By

Dr.Suresh Cauagarajah

My final year at St.John's was quite significant in the history of the college. This was the year in which the principalship changed hands. Mr. ,Anandarajan took over the baton from Mr.Pooranampillai. While one was part of the old British tradition-in educational background and professional training - the other was part of the emerging nationalistic tradition. (As I recollect, Mr.Anandarajan was the first to hold school assemblies in Tamil and wear a dress approximating the "national" for. public occasions in place of the formal suit. At least for me, this transition marked the change in our cultural environment where the Anglo/Christian values were increasingly questioned in the Jaffna society. This was also a time when violence engulfed our previously sheltered and serene school life. In fact, Principal Anandarajan was himself to tragically lose his life within a few years of assuming office. All this constituted a grim benediction for me as I left school into the frightening world outside. I have since wondered whether the school provided us the proper foundation to cope with the changing environment beyond its walls.

It s not hard to guess the enduring conflict for the Johnian. bred in a Christian school with a reputation for impeccable English education, are we being groomed into a culture that is alien to the interests and values of our community? Acquiring the trappings of an elitist bilingual middle class, are we joining a small coterie of 'strangers in their own land"? Are we being schooled into a colonized mentality that is oblivious to the changes around us? The more I think of my school days the more I realize that the Johnian tradition is based on a more complex vision.

The ways in which we were trained to cope with a cosmopolitan/western lifestyle are amusing. The annual GCE/AL dinner required a lot of preparation. It is interesting to think that this was one way in which we were inducted into the formal dining traditions of the West. Many a student who has gone to Oxford and Cambridge to dine in the ancient halls of their colleges would have appreciated the training they received at school. Among other pleasant arrangements of inviting the guests, organizing the seating (those who were friendly with the President of the AL Union got to sit next to the invitees from the Girls' colleges!), preparing the menu, and decorating the halls, the most arduous was learning how to use the cutlery. But Principal Pooranampilliai didn't leave such details unattended. He would call an assembly for all the students the previous afternoon and show which hand holds what. The mock dinner we had, complete with the drinking of the toast. didn't save us fully from some embarrassing moments the next night. There was the music of the forks and spoons hitting the plate with various levels of intensity. Some of the recalcitrant pieces of the meat would flip into the neighbor's plate. Some students would be taken up with the desire to enjoy the food that they would lay aside their cutlery, grab the chicken thigh with their bare hands,, and eat voraciously as their patience had reached its limits. Of course, we used to hear about AL dinners in rural schools constituting a vegetarian fare in banana leaves and eaten with fingers. There was one side of us which preferred the symbolic value of practicing our indigenous culture and the convenience of eating in a manner we were used to. But we eventually preferred the thrill of doing something different, pretending for a moment to be Europeanized folk in bows and ties following strange customs.

Another extra-curricular activity that gave us much pleasure was the year-end Festival of Carols with our sister school Chundikuli. This was not just a church event - it was a school event with the prefects and teachers taking part irrespective of their religious affiliation. The preparation started months ahead. The fact that the choristers were excused from the last few periods of the day for practice no doubt motivated many a student to become a singer. That the practices were held at Chundikuli Girls' College was additional motivation. Many romantic affairs had their birth during these practices - although they wouldn't survive beyond the long Christmas vacation. The carol service was followed by a dinner for all the choristers. The dinner was an elaborate affair which included games and singing. (Thankfully, this was not a formal dinner where we had to use cutlery.) The most memorable of these events was the year in which all the boys dressed in verti for the dinner. After having to sing in uniform and tie during the service this was a dramatic change of costume. This was not motivated purely by a nationalistic sentiment. Some boys considered the deliberately unsophisticated attire a way of insulting the eager girls. But the whole evening was too tormenting for some of us - with vehis coming down during the games and at other embarrassing moments when we were trying to impress our female companions - that this "tradition" was not continued ever after. Many simply preferred to enjoy the chicken curry rather than go through the anxiety of seeing themselves suddenly bereft of their clothes. Despite all the fun arid frolic, the singing was no doubt of good quality. SLBC in fact broadcast one of our carol services over the national airwaves. All this contributed to a spirit-filled Christmas and community feeling that I haven't experienced in the Christmases since my student days. But the Christian tradition of St. Johns also had a healthy respect for other religions and cultures. In fact, during my school days, I learnt about the immense contributions missionaries had done for the development of Tamil language and culture, even as some overzealous colonial officers denigrated the vernacular. So the Saraswati Pooja was always a memorable event in the calendar of the school. This was another occasion for planning, celebration, and feasting. The now demolished Veerasingham hall was a favorite venue for the pooja. Once again, the whole school participated in this event. With classical music, florid speeches. and tasty 'prasatham" it was more of cultural rather than religious significance. (There were of course some fundamentalist. Christian students who refused to eat the "pukkai' arguing that this had been offered to an idol: others adopted St. Paul's sober attitude that it was not the food but your beliefs and convictions that concerned one's spirituality.) But the festival has continued to fascinate me as embodying a unique cultural feature of the Tamil community. Years later, teaching students as diverse as Spanish, Blacks, Chinese, or Anglo-Americans in the United States, I would describe festivals such as this as examples of how our community held a high place for learning - tantamount to worshipping education! No doubt. such events cultivated the commitment to learning that we as Taniils possess.

Studying in a Christian school didn't mean that we were brought up with a closed mind. Christianity itself boasts of a radical streak nourishing a concern for justice, equality, and individual rights. This is the Judaic-Christian tradition that inspired those like Karl Marx to fight for the downtrodden (though he never acknowledged this influence.) During school days we had many young chaplains, straight from theological college at Pilimatalawa, coming to us with sermons of fire and zeal. These charismatic priests were idolized by students as we visited them after school to talk about our personal problems or pose profound philosophical questions.

When I look back at my life at St.John's, I can now appreciate the balanced educational foundation that was provided. We were open to the radical changes of our time, while holding on to eternal values of spirituality, morality, and truth. We were made competent to deal with the cosmopolitan cultures of the outside world, while rooted in our indigenous Tamil cultural practices. We were made sensitive to the desires and aspirations of our community, without losing our ability to think critically and adopt an independent point of view. Notwithstanding its sometimes chauvinistic tendencies in the history of our nation, the Christian tradition possesses the potential to provide a balanced and rounded educational development (as displayed through generations of Johnians.) At a time of political crisis and cultural confusion all around us, there is a need for St. John's to do what it has. been doing for the past 175 years with even greater confidence and courage.