Garlanding the trees

It was the month I remember

When the trees were wreathed with coronets of flowers

Bougainvilleas bloomed in the ornamental park

Breathing in the excess of their own flamboyancy

We pushed aside their thorns

Crushed their tissue flowers like broken kites

Against our fingers

We walked on flowers, a yellow carpet

Trod on petals strewn prodigal and wanton

Sat on the river reading Keats

“Ode to Autumn” feeding on the richness

Of those autumnal fruit

Progeny of an alien clime, a lost season

Remembering Peradeniya - Jean Arasanayagam

Garlanding the Trees

It was the month I remember

When the trees were wreathed with coronets of flowers

Bougainvilleas bloomed in the ornamental park

Breathing in the excess of their own flamboyancy

We pushed aside their thorns

Crushed their tissue flowers like broken kites

Against our fingers

We walked on flowers, a yellow carpet

Trod on petals strewn prodigal and wanton

Sat on the river reading Keats

“Ode to Autumn” feeding on the richness

Of those autumnal fruit

Progeny of an alien clime, a lost season

Remembering Peradeniya - Jean Arasanayagam

Cricket

Cricket is the national sport in Sri Lanka and is played at many levels. High school cricket season ends with ‘Big Matches’ between traditional rivals. I attended the big match of my alma mater ‘Ananda-Nalanda’ after missing it for 25 years!

Big batch is a two day event where old class mates meet, recall old nick names, have some beers, enjoy music, and talk about old times. I met many friends that I have not met in decades and renewed contacts. However, we did not see much cricket!

Relic brings rain!

We are four miles from Kandy, the Hill Capital of Sri Lanka. Kandy is home to the Temple of tooth, the depository of the Tooth Relic, the most venerated of Buddha’s relics. It is housed inside side several caskets. Every year this casket is taken around the city in a colorful possession. (www.daladamaligawa.org)

Exposition of the relic sans caskets is a rare event. Among many legends about the tooth relic is that exposition the relic brings rain. The country was experiencing a four month drought when an exposition commenced on 6th of March after a lapse of five years. Rain started falling on the same day! Five days later the rain has not stopped but the drought is long over!

Tea Research Institute

Tea research Institute is where scientists had been conducting research on world famous ‘Ceylon Tea’ from 1925. I am involved in two ongoing research projects, one on tea withering and other on extraction of proteins from refuse tea. I spent two days at TRI starting up a new membrane filtration unit.

TRI is located aptly in a tea plantation at 4,400 ft elevation. The scenery and climate are so refreshing that working there is like a vacation! I am looking into starting another project on development of a more energy efficient tea dryer.

Open Air Theatre

Sarachchandra Theatre at Peradeniya University seats over 2,500. It is the biggest venue for dramas in Sri Lanka. Every year it hosts a drama festival called Wale Sellam (Plays in the Pit). This very popular event was held in Februray this year and we were fortunate to see two events and refresh sweet memories.

‘Charandas’ is a Sinhalese adaptation of an Indian play about a thief who has taken a vow not to lie or to become king. He is a popular thief and gets elected to rule the country but not king. The cast included many Tamil actors!

‘Sudu Redi Hora’ (a local bird) is a political satire about a journalist who meets a tragic end trying to report politics truthfully. It was produced by Jayalath Manorathne, my contemporary at Peradeniya University. It was his fortieth year performing at ‘Wale Sellam’!

Philanthropist friend

Mahi was in our small mechanical engineering group at Peradeniya University a long time ago. He went on to become a very successful businessman. We kept in touch. He spent Rs.100 million of his money to build a hospital in his village and donated it to the government on February 16.

‘This is the happiest day in my life’ Mahi said at the handing over ceremony. He compared his donation with the cost of Rs. 65 million of a Mercedes some in the audience drive around and invited them to follow his example! We were happy to share this unique day in his life!