This rainbow does not fade away - A tale of seven friends

Forty-odd years ago, seven young girls who were then in the HSC class at Chundikuli Girls’ College, Jaffna, bonded together as “VIBGYOR”, the seven colours of the rainbow that were indissoluble. Vasi, Chitra, Suvendrini, Chandra, Mano, Mala and Vimala, all had high aspirations and although their paths soon diverged, the end of their golden schooldays did not spell the end of their friendship.

Chandra and Chitra entered the medical faculty, Suvendrini and Vimal the science faculty at Peradeniya, Vasi chose to do engineering, Mala did law and Mano, after entering the arts faculty, switched to accountancy. Eventually, they dispersed to different parts of the globe and the chances of their ever having a full reunion seemed remote, until 2005, when Suvendrini who resided in Sydney with husband Rohan and family, issued an invitation to the whole group to meet in her home.

They rallied to the call. Chandra, a specialised medical practitioner, came from England, while Chitra, also a medical specialist, arrived from Melbourne. From Singapore came Vimal who had just retired as Head of the Enforcement Division of the Board of Censors in Singapore and was the recipient of an ‘efficiency award’ from the Singapore Government. Mano who had graduated with a degree in Taxation, came from Audbury, a city between Sydney and Melbourne, where she was Compliance Officer in the Income Tax Department. Vasi and Mala both travelled from Sri Lanka – the former a Chartered Civil Engineer who, after serving in Nigeria, Vietnam and Japan, was now attached to the Ministry of Reconstruction & Rehabilitation here, while Mala held the post of Deputy Chairperson of a large business conglomerate. So it came about that after a lapse of 42 years, all seven friends met together in Sydney in February 2005 and the ‘rainbow’ shone brightly over Australian skies.

“Suven’s and Rohan’s house was as large as their hearts,” Mala told me. “A part of the spacious house became a replica of Chundikuli’s HSC dormitory of the past and chatter and laughter ensued from it as of old.”

From Sydney, the Seven flew to Aulbury as the guests of Mano and husband Vipula who entertained them right royally. Then Vipula drove them all to Melbourne in a mini-coach and it was Chitra’s and husband Kumar’s turn to host the merry group. When they finally broke up to go their separate ways again, it was with the firm resolve that they would hereafter meet again, at least every other year.

So it came about that this year, 2007, they again had another “crowded hour of glorious life” when all except one met in North India, thanks to Vimal’s husband having moved from Singapore to Delhi and Hyderabad as a Consultant Engineer. They were disappointed that Chandra, in England, could not make it this time, but they had two additions to the group in the shape of Suvendrini’s sister, Sakuntala, who flew from Toronto, and Mano’s sister, Gai, who came from Sydney, both of them also products of Chundikuli.

They spent the first three nights in a beautiful houseboat on Dhal Lake in Sri Nagar, Kashmir and then moved to Rajasthan, where Vimal organised a ride into the desert by camel caravan that took two hours. “Camping in the desert and sleeping under a million stars was a memorable experience. To cap it all,” said Mala, “we visited the yellow city of Jaisalmer, the pink city of Jaipur and stood transfixed in awe and wonder when the rays of the morning sun lit up the Taj Mahal in Agra.”

“We returned to our respective homes with thankful hearts at thought of the school that brought us together and for the colours of the rainbow glowing within us and linking us forever as friends for life.”