The First DRO of Horowpothana

My first glimpse of this bulky volume, running into 592 pages, rushed me to conclude that it’s an episodic autobiography of the author, A.P.A. Gunasekara, who initiated civil administration in Horowpothana in 1973, as its first DRO.

- REVIEW BY K. A. I. KALYANARATNE

Former Management Consultant/ Senior Manager Publications Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Horowpothana's First DRO - Memoirs

In fact, Horowpothana was a specially carved out administrative division, which was previously a segment of the broad Kahatagasdeegiliya administrative division. However, turning through its pages, I realised that it was more a memoir, a collection of factual accounts based on the author's personal knowledge and experience, focusing on specific themes and events, within the initial period of his job as a cadet officer in the administrative service. So, it's a different 'product', distinct from a full-fledged autobiography, covering in reality an episodic collection of experiences, and more so how he battled the first few years of his cadetship in the Sri Lankan Administrative Service. Hence, what he has expanded within these pages is what he had experienced within a six-year period of his initial career as Horowpothana's first District Revenue Officer, and subsequently as Assistant Government Agent (AGA) at Medawachchiya and Padaviya, from 1973 to 1978. In fact, the Horowpothana DRO's Office celebrated its golden jubilee, (50th Anniversary), the other day; a significant milestone indeed. It appears that the book, first published in 2004, has had a wide readership, and its 9th (ninth) edition was out in 2024. It thus shows for certain, the book's popularity amongst budding administrators, and the demand it had amongst our readership especially due to its lively narrative style and content-richness.

Horowpothana - Its Historicity