- Dougie was with Sydney
Hettiaratchi our batch-mate at Trinity College, Kandy, Ceylon. One day Sydney had been ‘gated’
for some misdemeanor inside the Trinity premises. The master who ‘gated’
him, Mr.Jacob, Mary Jacob our junior batch student’s father, while
shopping in the Kandy town, thought that he saw Sydney walking ahead of
him. He walked fast behind the presumed Sydney and gave him a slap on the
back to see that he had mistaken someone else for Sydney. It was time for
the master to look foolish in front of a large crowd. He realised his mistake, apologized
profusely to the injured party and disappeared from the scene quickly.
- Dougie was working at
Medamahanuwara as Medical Officer of Health, in the late 1960s. He said
that while trekking on a foot path, to go to a remote village, he was
surprised by wild elephants and had to beat a hasty and breathless
retreat. Luckily the elephants did not chase him very far.
- Unlicensed liquor sales
were common in the remote villages. The two brands sold were the cheaper
Gal-Oya arrack, also called ‘Gal’, produced from sugar cane molasses and
the more expensive Coconut arrack, also called ‘Pol’ produced from coconut
toddy. If you wanted to acquire these from the shops in these remote
villages, there was a secret pass word used, as police raids were a
perpetual danger. It was ‘Ballata Gahana Badu’ (The item you use to throw
at dogs) for ‘Gal’ which meant ‘stone’. For Coconut arrack the term used
was ‘Deiyanta gahana badu’ (The item you smash in front of Gods) for ‘Pol’
which meant coconut
