by

Dr. Pararasan Arulanantharn

I entered St. John's College from the feeder Tamil School at the other side of the gate where Mr Elaiyathamby, father of Dr. E. S. Thevasagayam, was the headmaster. Mangai (Mrs Muthiah) and Mr.J.A. Durairatnam were among my earliest teachers. I was to meet Mr Durairatnam later in the middle school, and finally as a neighbour at the time of his death. The Second World War was on at that time, and although life was quiet, there were blackouts, air raid precautions, sirens to alert, and search lights in the sky in case we were invaded by the Japanese. However, the first time I saw an aeroplane was at a carnival at St. Patrick's in 1942. There were shortages of commodities, especially books and paper. We used slates in the early classes and were given only three slim exercise books for the essential subjects. Consequenty, we had to learn more by memory, which was a sound investment for years to come. The pattern of food altered during this time due to a shortage of imported rice. Wheat became part of our daily life, and some of our traditional cereals like Varagu, Thinai disappeared from the diet.

I entered the main school in 1944. If my memory' serves me right, there were about 400 students, and Ceylon. had a population of six million. There was no free education at that time. English was the medium of instruction, with Tamil only as a subject I remember my lower school teachers like Miss Nagalingam (Mrs Sanders), Miss Handy (Mrs Eliezer) Mrs. B.T. Ponnudurai, Mr. L. W. D. Nalliah, Mr. Chinniah and Mr M S. Thambithurai. Mr. V.C. Canagaratnam was the Headmaster of the Lower School till he went to St .Patrick's.

The Middle School located at the site of the Peto Hall, had its own distinctive contribution with teachers like Mrs Doreen Keuneman (English), Mr S L Jansen who was also Bursar, Mr C H Gunawardene (Sinhalese), and Mr Sivapragasam, Vice Principal (General Science.) Mr J T Chelliah was my class master for three years and taught History and English. 'Kadavul' Subramaniam, as he was affectionately known, taught me not only Latin but about life itself. He represented for me all that was best in the Hindu way of life, which I deeply respect. In the Upper School Rev. R.V.L Pereira, taught Mathematics and Scripture; Mr.P.T. Mathai and Mr. E. A. Champion taught English. Mr. C.J. Eliathamby gave me the love for Tamil Literature. This list does not cover many others who moulded my life. I believe that knowledge is never wasted, and even subjects like Latin and British History, have been of use to me in later life.

In the sixth form we had great teachers: Messrs E.M. Ponnudurai and V.R. Amarasingam for Botany, A.S. Satya Narayan for Zoology, V.M.Matthews for Physics, and P. Devadasan for Chemistry. The excellence of the teachers was reflected in the results, in that in the year I joined the university, St.John's had the largest number of admissions from any one school for medical studies. There was co-education in the sixth form and the girls added colour to school life We enjoyed the Biology field trips from Keerimalai to Mathagal along the sea coast, to Elephant Pass, Chembianpattu, Nuwara 'Eliya, Peradeniya Gardens and Kandy. This trip to Kandy was at the time of the Queen's visit. We owe a deep sense of gratitude to our Indian teachers, mostly Malayalees who were dedicated and capable.

l was never good at games, but played a little paddle tennis and tennis. However, I was fascinated by Scouting. I read about it, worked for badges. and enjoyed the many trips to places like Keerimalai; the camps at Mandativu and Navatkuli; Old Park Rallies, and the Scout jamboree in Colombo at the time of Independence. I remember the many Scout Masters who gave of their spare time to enrich our lives: Messrs. H.C.Goodchild, J. A. Durairatnam. T. M. Mathai (who was also the Chief Scout of the District) L. Samararatne, and J G Aseervatham. Mr Aseervatham later entered the legal profession and became a Judge, and is currently living in Australia. I spoke to him recently and he told me that his days at St.John's were among the happiest in his life.

Miss Edith Kelk was the last of the British teachers at Chundikuli. She was the Akela in charge of the Wolf Cubs when I joined school. She was also the Choir Mistress in charge of the Chundikuli - St. Johns Choir in which I sang for nine years. We had weekly practices and sang at the evening and special services. Mrs. Dorothy Ferdinands was the accompanist; I remember Mr.C.H.Gunawardene and Mr .J R Ratnanayagam as two teachers who sang in the choir during my time. The Annual Carol Service was distinctive in style, opening with a chorale and ending with the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. Miss KeIk gave us a love of choral music which I retain to this day. Even as.I write this article I am preparing to sing in the Handel's Messiah with a choral society in Folkestone. While at St. Johns we also had a joint Festival of Carols held at the Town Hall, with all Christian Schools, both. Catholic and Protestant participating a show of unity ahead of time!

I recall the 125th Anniversary Celebrations in 194.8 with Dr A J Boyd of Madras Christian College as the Chief, Guest, and Mr A J R Vethavanam, the Manager, in the chair. I also had the privilege of participating in the 150th Ann iversary Celebrations as an Old Boy. I dearly wish to be able to .be in Jaffna for the 175th .

Our spriritual life at St John's was catered for with daily worship at school assemblies. On Sundays the Christians had chapel services with Holy Communion in the morning and evening Service during the school term. We had Sunday School and retreats at the Ashram at Maruthanamadam. Messrs. CH Gunawardene and E S Thevasagayam were among my teachers at Sunday School. When older, the senior boys had SCM meetings, usually preceded by breakfast, after the morning service.

Apart from our teachers there were so many dedicated people who made the school what it was. I remember Messrs. Kandiah who looked after accounts, Manuel Pillai at the office, Velu the Cook, Ponnampalam the peon Chinniah (Dr Kill) at the Sick Room, and many others too numerous to be listed here.

I can truly say that I have lived through a glorious period at St John's and many of my contemporaries would agree. This might seem like an over statement as my father was the Principal at that time! More particularly, it was a period of political stability with growth and enlargement of the school. It was a period of multi-racial tolerance with Burghers, Sinhalese, English, Ceylon Moors, Malayalees, Ceylon Tamils, Indian Tamils, Tamils from Malaya, with one each from Burma (Rev R V L Pererira), and Mauritius (Rev A E Thomas), both teachers and students, living as one family under God. Chauvinistic politics and hard times followed, and eventually war erupted on our beloved soil. St John's has survived. I admire the resilience of our People and the dedication of our staff I believe that as day follows night, peace will one day return to our land. I end with a couple of lines from the Centenary Hymn written by Rev W S Senior, revived at the time of the 125th Anniversary

"Who hath blessed will bless us still
'Heretofore' doth pledge 'hereafter'"