Colombo 06 : When boys caught ornamental fish in the canal

By Kishanie S. Fernando

Talk of Wellawatte and one cannot miss out on its canal. The Wellawatte canal or “Layards Folly” or the “Moda Ela”in Sinhalese is one of the most prominent landmarks of Wellawatte. But why was the canal so named?

For the purpose of postal services, Wellawatte has been assigned as Colombo 06 and is situated immediately south of Bambalapitiya starting out from the famous if not infamous Wellawatte canal and going on till Dehiwela where again another canal referred to as the Dehiwela canal marks its boundary. On the West it is bounded by the sea and extends to Havelock Town, Pamankade, Kirulapone and Kalubowila.

Why Layard’s folly or Moda Ela?

The Wellawatte canal was not built by the Dutch despite the popular misconception. The canal was carved out in 1872 by the British as a flood outlet at Wellawatte. The road bridges of Wellawatte and Kirulapone span this cut. Carl Muller in his book Colombo explains: The British Government Agent of the Western Province C.P. Layard, commissioned the undertaking. However the plan seemed to have not worked out, for when the rain came it was found that the that the canal bed was considerably higher than the flood area. The hoped for drainage did not occur much to the disturbance of some and the amusement of others who dubbed the canal Layard’s Folly. So this is the story of its name.

Subsequently the canal bed was deepened and in the ‘70s converted into a rain water outlet which became filled with industrial wastes of the mills in the vicinity.

It is related that in the very early 1950s, the canal was clean and boats used to come down from Piliyandala and beyond with vegetables and fruit to supply the Wellawatte and Dehiwela markets. It seems then that after the shanty town came up the canal became stagnant with waste of all kinds and almost disappeared. The edge of the canal was called ela-kandiya (canal bank). And those who lived there were referred to as folk from the ela-kandiya. The story is related of one resident of the ela-kandiya – Anula Karunatillake, who became a popular film star. Anula became famous when a photo of her crossing the canal on her way home from school was published in a newspaper. Anula lived with her family at the ela-kandiya until her marriage to the cameraman who took that photo. Anula Karunathilake played the lead role in the film Golu Hadawatha.

The canal itself was an adventurous place for kids from all walks of life to splash in, catch ornamental guppies and spend their leisure hours wallowing in its murky waters.

How the lanes were named

As it inevitably happens, roads and lanes get their names from the people associated with them.

Here we relate n situation where all the land bordering Galle Road and the Railway tracks along the beach from the Savoy Cinema at the top of Charlemont Road to the Wellawatte Railway Station was once owned by a Burgher gentleman named Gauder. His children were named Charlemont (son), Alexandra (daughter) and Frances (daughter) after whom the successive streets have been named and stand that way to date.

The first private business College

The Polytecnic or the Poly as it was fondly referred to is said to be the first private Business College in Sri Lanka. Established in 1901 by Lawrie Muthu Krishna who was a pioneer in encouraging the youth to learn business and media skills, it was the pioneer training center in secretarial, typewriting, shorthand, book-keeping and other similar, basic, office management skills. Later on the institute added many other attractive courses including, journalism, advertising, public relations etc in order to cater to changing demands of society.

The Poly was a place where youth were given an opportunity to pursue various vocations and careers, having left school and not having had the opportunity to pursue higher education or enter university. Those were days when shorthand and typing were necessary skills for the employment market and it was said to be the age of Pitman and Gregg. The resulting clutter of the heavy old Remington Standard typewriters in the Polytechnic, added to Wellawatte’s charms, and was referred to as the Charlemont Road symphony. It was also one of the few, if not only, institutions, providing co-education where men and women sat together in the same classroom.

The Polytechnic grew from humble beginnings as a small private business college at San Sebastian Hill on Hulftsdorp to an establishment in Bambalapitiya and then to the present location in Wellawatte. Lawrie Muthu Krishna’s sisters Olive and Violet, having completed their commercial education at the Madras Technical College, joined their brother and were the Poly’s first teachers.

Kinross a byword in swimming, spear-fishing and life savers

On a prominent part of Wellawatte beach stood the Original Kinsross Swimming and Life Saving Club (KS&LSC) – established in 1940. It is recorded that this Club produced several Champions in Swimming and Aquatics.

It is also this Club that introduced the sport of spear fishing to Ceylon and went on to produce several outstanding spear fishermen. To name a few, the legendary Gerd Von Dincklage, Ralph Forbes, Tissa “Saigon “ Ariyaratne, Rodney Jonklaas, Hilmi Khalid, Turab Jafferjee, Langston Pereira, Ron Bartholomeusz, Hildon Bevan were all world class spear-fishermen. Rodney Jonklaas was the Assistant Superintendent of the Dehiwela Zoo when it was noted as one of the best in the world. He was also an authority on marine life. Rodney invited Sir Arthur C. Clarke and his companions to explore the wrecks off the coast of Ceylon and film the glorious reefs of this magic Isle.

The Kinross bathing enclosure located in the sea was situated near the original KS&LSC. Two rafts and several orange barrels were placed in a semi circle, to make it a safe bathing area. The inspiration for this came from Mr. Guy Thiedeman, a champion athlete – Municipal Playground instructor and lifesaver who resided in the area. However, several incidents of drowning did occur which prompted Mike Sirimanne, who was a regular swimmer, to decide a lifeguard presence was necessary. Mike with the help of his close friends were the first life savers, who received their training from Guy Thiedeman and later on Harry Nightingale, an Australian who introduced the Australian method of Surf Life Saving. This gave birth to the Kinross Life Saving Club in 1941. The club sought and obtained affiliation to the Royal Life Saving Society of UK and the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia. Over the course of time, the club ventured into competitive swimming and other aquatic sports and was named the Kinross Swimming and Life Saving Club with Guy Thiedeman as the first President and Mike Sirimanne, as General Secretary.

The first headquarters of the Club was a shack built by the founders on the beach opposite Kinross Avenue. The K.S & LSC soon became a byword in swimming and dominated the Two-Mile Sea Swims. In 1955, an improved clubhouse was built on the beach just opposite the Station.

Ramakrishna Mission

The main center of the Ramakrishna Mission is on Ramakrishna Road, Wellawatte. The concept of a Ramakrishna movement in Sri Lanka started with the arrival of Swami Vivekananda in January 1897 on his way back to India after his historic address in the parliament of Religions at Chicago. At the request of devotees he sent one of his brother disciples in July 1897 to Colombo to spread the message of Sri Ramakrishna.

The mission started its activities in the Island in 1924 with the management of a few schools. The Ashrama building has a shrine, meditation and prayer hall, an administration section and book-sales department. The shrine room is a hexagonal shaped construction where in the ‘Sanctum Sanctorium’ is enshrined a portion of the sacred Holy Ashes of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A Rig Veda dictum “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vathanthi” in Sanskrit with an English translation “Truth is one, Sages call it by various Names” are inscribed on the wall above the altar. A separate building houses the library, reading room and a lecture cum prayer hall. In addition there is an auditorium named Swami Vivekananda Centenary Memorial Hall and an International Cultural Centre referred to as ‘Guest House.’