some of the finest verses at the time under the pseudonym Kayes and U.A.S. Perera or Siri Aiya who conducted a weekly children ‘s program called Lama Theeraya at the then Radio Ceylon.
Kayes Hamuduruwo took our Sinhala class and prescribed two of his well-known poetry books, Malhami and Kalakanniya for the class.
We read them in class with him in sheer delight. I remember Kayes’ poem opened new literary vistas to us. Some of us were inspired to write poetry ourselves, they may have been doggerel, but we scribbled them on exercise books not meant for school work. Sheepishly we showed them to the poet- monk who smiled at our amateurish literary attempts. We continued while relishing the Hamuduruwo’s classic works.
It was not generally known in school that Ven. Kalalelle Ananda Sagara was in fact the
poet Kayes. Some of us probed and discovered the fact. Perhaps the clerical versifier
believed in the saying of Oscar Wilde that the artist should remain incognito and
concealed in the background exposing only his art, not his identity and name.
Kayes noted this thinking in a preface he wrote to his epic Sudo Sudu which recounted in
lucid and simple verse the immortal love story of three village youth. Somehow Kayes
Hamuduruwo never prescribed Sudo Sudu for our class. Perhaps he decided that the love
theme was too adult in conception and we were unready yet for the literary adventure.
But there were students who had read Sudo Sudu stealthily out of curiosity and
admiration for our poet- teacher.
Kayes Hamuduruwo was also a proficient English teacher. I remember with amusement
how he shed his Sinhalism when he took an English class: he strained to imitate the highly-tilted diction of Old Blighty. Kayes took his pen-name after the three initials of his name KAS (Kalalelle Ananda Sagara); KAS was neatly converted into Kayes.
Later, when he gave up robes he reverted to his lay name Sagara Palansuriya. For a while he donned the European suit but opted to the national dress when he took to politics and successfully contested the Horana seat under the MEP of SWRD Bandaranaike and Phillip Gunawardena.
It was while Kayes was at Ananda that his Colombo Period poets’ Association the Aganuwara Tharuna Kavi Samajaya (Athakasa) held its annual general meeting at Prince College in Kotahena.
All the stalwarts of the Colombo Period were there: Borelesgamuwa G.H. Perera, P.B. Alwis Perera, Indra Kumaranayake, Wimalaratne Kumarage, John Rajadasa, H.M. Kudaligama and others. Kayes had composed a brilliant welcome in verse lampooning his poetcolleagues
in unmalicious terms: it was hilarious. Kayes invited two of us- Jayawardena and myself to recite the poem. He was residing in an aramaya in Dematagoda and we went there to rehearse the poem. We had to memorize the entire set of verses.
Kayes sat down on a canvas-backed wooden chair and smoked while we recited the verses.
He gave his approval only after an umpteen number of rehearsals. At Prince College it was a festive day. There were poets everywhere and the public response, unlike now, was great. People then seemed to appreciate and relish good Sinhala poetry. It ranked above the trash that went as pseudo literary work.
The welcome poem at Prince College was received with applause. Kayes though he left Ananda continued to write verses. Some of them highly imaginative and even philosophical and contributed regularly to his friend Alwis Perera ‘s monthly digest of poems titled Dedunna.
Kayes while he was teaching in Jaffna wrote poems titled Uthuren and Wimalaratne Kumarage who was a DRO, also a friend of Kayes responded from the South his verses headlined Dakunen.
To us, Kayes was the memorable individual - not Sagara Palansuriya, Kayes was our dream-maker. Some of us later became poets ourselves no doubt inspired by our monk-teacher. Who wouldn’t if he had read the immortal opening verse in Sudo Sudu: Godamada Dekama Sarusaraya Palabaraya; katurodu Gammane tharamake Pitisaraya; Eygama Medin Galana Ganga Manaharaya; Kada MandiyaPihitiye Gama Kelavaraya.
Copy right from Mr.Premil Ratnayake's Article
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