Reminiscences

by


J.T.Chelliah


"For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon the inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude."
Wordsworth

My first contact with and remembrance of St. John's College was in 1924 when just by chance I had the opportunity of going to that school. It was a very important occasion - the Centenary celebrations of the college. It was not by invitation but by chance that I went! The then Principal of Uduvil Girls' school where my mother was a teacher was invited to the celebrations. Since Uduvil was about four hours. journey by horse carriage from Chundikuli. by the time a person got home after evening function it would be very late. the Principal requested my mother to accompany her and I also joined the party. The Prize-Giving didn't interest me, a boy of eight years. But a novel item soon after on the playground captivated me - it was the Torch light Tattoo by the cadets. In the darkness all of a sudden rows of cadets came marching with lighted torches to the playground and later were weaving patterns as they marched with their torches. Never afterwards have I seen a Torchlight Tattoo put on by a school. This was something which I shall never forget. This was my first glimpse of the school that was to mean so much to me in the days to come. I longed for the day when I would join the school. This I did a couple of years later.

At the age of ten I joined the school as a boarder. I can't easily forget a frightening incident that happened then! The roof of Robert Williams Hall caught fire. This was the biggest hail in Jaffna town in the twenties and so was used for plays, meetings. lectures etc. There was no electricity in Jaffna and Petromax lamps worked by kerosene oil were used to light the hail. One night when the lamps were being lit for a drama the screens caught fire and it quickly spread to the roof. The top part of the roof was covered with cadjans while the lower areas had tiles. As it was the dry season the fire quickly spread along the roof. The boarders and the people living in the neighborhood rushed in to put out the fire before it spread to other parts of the school. Many who had been attracted by the flames lighting up the night sky had rushed in to help. They all worked into the early hours of the morning clearing and cleaning the mess caused by the fire. The four classrooms in the corners were ready for use the next morning. Rev. Henry Peto. the principal at the morning assembly held outside the hail thanked the students and friends, especially the Prefect Body and the boarders who had rendered invaluable service. It was only after that fire the whole roof of Williams Hall was covered with tiles. The scars caused by the fire could be seen in the wooden pews and the woodwork for some time. Later it had renovations which gave it a grander appearance as seen today.

The old dining hall and kitchen had been shifted further back to its present site to make room for a bigger playground. There was a well on the side of the earlier playground which had to be covered up. There is an interesting incident connected with this well. The kitchen helpers washed the used plates by the side of the well as it was near the dining hall. One morning it was found that all the plates left in the zinc tub for washing the previous night had found their way to the bottom of the well! Some pranksters had done it! It was a Friday and exeat weekend and the boarders were waiting for school to be over to rush home. The Principal. Rev. Henry Peto was informed and he came to the well and saw that all the plates were lying at the bottom of the well. He announced that unless the plates were brought out of the well the boarders couldn't go home! Our dreams of going home were dashed to the ground. But we had reckoned without our Sinhalese classmates in the boarding from the South. In those days there were many boys who came to St .John's from Vavuniya., Medawachiya and further South. They were all excellent swimmers. A number of them dived into the well bringing up the plates which were loaded into buckets to be pulled up. Within a short time all the plates had been brought out. The Principal came to the well and saw that all the plates were back in the tub. He announced that the boarders could go home for the weekend. There was loud cheering for the heroes who were. hauled up in buckets. The heroes were carried shoulder high in their wet clothes to their hostels. I specially remember two of our schoolmates who helped us - P.B.Madukande and T.B.M. Ekanayake. Ekanayake later held a top post in the government as the Commissioner for the Registration of Persons.

Another of those happy events of the bygone days was the inter collegiate football matches. There was no common J.S.S.A. grounds. The Police grounds on the Esplanade where later the Duraiyappah Stadium stood was the place where all inter-collegiate matches took place. There were no buses or vans to take the players to the grounds. Both players and we, their supporters walked to the grounds as a group with the teachers and the Principal bringing up the rear. There were no seats and the spectators had to stand behind the ropes. The performance of St.John's was outstanding. We won the football championship for three years in succession -1929,1930 and 1931 - under the able captaincy of C.T.E.Mills, the best player among the school boys. The return home to college after a victory was a different story. There was singing., clapping, hooting and cheering with the members of the team walking in front. When we came to the Seminary Gates of St. Partrick's College there was unusually loud cheering. We ended our victory march with an entry into the premises of Chundikuli Girls' College, our immediate neighbours. who always shared with us our victories. We go up to the Principal's bungalow when Miss. S.L.Page. the Principal will come out and acknowledge our cheering and congratulate us on our victory. Finally we march back tired to college before we disperse.

In those days the majority of students came for all matches to cheer our team. Those were the days when even boys in the lower classes knew the bigger boys. Every student was proud of the team players, the school, the teachers and the Principal. Perhaps that's why we are unable to forget certain incidents which happened long, long ago. No one will deny that schooldays are the most enjoyable days in one's life. Those days are gone, but the memory of that period lingers and in the words of the poet William Wordsworth:

"Bliss was in that dawn to be alive,
When to be young was very heaven."

I am happy to note that my first contact With St .John's in 1 923 has gone on for several years. for almost half a century, directly and indirectly. I am very proud of this association.

Starting as an uninvited guest at the Centenary celebration, then as an invited guest to the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary celebrations when the main iron gate donated by the late Dr. C. Kandiah was opened and ended my carreer in St. Johns as a member of the Staff after actively participating in the Ter Jubilee Celebrations in 1973, when the Henry Peto Memorial Hall was opened. I hope, I shall be able to make it for the 175th anniversary Celebrations in May 1998.

May St .Johns College continue from strength to strength. maintaining the high standards and the traditions set by the Founders one hundred and seventy five years ago.