‘Top-cross-kick-together; tap-tap-tap together...’ was the command delivered to a staccato beat that was very popular among all students to engage in our most favourite exercise on the morning PT programme every day at school, Karandeniya Central School. While leaping up with one foot and hands on the hips we had to kick with the other leg to the front, then aside and then come back to the original position which is then followed by the other foot too. This is indeed a very health-giving exercise which I still keep practising even in advanced age, as it is enjoyable as well.

Mr. Harasgama hailing from the Kandyan hills, a handsome and smart young teacher pushing thirty was our legendary PT master and thus the architect of such excellent activities. His active behaviour dispelled our natural apathy for PT and by means of the aforesaid kind of entertaining items he made us like the hour.

His exemplary quality was ‘total immersion’ in whatever he did and did it with utmost dedication and zest. His stalwart personality bolstered by a dynamic physique immensely helped him in his adventures which made us young boys his great admirers. Apart from his role in the physical training sphere of the school he gave his unflagging support for all other school activities without hesitation.

One such instance was the drama festival held in the school. Sakunthala was one of the dramas staged and in one episode there had to be thunder and lightening owing to the occult nature of the incident. Lightening of course did not pose a problem as there was electricity, yet creating the thunder was a real snag faced by the producers of the play.

‘Harasgama Sir will know...’ someone suggested and so he was contacted right away.

‘Simple work,’ quipped the master and got a big boy to bring the iron ball used for the ‘shot-putting’. Mr. Harasgama took the heavy ball (the largest one) in his hand with the usual knack and went upto the stage in the main hall where the play was to be staged. The floor of his ample stage was made of hard thick wooden planks, and as we were watching what he was upto, our master bent down a bit and dropped the ‘shot’ on the stage (behind the curtains) that made a sound almost similar to thunder. While we were amused and also amazed at his ingenuity he kept the ball rolling along to give the impression of an ongoing peel of thunder. So the most arduous problem solved, the play was duly staged and Mr. Harasgama himself went behind the curtains to produce ‘thunder’ when the time came for it leaving his front row seat for the ‘distinguished.’

Thus our PT master had become our hero par excellence by dint of his sheer capacity to act as one whenever the occasion arose. It was in a Vesak sill campaign organized by the school that he proved his mettle again.

Soon after the observing of precepts the whole student body was taken for a group photograph and for this some of the students had to stand on desks kept at the back. The crowd had not yet taken even their breakfast and so some little ones may have been starving, thus resulting in one standing on desks fell off in a faint. As he lost balance those near him raised an alarm that made every one look that way, and even in that split second Mr. Harasgama, who was a few feet away organising the event had leapt towards the falling boy with his arms stretched towards him, only missing him by a few inches. The boy hit his head on a cement ledge and was soon bleeding from his nose, and died soon after being admitted to the hospital. It was Mr. Harasgama who quickly picked up the boy and shouted commands to others to arrange for a vehicle to take him to hospital.

Gunasena was a tall strapping boy in an upper class who was out to display his physical prowess mainly before little boys in lower classes. He was a sportsman and so in a drama festival organized by the school he was selected as a warrior in a historical drama. Quite fittingly he had to carry a sword and even had a penchant for strutting around posing as a warrior.

One fine day a youthful teacher had asked in banter if Gunasena was ready to fight him in a fencing duel. Gunasena in his folly had taken it seriously and said he was ready to fight the teacher. Mr. Harasgama however had got wind of it on the grapevine and had called up Gunasena to him. He then had asked the impudent boy if he was ready to fight the master which he had declined knowing the individual. Then Mr. Harasgama is said to have grabbed the sword in Gunasena’s hand and had made an elaborate flourish with it so that Gunasena had to jump about in great agitation to avoid being hit with it. He had later given the boy a valuable lifetime advice. ‘Never fight a teacher even if you are challenged by him!’

I had a great band of elder sisters who were really cousins - daughters of my mother’s sisters and brothers. They all attended the same school with me and was a source of strength to me in much lower classes. Wherever I went in school everyone used to call me ‘Ah...Dani’s kid brother...Rani’s younger brother..etc., etc.,’ and was even treated accordingly often with even sweetmeats at the canteen.

One disadvantage however was that I was not taken with them in a five day school trip they went on, covering areas like Nuwara Eliya as I was too small to be away for such a long time.

Mr. Harasgama was the organizer of the trip and on the last day of it he had had to show his pluck when the bus they were travelling in had a flat tyre by the end of the day close to Nuwara Eliya and both the driver and the conductor were found to be unable to change it for the spare wheel as they were drunk. However, much they tried to do that they did not have strength to do it and so the driver was urging the crowd to find a place to stay the night until they got the repair done the next day. It was our master then who boldly took it upon himself to remove the wheel, my sisters said.

When at last they managed to remove the wheel and got the spare wheel in its place Mr. Harasgama is said to have given them a piece of his mind in some quality words showing his calibre: ‘If we had to stay the night here I would have beaten you up until you throw up that stuff you have drunk!’