Having read (and re-read) ND's article entitled "My 20th Century Experiences of Doris Cottage and Nugegoda", I hasten to add my two cents worth, as I found it to be so very interesting.
I was a frequent visitor to "Doris Cottage" in the years between 1962 and 1967 as I too was a resident at Raymond Road, Nugegoda during my medical student days. Apart from ND and myself, other members of our batch who were Nugegoda residents at that time were Sanath de Tissera (Railway Avenue), the late L.G.D.K. Herath (Dilrukshi Place off Old Kesbewa Road), Mahendra Collure (Dewala Road), Chirasri Mallawarachchi (now Jayaweera Bandara) and Malik Jaimon whose homes were at Melder Place. However, it was only Sanath, ND and myself who met frequently in Nugegoda during holidays and in the evening hours.
ND's article being a lengthy one, I thought of restricting the text of mine and including a few photographs instead, to depict how Nugegoda has changed since the era described by ND. These photographs were taken specially for this blog post and hence I have focused on some of the spots highlighted by ND.
Please left click on picture to enlarge further.
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| The turn off to Wickramasinghe Place (now renamed Samudradevi Mawatha) |
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| Same place from a different angle |
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| High Level Road Junction with the flyover |
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| Samarakoon Studio as it stands today |
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| Church Street (now called Stanley Thilekeratne Mawatha) as seen from the HLR Junction |
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| S de S Jayasinghe Mawatha leading to Kohuwela Junction |
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| Anglican Church of SS Mary & John |
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| Wickramasinghe Place with Church Street at the far end |
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| Probably the exact spot where Doris Cottage was. A dentist Dr. Ranjith Weerasinghe has his clinic there |
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| Busy Church Street |
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| The turn off to Railway Avenue |
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| Nugegoda railway station and Station Road |
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| Nugegoda Supermarket |
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| National Book Shop referred to in ND's article |
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| Nawala Road Junction as seen from Church Street |
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| A train crossing Church Street |
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| The rail tracks with a train visible near the station |
Lucky
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the photos. You have taken a lot of trouble to get some good shots. So much change and my old haunts are just a distant memory.
My memories of Nugegoda are a long story but I couldn't have left out anything. I just had to say it as I felt, warts and all.
ND
Marvellous photos Lucky! Totally unrecognisable from the Nugegoda I knew. Does anybody know why Nugegoda is so called?
ReplyDeleteI drive through Nugegoda quite often. I don't mind missing Times Square in NYC, Fisherman's Wharf in SF, Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, White House in DC, Opera House in Sydney, London Bridge, Big Ben, the Shard and Trafalgar Square in London, Eiffel Tower in Paris and even Taj Mahal in Agra, all of which I have been to and seen with my own eyes. There are many more such places around the world that I would like to visit, but how can I forget Nugegoda, Galle Face, Galle Road, Battaramulla and the Kynsey Road junction? No wonder then that Sri Lanka drew me back like a magnet to the place I love most.
ReplyDeleteMahen
ReplyDeleteDuring the Kingdom of Kotte the city wall was surrounded by a dense forest of Nuga trees. Beyond this was a swamp where criminals were taken to be slayed. The king when he wanted criminals killed he merely said to his soldiers "Nugeng egodahata arang palayang". This area was later reclaimed and became Nugegoda. There was a special Nuga tree where the act was committed which was at the junction between Poorvanarama road and Rupasinghe Mawatha which was there until the mid 1940's. This was the story told by my grandfather who was a storehouse of such stories.
ND
Mahen
ReplyDeleteI remember well Nawala adjacent to Nugegoda was swampy during my childhood and so was vast stretches of Kotte and Battaramulla area. The Nugegoda bus stand used to go under water easily. So there must be some truth in the story. Local folklore was rampant in my childhood. Where truth ends and legend begins will always be a mystery.
ND
Excellent photos Lucky!
ReplyDelete