Architects: – Messrs. Edwards, Reid and Booth, F. & A. A. R. I. B. A.
1. The main staircase runs up from the marble octagonal hall to the First Floor ante room. The dome is similar in shape and colour to a lotus flower.
2. The ball room verandah on the First Floor. There is a similar verandah on the other side of the ball room, which in addition to the great height of the ball room ensures that the latter is always cool.
3. The Ground Floor Drawing Room. This room leads out of the Octagonal Hall and the Dining Room and is flanked by two verandahs. The exterior of one of these is depicted on plate 4.
Excerpted from the memoirs of Senior DIG (Retd.) Edward Gunawardene
Barely a week had passed after the election ended I was in for a surprise. I received a message from the IGP that I had been appointed as the ASP in charge of the security of the Hon. Prime Minister and His Excellency the Governor-General. As expected Dudley Senanayake had been appointed the Prime Minister and he was in the process of forming the Cabinet. William Gopallawa was the Governor-General. He had taken over from Oliver Goonatilleke after the attempted coup of 1962.
The VIP Security Division fell within the purview of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police. I was not given any indication as to where I was to take up residence. As the only official police bungalows were the large ‘C’ type houses on Brownrigg Road (now Keppetipola Mawatha) I knew that as a bachelor I had no chance of getting one of these. Furthermore all these were occupied mainly by the DIGs and SPs.
Posted on February 2nd, 2021
C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.
Introduction
This essay was written 20 years ago. It was
a reply to an essay which had strange ideas such as JVP was wicked because its
members did not know English. There were several such odd points covered in the
essay. But strangely, the point on JVP and English does so closely with the
decision to make law college English.
Only thing permanent in this world is
impermanence or change. Therefore, after 20 years I do not think C. A.
Chandraprema has not changed at least some of his views about this human world