A view from the hills

Randle's Hill Rumpus

Kingswoodians past and present are all het up over the name of their beloved hill — the hill upon which the College stands. It is known that, in the beginning, John Randle Esq. gave this property for the building of the school. Randle's Hill became a byword in the area, so much so that the railway halt at the top of Heerassagala Road was also named Randle's Hill. To this day Kingswood's boys who take train to school, get off at Randle's Hill and then go to Randle's Hill, upon which their school stands.

Then, a property sales agency in town, that had taken over a parcel of land atop Hantane began to advertise plots for sale, calling the property Randle's Hill. Kingswood's annoyance at this "height of cheek" (as one old boy described it) climbed the upper register. The Principal fired off a volley of protests and decided to take steps. Every stop was pulled. Professors gave learned opinions on the real Randle's Hill. There never has been such a place on the road to Hantane. Randle's Hill isn't anywhere up there —it's down here, crowned by the buildings of Kingswood.

The mayor has been petitioned. "These people think nothing of purloining names," said an old boy bitterly, "next time it will be Blaze Boulevard!" (L.E. Blaze was one of Kingswood's most famous principals).

Meanwhile, an organisation styled the Suduhumpola Surakeeya Sangamaya has launched a poster campaign, protesting the destruction of the fragile Hantane environment. "These property developers have no compunction," said the leader of lhe Surakeeya camp. "They go for any land, bulldoze it bare and sell it under fancy names."

Even the Kandy Postmaster has been told that Randle's Hill is Kingswood College and can be nowhere else. "Who knows? If the new owners of these plots of land are led to believe that they live on Randle's Hill, they'll make that their postal address," the School Committee said. "Any Letters to Randle's Hill Kandy, must be delivered to Kingswood and nowhere else!"

The property sales company has offered to compromise.

"We will call it Randle's Hill View," but Kingswood will have none of it. ' What view? Sell your property as Hantane Hoiya!"

Bad blood bubbling while no one sees the sense of such a confrontation. America has a town named Rome, and I don't think the Vatican can do much about it. Goolbhai Gunasekera calls her granddaughter Kit Kat and the chocolate manufacturers haven't raised objections. But, if Randle's Hill is the one and only such hill upon which Kingswood sits, the saner say that the property sales company should simply drop the word 'hill.' That after all, is the bone of contention. Why not Randle's View? Nobody can lose their cool about such a compromise. After all who can say with any, authority what the late John Randle Esq. viewed or did not view? These colonial types liked to ramble hither and thither. It's so likely he stood upon the heights of Hantane taking in the view. Such a to-do!

Jewish Bread

Only one establishment in Sri Lanka bakes Jewish Bread and that is Shazadi's of Dalada Veediya, Kandy.

Partner, Ms. Primula Ismail, who has lived in London since she was 17, is a culinary wizard. In London she had her own catering company. ''Food for All Seasons'' and also produced quality up-market cakes for the city's largest department stores and food chains.

"Jewish Bread is very special. It is also called Chola Bread," she said. "It is a hot favourite all over Europe. It is semisweet, a plaited loaf, and what goes into the mixture is my secret.''

Incidentally,. Primula is the daughter of the late Resell Gunasekera who ramrodded the Kandy Bureau of Lake House for over 40 years. She is an Electrical Engineer by profession.

First love? You guessed it. Cooking!

Marla pulls out...on orders

The Peradeniya English Teachers' College is in a stew. Already. There is a dearth of lecturers, and the present teaching staff are working at the maximum. Then, Marla quit.

Marla Harland put in 24 hours of valuable teaching each week. This American woman did excellent work — reading, writing, speaking. She also taught Literature, and the students, all with a very basic knowledge of English, gained tremendously.

As the College says, the students, all hoping to be this country's future English teachers, usually come in with a Sinhala A/L and the most rudimentary knowledge of English. The task is a daunting one and the staff need special skills to effect that all-important transition from Sinhala student to English teacher. As it is the College suffers with insufficient teachers to cover the work.

Marla Harland pulled out...on orders. A member of the US Peace Corps, she told the College on February 26 that she simply had to go. Reasons? Security reasons! It seems that Washington feels that US citizens could be targeted due to an uncertain political climate worldwide. Marla confirmed that the entire US Peace Corps volunteer force in Sri Lanka are leaving.

And the Peradeniya English Teachers College'?

Up the proverbial gum tree!

Short story and poetry competition results

Three poems and four short stories were considered the best submissions in the short story and poetry competition conducted by the English Writers Cooperative of Sri Lanka.

The Selection Board decided that these should share the prize money equally. In addition there is one Honourable Mention for a poem by ten year old Gayathri Kurukulasuriya, and two Honourable Mentions for two short stories. The results are given in alphabetical order.

Poems

Ramya Jirasinghe - Gayathri Chakrovarty- Patel - Rs. 750.00, Imara Y. Perera - Savannah - Rs. 750.00, Amila Weerasinghe- Suicide Bomber - Rs. 750.00, Gayathri Kurukulasuriya - The Deer (Honourable Mention) - Rs 100.00.

Short Stories

Chrishanti Emmanual - "Car 41"- Rs. 750.00, A.M.Hettiarachchi- That night at Elephant Pass - Rs. 750.00, Chiranthi Rajapakse - Incident - Rs. 750.00, Faith Ratnayake - The gift - Rs. 750.00, Gertrude de Livera - One month's extra salary - (Honourable Mention) Rs. 100.00, Sunila Nanayakkara - The December holiday - (Honourable Mention) - Rs. 100.00.

All the above prize-winning poems and stories will be published in CHANNELS Volume 8 Number 1 edited by Dr. Wilfred Jayasuriya. This will appear later in the year. The English Writers Co-operative would like to thank all those who participated in the above competition.

All those who sent in a stamped and self-addressed envelope have meanwhile been informed whether or not they have been successful. Prize winners have been notified by Registered Mail.

The Co-operative has retained a number of the non prize-winning poems and short stories which will be considered for publication in the same issue of CHANNELS. The relevant writers have been informed of this.

They would welcome further submissions for CHANNELS Volume 8 Number 1. These should be sent to 82, Rosmead Place, typed on A 4 paper, one side only, double spaced, a one inch margin all round. The name and address of the author should be on each page of poetry and at the beginning and end of each short story.

A Reader's Fee of Rs. 50 per short story and Rs. 30 per poem should accompany each entry. NO POSTAL OR MONEY ORDERS please. A self-addressed stamped envelope should be enclosed if rejected material is to be returned. The deadline is April 30, 1998.

A home for the abandoned

A few minutes drive from the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage as you proceed along the Rambukkana - Mawanella Road, a beautiful lotus pond at the turn to the village of Diyasunnatha beckons you to turn to the International Children's Aid Village of Rambukkana.

Nestled between the local school and temple is this cluster of cottages or homes each with its House Mother and family made up of abandoned children. These children who have been taken from government approved orphanages now enjoy the love, warmth and security of a family atmosphere. For most of them this is a new experience in their lives.

The children receive their formal school education at the local village school, Asoka Vidyalaya and their moral guidance at the nearby Rajamaha Vihare temple's Sunday school.

It is no idle boast that the children in the village are often held up as role models by their teachers. The children have performed exceptionally well in school, with two of them being placed first in rank continuously at year end exams. One little one won an islandwide Art Competition and another two represent their school in athletics. The 'Mothers' are often commended for their children's good behaviour by the school authorities.

This village also boasts of a Vocational Training Centre which caters not only to the needs of the children in the cottages, but to all the village folk in the neighbouring community, who otherwise have no access to facilities the V.T.C. provides. So far Montessori teaching English Language lessons and instructions in social welfare and nutrition are conducted on a regular basis.

A lush array of crops greets the visitor as you approach the entrance to the "Village". The five acres of land surrounding the cottages have been carefully planted with coconuts, rambuttan, bananas, pineapple, lemon and passion fruit, as well as local vegetables; to service the needs of the children and more importanly, provide a steady income to meet the financial needs of the "Village".

An Australian lady, Ms. Penny Brune Withanage brought ICA to Sri Lanka. She persuaded two local enthusiasts to join her in setting up the concept in Rambukkana. These two local volunteers who originally headed this project are no more. Mr & Mrs A. D. H. Samaranayake, the well known and well loved couple who dedicated their life to social service passed away within a span of 11 months by March 1997.

As a mark of gratitude to them the present committee has organised an "Open Day" on Saturday, March 21 to coincide with its Fourth Anniversary. A plaque in their memory will be unveiled by the Chief Guest on this occasion.

Having set up this 'Village' the Management Committee are now looking towards local funding to accommodate more abandoned children and give them a chance of a family life, so that they in turn will learn the responsibilities that go along with it and give back to society the love and care they received at the Rambukkana Village. However, due to constraints of funding this has not yet been possible.

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