(2) DESTINY OF A DRUNKARD
Appu Sumathipala
We had three married men in our close neighbourhood who got drunk at times. One was a wife-beater with four boys and two girls. I often played with the boys and enjoyed a cup of tea and some sweets during those encounters.
This man was respected by the villagers in spite of his addiction to alcohol. I cannot remember whether he had a regular job. He used to win some contracts from the village council for repairing roads and culverts. His elder brother and his in-laws were businessmen in the local shopping centre and they were helpful. He contested a seat in the village council and lost.
Fortune struck him later and he was selected as a village headman in an adjoining village. He needed a lot of good references. The prominent villagers who provided them did not refer to his alcoholism. As far as I remember, he stopped his drinking habit and carried out his duties to the letter. I lost contact with the family after I left for Colombo.
During one of the Buddhist ceremonies held in the Faculty, a Buddhist monk came to me and introduced himself as one of the children I played with in my village. He had matured beyond recognition. He was a resident monk at the temple close to OPD, GHC. His ordination had been done according to the predictions in his horoscope (this was revealed to me by his eldest brother on a previous occasion). I lost contact with him thereafter.
During my Internship at GH Ratnapura I met his (the monk) mother as an inpatient under the care of Dr Balakumaran (Indra was the HO). She expressed her felicitations on my achievements and in turn, I reassured her about the excellent medical care that she would receive, prior to discharge.
I forgot to ask her about her family and later on, my brother told me that the eldest got a job in the Dept of Agriculture as an overseer.
Now, I feel sorry that I missed meeting
some of the village lads that played and enjoyed swimming in the river
Your life has been full of coincidences. First was meeting the teacher at the DMH and now the monk who was from a temple close to the OPD when you met him at a religious ceremony in the Medical Faculty. You would have definitely missed your boyhood friends in Ratnapura when you moved to Colombo.
ReplyDeleteYOUR TALES ARE VERY EXCITING FOR ME TO READ BECAUSE I NEVER LIVED IN A VILLAGE
ReplyDeleteLama, You were lucky to be brought up in Colombo and obtain the best of education.
ReplyDeleteWe villagers had to struggle in the midst of hardships to attain University Education. I sacrificed my chance of staying in and around Colombo teaching Hospitals in order to serve my community. Prof Raj was surprised as to why I selected to go to Ratnapura, when I met him at the Medical school during a visit to Faculty, while I was stationed at Ratnapura. He was aware that I have done a bit short of a Second class Honours at the Final.I am sure you had read the Village in the Jungle by Leonard Wolfe. My village was not that bad compared to the suffering of people of Hambantota district, during British rule. There are hundred odd stories that I recollect during the years I spent among the villagers.
Yes Sumathi, I was lucky that I was born in Colombo(Ward 3 DMH),because at that time my father was working in the Colombo Kachcheri. He was not affluent and never owned a car. However,he valued education and sent all four of us to the University. He also built a house down 42nd Lane Wellawatte.My education at the RPS, RC,Colombo Medical College was free. I went on a Colombo Plan scholarship to the UK for PG studies. The British government funded my PhD.Therefore my father did not spend a single cent for my education.
ReplyDeleteIf I was born in Tissamaharama, with the same intelligence I was born with and my father was a paddy cultivator, most probably, I would have died in the April 1971 insurrection, as an Arts graduate. However, if I was born in the Jaffna peninsula and my father was a paddy cultivator, I would have ended up as a dollar milliomaire in California. This was because of the disparity in the standard of schools at that time.Within the Jaffna peninsula ,there were excellent schools.In the rest of the country, except for Colombo, Kandy,Galle and perhaps Matara, it was not so.
Sumathi,Your stories are very interesting - A collection of short stories from your village experiences Iam sure would be fascinating.
ReplyDeleteSanath, You are to be greatly admired not only for your phenomenal achievements on a free education , but also for imparting to your students a broad education. Well done .
ReplyDeleteFully endorse what Rohini has said about Sanath; A true Son of Sri Lnka.
ReplyDeleteLama,We all are proud of your hard work and brilliant achievements. Not only that the decision to refuse posts in the NHS and return back to the mother Lanka to serve the rich and the poor equally. I am sure you have reformed the system of Medical education where continuous assessment plays a part in deciding, who ends up with Honours and Distinctions. In our bad old days, final results depended on what you had produced in the theory papers and how your phraseology played a part in the orals. I remember how a batch mate passed his Final without having performed a single PV examination during his student days. In fact he told me about it as a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us.
ReplyDeleteSumathi, I wonder whether you are aware that the Colombo Medical Faculty changed the curriculum about 20 years ago. I was appointed as the Chairman of the Clinical Stream. The old curriculum was turned "inside out and upside down"! Anatomy dissections and didactic lectures were drastically cut down and replaced with Small Group Discussions, Seminars,Integrated Ward Classes etc. The focus was on problem based learning. I strongly felt that a student who has done a good 8 week Professorial Appointment, should not fail if he/she has an off day at the clinicals. I made drastic changes in the evaluation process of Paediatrics. I converted it to a module. Continuous Assessment was given 40%, Clinicals 30% and the two written papers 30%
ReplyDeleteThe clinicals were advaced to the end of the Professorial Appointment and all the written papers were held at the end of the course. Of course, the Continuous Assessment was made objective as far as possible and an OSCE was conducted at the end of the appointment. The students really liked it. Other faculties protested because our students fared very well in the common order of merit.When I was the Dean, at the Standing Committe Meetings ofthe UGC,whuch were chaired by Carlo Fonseka, I was in a minority of one!I invited the other Deans also to fall in line with Colombo. However, at the end ,I had to fall in line with the other Faculties, which was a retrograde step. At present, there is a common MCQ examination, consisting of questions from all five discipines, to formulate the common order of merit, which matters until you retire!
What a shame Sanath. The steps that you introduced were sensible and geared towards proper learning followed by critical and fair evaluation. I am surprised that Carlo didn't back you (may be that as Chair, he couldn't). Well done!
DeleteWhat a shame Sanath,that your proposals were not adopted.These have been used in Australian medical schools for many years.In the final year there are no exams.Students are apprenticed to hospital units where the primary supervisor is the intern.
DeleteMaybe if you were a foreigner,paid millions your advice would have been taken.
You have made an immense contribution to SL medical education ,which all your colleagues are proud of.You have brought much glory to our batch.
I was aware of some of the changes you wanted to introduce to be in line with Medical Schools,in UK.I can imagine the obstructions to the changes, that were retrograde.You can't teach old dogs,new tricks.
ReplyDeleteSumathi, you relate your stories in such a, matter of fact, way but on a bit of analysis, there's a lot of significance in some of the innocent sounding stories. I'm amazed you remember quite a lot of detail. Well done! It just shows how interesting little details which one hardly notices, really can be. I look forward to many more Sumathi Stories! Zita
ReplyDeleteNice to hear that you enjoy my short stories about my childhood experiences. I remember having high fever ending in a state of delirium. I must have been 5 or 6 years in age. My fingers felt like elephants legs and saw elephants arriving towards me. I screamed and pleaded to call our local Yakadura, named "Peiris Bass"(stone mason by occupation)He was one of our neighbours and came without much delay. No sooner than he started to chant "Mantra",I felt asleep and got up few hours later, free of fever and delirious state. We all know that it was not the Mantra that cured my fever but it was the natural immune system. Our family was invited for his eldest daughter's wedding, few years later. My auntie was not in talking terms with them and arranged for me to go with friend of my age, to attend the wedding ceremony held in their own home. We were instructed not to eat like pigs the sweets that were provided. The wedding gift was Rs,10.00,placed inside an envelope.Rs10.00 was a big amount of money in early fifties, where an average clerk earned about Rs80.00+living allowance added up to about Rs120/month.
DeleteThe gentleman who did the chanting used to acknowledge me every time we met on the main road. He once told me to ignore the trivial hostilities among the grown ups.
Sumathi,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying your stories about village life very much. They capture the essence of Sri Lanka, so please keep sharing them with us. In addition to the story about the notorious drunks in your village (I think every village had a few!) I enjoyed the above comment about the Yakadura, "Pieris Bass." For those of us who grew up in the cities, the existing culture was 'adulterated' by western influences. This was especially true if one's upbringing was Christian, educated in a school established by missionaries, as I was. Those influences made me who I am today, for better or for worse, and I make no apologies! All of our experiences (positive and negative) influence us in so many subconscious ways. The Yakadura seems to have been a wise man who instructed you to ignore the "trivial hostilities" among the grown ups. I hope you followed his advice!
Srianne, Even though, my Yakadura never had a higher education,he possessed common sense.Most of our neighbors minded their own business and no exchange of blows.Unlike the Southerners, they were cold blooded souls.
ReplyDeleteHi Sumathi! You are a born story-teller in addition to having all the other talents you constantly demonstrate to us through the medium of this Blog. I so enjoy the 'stories' you relate with such ease regarding occurrences in your childhood. We lap up these stories with eagle eyes and rabbit ears(not sure there is such an expression, but never mind!). It is amazing how in our old age we yearn to hear all that went on in our batchmates' lives. So that gives us the licence to relate our own tales. So just like Chira started the trend in sending our paintings, you are giving us the urge to talk about tales from our childhood. How about it mates?
ReplyDelete