Peradeniya Continues to Charm

"It's a beautiful day", a passer-by greeted me.  I nodded in agreement but started to wonder what was so special about this day.  It was Fall 1980, College Station, Texas.  I was new in town, just have come from Peradeniya, which was home to me for about six years prior to it.

I have spent 21 years at five Universities in four countries, as a student, Assistant Lecturer, research-associate, Professor, Head of the Department, Director and Dean.  I think my life as a student at Peradeniya was the best, it was full of life in the most beautiful environment.  I was naive,young, but equally wanted to be someone important.  Must be the age.  Being a residential campus, Peradeniya helped forming bonds and relationships - not just with fellow students and Professors, but also with the place itself.  This University is modeled after University of Cambridge, and I agree, Cambridge is beautiful (in Summer) and its buildings are far more majestic than what Peradeniya has.

But the hills of Peradeniya are more beautiful, and River Cam is no match to River Mahaweli, which dissects Peradeniya Campus.  Galaha Road is the main artery.  Most of the residential Halls are on both sides of this road, placed at the valley bottom, or the gentle slopes of the hill.  So, are Colleges (we called them Faculty) of Medicine, Agriculture, Science and Arts, the Senate and the Library.  Not to be missed are the Arts Theater, where 'art' movies are filmed periodically, and the open air theater.  I have seen amphitheaters , mostly ruins of them, in Italy and Jordan.  The one at Peradeniya is much smaller but natural.  Existing hill-slope is made into tiers of seats in an arc formation, and the stage is at the lowest but center-point of the arc.  Shade is provided by those huge trees with flowering wines crawling on them.  When the breeze comes, these trees and wines shed flowers, mesmerizing those around.

As you walk through Galaha Road, in addition to Residential Halls, Faculties and Administration buildings, you will sight places for worship, for Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus.  If you are game enough to climb up the hill then there are churches of different denominations.  Along the hill slopes, there's always a man or a woman cutting grass for fodder, they swing the cutting blade in a rhythm, that cuts the grass at a constant height from ground.  Human Mowers, I guess.  They are from the villages around, do not get in the way of University students and their lives, but add color to the landscape.

Combination of residences with Colleges on Galaha Road, ensured steady traffic of young - boys and girls - at day light and twilight hours.  Almost everyone walked everywhere.  The slopes are not suited for bicycles, and motorcycles and scooters were beyond reach of almost everyone.These parading groups of girls, full of colors - skirts and blouses, and saris (only the Tamil ones at the Faculty of Arts had to wear it - not sure why such a requirement - although I have no complaints), were a treat to the eyes.  Yeah, there were boys too - but invisible to me most of the time, except of course, they were joined with their girlfriends, strolling along the lovers lane.  When it rains, both get into a small umbrella, cover their heads, and bodies touch-and-go, and their backs soaked in water.  Well, if this is not romantic, I wonder what else could be.

I returned to Peradeniya in 2010, the place still remains absolutely wonderful.  Very few new buildings along Galaha Road, but boys and girls, trees and shades all remain the same.  Although I have heard of difficult times and horrible stories at Peradeniya during JVP times, I did not see any evidences of it.  I suspect that the Hindu student population must have gone down since the seventies, but, the Hindu temple looks new, well taken care of by the generous Indian business men in Kandy.   I visited some of my friends who are Professors there now, living on University Houses within the campus.  All I could think of was that these houses are built within gardens - not a garden in front of the house.  It's just green everywhere.  For some reason I felt that there are more monkeys than what I could remember, and those grass cutters must have found better sources of income - hill slopes are now full of bushes.

I understood why it was a beautiful day in College Station, as I lived there for six years, that means six summers.  Winters are livable, Fall and Spring are OK.   But at Peradeniya, everyday remains beautiful, and it keeps on charming me!

Graduation from BPL to LMC

Just in case if you wonder what these are, BPL, Below Poverty Line, LMC, Lower Middle Class.

Yesterday I was in a village in Bihar, named Mukundpur.  For historians Bihar is Magatha, the State where Maurya Dynasty flourished - Chandra Maurya and Asoka came from here.  For the political strategists  this is the land of Chanakya.  For Hindus, it is the state where Varanasi and Gaya are (where Rama did final rites for his father on his way to exile), for 300 million Buddhists around the world, Budh Gaya, where Lord Buddha attained Nirvana and for educationists this is the home of Nalanda, the first University town in the world.

Bihar is one of the poorest Indian states, despite the presence of mighty Ganga, abundant but seasonal rainfall and vast alluvial plains.  It is home for 104 million people - some of the best and brightest IAS officers come from here, but there are villages,one after the other, where 100% of the population is below poverty line.  Some suspect the statistics - people under report their income to receive some benefit from the Government, but it is largely poor.  During the recent 7 years a new CM is making a difference, but, it will take time.  Previous ones largely plundered the state coffers and thrived in chaos.

I was in the house of a Village Group Leader which reminded me of our home in Jaffna when I was a kid.  I sat on a broken, old, but, a strong chair in a veranda.  Must have been a very good wooden chair some years ago.  The veranda floor was polished with cow dung, roof was supported by wooden pillars about three meters apart.  Roof was not high enough, so, one need to bend to get in.  The way I remember things at our ancestral home in Jaffna.

This village head lives under BPL, that will make my family living under BPL some 50 years ago.

As I grew up, we graduated from BPL to LMC.  The mud floor was cemented, roof was lifted, and half walls were built around the veranda.  Still, we did not have a lot of clothes, food was often very basic, fish once a week, chicken once a month, and on festival days, mutton once or twice a year.  My elders were better disciplined as Hindus, and vegetarian food was the norm for about three to four days a week.  When fish,chicken or mutton was not on, we as kids could expect half of a omelette for one of the three meals.   Still family debt grew, I frequented pawn shops and banks to pawn family jewelry, and for most part of my young life, our family home was mortgaged.  To me this was LMC.

The experience as a LMC kid has permanent marks in me.  Despite making a good income, I am comfortable when I do things the way I did many years ago.  Walking, biking and busing are fine, and being in a sarong without a shirt at home is pretty cool for me.  I enjoy a one dollar dinner often, and occasionally, I have had two hundred dollar dinners.  One exception is whiskey, I prefer a deluxe one over  ordinaries, may be because, I never had alcohol when I was LMC.

I am  very natural when I deal with LMC in India or elsewhere, often to the surprise of my hosts.  They expect an expat to be somewhat different.  The BPL/LMC attitude is still within me and I feel very good about it.