Lakshman Karalliedde had an alias
"Charlie" bestowed on him due to his
fondness to visit "Charlies" bar at the Queen's hotel in Kandy. As
was
mentioned before he and I became close friends. Along with Kapu, Alky Bala,
Sunil Liyanage, Ponna, the late Rama Karthigesu, Syed Ahmed with the late
JBC de Silva joining in sometimes we formed a study and play group. Once we
decided to hike up to N'eliya.it was great fun but on the way down Kapu got
Chicken pox. Having come to Kandy where as usual we planned to stay at
Karals'. the problem was getting Kapu back to his home at Matale. Karal's
mother was adamant in not giving their Grey Austin A50 to take him
back. Luckily a Mr. Wijesuriya who happened to be one of Sunil's family
friends lent us his car, if I remember correctly green Opel car. Later on Karlas
married Mr. W's daughter Kanthi.
After exams parties -all male affairs were at Sunils' parents home in
Gregory's avenue a logical choice as Sunil's father was the youngest dad
amongst ours. He would join in the fun along with his elderly ‘Appu’. Ponna
and Syed Ahmed were teetotalers and sobering influences. Dr. Stanley de
Silva Paediatrician was Sunils' opposite neighbor.
My place at Bambalapitiya was frequently the study centre. Between breaks we
would head to Sarawathi for ‘thosai and wade’ and stand at top of the lane on
Galle Road and watch the world go by. A practice my father too did. He had
a phenomenal memory for car numbers and names of people whom he identified.
passing by driving their cars.
Asoka
