A Doctor Remembers - 3

"Paraya"

In the early days, the acting Principal was H.J. Wijesinghe, who was nicknamed "Paraya", would take a few shots and come staggering into the study section. He was a small man, with thick glasses and trousers ankle length.

One day the boys got some of their friends to come on bicycles to the proch when "HJ" was walking in a tipsy manner in our study and shout "Paraya, how many shots have you taken?" - whereupon old "HJ" charged downstairs to find no one - much to our amusement and his amazement.

Whoopie Cushion "Poo-ee-ee"

Wheneer there was a latecomer to thge study one of us would blow up a "whoopie cushion" and put it under his seat - the unsuspecting chap would come dashing into the study and sit down without being noticedd by the Master - only t be highly embarassed by the "pooo-ee-ee" noise emitted by cushion - there would be peels of laughter all around much to the annoyance of the supervising Master - who would bellow out, "who made that horrible noise?"

Needless to say everyone was silent and concentrating on their books.

Fishy Story

Upen and myself had a fish tank at the back of the study by a large window. We would trek all the way to Wellawatte to the famous fish vendor - Atukorale - on Sundays and purchase Gouramies, Swordtails, Platies, Angel Fish, Gold Fish, Guppies etc. This was from pocket money saved and kind gifts from my grandfather, who lived in a "Mansion" (Clare) next to Ladies College.

We noticed that the fish tank was gradually getting filled turning an orange color. We would rise early morning empty half the tank and refill it with fresh water. The next day too the same problem occured and this went on for one week. Then, we decided to keep awake when the lights went out. To our great surprise we found a very senior boarder using the tank as his urinal.

The next day we laid an ambush with two catapults and sharp stones. When the culprit came and started his performance he was greeted with shots from the catapults and a shower of stones aimed to perfection by our friends. From that day on the fish tank had clear water and no dead fish.

Raining at the Board Meeting

There were two bathrooms for us juniors upstairs with one shower in each bathroom. Soon after games some of nthe guys would come before us, get into the bathrooms and lock the doors. The only access was out of the windows and on to the 10" ledge which led to the other window.

On one occasion one of the chaps climbed out of the window and started edging himself towards the other window. Half way, the urge for a call of nature overcame him and he decided to pass water like a fountain. It so happened that the zBoard of Governors were having a meeting downstairs and one of the Governors was heard to say, "I say, lets go inside its started to rain"