By Dr. Prasanna Cooray
Mr. Ariyasena Ashuboda (or Arisen Ahubudu (AA), as he was popularly known) was our Sinhala teacher at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. My earliest memories of him date back to 1973, when I was in the Sixth Grade (or the Lower 4th according to the Thomian tradition). AA taught us Sinhala. His son, Demintha Udam, was also with us in the same class.
We were very fond of the Sinhala lessons mainly due to the interesting stories AA would narrate to illustrate points in his lessons. He knew all the stories behind Sinhala idioms, and, most of all, he knew how to relate them to a group of restless eleven-year-olds who were interested in anything but their studies.