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This page was set up for those contemplating a residency at the Pemberley International Study Centre in Haputale, Sri Lanka. In July of 2002 I was a resident scholar at the Centre. My experience there was a very negative one. In hopes of saving others from making the same mistake, I will relate my story here.To be fair, the location of the Pemberley Centre is lovely. It is perched on the southern slope of Sri Lanka's central mountain range. Walking up from the road to Pemberley through the beautiful Viharagale tea estate, I was excited about the experience before me. But it was not long before my excitement started to fade. My first disappointment at Pemberley was the dearth of scholars. One of my preconceptions of a "scholarly centre" was that there would be (as the Pemberley brochure suggests) "opportunities for mutual cross-fertilization of ideas with fellow-Residents." Having lived in Sri Lanka before, I knew that there were a number of wonderful bungalows and guest houses available for rent in the country, many of them at very low prices, drastically lower than Pemberley. But I considered it an advantage to have, at the end of the work day, fellow scholars with which to socialize and perhaps even share work. Alas, upon arrival, I was told that I was the only one there. An Indian academic had been there the week before, but had also been disappointed and left. Eventually, I found out that one other couple was scheduled to arrive, and several days later they did so. Their presence turned out to be the only saving grace of the Centre for me. If they had not arrived, I would not have stayed a week. My second disappointment was the room given me. Though the Centre was completed deserted with the exception of staff, I was given a fairly small, dank, half-basement room, and upon asking to switch rooms, was told that that would not be possible. Evidently, during the first year (or two) of Pemberley's existence, the scholars stayed in Pemberley House, the house depicted in most of the pictures on the Centre's website, now completely off-limits. Perhaps those rooms are larger and more airy (I don't know; in seventeen days, I was never invited into the main house). Now, however, scholars stay in a new building erected for their residencies, and all the rooms are small, and most of them have no view whatsoever. After having stayed in the nearby town of Haputale the night before, in a wonderful room with a gorgeous view (for less than one tenth of the price I was paying for a night at Pemberley), this was a further disappointment. My disappointment in my allotment of space was exascerbated when, the next morning, I sat down on the verandah of the Pemberley House (remember, there was no one resident there) to work. Within several minutes, the head staff person, Raj, informed me that the verandah was off-limits to scholars. This was very shocking, as the verandah was really the only place to sit and enjoy the view of the valley. The fact that Dr. Yasmine Gooneratne (the wife of Dr. Brendon Gooneratne, the Centre's Director), when talking about her residency at another scholarly Centre, spoke of how that Centre encouraged scholars to use all available spaces, made this new prohibition at Pemberley all the more irritating. The food provided was the next disappointment that I met with at Pemberley. To give you some background, ten years before my stay at Pemberley I had lived in Sri Lanka as a United States Peace Corps volunteer. At that time, I had paid $15/month for room and board, and had been delighted with my fare. Granted, upon arrival at Pemberley, my dining expectations were somewhat higher, but I would have been perfectly content with middle of the road Sri Lankan cuisine. The Centre's literature states that "delicious meals, which include Italian, English and other western dishes, together with a variety of Sri Lankan and Indian food, are served it Pemberley." Though the Centre is largely vegetarian, the literature also promises an "excellent range of seafood." What we got was mostly dried fish. In my first two weeks of residency, I was served dried fish (one of the cheapest foods available in the country, and very salty and unpalatable to most Westerners) at least ten times. Perhaps twice in those two weeks, the fish was canned, and not once was it fresh. It wasn't until I began to complain and demand a refund from the Centre that there was any improvement, and even then it only came after the arrival of the Gooneratne family, when we seemed to be sharing (at a distance and an hour or so later than them) their meals. Two other complaints I have with the food were lack of fruit and redundant breakfasts. Summer is the best time of year in Sri Lanka for fruit, but during my first two weeks there we got almost none. Occasionally, the cook would bring us a stringy glass of mango juice, and occasionally there was a piece of pineapple for desert, but that was about it. When I complained about this to Dr. Gooneratne, his excuse was that nothing better was available locally. But by that time I had already got into the habit of going up to town myself and buying my own fruit, wonderful mangoes and rambutans and passion fruit which the cook happily made into passion fruit juice for me. Finally, at least ten days out of my seventeen at Pemberley breakfast consisted of two fried eggs and toast with jam. Acceptable at a Budget Inn or the like, but having traveled half way around the world to come to Pemberley, and having paid quite a bit for the privilege, this fare was not acceptable, in my view. Other facilities at Pemberley also proved to be lacking. The literature on the Centre stated that the "library facilities at the Centre would be limited," but what I found upon arrival were about six copies of The New Yorker and maybe another ten copies of National Geographic. No novels, no reference books, nothing else that a scholar might expect to find at a scholarly centre. The literature on the Centre also stated that "typewriters, computers, printers and photocopiers are available," along with "fax and email" access, but the only one of these that was available to me was a typewriter. The excuse given was that the computer was being fixed, but if that is so the problem had been there a good month before my arrival and nothing had been done about it. Finally, and perhaps most disturbingly, when I politely made complaint about these many inadequacies, Dr. Gooneratne, the Director of the Centre, was completely defensive and unsympathetic. For the first two weeks of my stay he was resident in Colombo, but even upon his arrival at the Centre he did not so much as deem to say hello to me. Instead, he sent us (the three scholars) memos about further prohibitions. The kitchen area and the clotheslines were ruled off-limits. We were sent a memo reiterating information in the Centre's literature about Haputale's water shortage and how we should focus on conservation. This, when upon his arrival he had put several of his servants to the task of washing his car for over an hour, and when the watering of Pemberley's lawns was an un-ending activity. When, on the fourth day of Dr. Gooneratne's stay at Pemberley, I overheard someone saying that he would be departing for Colombo again the following day, I sent him a note stating that due to the Centre's numerous inadequacies and broken promises I had decided to cut short my stay. Furthermore, I asked for (I was quite frustrated by this time) a partial refund of my residency fee. A pro rata payment for the days I would not be in residence (10 days) seemed reasonable to me, as I wrote to Dr. Gooneratne. In the event that no refund was given, I stated that I would air my complaints publicly. Immediately upon receiving my note he burst through the door and began to rant, about how I had sent in a picture of someone else with my application (which was utterly untrue; evidently the picture did not make clear the fact that my hair is long, as if this should have had anything to do with anything), and about how all the other scholars had been perfectly happy with the Centre (also patently untrue, as I knew from first hand experience). Dr. Gooneratne, I believe, was too used to dealing with servants who he could push around, and when I argued back a little, he became enraged and acted as if he was going to hit me and told me to "get the hell out of (his) house!" and began to threaten to call the police. Nice way to treat a guest! At first I resisted, but not knowing who among the local authorities Dr. Gooneratne could bully around, I decided to leave. It was a half hour before sunset, and my 10 kilometer hike into town was a scary one (the last thing I said to the other visiting scholars was that if I was "accidentally" run over on the road - I was truly worried about this - to make sure there was an investigation). Fortunately, I made it safely to town, and though I was later spied on by Dr. Gooneratne's cronies, nothing untoward happened. After my departure, Dr. Gooneratne sent an email to my Referees and to various Sri Lankan government officials accusing me of drug use and warning me that the penalty for "drug dealing in Sri Lanka, if convicted, is death by hanging." He also accused me of pedophilia and of seducing one of his servants. I don't know whether I've ever met anyone quite so scary, quite so delusional. In further researching the Centre, you may find a piece by Anne Tagge which praises it. I do believe that the first year the Centre was quite different from what it is now, and in fact changes may be made in future to remedy some of the things that were problems for me. That being said, my experience was atrocious, and just the neo-colonialist attitude of Dr. Gooneratne (strange that his wife is a post-colonialism writer and scholar) would be enough to keep me forever away. Besides, if Sri Lanka sounds inviting, there are many other wonderful places to visit in the country, and many other wonderful places to stay. And for much less money. So that is one Resident's take on the Centre, something to consider. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact me at aybow1@hotmail.com. Scott Taki Sidley NOTE: Since my stay at Pemberley, the Pemberley website has been changed to specify several items that were not specified before. For instance, the current website makes it clear that the Pemberley House itself is now off limits except by invitation. This is certainly a response to my complaint, and perhaps further changes in the website and in the written materials provided by the Centre will provide future residents with more realistic expectations. |
