"There were times when he could not resist the temptation to use his skills on baiting or even denigrating colleagues too dense for dalliance. I recall at least one occasion when we had to rescue him from physical assault by a boy twice his size whom he had dared to humiliate with his smart words."
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by Haris Hulugalle
(June 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mervyn de Silva, once Editor of the Daily News died four years ago, Sunday. Do we, the aging few who have survived the years have tears for him or exult in the memory of the company of an exceptional man we recall with a chuckle. It is a bit of both and emotions in between. I knew him in the late forties at Royal College as one of the very few boys who had a fine sensibility, acquired naturally for good English writing. In that sense he was teacher's pet. At the other extreme, his irrepressible humour was too puckish for their staid selves. Us boys were more interested at the time in his latter virtue.
He and I met in the final years in the university entrance form, when I joined the school from Trinity or was it S. Thomas'. We had the option of taking one year or two to prepare for our entrance exam. Many of us, Mervyn included, chose the pleasanter choice of two years to prolong the good times. School without pressure to perform provided possibly the best years of our lives.
To elders we seemed to be wasting them on banter sipping cups of tea at the Tuck Shop or cycling tirelessly to engage the attention of schoolgirls who littered the street after classes around and about.
These innocent experiences were the main subjects of our storytelling over a tea and a cigarette at the Lion House, a local 'boutique', bought with hard earned pocket money acquired from parents who were reluctant to spoil their children or not sufficiently affluent to indulge them.
Mervyn always told a good story because he was blessed with a natural art of verbal expression embellished with a sophisticated wit even at that age. He did not always amuse his contemporaries.
There were times when he could not resist the temptation to use his skills on baiting or even denigrating colleagues too dense for dalliance. I recall at least one occasion when we had to rescue him from physical assault by a boy twice his size whom he had dared to humiliate with his smart words.
Sad to say the tough guy, who was also a friend of mine went on to climb commercial mountains later in life before retiring as chief executive of the local branch of a large international firm. This type of talent was also Mervyn's handicap in later life when he had to contend with the brutality of his society out there on his own, not protected as he was in the seats of learning. He had no guile in him nor tact and continued to derive as much pleasure as he could from living an interesting life.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
(June 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mervyn de Silva, once Editor of the Daily News died four years ago, Sunday. Do we, the aging few who have survived the years have tears for him or exult in the memory of the company of an exceptional man we recall with a chuckle. It is a bit of both and emotions in between. I knew him in the late forties at Royal College as one of the very few boys who had a fine sensibility, acquired naturally for good English writing. In that sense he was teacher's pet. At the other extreme, his irrepressible humour was too puckish for their staid selves. Us boys were more interested at the time in his latter virtue.
He and I met in the final years in the university entrance form, when I joined the school from Trinity or was it S. Thomas'. We had the option of taking one year or two to prepare for our entrance exam. Many of us, Mervyn included, chose the pleasanter choice of two years to prolong the good times. School without pressure to perform provided possibly the best years of our lives.
To elders we seemed to be wasting them on banter sipping cups of tea at the Tuck Shop or cycling tirelessly to engage the attention of schoolgirls who littered the street after classes around and about.
These innocent experiences were the main subjects of our storytelling over a tea and a cigarette at the Lion House, a local 'boutique', bought with hard earned pocket money acquired from parents who were reluctant to spoil their children or not sufficiently affluent to indulge them.
Mervyn always told a good story because he was blessed with a natural art of verbal expression embellished with a sophisticated wit even at that age. He did not always amuse his contemporaries.
There were times when he could not resist the temptation to use his skills on baiting or even denigrating colleagues too dense for dalliance. I recall at least one occasion when we had to rescue him from physical assault by a boy twice his size whom he had dared to humiliate with his smart words.
Sad to say the tough guy, who was also a friend of mine went on to climb commercial mountains later in life before retiring as chief executive of the local branch of a large international firm. This type of talent was also Mervyn's handicap in later life when he had to contend with the brutality of his society out there on his own, not protected as he was in the seats of learning. He had no guile in him nor tact and continued to derive as much pleasure as he could from living an interesting life.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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