“FOUR-SCORE & FORWARD” Chapter 2

By Desmond Kelly “the Star of elanka”

Lucky enough to be born in a 26.000 square-mile Island that HAS to be the most beautiful for it’s tiny size, in the World, an Island which, at the time was “ruled” by the British who had taken it over from the Dutch, I was luckier still, I suppose, to be born of two parents who were, without a doubt, SECOND to NONE. in CEYLON. Starting with the COUNTRY,(MY LOVELY ISLAND HOME), as I call her, HAD EVERYTHING really required of a tiny “tear-drop” shaped piece of land,. Sitting in the mighty Indian Ocean, just South of the huge Continent known as “Mother-India,” Ceylon was also known as the “Pearl of the East”,”Serendib & half a dozen other aliases, but most importatly, this Land was supposed to have been an identical “copy” of the Garden of Eden, (minus Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel & “the tree” of course). The “snake” was nowhere to be seen.

There are NO “Seasons” here. For the millions of tourists who have gone there since I was born, many have “visited” purely for the “eternal-Summer” and superb – conditions, available in this Country. All around the perimeter, bordering the “tear-drop”, sea-winds are the only cooling factor. From Jaffna, in the North, to Galle in the South, from Trincomallee in the East to Colombo on the West Coast the temperature sits on roughly 34 degrees,warm, & sometimes a little too “humid”, for my liking but ideal for those wanting to escape cold wintery conditions of their own Countries. In most of these areas around the Coast of Ceylon, only light, comfortable clothing is necessary.

Nowadays, if you want to “be cool” in Colombo, you would have to rush into an”air-conditioned”building. Otherwise, you could be as hot & sweaty as you like, swim in the Indian ocean, frolic on the golden sands & spend your life, as a tourist, anyway, both enjoying & “spoiling” yoursel in PARADISE. So much for “Eternal-Summer”.conditions. IF & when you need a break, Hop into a train and, like EVERYONE & EVERYTHING, there, a slow relaxed journey will see you in Kandy, or Central Ceylon, one-time Capital, in the age of the old Sinhalese Kings. Just that little bit cooler but, with a culturally diverse history of OVER 25,000 years, and most interesting if you are an “ancient-history” buff.

If you are not into history, Kandy is still a very pretty Town, sporting “man-made” lakes, built Eons ago by the Sinhala-Rulers, vast religous Dagobas, Temples, stupendous Palaces & other buildings that would put modern-day engineering to shame. Also, every August The Esala Perahara (Procession) is held. A Buddhist ritual, featuring “Temple-Elephants” carrying a sacred relic, the tooth of the Buddha.,surrounded by many “Kandyan Dancers” in their eye-catching regalia, a procession that is so colourful, it has to be seen ti be believed. It is normally held at late evantide, a nightly “spectacle” glittering with a thousand lights and mighty “decorated” Elephants parading the Streets to the sound of Kandyan Drums beating out a rhythm that is peculiar to only the Sinhalese People.

After the previous procession, the odd drink or two, of Coconut Toddy, or Palmyra toddy, brewed from either the coconut or palmyra palm trees, if you know where to get it ,it’s freely available at the Perahara “after-party” and one can drink plenty of the slightly sweet, slightly “cloudy” liquid and not get drunk, BUT it ferments IN your body and you “fall-over” a couple of hours AFTER you have drunk it. I would term this in simple colloquial English as being “Perahara-Pissed”.

As well, Street vendors in dozens of little “boutiques” in KandyTown ply their trade with various little tit-bit savouries, again, peculier to Ceylon, like “kavun”, “kokis”, “thala-balls” etcetera, plus bananas of about six different variaties, because, in this Land, if you planted a “bloody walking-stick”, it would grow, such is the fertility of the soil in this Country.

I did mention the fact that travelling by train was the “way to go” in Ceylon. My reason for this is the fact that this method of travel is the most “relaxed” way of “sitting back” & enjoying all the beautiful scenery as it passes by without having to “battle the traffic” of hundreds of motor vehicles trying desperately to beat you to your destination, (& the “tut-tuts”now, often do)..

Not very far from Kandy, in the Suburban Matale district, is another “must see” land-mark for anyone, either living in, or visiting the Island, now & into the future. Not only must you see it, you must climb it, as well, as I did, on one memorable occasion, with one of the MOST beautiful girls in the Country at the time.

This is a huge, natural volcanic “rock-formation” of long ago, named “SIGIRIYA”, once the “fortress-cum-palace” of ancient King Kasyapa, who was reputed for having an extremely bad reputation. It was he, as the story goes, who murdered his own father, old King Dhatusena, by burying him alive, usurped his older brother Moggalana (the rightful successor to the throne), then, knowing that his brother would come after him in revenge of the foul deed committed, had this glorious Mini-City built on top of this huge rock for ” total security ” reasons a “City” complete with private swimming-pools, ponds, fountains & 5 star accommodation for his “staff” which included several “concubines” to “serve” “His Majesty.”. Archaic, rare paintings of some of these bare-breasted women now adorn the walls of the rock which stands about 600 feet high and also boasts an area entitled the “mirror-wall”. .In addition to all his “bad habits”, King Kasyapa was also an egotist who wanted to see himself in this “mirror-wall” every single day, so he had it polished regularly by his “slaves”.. His “concubines” , however, could not be described as beautiful but their breasts were certainly “something else”.One could not “keep abreast with old Kas.HE,was the original “Breast-Man”.

Once again,however, the engineering capabilities of this bygone era simply boggles the mind. K.Kasyapa had to be some sort of evil genius. To get to the apex of Sigiriya, you have to enter through the huge carved paws of a lion. The Sinhalese were always known as the “Lion-Race” & Sigiriya (sometimes considered the 8th wonder of the World) , was also aptly called “Lion-rock”.It was once an entire lion but now only the paws remain. Mogalana’s army did’nt have a hope in hell of climbing Sigiriya because you had to do it in single file and those silly enough to try it were picked out, one by one and slain, no questions asked. I believe that King- Elect Moggalana also went the same way, on the rock. King Kasyapa probably died somewhere of old-age, surrounded by his concubines, (what a way to go! ) but makes tha adage “Only the good die young” TRUE.!

There were two major “Railway train services” in the Ceylon I remember so well. I believe that both are still very much in operation.These “trains” had “names” and although the names did’nt rhyme, they were both very well known. One was called “Ruhunu Kumari.” “Ruhunu” , a term that “covered” thr Southern lowland areas and ” Kumarie” simply meaning “Princess”. So we now had a railway train called “The Southern Princess” (which doesn’t sound quite right, but then, the Sinhalese People have this habit of writing their sentences “arse about face” which is the best way I can describe same.) so, .in “my book” Ruhunu Kumari” should have rightly been “Kumari Ruhunu” or actually ” THE PRINCESS OF THE SOUTH”. Sounds better, does it not? .

So, the K.R. of the C.G.R.(Ceylon Government Railway) “ran” from the Fort, Colombo (they used to call it Colombo, Fort,),all the way down to a Suburb called Moratuwa ( the Southern Capital, if you like ), then carried on further to Suburbs like Panadura & right down to the Southern Suburb of GALLE, which was a Capital of Ceylon in “Dutch times”. To my knowledge, CEYLON (the beautiful) was firstly, the Land of the  Veddhas (Aborigines), who were “taken over” by the Sinhalese who actually were the first “Migrants” from “Mother- India”, the huge Continent sitting just like a mother hen over “Chicken-Ceylon.”
Eons ago, Ceylon was a part of Southern India, until the Indian Ocean intervened, the “Palk Strait” formed and My lovely Island Home” became a Country, in it’s own right. India was already over-crowded and, as a result, some of the more enterprising of the younger folk there, decided to “cross” the Palk Strait, fight the Veddha and “take-over” the little Island. So, whats new?, It happened there, it happened here (in Australia)
& it is happening all over the World, even as I write this.

Back to Ceylon, the Island was then ruled by Sinhalese Kings, until another “group” of Indians decided that they needed a bit of a change too and came over to little Ceylon, “took-over” the Northern territories, named “THEIR AREA” EELAM(OUR LAND), crowned their own KING, ELARA, & made their Capital JAFFNA and gave themselves the name of “TAMIL”.

Right from the start, the Sinhalese did not take too kindly to everything that was happening and got THEIR KING, DHUTUGEMUNU to challenge King Elara, jump aboard his “Elephant” and “fight” the Tamil king, with the intention of taking over the entire 26,000 sq.miles of the Country. The two main “Religons” at that time were “Buddhism” & “Hinduism” , the Sinhalese embracing the former anf the Tamils, the latter.

King Dhutugemunu won that first battle BUT King Elara, knocked off his Elephant was not actually slain, still carried on “ruling a slightly smaller “Eelam” which still exists TODAY. This “Eelam” consists of Jaffna & the entire Northern tip of the Island. The main reason that “THAT” particular war had to be terminated rather suddenly , was the fact that a Portugese Army then also suddenly appeared on the scene, “took over ” the island, allowed the Sinhala Kings the freedom of still “ruling” the Country, just to save-face, but actually RAN the whole show, introduced the “Catholic” religon & the first so-called Portugese-Burghers to the Land. These “Burghers”, with a naturally “tanned-skin , in turn, introduced what was termed “Kafferinja music”& dance, started to USE the dozens of various “spices” available to them to cook up the various “spicy dishes” that are still enjoyed today.

After the Portugese, it was the turn of the “Dutch” to take-over in Ceylon which, by now, had also gone through half a dozen Names, including “Seylan Serendib & “Taprobane”.The “Dutchies” were Burghers of the ” fairer-skinned” variety. The word “Burgher” simply meant ” A Citizen of a Town”.
The Dutch were “Bridge-Builders” After they took-over from the Portugese, they built massive “Forts” both In Colombo & Galle, to protect the Country and were the first to introduce Dutch-Treats like ” Poffertjes” and special little rice-dishes called “Lampries”, amoung others.They were a strictly self-disciplined lot who went on to become “top-rung” Citizens of Ceylon.
The Dutch-Burghers of Ceylon were always considered to be non-partisan, minded their own business mostly,and were favoured by both Sinhalese & Tamil People. They “ruled” the Island from 1640-1796

Before I finish with the “Dutch”, I do have a personal interest in the fact that some of the “Kriekenbeeks” from my mother’s side of the family, were “founder-members of the famous “Dutch East India Company”
who “came to Ceylon” way back when, settled down there to raise their families(of which I was one) & I understand that I would probably STILL have Dutch relations who reside in Eindhoven. About the “Irish”,
(dad’side) , I am only aware that they hailed from Dublin and if there WERE any other Irishmen like my grandfather Jack Kelly, there would quite possibly be many “Kellys” that are direct relations, roaming the Streets & frequenting the “pubs” of Dublin, right now.

ANYWAY, they were “good Burghers”, all of them.

SO, THIS THEN, WAS THE LAND I WAS BORN INTO.

CEYLON (My Lovely Island Home), tiny “teardrop” in the Indian Ocean, called many fascinating names, during the past years, an Island Paradise, compared favourably with the original ” Garden of Eden”, the Land of “eternal summer”, so many different “shades of green” , especially in her beautiful “up-Country”, so many glorious “water-falls”, so much flora & fauna, it would be impossible to keep track of them all,so many millions of naturally “sun-burn’t” people, almost always smiling and nodding their heads in assent. Even if they did’nt understand English, EVERYTHING to them was “no-problem”!, typical Islanders, so laid-back, you’d think they were sleeping. Some of the MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN on God’s Earth, what more do you want? . As I always say, write & sing, for an Island of a mere 26.000 square miles (total), CEYLON, in my opinion, was a Country that could not be beaten.

UNFORTUNATELY, once again, Politicians entered the picturesque surroundings and spoilt everything. I loved Ceylon, but when I say that, I mean that I LOVED THE LAND. Australia, our adopted Country is quite beautiful, in it’s own way. Why do these Politicians have to ruin everything? !!.

CEYLON WAS MY HOME
AND I WAS “FORCED TO ROAM”
BUT STILL, “ALONG THE TRACK”
ONE DAY, I’LL “SOON BE BACK”.

Desmond Kelly.
“Star of eLanka”