DEWALAKANDE (DEWALAKANDE)

(Approx. 950 acres)
1955/57

     Dewalakande literally means "temple hill"(25) in Sinhalese. Within the plantation is an almost isolated hill about 300 feet high, and on the top of this hill is a rock about sixty feet long, an average of ten feet wide and a height of about three feet at the centre tapering to the ground all round. On the top, lengthwise for about eight feet, is a fissure whose depth had never been determined and this fissure always contains water whose level never varies more that a couple of inches either way - no matter how dry the weather. It only overflowed during heavy rain. Because of this unusual phenomenon, the rock was revered and treated as a temple although no building was ever erected.

    During my tenure the field in which the temple was situated was clear felled of old rubber trees and, as was the normal procedure, the felled trees were sectioned and stacked in piles for burning during the impending dry season, prior to the seeding of the cover crop and the planting of new trees. Throughout the dry season the exposed hill, like any other "new clearing", got extremely hot, yet this had no effect on the level of water in the fissure. My theory was, and is, that the subterranean hydrostatic pressure and the atmospheric pressure were equal and opposite at the level of the water in the fissure. According to this theory the water level should be constant at all times so I will leave to hydrologists the explanation of the slight variation that occurs in the water level at some times other than during rain.

    Dewalakande, approximately 2150 acres, comprised 3 divisions viz. Dewalakande (approx. 950 acres), Dunedin (approx. 625 acres), Troy (approx. 425 acres) plus a remote block of between 100 and 200 acres which was sold some time between 1956 and 1963. The accepted norm for workers per acre on rubber was .75 and, on all divisions, half the workforce or more were Sinhalese, almost all coming from surrounding villages - some 15 miles away. I heard that one girl used to walk daily 15 miles to work, to start at 7.30 am, and walk back after work. With the exception of a few Sinhalese families, the resident workers were Tamil. Troy and Dunedin were each about 7 miles from Dewalakande in an arc of about 450 apart. There was an SD on each division and a KP on the remote block. Dewalakande itself was divided into two sub-divisions - Dewalakande and Maboya in the proportion of approximately 2/3rd and 1/3rd respectively, the former having a Conductor and the latter a KP. The main factory, where sole crepe was made, was on Dewalakade and the other, where brown crepe was made, on Dunedin. This brown crepe was the lowest grade of rubber which was made from what is called scrap: that is the congealed strip of latex that remains on the tapping cut as a natural seal after the latex has finished flowing. The main factory was well known for the beauty of many of the young women working in it, and it was said that girls were hired for their looks to maintain this reputation. I think that it was at this time that I heard that, to qualify for employment in this factory the applicants had to submit to sex with the RM who, de facto, hired and fired the factory workers. But more of this later.

     The SD on Dewalakande had a Company motorbike, a 125 cc BSA, and the Conductor may have had one too. The PD had a Company Land Rover for work, and his own car for private use, although the former could be used for private purposes as well.

     The PD's two-storey house was almost adjacent to the main factory and, from there, it was a mile up a hill to the SD's bungalow almost at the top. It was a small but modern bungalow with two bedrooms. A point on this road was notorious amongst CTP executives for being haunted, and there were many first-hand accounts of strange things happening when passing a spot where, it was said, a woman had once hanged herself from a tree that still existed. It was on the boundary of Dewalakande and the adjacent property at a point where the road to the SD's bungalow touched the boundary. When driving on this road at various times of the night I sometimes slowed to a crawl past that spot - with the car in low gear so as to "make a dash for it" if necessary - hoping to see or feel something, but with no success. However, I did have an experience of a similar vein.

      My mother was visiting and we were at dinner when a weird and haunting sound started down at the bottom of the hill about where the haunted tree was. From that start it built up to the extent that I thought that a large crowd of wailing women was coming up the hill. The sound, at its peak, was blood curdling. Both my mother and I put down our knives and forks, and listened in awe. The next day I asked one of the field watchmen whether there were "Ulamas"(26) in the area, and he confirmed that there often were. I told him what had happened and he said that it would have been an ulama.

      Compared to the green vistas and cool air of an upcountry tea plantation, and the superb smell from the tea factory, a rubber plantation was gloomy under the dense canopy of seventy-foot trees except in new plantings where trees were smaller and the canopy had not covered over, and the factories created unpleasant odours. My bungalow was in a well of tall, dark trees. Fortunately, there was a break in the trees in front of it and one could see the distant hills. There were also snakes, leeches and mosquitoes. The snakes and leeches became only a minor problem but the mosquitoes, particularly in the field, were a major nuisance. However, none of all this had a significantly negative effect on me, I barely thought of it if I thought of it - the present was the present and that was that. On the other hand, I did find the, at times, high temperatures and very high humidity very unpleasant.

      Rubber was new to me so there was a lot to learn from the agricultural standpoint. There was also the opportunity to learn about the manufacturing side although my responsibilities did not include the factory. All told, this was part of my job with the CTP and I made the best of it. For the first eight years or so after replanting, the ground cover creeper introduced at the time of re-planting, grew rapidly into a dense cover almost three feet high concealing holes, unburned logs, drains and………… snakes! The most notable of these were cobras and Russell's vipers. The former try to avoid trouble and, if not aggravated, do not attack. In fact, stories were rife of cobras being found harmlessly curled up, asleep, with infants, as are stories of resident wild, but harmless, cobras in village houses. On the other hand, the Russell's viper is fat and sluggish and does not move out of the way; it attacks if trampled, frightened or aggravated. The bites of both these snakes are said to be fatal if the biting snake is a big one. Both cobras and the vipers could grow to six feet and more (my PD shot an eight or nine foot Russell's viper in his front garden. It was about 3" in diameter at its thickest point). Proper supervision required that we walked through this cover crop and the workers, of course worked in it. On Dewalakande division we had about one serious case of snakebite each year and, although anti-venin was kept in the PD's fridge I am not aware of it ever being used, the workers preferring to go to the local ayurvedic physician. I saw one Russell's viper victim whose body, the day after he was bitten, was swollen to 125% its normal size and, yet, within a week he was up and about. At some time I had decided that, if I were bitten, I too would call in the ayurvedic physician. In addition to the vipers, cobras and sundry smaller ones there were a few rock pythons. In ideal conditions and after many, many years, these can exceed thirty feet in length, but those present here were said to be in a small patch of rather steep rocky scrub through which a field path ran. I never saw one.

      The Conductor of my division was a man who used foul language, at loud volume, as a means of controlling the workers. I doubted that this artifice worked, as it seemed more to engender humour than compliance. Compliance and respect came as a result of his position and true personality. He was quite a character - and paranoid about snakes! When the tappers brought in their pails of latex, some very large, at the end of their day(27) they would line up in preparation for the checking of the specific gravity of their latex and its volume to calculate the solids content by which they were paid. To increase volume, adulteration with water was common. The Conductor, if he was present at the time, used to walk up and down this long line, ranting and raving as he was want, and pirouetting at either end. One day, a young lad who had killed a five foot rock python, tied a string round its head and slung the other end of the string over his shoulder, walked into the area to claim a snake bounty or to show off his kill, or both, and his path followed the Conductor to the end of the line of tappers. The Conductor, in the middle of his pirouette, saw the python, took fright, and brought his socked and shoed foot down into the closest large pail of latex - the workers were beside themselves with laughter but did their best to subdue it. One day, he and I were walking along the cart road in a new clearing and, as usual, he was wearing a pith helmet. Suddenly, Hoagy, my fox terrier, charged towards a small compost pile on the side of the road and started barking at a medium sized cobra that had, till that moment, been sunning itself peacefully on the pile, but was now, top half of the body raised and hood open, ready to strike. Emile followed close on the heels of Hoagy and I yelled at them to come back to me. I kept an eye on the snake and the dogs till it lowered its body and slithered away into the cover crop. All this took no more than forty seconds and, still looking towards where the snake had gone, I said to the Conductor something like, 'My word, that was close!' There was no answer, so I looked around and there was no Conductor - and then I saw him; there he was, thirty yards or more down the road, looking my way, helmet in his left hand, his right hand wiping his profusely sweating bald head with a handkerchief!

      There was also the matter of the pebbles. At times, when he was amongst workers etc., pebbles would hit the Conductor but, try as he might, he could not catch the culprit because he never saw anyone doing it - until, that is, some months later. Then, he happened to be present at a distance when the culprit was exercising his quite considerable skill at some other person. The skill was the ability to pick up a pebble with his toes and flick it accurately at something or someone whilst in the act of walking with no discernable change in his walk. The boy and, no doubt his parents, would have got a severe berating, but no more - beneath all the bluster the Conductor was a kind man.

      In the past, somehow, the management of Dewalakande had virtually been handed over to the staff. Naturally, on the face of it, all was well and in the hands of the PD, but the HC and the RM of the main factory were the one's who held the power, and even the SDs were treated with condescension, even scorn. From what I saw and experienced, this fostered the attitude that showed itself in the manner in which PDs and SDs were addressed. Addressing the PD as 'Sir' was grudging, if it was used at all, by some, because for them SDs did not qualify for this customary courtesy. Even where my Dewalakande Conductor was concerned it took me many months of tact and firmness to win his respect in this regard. After that it was plain sailing with him.

      The PD's office was accessed via the clerk's office and, when the PD entered for the first time on any day, no one stood up as was customary elsewhere (not to do so was not only disrespectful but insulting). The current PD was pretty laid back and seemed to be happy to leave things, by and large, as they were. Where the SDs were concerned he more or less left us to run our divisions. In the eighteen months or so that he was my PD he went round the fields with me twice - one of those because I had asked him to come and see something. Be that as it may, the SDs had a lot of respect for him and we gave him our fullest loyalty. The SD's would often meet him in his office to talk about work, or if there was no work due to rain, to chat; and often the PD would declare a "public holiday" and we would go to his house for drinks and a swim, or tennis, or both. One day, I was in the office with him when the Troy SD arrived, and in the course of conversation announced that Troy had registered heavy rain the previous night. This surprised us because we were in the middle of a very dry period, but the PD, possible from experience, having once been SD on Troy, asked, 'Did you have a party last night?' The answer was 'Yes.' The fact was that the rain gauge on Troy was in the middle of the front lawn of the SD's bungalow and a guest had urinated into it!

      By this time the CTP had embarked on a programme of replanting old and, therefore, low yielding fields. The clearing of the old trees involved four steps: firstly, workers cut the main lateral roots of the trees; secondly, an elephant pushed over the trees; thirdly, the trees were cut and stacked; and fourthly, the stacks were burned when dry. Meanwhile, trees identified as being infected with the Fomes root fungus were marked and all infected material dug out and burned. It was marvellous watching, at close quarters, the intelligent, meticulous and energy efficient manner in which the elephant worked. It was obvious that it took great care to ensure that it would not overbalance, particularly on steep slopes. Each day, soon after noon, its work for the day was stopped and it was taken to the river to bathe.

      The tapping panels on a tree were thirty inches high and started just above the union of the graft and the stock. Each panel was half the diameter of the trunk and this created two panels per tree, each being tapped alternately each year to a height of six inches. Thus, each virgin panel was tapped for five years, making a total of ten years on virgin, high yielding, bark. After this ten years, tapping reverted to the first tapped panel which, by then, had enough bark renewal(28) for it to be tapped again. Thereafter, the same order as the tapping of the virgin bark was followed, giving another ten year period after which yet another tapping cycle commenced, with ever declining yields. Ideally, it was then time to replant, but because of WWII and the lean years following it, replanting had been on hold until recently, and this coincided with the completion of the Rubber Research Institute's initial programmes of cloning material for replanting on a large scale. Most of the prior work was done at the Malaysian Rubber Research Institute - the world leader in rubber research. The CTP was replanting about 10% of its rubber each year, and on Dewalakande as a whole that amounted to about 200 acres which, at a stand per acre of 220 amounted to 44,000 plants, a number that required large nurseries. At the time, as in tea, 'new' plantings were planted on the contour with plants closer in the contour lines than between the lines. In time, this grid changed, but not significantly. Previously, the old seedling rubber tress had been planted on a uniform grid giving an initial stand per acre of about 150 which, due to natural attrition and disease, left stands of poorly yielding trees as low as 90 per acre - long overdue for replanting.

      Already established in the nurseries on the Dewalakande group were stocks of growing clonal material called "bud wood" from which buds were removed and grafted to stocks grown from seed. When the grafted stock was uprooted for planting out, only plants with single taproots were used and those with two were discarded. My PD gave me some unforgettable advice on how to remember this distinction. He said, 'Its like a woman, she is no good with her legs crossed!'

     In January/February each year rubber trees shed their leaves and soon thereafter grow new leaf. This new 'flush', from the stage of earliest budding, is susceptible to the Oidium fungus, and was dusted with Flowers of Sulphur at set intervals until the cuticle of the leaves hardened enough to be impenetrable to the fungus. Dusting tall trees, up to seventy feet in height in some fields, was done by machines, each carried by four men, that blew the dust into and over the trees, a job that had to be started very early in the morning and the work completed before the warmth of the sun created up-currents of air which would dissipate the dust. It was a terrible job as sulphur stings the eyes severely, and goggles and masks were unheard-of in those days.

     At one time the machines were breaking down frequently and it was essential that, if this happened, it was fixed immediately. I, therefore, gave instructions that the Assistant Mechanic (who was primarily, though not exclusively, a 'factory worker'), accompany the machines. Perhaps because the machines broke down again that night I discovered that the mechanic had not been in attendance. I was made to understand that the RM had countermanded my instructions so I went to him to verify this and he confirmed it. I said to him, ' Mr. Jesudasan(29) , the next time I give instructions make sure that you bloody well carry them out!'

    Later that morning my PD sent for me and asked me what had happened as the RM had complained to him that I was rude to him and used the word 'bloody'. I explained what had occurred and the PD sent for the RM who came into the office cocky as ever. The PD did not mince words. All he said, with obvious conviction, was, 'Jesudasan, this gentleman here is an executive of the Company and is my second in command. What he tells you to do you will do. Is that clear?' And after a 'Yes, Sir.' from the RM, 'You may go now!'

    It was on Dewalakande that I first became conscious of the importance of powers of observation, inherent or cultivated, in planting; that it was necessary, whether walking or motoring, to look at the whole whilst looking for the detail. The trigger was a fungus that caused patches of pink on branches and the fact that I was looking at the total picture of green foliage, trees, ground etc. whilst keeping an eye out for the telltale pink colour.

    As in the past, the monthly stock take was a necessary 'evil', but here, when checking the rice stocks, tons of it, I used to get extreme attacks of hay fever, much to the amusement of my PD whose office was on the other side of the wall! No, he was not insensitive, he just had a good sense of humour.

    The plantation was well served by roads but on the side of temple hill a section of road needed to be cut to complete the circuit around its 'waist'. The existing road ended at the top, just below the temple, and formed a sharp corner at the 'waist' on the side where the circuit needed to be completed. A new road from this latter point was obviously the best option with the second, and far less satisfactory one, being to cut a much longer road with four or five hairpin bends, from the top. My PD told me that he, and many before him, had tried to find a path around the thing that stymied all attempts to chart a route for this new section. The "thing" was a massive triangular, steep rock face running up the side of the hill from its base to about two thirds of the way up. Undeterred by past failures, and spurred on by the challenge, I asked to be allowed to look for a solution and got wholehearted approval.

    Armed with the road tracer I spent many hours over a few days trying various possibilities, but as with all those who had tried before, I was inevitably stymied by the same barrier. However, the answer had been staring all of us in the face - take the first, most direct option and blast an L shaped passage through the rock face. This was my suggestion and, the PD having agreed, in due course this work was commenced. The earth works were relatively simple as the route was almost level except for the lower end where, to link up with the existing road, a hairpin bend was required and, at this bend, granite retaining walls up to ten feet in height were needed. There was no heavy machinery and all the work was done by the plantation's head stone mason, a man nearing retirement and a genuine craftsman. Mostly on his own, he selected, split, transported (by rolling), lifted and placed (at the right vertical camber) row upon row of granite blocks approximately 24"w x 14"h x 18"d, with the requisite weep holes etc. He easily moved these big blocks along the top of each layer he had laid using two foot-long steel bars, one in each hand - it was fascinating to watch. No mortar was used. By observing this man on this job and the range of other jobs he did, I learned a lot. Some of this knowledge was to come in very useful over two decades later when I was doing landscaping design and construction in Australia and had to manoeuvre large rocks and boulders into the precise position I wanted.

    The road was blasted out of the rock face to form a right angle, and this cutting was approximately 10 ft. w x 16-20 ft. h x 30 ft. l. The blasting was done by experienced men brought in from outside and the work involved drill holes (hand drilled) of up to three feet deep into which they sometimes put a stick of dynamite in addition to the blasting powder. This work was new to me and absolutely fascinating. Huge chunks of rock, together with a variety of smaller sizes, were blasted out with each explosion and hurled out and down - into villager owned rubber below. By way of compensation all we did was send someone to treat the damaged trees with a standard formulation. There were no complaints.

   My dogs, instead of being frightened by the frightful noise of the explosions, charged them. On one of the occasions when multiple charges were laid and lit, as soon as they saw and heard the smoke and hiss of the lit fuses the two of them took off to get amongst it all. I thought I was seeing the end of my animals and yelled at them to come back. Fortunately they did - just before the explosions started - tails wagging and all excited, they thought it was great fun!

   After the rock was blasted out we were left with a very rough horizontal surface and, to make this suitable for a road, I laid a layer of concrete as the final surface. I also imprinted my initials and the date in the wet concrete just over the edge.

   In a new clearing, for the first weeks after replanting, that is until the new plants were sufficiently rooted in the ground to preclude successful translocation, the new plants were susceptible to poaching by outsiders. To counter this, watchmen were on duty at night. During the daytime the regular field watchmen kept an eye on things. One day I decided to check on the night watchmen and went out after midnight with my two dogs. When we had quietly got to about forty-five feet of the watchman's hut I was concerned that the dogs, particularly the big one, would go into it and wake up the man if he was asleep, so I bent down to Emile and whispered to him, 'You wait here son, I will be back.' and he promptly dropped down on his belly and waited for me to return. I had never given him such an order before!

   When I returned to Dewalakande after getting married my wife and I were surprised to find a big reception awaiting us. There was a large pandal(30) across the road in front of the factory gate, and a crowd consisting of the PD and his family, staff and workers. There were speeches and firecrackers and Hindu blessings. The busiest man in all this was the clerk, Mr. Pillai.

   Another noteworthy incident occurred one afternoon when I was in the field of the temple. Rain started to pour down in torrents and the workers, as usual, stopped work and left for home. I had to walk a little distance to my motorbike and then drive around the hill and back to the route many of the workers had taken. On my way was a paved dip in the road where water from a small spring in a ravine crossed it. The storm, which was to drop 7" of rain in three hours, had by the time I arrived at the crossing created a rush of water about 18" deep across which I could not ride or push my bike. Some workers, anticipating this, had waited for me in the rain and, telling me to remain on the bike, carried me and it across. Also, particularly in hot weather and in the new clearings, if there was work in progress, one of the workers would bring a young coconut and store it in a cool place, for instance under a rock, and produce it for me if I turned up. It was not that there were no clean springs handy; it was an expression of respect and, I suppose, affection. Both these actions involved Sinhalese workers who were usually very loyal on all plantations.

   I think that it was on Dewalakande that my penchant for looking for sources of clean water for everyone became apparent. On the side of the hill where the factory, staff quarters and workers quarters were situated there was virtually no surplus spring water, but I managed to get a little surplus from the spring serving the SD's bungalow and pipe that down to the Conductor's house as well as further down.

   Early in the latter half of 1956 I was severely concussed during a rugby match and doctors ordered me complete rest for a month in a darkened room, with no talking and no music. After two weeks, however, I was bored and restless and, in any case, wanted to get back to the plantation and at least work from home to whatever extent I could. Meanwhile on Dewalakande one PD had left and another taken over. I, therefore, returned to my bungalow and to a new PD. One day I tested my ability to work by walking a fairly short field road circuit at the top of the hill on which my bungalow was, only to discover that I got very weak and dizzy. Soon after this the new PD unadvisedly took me on a field round in the Land Rover, and some distance by foot, resulting in a setback in my condition, and later in the year I was sent on furlough with an appointment to see a Harley Street specialist in London after my arrival there. In his opinion, not much damage had been done, and he told me to go to Europe as planned but to go slow on the red wine! Actually, I did find that wine was a good indicator of my medical condition because headaches would occur with minimal consumption at first, and later at higher levels as time passed. During the next seven years I used to sometimes black out and collapse at night after only a few drinks during the evening, and at the end of that period found that after a rugby match I had blank patches in my memory. It was then that I decided that I could opt for more rugby and risk losing my job, or give up rugby and assure my job. I chose the latter.

   The new PD was very efficient and capable though not very likeable, and wasted no time in asserting his authority with the staff. He obviously noticed the fact that the clerks did not do the done thing on his entry into their office and must have hinted at something because, but for Mr. Pillai, all either stood or made a reluctant effort to lift there buttocks off theirs chairs. As for Mr. Pillai, one day the PD stopped by his chair and said, 'Pillai, the next time I come in here and you don't stand I will take away your chair and you will work standing!' That got the result he wanted.

  We once went to the Rubber Research Institute and one of the things that impressed me was the work being done with cell culture where they were in the early stages of growing clonal material from cells - from the terminal buds of shoots I think.

  By this time the exodus of our ex-patriot SDs had started, and with it the rapid movement of the rest up the ladder. I went on six months furlough which lasted seven months because of the Suez crisis.

NEXT CHAPTER->