The note below is an extract from Dr Harold Gunatillake’s YouTube video, which I have inserted.
Gall Face Green is very much in the news.
Dr Harold Gunatillake. MB,BS (Cey),FRCS (UK), FIACS (US),AM (Sing).
is now retired but is very active in
publishing books and other articles on Health. He is one of the most prolific
Medical writers in the World today. He has his own website.
He is a humanitarian who tirelessly publishes “Health and Views” publication in Ozlanka ( https://www.ozlanka.com/dr-harolds-health/) every week and circulates to nearly six thousand Sri Lankan expatriates who live all over the world.
TRANSFORMATION OF GALLE FACE GREEN.
The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, although the original Galle Face Green extended over a much larger area than is seen today. The Galle Face Green was initially used for horse racing and as a golf course but was also used for cricket, polo, football, tennis, and rugby.
The Dutch initially laid out the Galle Face Green to enable their cannons to a strategic line of fire against the Portuguese. One version of how the name Galle Face is derived is that it is from the original Dutch name for the fortifications, in that the gateway which gave access to the Colombo Fort was called the Gal Gate, as it faced southwards to Galle and faas means front, so it means in front of the fortification that encountered toward Galle. Another version is a corruption of the original name for the area's rocky shoreline, Gal Bokka, Gal being the Sinhalese for rock and that Gal Gate meant rock gate.
The Galle Face Green is the most significant space in Colombo. Over the years, this promenade has been used by the Colombo residents and visitors to the city as a place of recreation, where people are free to walk, meet, have chit-chats and so on. The families get together and allow the children to play without any supervision by the parents.This is a popular destination for children, vendors, teenagers, lovers, kite flyers, merrymakers and all those who want to indulge in their favourite pastimes next to the sea under the open sky. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, the land is busy with day trippers, picnickers, and food vendors selling cooked crabs, prawns, and slices of mango with pepper and salt.
The first
national Independence
from the British was
celebrated on this ground
with a display of fireworks
never seen after. That
falls on February 4th annually.
I have lived in the UK for the past 50 years and my knowledge of the current set of politicians is negligible. But I have seen the decline and disintegration of the social values we cherished when we reclaimed our country from the British. We called it Freedom/Independence, then. As a country the people seem to value money above everything thing else without any scruples how they achieve it, much more that what I see in the West. Bribery, corruption and nepotism came to be accepted as the norm disregarding the ethics, morals, honesty and the sense of decency which has existed for many decades or even perhaps several centuries. When such behaviour takes hold in the realm of politics, the Rule Makers become the Rule Breakers. There is nothing to stop them from destroying the country and its people, all this for their own gain. When such conduct is seen and accepted at the top, it swiftly filters down to the grassroots with serious consequences to the day to day life of the people and to the society at large.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of independence of the judiciary is a tragedy in every sense of the word.
I am now an octogenarian but feel deeply for the young now growing up in my country of birth. Much has got to change in Sri Lanka. It is Politics that changes the people and the country. It is indeed politics that has got to change. Education is key to this change.
Democracy is a wonderful system of government but it makes 2 important assumptions.
1. The people have adequate political knowledge to vote and elect a suitable person to represent them
2. There are a core group of electable and honest politicians who will represent and serve the public.
For both these factors education is the key. I feel political science/education should be taught as a compulsory subject all through the school career. This is a wonderful opportunity to teach probity, dignity and honesty and also social and civic responsibilities. These are essentials for all politicians, for every citizen in every successful country. There is much to learn from history about the despots who ruled us and of their disastrous fate.
Nepotism, Bribery and Corruption are the cancers that destroy societies and countries.
Political teaching will educate the public and the politicians of their rights and responsibilities.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This holds true in parliament too. There is an old aphorism – The government is only as good as its opposition. It is so important to have a good strong opposition in parliament to prevent misuse of power. The voting public must be aware of this. Germany, Spain ,Italy and some other countries in the world have an electoral system called proportional representation. With this system no party will have absolute power and will have to govern by consensus.
These are not immediate solutions to the current crisis but part of a long term plan to make our country great again.
I found the video most interesting and it brought back pleasant memories of my childhood days when visiting Gall face green was a sepcial treat. Flying a kite, running around with gay abandon chasing each other, the glass caged carts with flames to light them up serving vadai ,murukku etc, the vendor making that charcteristic noise by running the bottle opener across a row of bottles, the lovers on the seats and and on the ground, throngs of happy people...Oh! those were the days!
ReplyDeleteMahendra
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for enlightening us with the history of Galle Face dating back to 1859. I found it interesting bringing back happy and pleasant memories of my visiting Galle Face with friends and relatives.
Chira
Another quote from the same article.
ReplyDeleteVikram Seth from the Society magazine states-“I pour some ginger beer into the glass and add two cubes of ice. I take a sip and taste my idea of Sri Lanka.” Vickram says-On Colombo’s Galle Face Green, there is no mediator between sea and soul. Every evening, the mixed-up people of this mixed-up land come to this great democratic space — each one to laugh or to love or to wheel or to deal or to cry or to contemplate, but all to watch the quiet spectacle of yet another Colombo sunset. Here is a Sri Lanka for Sri Lankans.
On the grassy expanse, women in floral printed shirts keep an eye on kite-chasing children. Peanut sellers hawk their ware in singsong Sinhala. Young lovers brush their fingertips, finally satiating the day’s anticipation. It must be a wonderful thing: the first shared smile of lovers at 5 p.m. on Galle Face Green. When youth is spent, this will be the sort of thing remembered.
There was a time when young village couples hid under the shadow of the umbrella, making love for hours in the afternoons. The sunset on the western horizon is most romantic and matches the lovers making love.
Before that era, in the fifties, the lovers came in their sporty vehicles, parked by the roadside area of the green, and spent their Sunday afternoons making love like sparrows.
The couples were keen to see who and who were in the neighbouring cars for gossip to take home.
Then they all end up at the back garden of Fountain Café to enjoy their unique ice cream; lovely Baka glory served to your car. Most others end up at Lions House in Bamba for a hopper feed.
The oldies today, wherever they are in the world, will go down their memory lane to reminisce those glorious days of the splendid island.
The stalls on the seaside walk-in palisade come up active by six in the evening, and the aroma of the fried rice and fried seafood stimulate your hunger pangs. You dwell on these unhealthy street foods before departing for another active day.
All these built-up traditions have been replaced by the occupation of the Galle Face Green by protestors who called themselves the ‘Aragalayas’