(The Architect of St. Michael’s College, Batticaloa)
K. KANAPATHIPILLAI –B.A.; F.R.G.S., Dip.- in – Geo.(Lond.)
Anyone who ventures to make a survey of the progress of Education in Batticaloa will be pleasantly surprised to discover the fact that Batticaloa was not far behind the other parts of Sri Lanka in having had its own quota of very talented and eminent educationists. Looming very large on the educational horizon of Batticaloa are such great personalities as Miss. G. Croft of Vincent Girls’ High School, Srimath Swami Vipulananda of Shivananda Vidyalaya, Rev. Fr. F. Bonnel of St. Michael’s College, Rev. Selby of Methodist Central College and Rev. Mother Lucy of St. Cecilia’s Girls School. What a formidable galaxy of eminent educationists for such a small benighted old town as Batticaloa with a hoary past that dates as far back as the glorious days of the Kandiyan Kingdom of which it was a part! Among these educationists, Rev. Fr. Bonnel has perhaps left an indelible impress on the longest period of Batticaloa’s Educational History. Many a young man who came under his magnetic and mellowing influence would have felt the impact of his most lovable, non the less, stern personality. When he stood erect,and he always stood, sat and lay himself erect – he was lean and tall like a carven marble statue that had sprung into life under the skilful hand of a master sculptor. There was compassion and serenity in those pair of bluish grey eyes with a penetrating look. The look was intense and the gaze seemed to run through your entire mortal fame. You felt puny as if you and if you had suddenly come into contact with an overwhelming presence. He spoke very little. It was his graze that controlled and disciplined every one of the young minds that were fortunate enough to come under his influence. When Father Bonnel just walked along the long corridors of the College there was perfect silence and orderliness. Everyone, both the members of the tutorial staff and the students knew and felt his silent presence.
On the last Friday of the month when the entire school assembled in the College Hall for the presentation of the insignia of merit and honour to the deserving students, there used to be the usual hum of little voices that rose and fell with the arrival of the class masters. Last of all when Fr. Bonnel made his appearance on the corridor, the hum and laughter and the prattle of little voices died down into a dead silence. One felt as if one were enshrouded in eternity where time and tide, colour and form had mingled into nothingness. The silence told; and everyone, both staff and pupils drank deep of it. Then dominating personality in the person of Rev. Fr. Bonnel; walk like a colossus and entered the hall. It was an experience; unforgettable, unforgotten. What a marvel! What a stern discipline! What a mighty impact of a loving guru on his loving disciples! The creative mind of the guru met the respective mind of the disciple.
On an occasion such as this, one felt and apprehended that there was a notion called discipline. It was not just a spoken word. It was not even an idea. It was a real living experience. Its full significance, and its exact meaning coursed through one’s veins; and the hearts of both the guru and disciple beat in consonance and felt and realized that the purpose and aim for which they had come together was something laudable, something noble. Can there be a greater lesson than this?
At St. Michael’s a clock ticked and our movements were punctuated by the tick of this clock; and what do you think, this master clock was? It taught us the essential value of “Kala” – time. It was no other than Fr. Bonnel. His movements were so exact that one could have depended upon them for setting one’s timepiece. Whether he entered the class rooms, went into the Laboratory, visited His Lordship the Bishop, wended his way to the Post Office to post the letters, knelt at the feet of the master in the College Chapel; every action of his was performed with clock work regularity.
As a teacher of subjects, Fr. Bonnel was full with bubbling enthusiasm and loving kindness, He loved and recognized every one of his pupils, and took great care and pains to prepare his lessons with meticulous attention. He had volumes of past question papers of the Cambridge Senior Examination in Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Geography for which he had solution worked out and neatly bound in book form. Geography was his pet subject and Chemistry and Physics, Botany and Mathematics occupied no less a place in his scheme of things. He laboured hard to build up and maintain the first Science Laboratory and Geography Room in Batticaloa in a very attractive and orderly manner. On an evening he often entertained his pupils with pictures of lovely scenery of geographic interest mounted on his stereoscope or with cinematograph film strips. ‘Pate- Baby’ was a regular feature, and a favourite among the children. Among his rare collection of books on travel and geographical topics were ‘Mackinder’s Britain and British Seas’, ‘Seven Henden’s’, ‘Imalayan Travels’, ‘Leyll’s Principles of Geology’ and the entire set of Herbertson’s ‘Regional Geographies’. At a time when the imparting of scientific knowledge and the reception of it was most considered the peculiar privilege of the few, and every scant attention was paid to the teaching of science, Fr. Bonnel was the first pioneer to give prominence to this theme. Many an eminent pupil of his got the flair for the study of the rare sciences like Chemistry and Physics and Botany from his encyclopaedic knowledge and untiring interest in these subjects. He presented his lessons with such keen interest and zest that his pupils felt the very marvels in nature and were overwhelmed and awed by their novelty. His aim appeared to be not the mere imparting of knowledge. He aspired to inspire his pupils and many a pupil of his, will ample testimony to this masterful influence of the master mind. A lesson, from Fr. Bonnel’s point of view, was a single, undivided, integrated whole. It was an experience. It had to be lived through, felt and made part and partial of one’s own being, so that it may not be said to stand out as a separate entity.
Rev. Fr. Bonnel belonged to a generation of religious which appears to be fast vanishing. He came in the tradition of inspired and devoted torch-bearers. Their intention was not merely to hand over the torch of learning from generation to the next. Their purpose was a divine one, inspired by a no less divine call; to set aflame the spark that was already in one’s pupil. They performed their tasks, in the right spirit with utmost sincerity, stark earnestness and unrelenting seriousness of purpose. It was their mission in life.
Austerity was the hallmark of Fr.Bonnel’s entire career. A bare plank served as his bed and a brick or two propped up his head and served as his pillow. From early morning till late in the evening; till he had his head on his hard pillow and stretched his limbs on the bare plank, it was a day every minute which he was aware of; and each minute he endeavoured to put to the best use. He may be said to have accounted for every second of his life. He never did stand and wait; he worked and laboured.
So long as Fr. Bonnel was at the helm of affairs at St. Michael’s, not a lady was employed on the staff and not a female form could enter its portals without his sanction. No females were permitted to perform on the College stage.
He was a walking university. To watch him walking across the College lawn was in itself a lesson in self- discipline.
Sri Lanka cannot boast of many educationists of Fr. Bonnel’s type, of his intellectual caliber and moral rectitude. Our humble and earnest prayer and sincere wish is the Sri Lanka may be fortunate enough to get the service of such selfless men as Rev. Fr. Bonnel. Then this emerald Isle, this pearl adoring the bosom of mother India will be free of all the ailments that it appears destined to have been heir to. Stilled is that voice, and the light has gone out of those eyes; but the indomitable spirit still lives and guides and permeates the Alma Mater. What was said of Brutus may still be said of Rev Fr. Ferdinand Bonnel “This was a man; when will come such another?”