Royal College Hostel Day: Some Recollections

Royal College, Colombo, held its annual Hostel Day yesterday, Saturday, May 31, the first time in three years.

- BY UDITHA DEVAPRIYA

Bedridden and confined as I am, recovering slowly from a severe leg injury, I was sad to give it a miss. I did hear good things about it from those who went, especially from those who had organized the Hosted Day on previous occasions.

I remember particularly well the last Hostel Day. That was during an eventful period in our country's history, in 2022, and I recall the difficulties that the Prefects' Council at the Hostel confronted one after another in holding it.

The Hostel Prefects' Council that year was headed by Uthpala Wijesuriya, with Nimsara Thennakoon and Keshan Themira deputising for him and Sakuna Hatharasinghe and Miron Akilanga working with them. If I can't think of a Council that functioned so well on all fronts, it's because such groups tend to be full of the sort of internal politics that these five boys did not have. They did not waste time planning things or trying to outdo one another; they worked on what they planned, and let their work speak for itself.

Perhaps the biggest quality these boys possessed, in that sense, was their willingness to work with outsiders, in particular those who agreed to support them.