Meditation on the passing of an era

The following obituary appeared in a Sri Lankan newspaper in October and it brought back a flood of memories.

BOYD MOSS M.R.P. MIKE Late Manager of Telbedee Estate, Badulla. Husband of Shelagh, father of Nicolla and Robin, father-in-law of Giovanni and Debs, grandfather of Paola Jemma James Chiri and Georgina, brother of Tony and John, passed away in Nairobi 16th October. Funeral 21st October P.O Box 14483, Nairobi, Kenya 00800. Service of Remembrance in Sri Lanka Saturday 24th October 6 p.m. Church of the Good Shepherd Jawatte Road, Thimbirigasyaya, Colombo 5.

After graduating from teachers college, my first job as an English teacher in 1972 was at Kandegolla Maha Vidyalaya, an overnight train journey from Colombo, in the remote hill country. The school was a 2 km. uphill trudge from the nearest bus stop. The villagers were subsistence farmers and craftsmen. Due to poverty, many students came to school on empty stomachs. I was young and didn't mind the hardship.

The area was dominated by Telbedde Estate, managed by Mike Boyd-Moss. He was, indisputably, the local monarch, but a benevolent "suddha" that people respected and were in awe of. I met him only once. I organized the school's first ever sports meet and needed his help for the cross country race, which would be run partly thru Telbedde Estate. I needed his permission as well as a support vehicle to follow the runners and pick up those stragglers. Lacking even a bicycle, I walked all the way to his office to request his help and he gracefully agreed. During the race, a van from the Estate followed the runners.

Mike, and other British planters like him, were clearly on their way out of Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister of the time, Mrs. Bandaranaike, who led a left-wing coalition government, had misguidedly nationalized tea plantations and the era of large plantations owned by companies such as BrookeBonds and Liptons were coming to an end. British planters were leaving Sri Lanka, mostly for East Africa where their expertise was welcome. More about that later.

The planters worked hard, played hard, and partied hard, too. Life on the estates was lonely, with children away at schools in Britain. They mostly played rough and tumble rugby and their clubs such as Uva, Dickoya, and Dimbula seem to be only a faint memory now. Many of these planters had been in Sri Lanka for generations. (My own great grandfather, grandfather, and father were also planters.) According to a short piece in The Island newspaper, Mike's brother John had been a planter at Downside Estate near Welimada. Another brother Tony was a planter at Luckyland Estate in Uda Pussellwa. Their parents had passed away (and are probably buried) in Banadrawela.

According to the article in The Island, Mike’s management on Telbedde had been legendary. Apart from his expertise in planting, he had sound engineering and management skills, too. He had been equally fluent in Sinhala and Tamil and apparetly spoke Sinhala without an accent. The newspaper called him an "elite band of Britisher" who loved Sri Lanka and contributed much to our economy and way of life with their enlightened managemnt of the vast estates that were their domain.

The obituary gives his last address as Nairobi, where he probably resided after his retirement from planting in Kenya. With the expertise gained in Sri Lanka, these planters gave a fillip to East African teas, which sometimes outperformed Sri Lankan teas in the world market. In place of British planters, Mrs. Bandaranaike's government appointed its stooges, including gramasevakas, bus drivers and bus conductors to manage these plantations. I saw first hand the consequences of the devastation caused by these appointees. When I visited my friend Brian Howie at Kataboola Estate in Nawalapitiya, he showed me where the previous "assistant manager" had done the cooking. It was in the living room, on a makeshift village hearth, with three large stones for support with firewood underneath. The previous occupant obviously didn't know how to use kitchen appliances. The whole bungalow was covered in soot. The furniture, carpets, and everything that could be moved had been carried off.



The British planters had their clubs and their churches. Driving through the hill country even today, we come across tiny churches nestling in the hills, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Now, the congregation probably consists of Christian Tamil staff of the surrounding tea estates.

Indeed, the passing of Mike Boyd-Moss is the passing of an era.

Visit to Yim Tin Tsai

A group of Sri Lankan friends recently visited Yim Tin Tsai, a small offshore island in Sai Kung. In the late 1800s, a number of Catholic missionaries arrived from Europe and began to evangelize in the Sai Kung and Tai Po areas. The small communities built churches and chapels (one still stands near the folk museum in Pak Tam Chung), and one of the most beautiful chapels is in Yim Tin Tasi, which is a 15-minute boat ride from the Sai Kung pier.

The island had been settled by the Chan's family some 300 years ago. "Yim Tin" means salt-pan and the villagers had lived on farming and salt-making. All the locals had gradually left (a common occurrence in the New Territories, which is sprinkled with "ghost" villages as a result).

According to records, the first missionaries, two Italians, had arrived in the island in 1864 and by 1875 all the islanders had been baptized. The chapel, dedicated to St. Joseph, was built by a German priest, Rev. Josef Freinademetz, in 1890. (He was ordained to sainthood by Pope John Paul II in 2003.) The islanders apparently led exemplary Christian lives and have produced two priests, Frs. Dominic Chan and Joachim Chan, and two nuns.

On the day we visited, the boat from Sai Kung was packed with about 15 children from a primary school in Tseung Kwon O, accompanied by two teachers who were taking them on a guided tour, and an elderly gentleman and a younger woman who may have been his daughter. I later saw this pair sweeping the grounds and cleaning up around the chapel.

As we arrived, we were greeted by a friendly man who appeared to be a descendant of the Chan's and probably the only resident of the island. He managed the charming "leisure kiosk" which offered noodles, snacks, Hakka dumplings, and, most importantly, cold beer. The day turned out to be rather hot for late October.

The charming "Leisure Kiosk"


These may have been the last homes inhabited by the villagers.


The beautiful chapel built in 1890 is dedicated to St. Joseph.


The immaculately maintained interior of the chapel

Prof. Malik Peiris from HKU, the only Sri Lankan Fellow of the Royal Society. Malik discovered the SARS virus.


The well-maintained graves

The chapel seen from a distance

The abandoned salt pans. Sal was made through evaporation of brackish water.

Through the marshes


A view of the pier. Sai Kung can be seen in the distance

Yim Tin Tsai, though only a short boat ride away, is a world apart from Sai Kung and fully worth a visit. I wondered why no one had thought of setting up a Bed & Breakfast there?

If you wish to visit, boats are available on Saturdays, Sundays, and Public Holidays from Sai Kung pier. The roundtrip fare is $35. Contact Colin 2791 6226. Thanks to ExploreSaikung for providing the contact.

After the boat trip, we stopped for lunch at "AJ"s Cuisine", the brand new Sri Lankan restaurant in Sai Kung (the only one in Hong Kong). The authentic Sri Lankan cuisine is highly recommended!

Teaching "Second Language Writing"

Where I sit, spending hour upon hour preparing for lectures

This, my penultimate semester at the Chinese University, I am teaching two courses in the MA program in Applied English Linguistics. The courses are taught from 6.30 to 9.15pm, not the best times for me. Being a long-term diabetic, my energy level is very low by late afternoon and exhausted by the end of class. But, I realize that teaching at the MA level where my students themselves are teachers has better long term effects than teaching undergraduates. My MA students may pick-up some effective teaching techniques which they might use in class and pass on to their students (the so called "trickle down" effect).

One of the courses is "Second Language Writing", which I hadn't taught in 5 years. My specialty is second language writing and this is a course I proposed and designed about 10 years ago. Among the four language skills--speaking, listening, reading, and writing--writing is the most neglected because of the assumption that learners become proficient in writing automatically, by a mysterious osmotic process, and therefore writing need not be taught. But the Americans changed all that, insisting that even native speakers of English needed to be taught how to write. When I first taught Freshman Writing at the U of Texas, I did not know how to teach writing and didn't fully trust that it could be taught. In the first few weeks, I walked into class with trepidation, lacking confidence and feeling like a fraud. As I taught writing to those eager American students, I, too, learned to write better. I went on to become a writing "specialist", with research and publications, including two textbooks, on writing.

Coming back to Hong Kong, most of my students are teachers in Hong Kong secondary schools, where the teaching is oriented to the HKCEE and the Advanced Level exams. Hong Kong classrooms have no time or patience with the process approach to writing because it is time consuming and cognitively demanding, and does not favor the rabid memorization that that passes for "education"in Hong Kong. The process approach came into fashion a good 35 years ago in the USA, but, in Hong Kong, it's still considered a novelty in many schools. So, in my course, I am winning the "hearts and minds" of my student-teachers, hoping to persuade them to adapt at least some of the features of the process approach in their teaching.

The last time I taught the course it was more or less stand and deliver, with quite a bit of discussion with students. But, now, the PowerPoint is king and I am compelled to prepare PP slides, spending about 15 - 20 hours of preparation on each lecture. But, this is time well spent because I am thinking again, and deeply, about the topics and learning to see them from new viewpoints.

Going by the electronic discussion among the students, some of them appear to have been converted. As we discuss topics such as teacher feedback, error correction, and peer reviews, the students contribute insights from their own practices as well as novel ideas that are pragmatic in the Hong Kong context. So, even after 40 years of teaching, I look forward to teaching this course. There's still some life left in this old teacher!

Construction at "Pondside"

With my retirement looming and the possibility of spending more time in Sri Lanka, the idea came to me in August that "Pondside" needed some expansion. So I thought of expanding one of the 12' X 12' bedrooms in to 18' X 24", expanding the small kitchen, and adding another toilet.

When I talked to my cousin Krisantha, who is a master carpenter and also undertakes small-scale construction jobs, he offhandedly quoted Rs. 1.5 million (about US$15,000) for the project. At that time, I laughed it off because it seemed hideously exaggerated. In 1997, when a new house was built at "Pondside" along with fencing and a bund along the pond, the entire cost was only Rs. 800,000.



View from the front. The existing house is to the right.


View of the extended kitchen. The new toilet is to the right.



The expanded bedroom. It extends towards the pond.

But, as I have written before, I am one of the less affluent people in Boralessa village. Many villagers live and work in Italy and they visit the village about once a year to throw their money around to have small palaces built. The masons, carpenters, and electricians pander to their whims and fancies and these constructions cost enormous sums. So, in some ways, I am a victim of the affluence.

To be fair, all building materials have skyrocketed in price. Cement, sand, bricks, and granite are unimaginably expensive now.

As the photos show, the work is proceeding on schedule but the cost is also rising. Soon, the Rs. 15M mark will be met. By how much will the original estimate be exceeded? I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Prof. Charles Kao wins Nobel Prize for Physics

Prof. Kao with his wife Wong May-wan (Photo from SCMP)

On October 27, 2008, I wrote on this blog about Prof. Kao, the former VC of the Chinese University. I had met him and his wife at the University Health Center and remembered his shy, unassuming manner amidst the black suited, pompous bureaucrats of the university.

The blog entry was not because he had been CUHK's Vice Chancellor but because Asiaweek magazine had named him one of the six Asians of the Century, the only living receipient among the six.

I am copying the following extract from my blog dated 27/10/08.

[In 2000, Asiaweek magazine chose the 6 Asians of the 20th century who by their life and work contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the previous 100 years. The recipients were Politics and Government Deng Xiaoping (China); Business and Economics Sony founder Morita Akio (Japan); Arts, Literature and Culture Film director Kurosawa Akira (Japan); Science and Technology Charles K. Kao (China/U.S.); Moral and Spiritual Leadership Mohandas K. Gandhi (India) [The Asian of the Century was also Gandhi.]

Even at that time, Prof. Kao was the only living recipient of this rare honour. Asiaweek's citation read: Charles K. Kao. In 1966, Kao, then working in London, laid out the theoretical basis for the practical use of lasers and glass fibers in communications networks. He further established how to make optical fibers, how to connect them to lasers and how to join lengths together. Today optical fibers carry 80% [this was in 2000] of global long-distance telecommunications traffic, bringing the far corners of the world closer together and accelerating the arrival of the networked future. ]

Now, the Nobel Committee has finally recognized Prof. Kao. BBC and CNN of course call him an American but he belongs to Hong Kong. As I wrote last time, we should remember Prof. Kao each time we log on to the Internet. No one deserved the Nobel Prize more.

Here & there in Sri Lanka

Sister Maris Stella and Sister Maria with Fawzia


Sri Lankans, Buddhists and Christans alike, give alms in memory of their loved ones. These "alms givings" can turn into eating orgies with hundreds of relatives and friends being invited home to eat till they burst. The activity is supposed to bring merit to the departed family members. Feeding the hungry and homeless may have some merit but feeding those who already have enough and more to eat, to me, is a waste of effort.


So, for the past 30 years or so, instead holding "alms givings", our family has provided meals for the indigent at St. Joseph's Home for the Elders at Lansigama, on the Colombo Chilaw road. So, we made another trip to the elders home to give a donation in memory of my father who passed away in July. The home takes care of 150 elders, both men and women, and is run by Catholic nuns. Each time we visit, Sr. Stella Maris and Sr. Maria greet us. The former is Sri Lankan and the latter is Italian. She may be one of the last of the "nursing nuns" who served in Sri Lankan hospitals before they were asked to leave by the chavanist Prime Minister Bandaranaike in 1957. Sr. Maria is now frail but labours on at the home. Considering the many elderly people in Sri Lanka who are neglected by their families, the men and women at Lansigama are fortunate. Catholic nuns are a disappearing breed but I do see novice nuns at Lansigama, which is a sign that the home will continue for the forseeable future.





My cousin Marie had been wanting to visit the musician Victor Ratnayake for some time, so we went to Victors house in August carrying some Sri Lankan sweets made by Marie. Victor was ever the amiable host and his son Lelum was also home that day. Lelum is a drummer who plays with Western bands. Victor's older son is also a musician.











We own a house in Kandy but last year, on an impulse, Fawzia bought another house at Digana, 14kms from Kandy. I strongly opposed the purchase but in retrospect I realize that Fawzia at least saved some money by investing in a house. She can sell it some day and have a nest egg for retirement. The house is small, only about 800 sq.ft. but it's in the Victoria Development and is well managed. The weather was cool while we were there and, thankfully, no mosquitoes were around.














Sheriff on the balcony of his son's house. The Hunnasgiriya hills are in the background. But the house is so isolated that, other than watching TV and occasionally visiting his other sons, Sheriff doesn't have much to do.











Sheriff with son Feroze and daughter-in-law









1983 in the Sultanate of Oman. Swarna is seated with Fawzia. The kid is Roy, about 10 years at that time.


While at Digana, we visit Tom Sheriffdeen, an old friend. We came to know Sheriff in 1983 when we were teaching in the Sultanate of Oman. Sheriff and his wife Swarna (a doctor) befriended us when we most needed their help. Roy had fallen ill and we felt helpless not knowing the hospital system to seek specialist help.


We have remained friends since then and renewed our friendship when they immigrated to the USA in the early 1990s. But the marriage didn't last. Sheriff fell on hard times and his health deteriorated. He has now returned to Sri Lanka to live with one of his sons, Feroze. The attention of his children appear to have revived him because Sheriff appears to be in good health now. Feroze had invested a huge amount of money in building a massive house in the middle of nowhere (it took me more than 30 minutes to drive the 3 km. to the house on a very bad road) and has lost his job and most of his savings. But they remain cheerful and we were glad to see an old friend.

We took a quick trip to Bellwood Farm, especially to revive the spirits of the caretaker Sarath. My brother-in-law Hamlin is a part owner of Bellwood but due to the economic downturn has been unable to invest much in developing the Farm. (Hamlin works in Dubai which has been hit badly.) So Sarath was glad to see us. We talked about getting some cows back to Bellwood and also about tapping the clear spring that runs through the land to start a water bottling plant.

Again, we saw how bad the roads were. We did not risk the car on the final leg of the journey from Galaha town to Bellwood. Instead, we hired a three-wheeler (A "Tuk Tuk") which can better cope with the potholes and the narrow road.

The cow we bought last year for Mangalika Estate had given birth. But her udders were dry which meant no milk for the four children who live on the Estate

We also visited Mangalika Estate in Chilaw bearing gifts. Chandare and Seelawathie, the husband and wife team that looks after the property, are taking care of the two children of their daughter who is away in the Saudi Arabia working as a housemaid. (Her life recently has been a disaster. Separated from her husband, she has been drifting from job-to-job and from one man to another, and, after being terminated from her job in Saudi, she is living there illegally and can't send any money to her parents to support the two children. Such is the plight of the Sri Lankan poor.)

The older child, a girl, had attained puberty, and in Sri Lanka this is an occasion to celebrate. So Fawzia gifted her a pair of gold earrings.

The four children at Mangalika Estate. The younger children of Chandare and Seelawathie are on Fawzia's left. The grandchildren are on her right.

The house at "Pondside" was built in 1997 and it's only about 800 sq. ft. We needed more space so planned to extend the kitchen and enlarge one room. The work started in August and is going on. The photo shows the main mason Pryantha laying the "foundation stone" to the new construction.

The boiling of milk and the serving of milk rice is part of the tradition of house construction in Sri Lanka. Fawzia is boiling some milk here. The man on the left is Beaula's husband (my brother-in-law) Ranji, who too has returned to Sri Lanka from the USA because of his health. The man in the center is Krisantha, my cousin, who is a master carpenter and is in overall charge of the house construction.

Fawzia spent about two month at "Pondside" and I joined her for about two weeks in August. During this period, Prasanna resumed his physical abuse of Padma, his wife, who has appeared on this blogsite previously. So I asked Prasanna to leave. We put Padma in charge of the house, began to pay her a salary instead of to Prasanna, and built her a chicken shed and bought her some chickens so that she would have an independent income. However, two weeks after we returned to Hong Kong, we were told that Prasanna had persuaded Padma to leave "Pondside"and move with him to a rented house. The abuse will start again. Such is the plight of some women who are unable to tear themselves away from abusive relationships. We'll miss Padma's great cooking.

Visit to Polonnaruwa 1

Statue of King Parakramabahu the Great

In early August, my sister Beaula, Fawzia and I made a trip to the Cultural Triangle in the north-central region of Sri Lanka. We stopped over at Namala, the small eco-resort of which Fawzia and I are shareholders (and about which I wrote ladst year), and did an overnight trip to Polonnaruwa, one of Sri Lanka's ancient capitals. The drive from Dambulla, where Namala is sitiauted, to Polonnaruwa is one of the most enjoyable in Sri Lanka because it passes through forest reserves inhabited by some of the largest remaining herds of wild elephants in the country, rice fields, and tanks (artificial reservoirs built by Sri Lankan kings). The 60 km drive was even more enjoyable because the road had been recently renovated, was smooth (without the usual potholes!) and the traffic was sparse.

Polonnaruwa, being in the dry zone, is hot and compared to more salubrious Kandy (Sri Lanka's last kingdom) isn't particularly hospitable, but it must have been a hive of activity in the middle of the 12th century when, as the capital of Sri Lanka, it was ruled by Parkaramabahu. The ancient ruins are relatively well preserved and the entire city is a tribute to the king, his presence felt everywhere. His achievements were so magnificent that he is the only Sri Lankan to have the suffix "Great" after his name.

We began at the local museum, which, though impressive by Sri Lankan standards, could definitely see some improvement. The air conditioning had broken down and it was stifling inside. August being a holiday month for schools, the museum was swarming with schoolchildren. We were glad to see that some of the children were from Tamil schools, a sign that the Tamils felt safe to travel in areas that were predominantly Sinhalese. The LTTE (Tamil Tigers) had been defeated only in May.

We began our tour with a visit to the statue of the King (seen at the top of this posting), overlooking the Parakrama Samudra, the great irrigation tank he built. Polonnaruwa had been without rain for many months and the area was dusty, the earth parched. Knowing that we had a hot day ahead, we did not linger long at the statue. The King is shown bare chested and no wonder! The heat would have been intolerable for the full regalia.

Parākramabāhu the reigned from 1153–1186. During this period, he unified the three smaller kingdoms of Sri Lanka. He expanded and beautified Polonnaruwa, constructed extensive irrigation systems, reorganized the country's army, reformed Buddhist practices, encouraged the arts and undertook military campaigns in southern India and Burma. The statement "not even a little water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man" is one of his most famous utterances, which takes greater resonance in Sri Lanka's parched dry zone. Perhaps his most impressive contribution is the construction of Parkarama Samudra ("sea"), a large reservoir still providing water to rice fields. It's surface area is 22,600,000 m2 and the maximum depth is about 13 meters. More about this in the next posting.

Beaula and Fawzia among the ruins


History records that Parakramabahu made the Royal Court a hub of cultural activity, attracting young nobles skilled in various arts such as riding elephants or horses, swordsmanship, proficiency in foreign languages, in dance and music. Sri Lanka, given its geographical position, had always been at the junction of several major trade routes, and the king promoted commerce. He reformed the Buddhist priesthood, and supported about 3,000 Buddhist monks within the city.

The remains of the King's palace

The pond where the King and hos consorts bathed

A canal flowing from the Parakrama Samudra. We saw many people bathing there and were tempted to join them, the day being hot.

The Council Chamber where the King held court

Another view of the Council Chamber

A building in the palace compound under renovations

A sacred tooth of the Buddha is one of the most cherished possessions of Sri Lankan Buddhists. It was kept for veneration wherever the King resided. This is the Temple of the Tooth built by Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa. The current Temple of the Tooth is in Kandy because that's where the last King of Sri Lanka reigned.

An elaborately carved moonstone, which lies at the foot of the Temple of the Tooth. A testimony to the flowering of the arts under the King.

A beautifully carved statue of the seated Buddha at the Temple of the Tooth, also known as the Vatadage.

This Hindu temple, still in use today, is evidence of the presence of Tamils among the population of Polonnaruwa.

A closer view of the Hindu temple.

The remains of a broad boundary wall that ran around the city of Polonnaruwa

Parakramabahu built many dagabos, places of worship for Buddhists

The cells of monks. The foundation and the support columns were built of granite and they still stand.

The massive Lankatilleke Viharaya (temple) housing a standing Buddha statue

Monkeys appear to be the only permanent residents of the ruins

Another huge dagoba. Parakramabahu built many of these.

An ancient toilet. The plumbing was futuristic!

More cells of monks

For me, the Gal Vihare ('The Stone Shrine'") is the high point of the visit. It features three statues of the Buddha in three different poses carved from the same large rock. It's probably one of the most imposing yet serene Buddha statues in existence and a tribute to the master craftsmen of the period, who may have worked with crude instruments to carve out the magnificent statue. One could sit and gaze at the statues for hours.