“THRU SPANISH EYES” by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’

As a “writer” who loves to read, I find that Spain is a truly fascinating place.It is indeed a colourful Country.

When I was in Ceylon, our Navy was called The Royal Ceylon Navy (the Senior Service). In Spain they call their Navy The Senor Service (for obvious reasons).

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of life in Spain is the “Corida-del-toro” (bull-fight). As all my readers should know by now, I am an animal-lover and thoroughly ashamed of how Australian bulls are being treated even before they are slaughtered by mongrels of other Countries. In Spain, they do it in a different way. The bulls are “stabbed with swords by the brave Matadors”.

The drama of death in the arena of sand, the hot sun beating down onto the heads of the throng. Inside the bull-ring, the bull (of course), the Matador, the Picador, the front door & the back door. Talking about doors, the Spanish-saying for the verb “to have” is “tengo”.

I used to play the “Spanish Guitar” in my younger days and loved Spanish dancing so much I tried to learn it. My teacher was a flamenco dancer. We often danced together and why not?, after all, it takes two to tengo.!

Then, one day, I read an article about this Spanish guy named Enrico Diaz. I was interested because the name Diaz is also a “Burgher” one in Ceylon. Anyway, Enrico Diaz and his six brothers once attended the “wake” of a Spanish Matador whose Picador wasn’t the best, and as we all know, there are seven diaz in a wake. The Picador’s main ambition was to be a Matador himself ( a bullfighter). His father was also a retired bullfighter(Spain is full of them), but was still shipping bulls for these contests. As a matter of fact, he was the biggest “bull-shipper” in Barcelona.

Getting back to my two real reasons for writing this most interesting piece of pure unadulterated nostalgia is this. I feel certain that most of the readers of a long-gone Era in the “Showbiz” world of Ceylon will remember with fondness, a talented lass whose name was Romaine Diaz. She was beautiful, sang & danced and finally married another very talented American friend of mine. Unfortunately, they have both passed-on to the big stage in the sky & may they rest in peace.

My “other” reason is another beautiful lady by the name of Avril who was one of my “fans” and ALWAYS wanted the song “Spanish Eyes” sung for her especially, whenever & wherever I was “performing”. Ladies, God bless you both & I’ll say it again, “THRU SPANISH EYES”

Desmond Kelly.
“Star of e’Lanka”