Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Male and Female, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

This couple frequents our garden at Avissawella, Sri Lanka. They come to eat the termites building their nest on an earth embankment. I took the following rather blurred video of the female yawning and stretching her limbs like any bored human being. Please click on the web addresses below to see the two separate videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcb1w5kYK3g

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=som3Cn9Q74s

Christmas in Ceylon of the 1930s.

CAN YOU REMEMBER THESE DAYS.  THEY WERE SUPERB.  WHAT FUN WE HAD GETTING PREPARED FOR CHRISTMAS.  FORGOTTON DAYS 

Christmas in the good old days

 

By Noel Crusz

 

Here I am on the ocean liner THE PACIFIC SKY in the Coral Sea on a

pre-Christmas voyage from Sydney to New Caledonia.

The memories of how we celebrated Christmas in Sri Lanka come back.

The house was painted, the walls white-washed with low black tar edgings

all round the rooms and the chairs were re-cushioned. The travelling

tailor came home, measured the rooms, and made the curtains on our old

Singer sewing machine.

Red Mansion polish was applied on the cement floor, which got a shine from

a heavy handled brush. Cake making was a ritual, where my mother laid the

rules and we offered to help. We ate a good many cadjunuts and raisins

when no one was looking. There was the wooden ice-box with sawdust and a

heavy metal covering for slabs of ice.

Two weeks before Christmas the children were taken in a hired car to

Pettah's Main Street. The well known shoe store was T.G.M. Perera's and we

were fitted with the best shoes. Even Jamaliya's Shoe Store in Wellawatta

took in orders for boots, the teenage fashion of the thirties.

Before World War II, there was Ono & Co. This Japanese toy shop owned by a

Mr. Numano had a wonderful array of toys from Japan.

The Main Street tailor measured us, as we provided China silk for our

shirts. The silk of course was bought in early November from the Chinese

peddlars who plied their trade on bicycles. Some of the Chinamen carried

their bundles on their back, with a heavy stick for balance. Main Street

in Pettah in the early thirties was very narrow. It had to cope with the

tram lines and bullock carts.

Our Christmas shopping included a visit to X.P. Paivas for lunch and ice

cream. Round the corner was The Rupee Store, where for one rupee you could

buy many things.

Millers, Cargills, Simes and Whiteaways dominated the Fort shopping. We

went to Hunters and Siedles and The Roche Brothers shops for many items.

I cannot forget the shopping in the golden mile of Colpetty, Bambalapitiya

and Wellawatta. The Wickremesinghe Brothers headed by George imported the

famous Mende Radiograms from Germany.

We cannot forget the well known shops in Wellawatta: M.P. Gomez, A.W.

Jansz, J.B. De Pinto, Nooranis, Jamaliya's Boot Works and many famous

boutiques. As a boy I went with my father to A.W. Jansz's store near High

Street. We bought Dutch Edam Cheese, as an accompaniment for the Christmas

breudher. I still remember Jansz bellowing to a tardy salesman: "What are

you standing there shooting 'papaws'! Jansz sold liquor and all types of

hardware. We bought wire-netting to build chicken coops.

The shopping spree in Colombo included a visit to Pilawoos for a treat of

buriyani. Elephant House played a significant part in booking Christmas

cakes. Yet there was one last item that was in the shopping list:

Fireworks. We gazed in wonder at the array of fireworks in the Fireworks

Palace opposite the Fort Railway Station. Sparklers, Roman candles, sky

rockets, Catherine wheels, squibs, crackers of every size were there in

the showcase.

Christmas was on. The cake was made and sent to the bakery. The servants

were pounding and roasting, making string hoppers and pittu, cutting up

A.W. Jansz ham, with cutlets and seeni sambol.

Churches saw long queues at the Confessional. I remember well the Allied

troops celebrating Christmas in Ceylon. In the Seminary in St. Francis

Zavier in Bambalapitiya, the African troops came for Midnight Mass. In

Bandarawela, the Italian prisoners of war, brought tears when they sang

the Adeste Fideles.

As I look out now at a placid sea, the Christmas memories for an

expatriate find no sequence. There were Christmas trees from up-country

estates sent by train. Carol parties on Christmas Eve went about in

lorries. Arthur Van Langenberg helped me to stage a massive Christmas

pageant on Christmas Eve at St. Lucia's Cathedral Square in Kotahena.

There were hundreds in the cast.

The beautiful teenager Camille Cramer played Mary, as she was seated

astride on a real donkey, led by a young doctor, who played Joseph. As

Gerry Paul hit the Police drums, the donkey took off, with Joseph clinging

to its tail, and the audience, including Mary in ripples of laughter.

As midnight came, there were a never-ending sound of fireworks and sky

rockets, that would surely have awoken the Christ Child. Carol parties

came to the doorstep at Kotahena after Midnight Service the famous Colombo

Chetty Choir Conducted by Mr Joe Perumal.

Of course the homes saw families sitting for a feast of string hoppers,

ham, breudher, cheese, mulligatany and cake. There were presents near the

family Christmas tree.

The postman, the dhoby, the baker, the fishmonger were the regular

Christmas early birds. They all got cash, plus a tot of arrack.

As children we waited eagerly for the Sakkili Band. These were the poor

men and women who carried the night soil buckets, before the water closet

and drainage era. Many householders were generous in the cash tips they

gave them. An extra pint of arrack helped them in their dance! The famous

Kukul Charlie also made his trek down all the lanes. Those were the days

when Donovan Andree dominated and enriched the local entertainment scene.

Donovan brought down the Ice Follies.

Soon night came once more. We lit our fireworks, saw the servants lighting

the big Roman candles and sky rockets. The radio blasted yuletide

melodies.

As my ship went on its voyage, I was dreaming not of a 'White Christmas',

but of the Christmases I spent in Sri Lanka. Nowhere in the world did I

ever experience Christmas, as the Ceylonese prepare and enjoy it. I can

still hear the hustle and bustle in Pettah, the cries of the street

vendors and the pavement hawkers. The wailing of the mamma-pappa balloon,

the rattle of the toy-carts, and the delicacies from the gram sellers are

unforgettable.

An Aussie Christmas is pea-nuts compared to a Christmas in Ceylon. I do

not wonder why my parents christened me Noel, and my sister Noeline.

I am reminded of J.P. de Fonseka who gave lustre to Christmas writing. He

edited the Christmas issue of St. Mary's Parish bulletin in Bambalapitiya.

He wrote: "St. Thomas Aquinas theology avoids the Christmas cake and wine

and toys and crackers and family reunions of children and parents... He

considers the mystery of the GOD man, without whom the Christmas wines

rejoice not and the crackers crack in vain."

[IMAGE]

Be Proud To Be A Sri Lankan

 

The beauty of a female figure, Kelany Vihare, Sri Lanka.

A female figure in the Tivanka - three curves posture, carved on the outer aspect of the wall in the sanctum at Kelaniya Vihare, Sri Lanka. Can you see the whimsical smile on the face looking down at the watcher. To me it seems to surpass the enigmatic smile on the face of the famous 'Mona Lisa' of Da Vinci.

Figurines in a niche on the outer side of the wall at the Kelanya Vihare, Sri Lanka.

Statues representing two figures carrying a 'pun kalasa' - S, 'Nirai Kudam' - T.

Garden blooms of 'Fairy Bells' for Christmas, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

I took this photo in our garden at Avissawella, Sri Lanka, a day before Christmas 2011.

Brown-headed Barbet, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

The rather noisy Brown-headed Barbet (Polos Kottoruws - S, Kukkuruwan - T) seen eating unripe black-pepper berries. The Barbet makes a loud cry in the vicinity before it descends to quietly partake of its meal. It is rather a shy bird and flies away if disturbed. I took this photo in our garden at Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

New variety of coconut trees, Sri Lanka.

 

 My friend Capt. Jermyn Fernando got me five saplings of a new variety of coconut produced by the Coconut Research Board, Sri Lanka . The CRI claimed that they would produce fruits within five years and five trees would provide all the coconut needed for an average household for an year. I have a bee-hive in our garden. I have seen the bees pollinating the flowers of the tree. They produced fruits in abundance three years after planting. The bunches are so heavy that one of them broke off from the tree. We drank the contents of the  fallen fruits in its 'Kurumba' stage. We have now put additional supports for the heavy bunches of coconuts. My wife says that it was the 'evil eye' of the neighbors which caused the bunch to break off early. The first photo shows the tree heavy with fruits. The second picture shows the broken bunch at the foot of the tree.