Corona stories: Corona stories, number 60 Sri Lanka, 2015

Yakada Yaka

“When the conquering British roll out the first railway steam-driven locomotive in Sri Lanka, it causes quite a stir. The smoke-spewing, banshee-wailing, fearsome black thing hisses like a thousand cobras... and the villagers declare that this Thing is an Iron Demon—a yakada yaka.” (Carl Müller)

A guard at a level crossing of SLR at his dwelling

Many countries which enjoyed being member of the British empire were gifted with an extensive and well organised railway network. Including the island of Sri Lanka, called Ceylon in colonial times. Starting in 1858, railways were built across the mountains and along the beaches, of which 1508 km in 1676 mm gauge are still operating. But the British also left other relics, like the ubiquitous clock towers in many towns, their peculiar sports, and a network of hill stations, mountain resort towns, where the red skinned, sweating Britons could relax from the oppressive heat and vermin in the tropical lowlands.

Ticket counter at Nanu-Oya

Railway map of Sri Lanka

However, before the British got hold of the island around 1815, it was a dutch colony. The Dutch moved in after 150 years of Portuguese domination in 1656. The occupying colonial armies and subsequent settlers also from other countries like France, Germany, or those of Scandinavia had a big surplus of men. They found their partners in the local women. In Sri Lanka, the result was a separate group of the population, next to the Tamils and Sinhalese, the “Burghers”. Many of the Burghers had a rather fair skin, spoke English, were Christians and wore western clothes. In British colonial times they had the privilege to work in some important departments, like government administration, railways, customs, prisons, the police, and various technical areas, but also in the clergy, the running of plantations and trading companies in Colombo. Although they spoke Sinhalese as well, their main language was English, the language of the colonial administration. A particular breed among the Burghers were those of Dutch origin, who still run a Dutch Burgher Union in Colombo.

“Ho! I know my duty, I’m a good burgher!”

“Balls!” grimaced de la Zilva, “there’s no such thing!” Carl Muller

Today the Burghers constitute a part of the population of much less than 1%. In 1956 Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike decided to abandon English as Sri Lanka´s official language and adopted a policy of “Sinhala Only”. Many of the Burghers did not feel at home any more in the new independent Sri Lanka. With their fair skin and European names they were welcome immigrants in particular to Australia.

“The “Father of the Nation” and first prime minister was Don Stephen Senanayake who rode a horse on Galle Face Green every morning until he fell off and died” Carl Muller

The british clock tower at Kandy

The story of the Burghers in Sri Lanka was put into words in Kala Keerthi Carl Muller’s (22 October 1935 – 2 December 2019) epic story of the von Bloss family. The hero of the second of the three books, “The Jam Fruit Tree”, “Yakada Yaka”, “Once upon a tender time”, is Sonnaboy von Bloss, a driver of the Ceylon Government Railway in those colonial times between the 1930’s and independence. This highly ironic and sarcastic sequel is more a collection of anecdotes about the life around pre-independence Sri Lankan railway life than the other books, which focus more on the social and family life of the Burghers. Muller describes those hard-drinking, fun-loving, uncouth, incestuous, rowdy Burghers whose mission was eating, drinking, being merry, beating up their women and challenging authority. He created the term “faction” to describe his work, a combination of fact and fiction.

“Faction, let it be known, is stranger than fiction. The chronicler has, with some reluctance, to gloss over much, but is compelled to point out the way in which Fate plays a hand, dealing oft-times, from the bottom of the deck” Carl Muller

In the streets of Kandy

Muller, a well known member of the Burgher community in Sri Lanka, unlike many others had not migrated to Australia or Canada. He knew what he was talking about: his father was one of those Burghers who drove the Yakata Yaka for the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR). But Muller had an adventurous life himself. Since he could not live from his writing alone, he worked in different jobs including playing piano in a tourist resort and working as a publicity officer for the Queen’s hotel, the grand colonial hang-out in his home town of Kandy.

“He was a man who did not take kindly to discipline” Carl Muller

The Queen's hotel at Kandy

Muller’s home town Kandy is a perfect reflection of the sometimes violent history of Sri Lanka. After the Portuguese had occupied the coastal area’s in the 16th century Kandy became the last independent kingdom on the island. Portuguese attempts to establish themselves permanently in the interior, were repelled. This situation continued when the Dutch took over the portuguese possessions. However, they were not more successful. That changed when the British arrived. They established their rule with an atrocity previously unheard of. Some of the leading families were completely wiped out, others exiled to India. But they also expropriated land for the establishment of plantations, mainly of tea, and sent big parts of the peasant population into permanent poverty. The Sinhalese resisted by refusing to work for the British. The latter reacted by importing workers from India, the Tamils. In contrast to the Buddhist Sinhalese the Tamils are Hindus. These colonial policies bear consequences to the present day, when the island was the stage of a most violent civil war between the Singhalese majority and the Tamil minority.

The entrance to the royal palace and temple of the tooth in Kandy

Kandy is the home of the temple of the holy tooth, one of the most important places of Buddhist worship. According to legend a tooth of Buddha was brought to the Island in the 4th century. After a long odyssey the tooth was finally enshrined in a temple on the grounds of the royal palace in Kandy. A constant procession of visitors lines up to enter the temple. Twice a day the relic is ritually bathed in scented water. Believers are eager to obtain some of the holy water for its healing power. Inside the believers queue up to pass the shrine to get a brief look at the tooth. In fact, the tooth is not visible since it is covered by a pagoda shaped gold casket which actually hides more caskets of diminishing size. The temple was not spared by the civil war when bombings in 1989 and 1998 caused numerous victims.

Inside the temple of the tooth and the shrine containing the tooth

Kandy is at an elevation of 500 m. From here the train climbs up to Nanu-Oya, the station 9 km from Nuwara Eliya, one of the hill stations found by the British to get relief from the tropical heat, at 1889 m. This line offers Sri Lanka’s most spectacular train ride and has to be counted among the most scenic train rides the planet has to offer. In the time of driver Sonnaboy von Bloss the ride was a torture for the three men on the footplate, that is in the cabin of the steam engines, the driver, the assistant and the fireman. Since coal was scarce, wood, and in particular old sleepers, had frequently to be used and the firemen were constantly busy to feed the hungry boiler with wood. As can be seen on the cover of Yakada Yaka, sometimes three engines were needed to pull the train, mostly assisted by a helper at the end. Muller can recall numerous anecdotes about the Burgher drivers working the line.

"It is universally known that the railway is a watering hole for the mentally deficient"

Carl Muller

The station of Kandy from above

Entrance of Kandy station and one of the ticket counters

Even a departing train does not wake the sleeping dogs

Passengers at Kandy station are greeted by an enormous Buddha statue in vivid colours in front of the entrance building. Most of the day Kandy station is asleep. Dogs take their siesta on the platform. Above the dogs signs instruct the travellers with useful information like “he who has never learned to obey can never be a good commander” in Sinhalese, Tamil and English. The station still provides a special bathroom for foreigners and a toilet for clergy. Inside, the next trains are announced on a wooden board where the departure time is set by turning the pointers on little clocks. Also here, everything in three languages. Numerous counters serve different destinations.

Platform at Kandy station

Announcement of the next departing trains

Entrance to the wash room for foreigners

Entrance to the rest room for clergy

Next to the station is a little shed where the engines wait for their next run. A sign indicates the engine foreman’s office. The time of the steam engines is long gone. The diesels do not need a lot of attention. Nobody is in the shed. Therefore nobody will ask me for form 2.8 “Application for Photographing or Filming at Railway Premises and the Trains” which can be downloaded from the website of the SLR (Sri Lanka railways).

Engine shed

Train ready to depart in Kandy

Eventually the 11.10 am express train to Badulla arrives. It will bring us to Nanu-Oya. The train is full. Nevertheless vendors manage to pass through to sell snacks and drinks. The doors stay open during the ride. That allows an unobstructed view of the scenery. For the two big modern Diesel units the climb up the mountains is little effort. The so called Kadugannawa incline, where the Yakada Yaka in Muller’s book gets stuck on the slippery rails, has lost its threat. But while the moving stock is modern, little has changed outside. The well maintained and tidy stations still exude colonial charm. The station master is present to watch that everything is fine and gives the sign of departure with his green flag. Between the rails loiterers watch what is going on and cattle tend to the lush grass between the sleepers. The old fashioned mechanical signal arms move up and down obeying the power of a man pulling a lever somewhere in a signal box. A water fountain provides relief for the thirsty.

Passenger on the 11.10 train to Badulla

Vendor on the express train

No fires on this train to be expected

In endless turns the train crawls up the slopes between the forest covered hills. From time to time a stop where the rail-yard seems to be bigger than the town. Eventually the train reaches the area which made the former name of the island unforgettable: tea plantations cover the slopes as far as you can see.

Stop in the middle of nowhere in the tea country

The times are gone when the Burgher driver stopped in the middle of nowhere to get a bottle from his favourite arrack distillery. However, some things did not change: one of the frequent accidents happening on some of the lines of SLR still is the collision with an elephant.

Trains crossing at a station on the line to Nanu-Oya

Village in the high country

Many of the Burgher employees of the Sri Lanka railways left because they could not stand the authority of Sinhalese superiors. After independence English as the official language of the railway was replaced by Sinhalese. Eventually also Sonnaboy von Bloss quit and moved his extensive family to England. The last chapter of the book recounts him driving his Yakada Yaka across the bridge during the shooting of the movie “the bridge across the river Kwai”

Cattle grassing in a station on the way to Nanu-Oya

“So I asked the Divisional Inspector what do I want Sinhala for to drive an engine? All the bloody engines and diesels coming from England and Germany and Canada, no? What? These are Sinhalese engines? Must talk to them in Sinhala?” Carl Muller

Water fountain for passengers

And what happened to the Yakada Yaka? The Steam locomotive catalogue on internet lists 37 engines still being around. Most rust away at Dematagoda running shed, the shed servicing the engines driven by Sonnaboy von Bloss and his colleagues where he showed up daily for many years to take over his duty. Quite a number are operational and it would be quite a spectacle to see them blasting up the Kadugannawa incline to Kandy.