Category Archives: plural society

Carol Aloysius, courtesy of the Sunday Observer 26 June 2016, where the title is “My Parents’ Genes shaped My Life”

One of Deloraine Brohier’s most vivid and fearful memories was living in snake infested circuit bungalows- the transit homes for the wandering Brohier family headed by Ceylon’s first Ceylonese Surveyor. “My father, Dr R.L Brohier joined the exclusively British run Survey Department in 1910 and retired in 1949. The youngest in a family of three, I spent my early childhood travelling with my parents to wherever my father was sent. My first memory is Ratnapura when I was about five. Like all the circuit bungalows we lived in, it was beautifully landscaped and overlooking the Kalu Ganga. Unfortunately, it was snake infested”, she recalls, still shuddering at the memory.  One encounter in particular stands out, if only because it was so terrifying.  ” I was just four, and liked rolling on the carpet. One day, I sat on what looked like a big bump under the carpet. Thinking it was a cushion, I began riding on top of it like an imaginary car. Then, my father noticed the bump moving. After instructing that I be carried away without frightening me, he hit it hard with a club. And a huge snake slithered away!” Continue reading →