The story of Ceylon Tea

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Similar moderl cars, Cars on the roads of Ceylon, 1960s.

 https://www.facebook.com/philip.veerasingam/posts/pfbid0X5ouSNwUjo15VCKj5EbjJYzvDP3pvTwKStZTPgTm95q2Q4giyuVqZZArnpoRria7l

 

Piano piece, 'Ayanna Kiyanna...', by my daughter, Shiranie

Please click on the weblink below & click th arrow button, with your speakeers on:-

https://www.facebook.com/lydiashiranie.veerasingam/videos/10209065431340527

Tearful recall, Ferguson High School days, 1946.

 

It was in the year of 1946. We were still a British Colony, with two years to go before getting our Independence as a nation. I was boarded in the primary school hostel, at the Ferguson High School, Rathnapura, Ceylon. The school was managed by the Baptist Mission. The entrance to the hall of the school was emblazoned with the logo ‘B. M. S’. Children newly admitted learnt the legend stood for ‘Buth, Mus, Ischola’ meaning – ‘rice with meat school’. The meat was usually beef which was anathema to the children of the locals.

     The morning started with an assembly of the staff and students in the hall at 8am. Two British Missionary ladies, the short stout Miss Allsopp the Principal and the lean, tall Miss Brooke the vice-principal, managed the school. Miss Allsopp, would mount the podium and announce the hymn to be sung to start the day.  The most popular hymns were ‘Land of our birth…’ and ‘Morning has broken…’. The pianist would play the introduction and Miss Allsopp would wave her hands and conduct the singing, standing up on the[DV1]  podium.

 Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in British India, on December 30, 1865

 

“Land of Our Birth” was originally called “The Children’s Song.” It appeared as a hymn in Kipling’s book “Puck of Pook’s Hill“. Here are the lyrics. The words  moved me as a youngster of 7 years and moves me to tears even now, in my 84^th year.

 

Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee

Our love and toil in the years to be;

When we are grown and take our place

As men and women with our race.

 

Father in Heaven who lovest all,

Oh, help Thy children when they call;

That they may build from age to age

An undefiled heritage.

 

Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,

With steadfastness and careful truth;

That, in our time, Thy Grace may give

The Truth whereby the Nations live.

 

Teach us to rule ourselves alway,

Controlled and cleanly night and day;

That we may bring, if need arise,

No maimed or worthless sacrifice.

 

Teach us to look in all our ends

On Thee for judge, and not our friends;

That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed

By fear or favor of the crowd.

 

Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,

By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;

That, under Thee, we may possess

Man's strength to comfort man's distress.

 

Teach us Delight in simple things,

And Mirth that has no bitter springs;

Forgiveness free of evil done,

And Love to all men 'neath the sun!

 

Land of our Birth, our faith, our pride,

For whose dear sake our fathers died;

Oh, Motherland, we pledge to thee

Head, heart and hand through the years to be

---

 [DV1]

The squirrel who scolded a flower pot.

             Squirrels are a joy to watch in the garden, they gambol about jumping from branch to branch. They have a lot of curiosity and investigative capability. They seem to like order in their life, as the following incident shows.

            One afternoon at about 4 pm, I heard a squirrel shrieking in alarm. Yes, one can distinguish their signal of alarm very easily. The squirrels and the yellow beaked babblers, help each other in alerting for danger. The usual danger posed was the cat which would stay still, in a position of stalking its prey. We hate cats and do not have one in the house. A neighbor's cat usually stalks prey in our garden. On hearing the alarm call from the squirrel, I thought the ginger haired cat was about. I went out to investigate. There was no sign of a cat.

 

 

            I saw the squirrel on a branch of a mango tree, scolding all and sundry. You can see its pose, as he did this, on the photo above You can see his mouth open and the body lying very close to the bark of the tree with its tail swishing in what I would name 'challenge mode'. I could find no reason for the alarm. When I discussed this with my wife, she showed me a new flower pot that she had suspended close to that branch in the morning. It must have noted the difference in the general layout of the land and was raising the alarm. How perceptive it must have been to spot the difference in the layout in its territory