Palians walk for the future

By Air Chief Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe  

I spent about two months during school hours on the steps of the present school auditorium. When I sat during the whole day on the auditorium verandah, my feet could not reach the ground. 

I was only five years old in 1952 when my aunt took me to be admitted to Dharmapala Vidyalaya.

For some reason it took about two to three months for me to be admitted. Until then, during the interval, my aunt Esther who was a senior student and her friends ensured that I had something to eat and drink. I was happy then and continued to be happy until I left Dharmapala Vidyalaya in 1966 to join the then Royal Ceylon Air Force.

I still can remember when in the primary school, in the second standard, we use to run around the primary school and I ended up in a head-on collision with another boy, which gave me five stitches on my eyebrow.

On the approach to the primary school, just by the side was a fascinating place for us, with the .22 firing range, which I suppose, only our school had during that time. Mrs. Thomas was the toughest lady teacher in the primary school and Mr. Ramanayake was feared very much.  

When I was in the fifth standard, I happen to attend the wedding of my class teacher Miss. Amarasinghe under whose guidance I ended up in the second position in the class which I never achieved in my school education after that.

The school compound was huge, about 20 acres wide and right behind the classrooms was a scrub jungle where we use to play hide and seek and hora police, right up to the eighth standard. We also enjoyed the wild berries ‘dhan’ which was available in abundance. At times we got pulled up because we were dirty after running through the scrub jungle, maybe we were considered ‘real boys’ as the girls and boys were not mixed in the sixth, seventh and eighth standards.

During these years, teachers who inspired us were Mr. Karunasena, Mr. Jayawickrama, the vice principal and Mr. Bernett Gunasekara who was the strength and the pillar of success of Dharmapala sports.

Behind the development, education and sports, there was a unique character full of inspiration, full of charisma. He was none other than the principal G.C. Edirisinghe who had a plan and developed the school, earning respect all the time.

In school, he was immaculately dressed in his cream suit, and carried himself very well. He earned respect, so much so that the students and teachers were in tears on the day he left Dharmapala upon his retirement.

By this time Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya was a leading school in the country, not only in education but in sports too, especially cricket. Even to date, Dharmapala Vidyalaya is the biggest mixed school in the country. Education is unique with both boys and girls interacting having equal status, competing with each other, thus preparing to be responsible people in society.

My classmates and schoolmates are my true friends even today, and I am very proud to say that I am a product of Dharmapala.

On the education side, Dharmapala reached the pinnacle by producing eminent people like Civil Servant H.K. Wijedasa and many professors, doctors, engineers and various other professionals that have made Dharmapala proud.  During my time, the driving forces behind education were teachers like Mr. Neil Fernando, Mr. Somasiri and Miss. Rupasinghe to mention a few.

During my younger days, like others I had a liking for sports as a result, I paid more attention to sports which I do not repent  to this day as sports carried me a long way to make me what I am today. Credit goes to the master of sports Mr. Bernett Gunasekara who  made us participate in various sports, so much so that I was appointed the athletic captain, house captain of ‘Nanda house’ and ended up being the under 19 champion athlete, winning the ‘Best Performance  Cup’ during the annual athletic meet. Likewise, I played for the first XI soccer team as ‘right back.’

Cricket was my pet sport. When I walked out to the field with my friend Wasantha for the first time for the first XI cricket practice in white shorts, the cricket coach at that time Mr. B.S. Perera  called both of us and said, “Son you are too young, come next year.” My friend Wasantha never came for cricket practice after that but I did not give up.

I went the next day too and stayed in the pavilion and likewise, stayed in the pavilion for a few days. Then I got a chance to field before practice proper. Finally after few weeks, the players thinned out and I got a chance to practice with the first XI players.

One day the coach asked me if I could bowl with a new ball. I said yes but I had never even touched a new ball.  However when I was given the new ball to bowl with, I grabbed it with both hands and to my surprise the first ball swung out very wide to the third slip, as did the rest of the balls. From that day onwards, I was used as the opening bowler which I did for five successful seasons until I left school.

During interschool matches, we were made to eat lunch with the visiting team in the real tradition of the gentleman’s game of cricket. We were groomed to be second to none. Our team did so well that I was made the captain in 1965, where we won nine out of 12 matches with one loss and two draws. This made Mr. Abewardena, the principal appoint me the captain for the following year, in 1966 too.  

That year too we did so well, winning nine matches out of 12, most of which were outright victories. This I think were the most outstanding two years of Dharmapala Vidyalaya cricket. Being the opening bowler and the number three batsman, I did well in capturing 65 wickets and 66 wickets respectively in the two years I captained making me the second highest wicket taker in school cricket at that time.

I continued to do well by captaining the Sri Lanka Air Force cricket team ‘Adastrians’ and even though I was not allowed to play cricket for the first three years during my flying training, I became the first Dharmapalian  to captain a ‘Sara Trophy,’ division one cricket team at the highest level. Those who did sports at Dharmapala Vidyalaya were especially well disciplined by the school teachers and they continued to be well disciplined throughout their lives. It is amazing.

Sports, especially cricket, played a significant role in my being selected by the Royal Ceylon Air Force. Cricket taught me discipline, strategies, tactics and leadership not forgetting dedication, determination, courage and tenacity – qualities of leadership which took me right to the top to be the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force, the first military commander produced by Dharmapala for which I am still indebted to Dharmapala.

It is imperative to mention that Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya never discriminated a student for being a non-Buddhist or non-Sinhalese. Dharmapala being a Buddhist school, took me in as a Christian and gave me all what I deserved, made me achieve all important positions. Religion was never a barrier, even to date it is not even discussed and I have never been looked down upon for being a non-Buddhist which I value so much. This must be an example to all when we are heading to consolidate under the banner ‘one country one people.’





(The writer, RWP, VSV, USP, ndc, psc, is a retired Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force.)