Elvis, Denham and I: Memories of an idyllic time

My friend Denham Smith passed away on Christmas night, in his home in Houston, Texas. It brought a flood of memories of an idyllic time in Sri Lanka in the late 1960s. Denham was my neighbour at Nimalka Gardens in Kollupitiya. He went to St. Peters, but he hung out with a whole group of Royalists such as Ikram and Imran Mohinadeen, Akram Sathuk, Salim Cader and my younger brother–all managing to see every movie that came to Colombo in one rupee and 10 cents seats –often walking to the cinema to save the bus fare to afford the movie ticket.

Denham and I spent many a school day at Beach Road, Dehiwala, renting surf boards for one-rupee from the fisher huts by the beach. After about 2-hours of surfing we rounded it off by having an incredible pineapple slice from a beach vendor. Yes, it was an idyllic life, before the JVP insurrection, LTTE terrorism and corrupt politicians turned the country into a dystopian paradise.

Other than movies and body surfing, our other interests were girls and Elvis. We formed the ‘Elvis Presley Den’, with Denham’s cousins, Romany and Rosanne Rasquinho. Elvis dominated our lives – we went to his movies multiple times, imitating his moves, fashions, hair and desperately wanting to be as successful as him with the girls. The net was cast wide – daughters of politicians, doctors, and whoever would look at us! We not only pursued love interests at Colombo Colleges such Bishop’s and Ladies’ and Convents such as SBC and HFC; but also, those at outstation schools such as the beautiful girls at Paynter Home in Nuwara Eliya! Ultimately, we both married Ladies’ College girls.

Later in life we both went separate ways, but managed to meet often and reminisce on the hundreds of adventures we had in our teen years. Also, from the many tributes posted about him on Facebook, it is clear that Denham touched a lot of other lives from his hang-out at Nimalka Gardens. Wherever he is, he will live in our memories forever.