Continued From - Childhood Days 2
It was cadetting that brought the best in my extra-curricular activities. Having served the Junior cadet platoon for 4 years I ended up as the sergeant and won the best cadet cup (junior) in 1956. The same year I continued with the Senior platoon and by 1959 was promoted to be a Company Sergeant Major commanding the C-company of the 1st Battalion comprising of Holy Cross College, Kalutara Vidyalaya and Dharmasoka College. In 1960 I was promoted as the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of the 1st Battalion. This is the highest rank a college student can achieve in cadetting and I was the 1st RSM in the history of Dharmasoka College. I held this position for three years until 1962 and reached the pinnacle of my cadetting career. As the senior most RSM among the three battalions, I got the opportunity to command the ceremonial parade of the entire Cadet Corps of Sri Lanka when Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike visited the Diyatalawa senior camp that year.
Those camping days at Diyatalawa are unforgettable. I still remember the first camp I attended in 1956. The heaviest built member in our platoon was Asoka Ponnamperuma who later became a famous film star. Even as a school boy he was quite big made. During the Reckee patrol contest we had to pass through a swampy area and Ponna got stuck in the mud. The entire patrol team took more than half and hour to pull him out and we reached the final reporting point last.
The trip to Diyatalawa by train all the way from Ambalangoda was an experience by itself. We get into the Matara-Colombo express train with a few compartments reserved for cadets. Even otherwise, no sensible passenger will get into those bogeys full of uncontrollably riotous youth in khaki uniforms. As the train passes through Galle, Hikkaduwa, Ambalangoda, Kalutara, Panadura, Moratuwa, Mt Lavinia and Bambalapitiya, other platoons of the 1st battalion join in. Finally we all end up in Colombo and join the cadet’s Troops Special Train leaving late at night to reach Diyatalawa the following morning.
It was a case of non-stop singing from your point of embarkation until disembarkation. I still remember the fantastic baila singing by Desmond de Silva of St. Thomas College, Matara who eventually went on to become a famous singer among the most popular bands both here and abroad. Another somewhat indecent prank among the platoons was to paste a Sinhala letter pa over the o as the train pulled on to the Ohiya station. I reckon they came ready with the letters already written and the guy who ran and pasted it on the name board on the platform 1st, got cheered as the winner. As RSM one of my tasks was to chase and catch the culprits, but I never took this responsibility seriously. Perhaps I myself enjoyed this prank.
Cadetting particularly at the senior level makes you tough, endurable, disciplined, committed to achieve set targets, work as teams and obey your superiors. The training I received as a cadet certainly helped in my later life as a teacher and administrator in the university. Cadetting also enabled me to find friends from other colleges from all over the country and even today I sometimes receive a surprise pat on the back from strangers who ask me whether I can remember them as cadets at Diyatalawa. Perhaps as a RSM I was noted by many others, but it was near impossible for me to remember all those cadets unless they have made a noteworthy achievement or they were up to some notorious mischief.
Continued - Childhood Days 4
