B. de Mille, was declared a hit — breaking box office records and keeping cash registers ringing.
So, when a Hollywood reporter asked Groucho Marx, one of the greatest comedians of his generation, for his comments on the phenomenal success of the movie, Marx confessed he hadn’t seen it despite its tremendous popular appeal.
The first-ever Mr Campus contest held at the Peradeniya University in 1960. Left to right: Thalif Deen, Hilmy Manzil, Lakshman Perera, Reggie Liyanage, George Jayamanne, Hamza Haniffa, Vernon Maldeniya and Camillus Fernando.
Asked why, he responded with a classic rejoinder characteristic of the irrepressible comedian: “No movie will hold my interest,” said Marx, “where the leading man’s bust is larger than the leading lady’s.”
But that didn’t hold sway with young women undergrads at the University Campus in Peradeniya in the 1960s when they packed the gymnasium to its rafters to watch the first-ever “Mr. Campus” contest where nearly a dozen young undergrads bared their well-oiled, muscular bodies on stage — proving brains and brawn can go together.
The introduction of physical culture as a mainstream university sport was the brainchild of P. Soma Palan, an old Peterite, who later went onto win the title of “Mr. Asia” while he was still an undergrad at Peradeniya.
Asked about his achievements, Soma Palan, who is currently in retirement, said he first won the “Junior Mr. Ceylon” contest in 1957, while at St. Peter’s College. In 1959, he entered the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya as an undergrad to read for his Bachelor of Arts degree.
But while keeping his academic career on track spending time in the lecture halls and the library, Soma Palan discovered that the Uuniversity gymnasium was equipped with barbells, dumbells, horizontal and parallel bars and other ancillary apparatus, mostly un-utilised or under-utilised.
But sadly weight training/body-building was totally defunct. “I resurrected and activated this sport,” he said, displaying a sense of pride. He said he was encouraged and assisted by the then Director of Physical Education, the late Leslie Handunge, himself a reputed Olympic Boxer, who with Derek Raymond, an Empire Games boxer, had already boosted boxing at the Peradeniya campus.
Soma Palan singled out some of the notable body builders at that time, including Hilmy Manzil, Thalif Deen, Hamza Haniffa, Reggie Liyanage, George Jayamanne, Laksman Perera, Janaka Nakkawita, Vernon Maldeniya, Camillus Fernando and Anton Tissera, who collectively formed a formidable team of university body builders, who spent hours at the gym honing their muscles.
This surge of activity enabled him to organise the first ever “Mr. Campus” contest in 1960. The chief guest was J.B.C.Rodrigo, the Warden of Ramanathan Hall.
The event was supported by a variety entertainment by well-known singers C.T. Fernando and C.D. Fonseka, with exhibition weight-lifting by Packeer Aly and on-stage posing by “Mr. Ceylon”, Ronnie Steinwall, and gymnastics by a team from St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena.
The contest was a lively event breaking the monotonous boredom of attending lectures and writing endless tutorials.
When the less-muscular first contestant posed — amidst pin-drop silence — an undergrad heckler jokingly shouted: “mukuth na ne” to hoots from the audience making it an even livelier event.
The late Hilmy Manzil, a final year sociology student was declared the winner and awarded the Professsor Macghouguechy Challenge Trophy. The runners-up were Reggie Liyanage and George Jayamanne. Manzil, a product of Zahira College endowed with a finely-chiseled body, won the title two consecutive years.
In 1960, Ronnie Steinwall and Soma Palan were chosen to represent Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at the second “Mr. Asia” contest in Lahore, Pakistan. “We were the first to represent Ceylon abroad at an international contest,” he said.
Soma Palan won the “Mr. Asia Tall Man” class title and Steinwall was runner-up in the “Short Man” Class — both bringing honours to the home country. In 1962, Soma Palan was able to field a team of contestants from Peradeniya University for the national all-island “Mr. Ceylon” contest.
The university came into prominence in body-building for the first time in its history. And Soma Palan won the national “Mr. Ceylon” title in 1962 while still an undergrad at Peradeniya.
Asked about the present state of his physical fitness and health, Soma Palan said: “I am 77 years old now. I am almost 100% fit and healthy. I have no chronic illnesses, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes or any other sickness that usually accompany old age. I seldom visit a doctor. The last visit, if I remember, was ten years ago.”
Asked if he continued competitive physical culture after his graduation in 1962, Soma Palan said: “I gave up competitive body-building and weight training gradually, and did not compete in contests. Nor did I continue athletics. But I continued exercising to keep fit”.
He said he is an avowed votary of physical fitness, but advised that persons of middle and old-age should avoid gyms with modern training technology with sophisticated equipments of multiple kinds.
“I evolved my own system of training based on three principles — Yoga, Dynamic tension and Isometrics. I do this daily in the morning for about 45 minutes unless I am indisposed. The mind plays an important role in performing the exercises; concentration is a key factor”, he said.
“Our Pranic energy should permeate through the seven Energy Centres or the so-called Chakras of the human body in the process of exercising — this is the principle of Yoga.”
Then, the static tensioning of the muscles and limbs and holding on to it for some time — this is the principle of Dynamic tension. The other is the movement of expanding and contracting the muscles and limbs for few repetitions — this is the principle of Isometrics, he added.
But physical exercise alone does not produce fitness and health. It has to be complemented with self-disciplined regime of living, good balanced food, rest and sleep and living in harmony with nature. Pursuing physical fitness should have a spiritual dimension as well for its efficacy, Soma Palan said.
“Spirituality and physical fitness/health are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. That is why the ancient Hindu Rishies combined physical Yoga with religious Yoga.”
He said the former is the cleansing of the physical body and the latter is the purification of the mind. The divine cannot reside in an impure body. So fitness and body health is a precondition for religion or call it spirituality.