The Podi Menike
	The first few months at the Peradeniya University were heady days. After many years of parental guidance and school discipline, suddenly we found ourselves on our own. There was no visible authority to impose rules or modify our behaviour. There was only an unwritten set of rules based on social responsibility to those around us. This was powerful enough to direct us into self regulation. Still it was a time of exhilarating freedom. At the time we believed that we were discussing things of a superior nature and that we were looking at the big picture. We wanted to change the world for the better. Most of us had a socialist outlook and there were many socialist of varying commitment in our ranks even if the most vociferous of the socialist were to become the earliest converts to capitalism in later life. In those early salad days of our lives, we were alive to every experience around us even if we were full of youthful arrogance and pride. Even in this endearing atmosphere, on occasion we felt the pang of homesickness. When such a mood overtook us we got back home for the weekend. More often than not, the Podi Menike was the train of our choice on a Friday evening. It gave us time enough to get back from the lectures, have a cup of tea, pack a bag and get to the station. We would board the train at the delightful little station of Sarasavi Uyana. We usually got there just in time. Often the rail gates were closed and the train was already at the Peradeniya Junction when we quickly crossed the rail lines and hurriedly purchased our tickets. On its evening trip, the Podi Menike started its journey from Nanu Oya, stopped at the Peradeniya Junction and at Sarasavi Uyana before proceeding to Kandy. The train began its final lap from Kandy towards Colombo at exactly 6.05pm. We had to catch it on its way to Kandy, as it did not stop at these two stations when it retraced its way back from Kandy past the Peradeniya Junction. As it went past the university, I would invariably look at the familiar buildings with great pride and fondness. On one such evening I got into the train and seated myself together with a few other students. The train ride was always an excellent occasion to meet and get to know fellow students from other faculties and halls of residence. There was also the chance meeting of meeting persons of interest from the girls’ halls. We were all assured of seats together because quite a few passengers began their journey later from Kandy. At the time there were many vendors and beggars who plied their trade inside a moving train. They had a better chance of success as the customers were held captive inside. One such regular vendor was a woman who sold pears. She got in somewhere before Peradeniya. Her pears were quite juicy but were usually not within the limited budget of a student. On that day after we had traveled for a while the woman found that she had sold all she could. She rested her basin of fruit on the floor in the passage close to the compartment we occupied and comfortably sat besides it. She selected a large ripe fruit and began to peal it slowly. Soon a woman with deformed feet who moved around by swinging herself on her arms also took rest from her begging and sat close to the pear vendor. The vendor took no notice of her. The woman as a beggar was a class well below that of the pear vendor. There was a greater perceived difference in the social order between a pear vendor and a deformed beggar than there was between a university student and pear vendor. With the distance of time and increase in wisdom with experience, it is now clear that both these views were self proclaimed and equally mistaken. As we looked down from our position of advantage we could not help but notice that the pear vendor revealed pleasing curvature and was endowed with considerable beauty. She had an easy gracefulness which was not typical of a hardened vendor. As she pealed her fruit, the sweet if understated perfume of the pear permeated the compartment. Perhaps we were frustrated by the inaccessibility to her womanly beauty or to her juicy pears perhaps it was something else that irritated us but the conversation soon turned sour. We reasoned that she could not be earning enough just by selling pears. We concluded that she must be earning from her other considerable assets that nature had kindly bestowed on her. We were not even careful as to what she might hear. It was a feeble attempt by us to make our frustration more bearable by somehow slotting her into a perceived situation of inferiority. Our sniggering comments went seemingly unnoticed. She went on peeling her pear. We could even see a bit of juice form on her hand holding the pear. Soon the whole pear was peeled. She then cut it in half, smiled at the beggar and offered one half to her. The two of them then began to enjoy the fruit together. This wonderful act of generosity made our previous remarks stand out in stark contrast for their extreme crudeness. We no longer had anything much to say to one another. Each of us receded into our own thoughts. I took refuge looking out of my window. My eyes followed a silvery stream which accompanied us in the shallow ravine by the side of track. The stream played hide and seek with us as the train wound its way down, now hiding behind a hill, now intermittently peeping from behind a row of banana trees, revealing the ripples it made around the rocks as it flowed. Occasionally the silhouette of a late bather enjoying a dip in its cool water became visible. It soon sped its way under the train as we went over a bridge. The more interesting sights were now on the other side of the train. Even in the fading light, you could still enjoy the panoramic view of the faraway mountain range, the rolling valleys and the contoured paddy fields which seemed to skillfully step down the gradient of the precipitous sides of the hills. As evening turned into night, the mood of gloom and shame of being found arrogant and ungracious corresponded to the darkness which soon enveloped the outside. The dim lights inside the train only exaggerated the darkness outside and the despondence within. Only the rhythmic sound and the rocking motion of the Podi Menike as it made its way towards Colombo offered us some comfort. I fondly recall my time at the university particularly those early days and how it exposed us to the many wonderful endeavours of the finest human minds. However it has been the world around us that has always remained with us the great teacher of the more important lessons in life. Gamini de Alwis August 2008