In all my years of consecutively witnessing the Bradby Shield Encounter between my alma mater, Royal College, Colombo 07 and Trinity College, Kandy, the only off-field spectacle that could rival the action going on in the field itself, was that of the Bradby Express. Yards upon yards of locomotive, continuing in an endless procession, ever northward. The constant cheers and the blue and gold colours flying high within and without every car. The prospect of witnessing an exciting game of rugby, in the pounding rain or blinding sunshine, at the heart of the hill capitol. These are the memories of the Bradby Express that bring a smile of happy nostalgia to my face to this day.
Imagine my chagrin when I heard, in the early ‘80s, that the Bradby Express would be discontinued. Never again would we board that colourful train full of enthusiastic Royalists hell-bent on seeing their side win in Kandy. It seemed like heavy blow and the removal of an essential part of what Bradby meant to a Royalist. However, the Bradby Encounter prevailed, and we slowly reverted to more conventional methods of travelling to witness the Kandy leg, and soon the Bradby Express was reduced to a happy memory kept in a box which I would take out and look at in moments of nostalgia. A time of around 2 decades passed, where the Bradby Express was merely a topic that was taken out and discussed more and more infrequently at social gatherings which consisted of Old Royalists.
The life of a corporate executive in the capitol is a hard one, with many responsibilities being placed on your shoulders with little time given to bear them all. Having two sons adds to this burden and I am a father who has always worried about not giving enough time to his children. Both of them being Royalists has added a common interest to our lives; that of seeing the team from Royal lift the Bradby Shield at each year’s encounter. I managed to forge an everlasting bond with my sons through those two legs in Kandy and Colombo. The Kandy leg, for us, is quite the family affair, which consists of the whole family spending two days in Kandy.
It came as an exhilarating surprise to hear through the grapevine that the age-old tradition of the Bradby Express would be resurrected in 2010 Upon inquiring further as to the identities of the brave souls who had assumed the daunting responsibility, I was told it was the 2007 batch of Old Royalists. It seemed to me that preparations were underway to provide a highly colourful and festive train as never seen before this year, so I purchased tickets for my sons and myself, and awaited the day whence I would board the train with baited breath.
A fine sunny day it was, as we made our way at 6.00am to the railway station at Colombo Fort. The train was a magnificent sight to behold. It was an endless dual-locomotive with cars decorated in the Royal blue and gold, with Royal banners and flags waving as far as the eyes could see. I could hear the sound of a papare band far off in the distance, and the whole platform was a sea of heads, flashes of blue and gold, and occasional white of a prefect as he ushered in younger students. I dropped off my sons to their respective cars, and joined my friends of school in one of the cars reserved for members of the Royal College Union.
Spirits were high on the way to Kandy as the 1st Leg in Colombo had been won by Royal, and we were hoping for a win in Kandy as well to bring home the Shield. Many songs were sung, tales exchanged, and old friendships were renewed once more. We were quite impressed as Old Royalists with the level of effort that had been put into the organizing of the Express, and made a collective mental note to congratulate the organizers personally later. We could not have been in a better mood as we arrived in Kandy, looking forward to an exciting match of Rugby at one of the oldest match-ups that Sri Lanka has to offer.
After a thoroughly satisfying match where Royal beat Trinity by a considerable margin, we returned to the Bradby Express in the evening to make the trip back to Colombo. The general mood was one of absolute euphoria as everyone on the train were shouting themselves hoarse, singing songs of their team’s victory. The fact that the Shield had been won for the 2nd consecutive year added to the general excitement. Many a laugh was shared, and play-by-play dissections of the match were conducted over and over again, as we traversed the beautiful hill country, finally descending towards Colombo once more.
As we disembarked from the ‘Train of Victory’ as it was now known, and went our separate ways, us Old Royalists vowed that we would never let this wonderful tradition die out again, and that the Bradby Express would forever stand as a monument to the great spirit of our school not only to our country, but to the whole world. The spirit of companionship and love for one’s school should never die out, and the memories born of such a wonderful journey as that of the Bradby Express are the pillars on which our lives stand, bringing us ever closer to an inner peace that is rarely found during our short stay within this world.
Since that first exultant trip, I have travelled on the Bradby Express twice more. I have watched my young sons grow and yet their love and excitement at the prospect of travelling on the Train of Victory has never waned, the same as mine. I am excited beyond explanation as a I write this footnote, as I have heard that the Bradby Express will travel forth once more for the Kandy leg of the Bradby Encounter for 2013, and I must immediately rush to the RCU to purchase tickets for my sons and myself. To my friends whom I have been meeting on the Express for the past 3 years, see you there! To my friends who have not yet experienced the joy of travelling on it, I hope to see you there!
Link to newspaper article: http://goo.gl/prxLe