KCK: The Best Years of My Life
The challenges I had to overcome being a scout still helps me in overcoming the day to day challenges in life. Skills developed there: basic skills, communication, leadership skills, and managerial skills. What is said and what is not is quiet hard to be achieved by any other single extracurricular activity. I must admit, the 7-8 years as a scout was a tough time with multiple hurdles, sometimes many at a time.
It was a Saturday in January 2002 that, with 168 marks for the Grade 5 Scholarship exam, I came to Kingswood in Kandy from Aralaganvila (In Polonnaruwa). The registration happened at the Old Library, and quite strangely, I was admitted to the Randles Hostel on the same day. It was just me and one more fellow student on that day, as the other students of my age were to come a few days later. Usually hostel life; particularly the first days, is tough for any boy of the ages 11 or 12, I guess. But, it was strange that neither me, nor my friend felt that way. For me it was a feeling as if I had arrived at the place where I should be. People say many stories of the hostels, but I carry pleasant memories I had at the Randles Hostel from day 1.
Like any hostel, it had its own traditions and its own schedule. But the support that was given for two new junior students was unforgettable. From the first day onwards itself, the junior dorm was like a family. We had tight schedules during the week days with study times, play times, tea times etc. But, we preferred the weekends where we used to have “mini-businesses” happening in the dorm like raffle draws. As juniors we, too, were very happy and enthusiastic in making the tickets and selling them as the seniors of the dorm requested us, but it was much later that we realized how raffle is used for fund raising and that even after all the prices are given, there is a considerable profit for the one who masterminded it.
Amongst the great times at the hostel were the many days of play time where I would have climbed the steps from the bell to the dancing room. That was a habit I liked a lot during the hostel times. The wonderful “Last Day” parties, the “New Year Festival”, The unique “De gas “ game we used to play were some of the cherished memories of the Randles hostel I have. Amongst all these, I enjoyed the brotherhood at the hostel. This is not to say that hostel life was a fairy tale. There were bad experiences, difficult times etc, but looking back, that first year at Kingswood at Randles Hostel has left me with wonderful memories I carry till this day.
Another challenging decision had to be made about 1-2 months after entering Kingswood. There was an examination to select students for the Grade 6 English medium class: which was a new change in the Sri Lankan education system. They conducted an exam, which was taken by many students. I hardly understood most of the questions in the exam, though, ultimately, I had obtained above the pass mark to be eligible for the English medium class. We were asked to choose if we want to be in the class. Neither my mother nor I were sure of what decision to take. After all, since I got selected, I was permitted to give it a try. And I just tried. As you will realize in the stories to come, for some strange reason, the decisions I took at Kingswood, just because it was offered to me by Kingswood, in the long run proved to be correct all the time. However, that first year in the English medium class was one of the daunting challenges at Kingswood.
Believe me, there was a student who scored 99% at the selection test, whom I met on the first day in the new class. I was nervous on that first day, and subsequently I realized learning in English was not as easy as I thought. For example, they used a separate text book for English in our class. I hardly understood the language in the text. When writing answers, I used to read the text, find the word in the question in the text and re-write the whole paragraph thinking something would be the answer. As for me, that was the hardest time I had with studies so far. However, the difficulty in the studies kept us more focused in our work. For some subjects, I had chapters known by heart, mostly because I was not sure what to study and what not to.
Hard work in life never fails. Similarly, the results were there from the first term test onwards. Just to indicate the competition we had in our Grade 6A class, from first subject to last, for Aesthetics, 3 of us shared the highest marks in the class. The first three places of the class got determined by the difference of a single mark each: the student who came first (currently an Engineer – Best Engineering Student of the Year 2015 at University of Peradeniya) aggregating a solitary mark above me, who came second. Another solitary mark less than I was the third (currently a final year medical student at University of Peradeniya). That competition never ended till I left college. Our positions changed over time, but lessons taught by the English medium class to face challenges with courage and to have healthy competition was useful throughout life.
At school, I was a member of the Winchester House . Although the name carries “WIN” as a part, until I was a final year student at school or so, our house did not win a single sports meets. But the Luterz Shield for Studies at the prize giving was won by Winchester many times. I was an athlete even before I came to Kingswood. My P.T. Sir from Vilayaya Central College, advised me one thing: “When you go to the big school, don’t do any team sports like Cricket. Do individual sports so that training can be done individually, which will help you with your studies”. I cannot comment how good that advice is, but I chose to follow it. From the beginning, I took part in athletics representing Winchester. Although we did not win the championship, there was one thing we won continuously, which was our 4×100 relay (Under 13, 15, 17 ), in which I constantly ran. Although the house was losing in an overall sense, we still had something to cheer about.
Scouting played one of the biggest roles of my stay at Kingswood, that I will say that scouting and Kingswood mean almost the same to me. A Kingswood scout’s life is a wonderful journey with many challenges. These challenges start as you recruit as a member and unlike most other activities at Kingswood, it doesn’t stop when you become an “old scout”. If I am to tell the life of a scout, it will be another whole big story altogether. Life from a Junior Scout, A Patrol Leader, A Troop Leader and A President Scout was marvelous. Mind you, the scout troop was a place I learnt the true meaning of “Fide et Virtute”; and the true meaning and practical example of what we proudly sang over the years “None for Himself ; But all for the School”.
The challenges I had to overcome being a scout still helps me in overcoming the day to day challenges in life. Skills developed there: basic skills, communication, leadership skills, and managerial skills. What is said and what is not is quiet hard to be achieved by any other single extracurricular activity. I must admit, the 7-8 years as a scout was a tough time with multiple hurdles, sometimes many at a time. Most of the colleagues who started scouting with me had to move out due to O/Ls, A/Ls, other reasons. I wanted to somehow hang in there. Importantly, the way I had to balance scouting, studies and other extra-curriculars was quiet fascinating. I still am amazed how I did so, and even today, the confidence gained by balancing so has helped to balance the work I do now.
There was one time, at the start of Advance Level work, an option to leave Kingswood to do A/Ls in the English medium, as A/L English medium was not there at Kingswood at that time. I wanted to attempt A/Ls in the English medium, but the cost of leaving Kingswood was too much. Thus, I chose to stay in Kingswood with whatever she can provide me with. The last few years at school when we were doing A/Ls, it was a tough time as it always would be; but not purely because A/Ls was competitive, but, more so because of the feeling of leaving Kingswood was too painful. The last Kingswood Week as a student, the last big match parade, last this, last that were too painful as by that time Kingswood had become a part of my life.
In fact, with the scout life Kingswood was like a second home, where most of the days were spent at Randles Hill than it was spent anywhere else. I distinctly remember the effort a few of my batchmates and seniors took to set up the Scouts’ den during the immediate post A/L months. It was weeks of hard work from morning to evening, and I must say we were able to achieve a progressive result, and ultimately the Principal also contributed to setting the den in a systematic way. A/L results were unexpectedly very good. It was a shock for myself and most of the others as well. And so came the time to leave Kingswood as a student. I remember the day I obtained my character certificate and the leaving certificate for university entrance and on the way towards the gate I rushed to the Kingswood Union office and obtained an application for the Union because I simply did not want to spend a day without being bound to Kingswood.
My journey as a student at Kingswood ended with personal triumph as I had been chosen as the Most Outstanding Student for the Year 2010. It was an honour being entitled to such a glory; which would most likely be the greatest achievement in my life. With all good things happening, I remember one day a junior student said to me “Keep shining for Kingswood” and I simply had one ready response: “There’s nothing for us to shine at Kingswood, Kingswood just shines us”. Being a Best student only made me responsible for the College. The phrase “None for Himself, But all for the school” now echoes in life much more. It made me feel more responsible in decisions I made related to Kingswood and otherwise.
Heaps of wonderful memories keep pouring as I attempt in concluding this entry. For me, being a at Kingswood was the best thing that happened in life so far. Randles Hill was truly “gracious and kind” for me, and it truly was the “home of my early youth”. It taught me not to “flee” my “duty” at any cost. Loyalty was a lesson at Kingswood which was practically emphasized as a Scout .More importantly, over the years she made me promise “None for Himself – but All for the School”; so that it is impossible to leave her memory or my duty to her at any cost at any point in life. And here I stand proud being a Gentleman of Kingswood, and wishing her all the very best for the future.
K.F.E.!
By Lenard Wanninayake