There were 36 in total.
Only one bad guy.
This is from milkman to the top guys in administration.
No diplomats.
But I missed 3 guys.
I may have made a passing reference but not in a chapter.
Since, I believe in Rebirth and I may or may not meet them again in my life stream, for the sake of completeness sake, I have to make a brief note of them here.
Two Banda and one guy who was a Muslim.
One of them was extremely useful for my academic work.
Strangely, I forgot his name but remembered the name, today
Case 1
He is Wijeratne Banda.
Chain smoker but dedicated to his work.
I have never seen him under the influence of alcohol but my guess is that he had some just before landing on the bus to Wattegama.
He was many years younger but I did not see him after his retirement in KANDY.
He was in charge of the photocopy machine of the Faculty.
I used to buy a bundle of photocopy for my Thesis Work and he keeps it at a side and used them when I needed a set of copies. If one bundle is over I buy another.
Suffice is to say the money allocation for my work was not enough.
I spend nearly Rs. 500,000/= from my saving in UK.
That included buying a Digital Microscope.
I think I did a little introductory book on LINUX, spiral bound.
Spiral spine came from him.
That was my entry into writing books and the book on Placenta is one of them.
If not for him I would not have finish my book without any mistakes.
Every page, I may have read 100 odd times to the tiniest detail, colon or semicolon included.
He was trying to build his own house while doing this.
Case 2
I forget his Christian name.
May be Punchi or Heen Banda by his stature.
He was an expert on Billiards and Snooker.
He was in charge of our Billiard Table and the Student Canteen.
We had a Surround Audio Player in the canteen.
We also had a lovely collection of English Titles.
Before opening of our New Medical Library we had a overnight Pirith Ceremony, I was in charge of looking after the monks during their Pirith Breaks. With difficulty I managed one hour. I was one who could move out without disturbing the process under the pretext of attending to monks' needs.
Rest had to sit glued to the ground. With my long legs of a short distance runner siting on the floor was an agony.
I have no problem sleeping on a Padura or carpet on the floor . I did this for two weeks to rest my back due probably to a stress fracture of the spine. I may have sustained it while practicing Hop Step and Jump which I was not good.
After midnight, I told Banda we could open the canteen and play Billiards till morning.
He could treat me finer points.
That is what we did. He shows me a particular shot and try after him.
This top, bottom, left, right, screw, roll over, top left quarter etc;. he taught me. That how I could beat any Western guy in United Kingdom.
Thank YOU Banda.
Like Wijeratne I did not see him after he retired before me.
Case 3
I called him Marcam Marker.
I did not know his real name
He was the marker at the Ballard Table of the Faculty Club.
We go there for beer.
Loser pays for the beer was the tradition.
My good friend Laxman Denipitiya who is Stonybrook in USA.
I was his best man and I saw in only once after that when he appeared for a Guest Lecture.
Marker was even better.
He used correct my posture when nobody was at the Table.
We were living at Arruppola.
I used to miss our last night bus to Arruppla.
We use get into a long distance bus and get down at the RAA Kaddie ( Toddy) Junction.
He waits until I finish clearing the top of the mountain.
Reason the Wild Cat comes after midnight to catch dogs and cats.
One day he showed me the beaming eyes of the fairly tall Wild Cat.
I used to carry a torch.
I did not believe it before.
He was so concerned about my well being.
He takes the next bus to Wattegama.
I managed to train a guy to play billiards at IMMI in Digana.
He was in charge of the Table but could not play. Most of the time I could not find a partner and there were only a few and most of the British and American guys have left because of the JVP threats.
I let him win the last game as a good sportsman but he had to earn it.
It went on for solid 2 hours. I spent 7 hours learning it and giving 2 hours for a new guy is not bad at all.
IMMI was closed and I collected all my Playing Gear.
Playing Cue
Jumper Cue
Sad part was my mother in law gave the Playing Cue to a Mason Bass when we were building our house on an anthill.
I did not make a fuss since there were no Billiard Tables left in the university.
These JVP student guys were using the Ballard Table as their Lunch Table.
That is the level of their sportsmanship of NPP/JVP combo.
Regarding Billiards, I have to make a reference to parallel batch mate veterinary surgeon Professor Kuruwita who was embroiled in a tussele with a agriculture guy who was many years junior over a snooker game. Both were drunk. To settle the dispute I proposed a foursome knowing I could could take the game easily. I calmed him down so that he could complement me. Of course, we won the game and I accompanied him to his university residence, quitely telling him that he has a problem with his drink. He developed a stroke and died within 2 years. I could not remeber his name but his name come from the scenic and difficult access to Adam's peak from Ratnapura. A little while ago I remembered the name to complete the Billard Saga.
He was involved in developing a paralysing and anaesthetizing pharmaceutical cocktail to calm aggressive elephants. I am not sure how successful he was. Suffice is to say few elephants were sacrificed in that process. If the animal falls due to excessive dose it causes compression of the lung on the side it falls compromising it breathing seriously and eventual death.
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