Silibiris and the sisters were entered into Ambarawa School soon after.
Ambarawa School was awfully poor … short of teachers and short of any facilities.
Teachers doubled up on many subjects.
Only the basic subjects were offered.
On rainy days the roof leaked …making it impossible to sit in the class.
Children didn t mind this inconvenience as they did not have to attend the boring lessons on such days. Unluckily for them, the rain was not something they saw very often except in July August .
Lokumahaththaya wore white shirt white long trousers black trouser belt and shiny black shoes .Male teachers mainly wore National dress and the female teachers were clad in sarees .
The students came from the old Ambarawa, Galthamabrawa, Siyambalawa old village population and also from the recent settler families.
Silibiris realized the local children didn’t mix easily with the settler family children for reason unknown to him. He didn’ t really wanted to be there. He would have much preferred to roam around climbing mango trees, catching fish from the lake and to swim with the rest of the boys.
Even working with Haramanis in the hena was more preferable than going to school.
However, it did not take long for Silibiris to make some school friends , and get to know the local girls. The girls liked his easy going goofy talkative manner. Most of all receiving wild fruits he brought daily to school. They in turn helped him with the homework even if he didn’ t really wanted . Silibiris learnt from them that the new settlers were not liked by the local Sinhala villagers nor the Tamil villagers in the surrounding areas.
The colony people were Pitagamkarayo .
They were trouble makers with no roots or did not belong to the local villager’s castes.
Silibiris eventually became friends with their brothers as well.
But..nobody ever invited him to their homes lest they get into trouble with their parents.
Ambrawa Temple Lokuhamuduruwo had organized some local young men and women to volunteer at school. Thanks to this initiative, the children at least learnt something .
Specially singing and dancing classes.
Ambarawa Temple built on a rock outcrop,though small in size had a long history.
Lokuhamuduruwo was not only the spiritual guide he was the local medicine man, the judge and the leader in the community . Three resident podihamuduruwos learnt Pali and Buddhism from him.
Gnanasara podihamuduruwo was the same age as Silibiris.
He had become a monk only a year ago. He was still a child at heart . They became good friends.When lokuhamuduruwo slept after lunch, Silibiris and Gnanasara played Batta, Chuckgudu, marbles behind the temple . Onthose rare occasions when Lokuhamuduruwo went out to town, they sneaked out to the Kiwul Oya and swam in the river.
Most days after school Silibiris helped Haramanis and Siriyalatha in the hena . Haramanis had managed to expand the cultivated area with the help of his family. Like most settlers, he grew miris, wambatou, bandakka, Cowpea, Wattakka, labu, watakolu that grew easily enough in the area .The produce was sold for a pittance to the Mudalali that came by on the local pola days.
Watering the crops was no easy task . They took water from the small stream that was running through their land when it was flowing ….. Otherwise water had to be drawn from a deep well.
Haramanis built a tree house on a tall tree top accessible by a makeshift ladder . Silibiris kept a wary eye on the monkeys and birds from the tree house occasionally taking aim at them with his catapult. Silibiris, eight year old sister Kamala, had learnt to cook so that Siriyalatha could spend most of the time helping Haramanis. 5 year old Wimala played on the swing tied to the Tamarind tree talking to her imaginary friends.
On poya days the whole family would visit the temple …mMeet other settlers exchange stories of hardship…even exchange some gossip or information on the latest Government Aid Programme.
Little by little, Silibiris and the family got used to the hard life in Ambarawa.
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