Memories of a schoolgirl in Ceylon, 1960-by Savitri de Alwis
Source:Island
(Vice Captain, Queen’s Own, 1970)
The echo of frenzied cheering ebbing and flowing like a wave from the open pavilion of the Galle esplanade fill my ears as if it were only yesterday. I can hear Rev. Sister Rosina, Mistress of Queens Own House. spurring me on fitfully on the loudspeaker in the open event cycle race. My spindly legs pedal furiously, perfectly navigate the tracks and breeze through the touch line to victory on an old rackety Men’s Raleigh bicycle, borrowed on the spot for the race from the school watcher! As I cross the winning line I look back at my competitors, way behind me like specks on the track doing a balancing act with their bikes! Indeed, not many girls cycled then nearly 50 years ago, with the exception of tomboys and the posh girls from Colombo who were sent to our boarding school for strict discipline under firm but kind Irish and Belgian nuns.
Yet oddly we were in awe of these posh girls from Colombo with their ‘mod’ hairstyles, a far cry from our tightly plaited hair doused in coconut oil! But moreover they spoke the Queen’s English like they owned it. This was 1970 and the unforgettable events of a sports meet indelibly etched in my memory as a school girl at Sacred Heart Convent in Galle, a leading private girls’ day/boarding school. Established in 1896, by the Sisters of Charity in Belgium, it was for the education of young girls in Galle. The school is entering its 125th anniversary this year, a great milestone in its unbroken record of unblemished service and duty for charity (love). My three sisters, my little brother at nursery and I were privileged to walk through the hallowed hallways of Sacred Heart Convent from its nursery and on to secondary school half a century ago.
The decade beginning 1960 was thrifty era in Ceylon yet carefree and laid back. It was the decade of Beatles, Elvis, flower power and bell bottoms! We were school girls embracing an unhurried lifestyle, footloose and fancy free. Our precious parents paid for our education with their hard-earned money. At the helm of the school as Principal was the much adored and celebrated Rev. Sister Adrian, a bespectacled young Irish nun with rimmed glasses which framed her porcelain countenance. Always immaculately dressed in a crisp white habit, with an angelic face, she was soft spoken but firm and her presence ubiquitous! The sprawling magnificent Victorian buildings of the school which spread extensively, exuded charm and grandeur. Their impressive long and open corridors decorated with imposing Roman arches harmoniously arranged around a quadrangle is where we hung out and had our daily ‘fix’. Yes, a daily fix of ‘achcharu’ bought for five cents from Mura-aiya’s kade below the staff room.
The solid stone wall chapel with ornate stained glass windows on the premises was an integral part of the school and the Catholic girls looked ever so sanctimonious therein with their dainty little face veils, twirling their Rosary beads. We wished we could be like them! The ‘Parlour’ adjacent the Chapel where the nuns took refuge was also sacrosanct with strictly no entry except during music exams when Trinity College Music Examiners arrived from England on a BOAC jet. I recall as a 10-year old, with much trepidation and awe, entering the sanctuary of the Parlour for the very first time ever for my music exam. The dark brown floors were pristine and shining; I could almost eat off the floor I thought! The slender white Ionic Roman columns decorated the verandah around an open courtyard with its brilliant flowers interspersed with clipped shrubbery were stunning. It was surreal and I, for a fleeting moment, felt like Alice in Wonderland falling through a rabbit-hole!
English drama and poetry were fundamental to our education. We loved the annual English Day celebrations enjoying Shakespeare drama, poetry, oratory etc. under the keen eye of Miss Orlene de Silva a doyen of English teaching. It was the skillful Senior School production of Robert Browning’s mythical Pied Piper of Hamlin that clinched us the first prize in the Galle District Inter School English Day celebrations in 1969. A bevy of charming teens narrated the poem animatedly as the mystical Pied Piper, the writer, stormed the stage for her pound of flesh; a thousand guilders! And as we played out the story with aplomb our parents watched us with pride at the Galle Town Hall. There were other triumphant productions we took on in our stride – Oliver Twist, Twelth Night and Pride and Predjudice. To to this day the thought of Ranmalie de Zilva’s perfect fit as a proper little Mrs. Bennet on and off stage evoke fond memories.
Western music and singing were also high on the school’s agenda. The very first school percussion band was formed very modestly by our gracious Miss Malini Senanayake around 1969 with half a dozen melodicas and two accordions. One accordion was played by the musically gifted Priyadarshani Keerthisinghe and the other, attempting to emulate her wizardry sheepishly, was the writer. Helene Dias Abeysinghe had the shoulders to carry the huge bass drum and keep the beat stylishly like her effortless Shot Putt throws she did with a twirl! The excitement and novelty of being in the school band made us unconsciously audacious. loving to parade in our tartan skirts and berets and march the length and breadth of the Galle esplanade blowing our horns!
It was Miss Malini who trained and entered us to compete in the All Island Schools’ Singing Competition at Royal College, Colombo having won the first place in Galle Inter Schools’ Singing competition. The choir classic ‘Happy Wanderer’ in four part harmony was sung exquisitely by the school choir. Sports too were an integral part of the curriculum. We were gluttonous for a 20 cents Aleric’s Popsicle that the tuck shop sold, and Nandanie Rajapakse, my beloved Games Captain, smothered us with Aleric’s’ ice cream when we played like Trojans and brought the netball trophies home. It was fascinating too, to watch our fine athletes. Consy Rodrigo, Beatrice Bandara and Deidre Senanayake were like flying machines dominating the track and field events near the grotto of Jesus, Mary and Sacred Heart at the rear of the school.
The boarders had a habit of climbing the grotto to a vantage point to peek at the road beyond Kandewatte canal to check if the boys from our brother school. St. Aloysius College, were hovering around like helicopters. But the nuns were too sharp for their little theatrics! Life was uncomplicated. There were no mobile phones, social media or TV, period! We played outdoors avidly and immersed ourselves in hand me down books. It was ‘Robin Blue’ that made our uniforms dazzling white and a heavy charcoal fired smoothening iron pressed our uniforms. These were turned out at home on a hand sewing machine and oh so frugally using the material bought after queuing at the Co-op due to rationing. There were no fancy trainers then, only canvas shoes cleaned with pipeclay dripping like fresh cream! We learned to be creative and innovative and if a shoe gave way with the endless walking, jumping and running, we’d pretend to have an injury on that foot, slapping a plaster on it and slip on a flip flop as we walked to school unabashedly with one shoe and a flip flop. A bandage was sometimes used for effect! We almost always got away with it, dodging the hawk eyed Miss Padmini de Silva.
School days were happy and hauntingly memorable as are our beloved teachers who made all the difference. This is dedicated to them and to all my schoolmates scattered throughout the globe, remembering the good times we shared in the spirit of unity in that once in a lifetime incredible journey with, as our motto reminds us, ‘Cor Unum, Anima Una’ – One heart, One soul. May it be always so!
