Hantana days

Mrs. Howie in August 2009. She now lives at a retirement home run by Catholic nuns at Padiwatte, near Kandy. She is 94 years old.

Note: In 1981, I found employment in the Sultanate of Oman and Fawzia followed a year later. Roy, who was attending Trinity College at this time, was very unhappy at his boarding places. My parents agreed to go to Kandy and keep Roy with them if I would buy them a house. During this time, President Premadasa had started a housing scheme for the middle class in Hantana, above Kandy town. So, we bought a house in the scheme, paying the full amount of Rs. 250,000/. Soon after, my parents moved to Kandy, but dad wasn't satisfied with the house I had selected. He moved houses twice before settling on No. 53/B/01 which had a panoramic view of the valley below and the hills beyond Peradeniya Road. As my mother often remarked, there were 34 steps to climb from the road to reach the house.

Some of the best years of my parents' lives were spent in Kandy. Only a few people had come in to occupation of the houses at that time and they formed a close community. Among them are Mr. & Mrs. Sidique (who still remain close family friends), Mr. Shelton Ranaraja, a former deputy Minister of Justice, Mrs. Howie, and other whose names I'll add later. Quite a number of houses were leased by the Department of Agriculture for senior staff, and they became my parents' friends. Mr. Sri Kantha is one such friend who comes to mind. They started a welfare society which still functions.
For the most part, my parents led a leisurely life at Hantana. I left for the United States on a scholarship in 1984 and having become a student again, couldn't help them much financially. Fawzia who was still teaching in Oman continued to support them. My mother's tiny pension also helped. Beaula also visited regularly and helped. At one time, they ran a tiny grocery selling yogurt and frozen meat. Another time, they baked and sold hoppers. The salubrious weather, the clean water coming from uphill springs, and good neighbours made their life happy overall. My parents have green fingers and they transformed the barren hillside around the house to a green zone, planting mangoes, avocado, jambu, and flowering plants. The greenery around the house will forever be a testimony to their efforts.

During their stay at Hantana, my parents made regular trips to Boralessa in the Mazda car that my father was so proud of. Dad also made regular trips by bus to attend the Chilaw Courts to fight a legal dispute over the ownership of "Pondside" on my behalf.

Here's what dad wrote about their Hantana Days.

George bought a house in the Hantana Housing Scheme so that Roy could attend college from there. Fernie and I with the girl Vasanthi lived there and looked after him while the parents were away in the Middle East. We had a Mazda car and would go to the Asgiriya Stadium to watch him at rugby practice. He grew up to be an obedient well behaved boy and gave us a lot of happy days and a little bit of anxiety when he got late returning home from school.

Our life at Hantana Housing Scheme No. 53 B-1 had its adventurous times for Roy and me. There were days that we would at night watch wild boar come creeping under the bushes up to the garbage disposal sites to enjoy a delicious meal of remnants thrown from houses during the day. The female would first let the young siblings have a good feed before she took her own meal. From the lower balcony of our house the site was clearly visible under the street light by the road. I had my firearm at the time, and on two occasions had to shoot male boars that were destroying the vegetable plots of the minor staff who appealed to me to come to their aid, since all their hard labour would be ruined in one night.



Parents in the early days at Hantana, maybe around 1984 or 85

The frenzied barking of dogs in the Scheme at night alerted the residents of the arrival of wild boar. I would by instinct know if their bark was unusual. It was due to the fear of either the wild boar or the leopard which were known to be seen by the security staff since the forest reserve which was part of Dunumadalawa forest reserve covering an area of about 450 acres from above Wace Park to Hantana, with a steam flowing through to the Kandy lake , was the haunt of animals. The leopards here are large with thick coats due to the cold weather in the hills. The stray dogs would seek shelter in drains and under culverts to escape the predators in time.

The dogs on our side of the scheme were very few and the security staff informed me of the presence of a large leopard prowling in the area in the night. My first reaction was to warn Roy to be very careful and to refrain from going out with his friends for walks at night, he and I were determined to have a look at the animal. We would spend hours on the upper balcony with the binoculars scanning the road below.

One night I was awakened by the shrill yelp of a dog in fright. I quickly ran into the balcony and looked below and there was the leopard snarling at the dog it had attacked. I quickly wakened Roy up and together we had a clear view of the leopard majestically walking away on the center of the road. It disappeared into the culvert from where we heard it attacking the little puppies and once again came onto the road and vanished into the dark night. The time was 2:00 a.m. on a cold windy dawn. We were thrilled at the prospect of having so many of these magnificent big cats right at our doorstep, A few weeks later the Kandy police arrested a poacher who had shot and killed this leopard which are a protected species, as such he was charged in courts and fined. Leopards will go out of their way to capture dogs.

George continues: Fawzia and Roy joined me in the United States in 1987 and my parents must have been lonely after Roy's departure. However, they appear to have stayed in Hantana for about two more years before moving to Boralessa for good. Nevertheless, when we visited Sri Lanka, my parents would sometimes accompany us to Hantana to spend a few days there. Through all these years, we have held on to the Hantana house. My dad's last visit was in 2008 which I have recorded in a previous blog entry.