I remember one occasion particularly well. The new term had begun and of course, a feast had been arranged because everyone has brought food from home. There was great excitement during the day and our masters must have wondered what it was all about. There were remarkably few complaints at tea time and some boys did not eat anything at all. Later that evening, punctual as ever, Mr. Fernando turned the lights off at ten o’clock. We could be punished for talking after ‘lights out’, but it was difficult to keep quiet. At about eleven o’clock, Saman and Sisira at last overcame their fears. They crept up to the window and drew the curtains slightly to see if Mr. Fernando’s light had been turned off. It was still on and we waited impatiently for ages, sorry to have given our hostel master so much marking to do. When his lights went out at last, we all jumped out of bed. Thilina produced a wax candle which he set in the middle of the floor. In no time the place was covered with cakes, fruits, nuts and gallons of soft drink. We even persuaded the fat Kanchana to give up his mother's fruit cake, which was not an easy thing to do.
Even then we found that he had reserved a very large piece for himself, wrapped up in one of the sheets. It must have been about one o’clock -when some of us were falling asleep on the floor and only a few hardy ones were still eating -that Kanchana dropped his mother’s cake tin. There was a loud crash and gathering up the remains of the feast which we slipped under the bed-clothes, we quickly retired to bed. It was a good thing we acted so rapidly, for a few minutes later the door opened and Mr. Fernando appeared- only to find twenty little boys sleeping gently.