Ernest Macintyre

An image, especially when large landscapes are involved, can form up in the mind growing into the potential of a cinematic creation when that event develops and grows over some years. For the weekend Friday 12 to Sunday 14 February 2010, members of the Peradeniya Alumni Association of New South Wales and their friends and families took the left turn of the Kurri Kurri exit off the Newcastle Freeway for the third year running to enter the Hunter Valley Retreat located at the foot of the picturesque Watangan Mountains . They settled in little halls of residence, “miniatures” of their Jayatilleka, Sanghamitta, Arunachalam or other halls on the Peradeniya landscape when in their wonderful youth they took a right turn on the Kandy Highway .

We were fortunate to discover this location of over 200 acres of beautiful Australian bush three years ago for it evokes a possible image of the location of our youth at the foot of the Hantana Ranges . One knows of campuses of say, the University of New South Wales in Asian countries, and who knows, one day a dynamic expanding Sri Lanka may negotiate an extension campus in this location and they will thank us for pioneering it! Who knows?

Over a hundred of us, the earliest graduating in 1959 and the latest in 2008 provided a great spectrum of graduations of half a century. A sizeable batch of teenager offspring who spoke of visiting the Peradeniya of their parents when holidaying “back home” were also there to strengthen the feeling of the large growing family. An item of the informal night on Friday was a photographic session of the various batches of the years from the 1950s to the most recent.

In the established tradition Friday evening with good weather was spent setting up the miniature reminder of the Sarachchandra Open Air theatre of Peradeniya, a camp fire close by and the “ W orld U niversity S ervice” canteen inside the central building that could be imagined as the Administrative Centre and Hall of the campus. While the audio and visual equipment was being set up, the old boys and girls of “Pera” and the many friends who had joined them, sipped beer, ate wadai, cutlets and rolls and laughed and talked. After a super dinner of string hoppers, spiced potato gravy, pol sambol and chicken curry, the microphone was never neglected as free for all impromptu performances in Sinhala, Tamil, English and Hindi took over. Young Pera offspring, trained singer Vayane Jayatilaka delighted us with two renditions. The first night ended with a community sing song.

Saturday morning greeted us with good weather while kiribath and lunu miris in the central building was a bonus. Sporting activities, just gathering in groups and chatting over WUS canteen goodies, or exploring the bush land took us to lunchtime when keen women buttered the rolls and wedged in sizzling sausages and onions streaked with mustard or sauce.

Bonny and the Clan were tuning their instruments, the final touches to the splendid table décor of star drops and lotus bowls were completed even as the Flavour of Ceylon catering van was speeding along on the F3. The sarees and evening dresses floated in at sunset. Our steadfast master of ceremonies got the night moving and the President then gave his welcoming speech. Memories of early Peradeniya, by four of the 1959 graduates recalling the campus in the fifties of the last century, were followed by a quick run quiz of twenty questions of Peradeniya's history and geography. Musical items came next. Dancing began even without any signal; a sure sign of great spirits. Then dinner, during which Dr. Tom Silva took us through an entertaining surrealistic presentation on the last kings of Kandy . For the third year running the dinner was so grand that Flavour of Ceylon could well apply for sub registration as “Flavours for Peradeniya”!

The culminating throb of midnight dancing spilt into the minutes of the next day.

From its inception this Alumni Association was intent on such social activity not only for its own intrinsic value of large family and friends in happy congregation but also mindful of whatever contribution it could make to the university that gave much to their intellectual and civic make up. This year saw advances in that direction.

Click here to view an album of photos