Seeing the Batticaloa district from the outside during my Ampara days

The people of Batticaloa had learnt to live with a mix of religions and people.

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On the Christian side were the Jesuit Fathers hard at work training the Tamil boys in English and technology; woodwork being their speciality. The Hindus, with their Kovils and the famous Ramakrishna Ashram at Kallady, were serving the cause of Hindu-based education.

The Ramakrishna Mission on the road out to Kattankudy in Kallady, was a place we visited often. Swamiji Jeevananda was a dynamic character and kept his flock of 200 orphans under a very strict regimen. Yoga exercises, studies, meditation and farming seemed to fill their day. But the boys always appeared alert and eager for more whenever I saw them.

It was a miracle that Swamiji had performed on a sandy bed of land leased out to him by the government many years ago. Compared to the surrounding countryside, the Mission gardens looked like an oasis, full of fruit-bearing trees. Mango and pomegranate trees seemed to bear fruit in all seasons. The care Swamiji bestowed was as much as he gave to his children. Nothing went to waste and everything possible that could nourish the earth went into it.

While taking a walk in the garden with him, if Swamiji saw a fallen leaf, he would, with a deft turn of his big toe, push the leaf into the soil. Leaf compost, he would call it as we walked on.

There were two Buddhist temples one in the heart of Batticaloa city and one near the railway station and they were both well-endowed and looked-after by a group of Sinhalese businessmen, mainly bakers and retailers who had lived in Batticaloa for many years. The peaceful lifestyle was beginning to change during my period there.

Internal seasonal migration for cultivation