This post records the announcement of the election, after which we had hastily to tie together our efforts of the previous few months. The picture is of a later reunion of Intake 51. The election looms I had two days teaching at the university and then the Academcy and on Thursday after my 51 class I went to Buttala and ...

This takes in the start of a new term at Diyatalawa, which meant I had to teach there for two days every week. The pictures are of Ricky and Taffy, and then of Tekla and Walter from the days of my childhood. A new Intake at Diyatalawa I had classes there over the next two days, and on Wednesday went ...

This notes the arrival of Raj Rajaratnam’s funding, which I used also for English camps for school students at Buttala. And there was another trip to Trincomalee, which I always loved, in search of candidates. The pictures are one of the few I have of the construction of the cottage, and then Seelia and Ranee, and David and Shan. A ...

I note here continuing work and political efforts, interspersed with much travel. The pictures are of Rudi Corens, preceded by the Jayanettis at the centre in a picture taken on my birthday this year, and by Suki at Lakmahal’s birthday in 2021. An old friend in Indonesia The next day, May 1st, I went after seeing the cottage to have ...

After ten posts about travel when I joined the university system in the early nineties, I go on to the end of the decade, when I was settled at Sabaragamuwa and travelled most often with Kithsiri. This post sadly notes the death of Percy Fernando, the Commandant of the Military Academy, a man of great honour who retreated by land ...

Though work had not been interrupted after Lalith’s assassination, we had another great shock just over a week later when President Premadasa was killed at his party’s May Day rally. I was in fact at a workshop at USJP for AUC instructos when we got the news, and had to make sure they got back safe, in particular the Trincomalee ...

This describes one of the nicest places I stayed in during my travels on AUC work, Fort Frederick in Trincomalee where the commandant put me up in an Enid Blyton style cave in the rock, half way up to his quarters at the top of the hill. But then the long drawn out tragedy of this country began, with the ...

I note here the beginning of more intense involvement in politics, when the Liberal Party signed an agreement with the governing UNP, led them by President Premadasa, whose contribution to rural development I had begun to appreciate through my journeys round the country. Before the pictures of Premadasa and Chanaka with me and Asitha, there is an old cherished one ...

I mention here a journey that may have contributed to the end of my honeymoon at USJP though I suspect Gunasinghe’s jealousy had more to do with it. And there was no question of any of my work being neglected, for I covered all the teaching I had to do, and engaged in intensive supervision with clear instructions so that ...

In the midst of intense work at the university and the AUCs we took on yet another project for the Canadians, I think this to do with tertiary level books following the many secondary ones we had produced with them. Yet another Canadian project I was at USJP next day, and gave final time-tables to the various Deans and took ...

I describe here the beginning of term at USJP and the massive amount of work we did in English, though also sadly I have to note the viciousness of some of the instructors to Paru, whose abilities were far in advance of their own. I suspect jealousy as much as racism contributed to their appalling behaviour. Starting new English courses ...

I note here the origin of the Gratiaen Trust, set up by Michael Ondaatje, and also my initial interactions with Prof Sirisena Thilakaratna, a capable and thoughtful academic who later became Chairman of the University Grants Commission. The Gratiaen Trust I observed a class for the schoolchildren next morning and then spoke to the staff and the Director before a ...

This post describes Paru’s arrival at USJP and also the beginning of extension work at the Belihuloya AUC, encouraged by its imaginative Director, Somasundara. The pictures are of the new book and of the swimming pool, captured on my last visit to Belihuloya two years ago. Extension work at an AUC Next morning I met the different English Unit coordinators ...

Intense work at the AUCs continued with Vavuniya too now part of my brief, but my cooperation with David Woolger continued, and we were heartened by the fact that the paymasters for British projects, the Overseas Development Administration, had a high regard for his work. I had to push for Paru Nagasunderam to be appointed to USJP, but got this ...

I describe here what I think was one of my uncomfortable trips to deliver Ena’s splendid book cupboards, with her driver Karim, who dropped me at the end at the Haputale New Resthouse which I loved. And I go on to describe my first meeting with a student with whom I worked much in the next three decades, and I ...

This describes a delightful trip to the East, when Shantha came along with Kithsiri and me, and we sought for candidates for the election whilst I did other work too. The picture is of Shantha and me, though at Getamanna, and sadly I have no pictures of Anzar or of those two delightful evenings, at the beach in Kattankudy and ...

This post also introduces the expansion of the Getamanna project, when I was offered funding by Raj Rajaratnam through his friend Indrajith Coomaraswamy. The pictures are of Indrajith and Raj and Tissa Jayatilleka, who was with Indrajith that day. Expanding the Getamanna project I had dinner with Peter that Friday night, and posted my Peradeniya report next day before a ...

This post notes some other interesting activities, my support for the tutory my former student Palitha had established in Bandarawela, adjudication for the Peradeniya Chair in English, and the invitation to deliver the Premadasa Commemoration lecture, as well as the Liberal Party decision to contest the next General Election. The pictures are of Walter and of Arjuna, the former with ...

I describe here how I fitted in a visit from an old friend from England amidst other obligations, and ensured he saw a lot, even though I was away for part of his stay. But by now I knew Kithsiri could be entrusted to take on some of my responsibilities. The picture is of Richard a quarter of a century ...

I record here my first meal in the shell of my Palankadewatte cottage, for my father and my sister and Ena, and also talk about my first classes at Diyatalawa. And I introduce the Ella Bungalow at Diyatalawa where I stayed very happily over the years that followed. The picture is of Niranjan Ranasinghe in a later incarnation as ambassador ...