REMEMBRANCE DAY 2025 POSTS
In Memory of Dr Lakshman “Lucky” Abeyagunawardene. (Our much-valued and loved batchmate who passed away in December 2024)
by Mahendra "Speedy" Gonsalkorale
 |
| In March 2024 |
Remembrance day
posts have continued to accumulate, and the response from colleagues has been
heartening. The Blog is there because of Lucky. The Blog has been
the most used medium through which colleagues have kept in touch for a mind-boggling 60-plus years!
I therefore
thought of honouring him with this special post.
I was going to base
it around his wonderful book “From Hikkaduwa to the Carolinas: Memoirs of
a Reluctant Expatriate” by writing a review. However, I discovered that an excellent review had already been published on our blog on the 13th of September 2013. Lucky posted it, but the author’s name is not stated for some
reason. What follows
now is my short addition to this review, followed by the more detailed one
first posted 11 years ago.
Review by
Mahendra Gonsalkorale.
Lucky sent me a copy of his book in
2010. I value this book with his handwritten message very much and enjoyed reading
it. It has been a while since I read it and I decided to read it again and again
found it to be a valuable record of not
only many aspect of his life journey but also to be rich with connections with
so many important people from that era who have crossed our path. His recall is
amazing. He has produced names which ring a bell at each stage of his life and
as there is an overlap with our lives, these triggered many recollections.
The themes I discovered are how he valued his parents and grandparents, his teachers, his wife and children, his friends and most importantly, his gratitude to his homeland for the education and opportunities he was so fortunate to have received. The theme of humanity with total acceptance of a multiethnic and multireligious society, which he strongly advocated, resonated with my own views. He did not just say it, he lived it.
The book is very readable and has been
set out well with good chapters and subheadings. The photo section adds value. His writing displayed
a strong literary talent. In the following extract from page 29 he paints a vivid
picture of scenic Talatuoya.
“Acres and acres of lush green paddy
fields ever so neatly terraced in hilly upcountry terrain; crystal clear waters
gushing down incessantly over a rocky hillside to form a natural pool in the
nearby “oya” where village damsels clad
in colourful “diyareddas” bathed; the ancient bridge that spanned across the
stream with few people and vehicles moving unhurriedly across it; the hustle
and bustle of the vibrant bazaar in the
centre of town where traders did brisk business selling a variety of items
ranging from foodstuffs to hardware. That is how I would describe the country
landscape in Talatuoya that I knew so
well”.
He was exceptional, and we are very fortunate to have had the pleasure and honour of knowing him.
Another aspect that his memoirs must make us more understanding of is when making judgments on those who left the country. The political situation, economic climate, ethnic conflicts, education of children, professional aspiration to give your best to the whole of humanity and not just to those in one country, ability or inability to have a decent income, need for physical presence to support elderly parents, marriage and spouses requirements, and compromising principles of whether or not to indulge in private practice, are all factors which operate when making the decision to leave your home country. There are many more, and mine is not a comprehensive list. These factors operate to varying extents in the individual case. Lucky dealt with the blocks he faced and kept his desire to return to Sri Lanka a silent aspiration, and he succeeded!
May his memory
live with us forever.
This is the
post I referred to above.
Review of “From
Hikkaduwa to the Carolinas: Memoirs of a Reluctant Expatriate”
“Memory
is the treasure-house of the mind”. - Thomas Fuller
Someone
famously but anonymously said this:“The glory of summer is best appreciated,
when one is shivering in winter’s cold.”
Dr. Lakshman
Abeyagunawardene’s Memoirs, seem to derive directly from an identical
situation. The main title of his book is “From Hikkaduwa to the Carolinas”. He
adds an elucidatory second title: “Memoirs of a Reluctant Expatriate.”
Ten thousand
miles away from the land of his birth, memories from ‘good old Sri Lanka’, kept
on flooding his soul. The present volume, represents an expanded version of
those fond home-thoughts. His professional sojourn in the distant carolinas,
provided him with the proper perspective to adore and esteem the allure and the
appeal of the place he always calls home. Recollections gushed forth, from the
depth of his being. There was no need to recourse to notes. What remained to be
done, was to impose book-form, upon the contents.
Briefly, that
is the process that ensured the genesis of this book.
The pages are
crowded with memories of persons and places. He narrates the evolution of
certain places in the spirit and the style of a dedicated historian. One could
feel a sense of affection coming through those descriptions.
The author
hails from Hikkaduwa - a township in the South of Sri Lanka. It is quite a
noteworthy “hail”, because Hikkaduwa is replete with a rich lore, centring upon
great scholars, affluent families and many who achieved national stature.
Dr.
Abeyagunawardene, traces the ramifications of his own family. He, quite
modestly, considers himself a residual legatee of the vast achievements of
those earlier stalwarts of Hikkaduwa, who shone at various levels of life.
Personally I
cherish the author’s narration of the history of the area that is well-known as
Manning Town, where, according to the author, he lived a good part of his
childhood. Since I am currently resident at Manning Town flats, the author’s
detailed descriptions of that area, with a touching sense of intimacy,
fascinated me no end. The author’s in-depth recounting of the phases of
evolution of Manning Town, is eloquent testimony to his impassioned attachment
to his childhood haunts. The key to his close involvement with the life at
Manning Town, is his memory of the house numbers, in many instances.
As you continue
to progress through his memoirs, you cannot help but be overwhelmed by his
phenomenal ability to recall the details of the places he had known, while
growing up. Recounting his schooling phase, the author takes the reader to his
days at Ananda College. His undiminishing loyalty to Ananda is enshrined in his
resounding statement: “I found that greatness in a school does not depend on
the locality. My Alma mater, would have flourished anywhere on earth as an
outstanding seat of learning!”
We meet the
author next, as an Assistant Science Teacher, at Talatuoya Central College. It
is there he experienced the thrill of earning his first salary. As a dutiful
son, he bought a twenty-four-Rupee silk saree for his mother and a fourteen
Rupee Hentley Executive shirt for his father, using his first pay.
There were only
the minor preliminary steps, towards the entry into a wider world of massive
challenges and trying ups and downs.
The latter half
of the Memoirs, is, in effect, a chronicle of his main professional career, as
a Doctor of Medicine. It records the story of his professional postings both
here and abroad. The total “Memoirs”, speak of a gentle, humane practitioner of
medicine, deeply engrossed in the way of life of people. The large number of
personalities, mentioned by name in this book, makes it a unique work. It is,
veritably a “Who’s Who” of people, who flourished in various fields of like,
during the decades, this work focuses upon.
For all you
know, your name too is likely to figure here, in some context.
The calm
restrained style of writing, makes the book eminently readable. Although the
work traces the progress of a professional practitioner of medicine, the major
and minor events, that the author has had to wade through, make it, strangely
enough, as absorbing as a work of fiction. The cliche, that fact is stranger
than fiction may be apt here. There is, for instance, the episode in which the
author is caught up in a plane crash. This real-life tragedy and the miraculous
escape of the author, unscathed, but for a swollen ankle, add a dramatic depth
to the whole narration.
Professional
travels, took the author to various parts of the world. His narration of these
tours, gives the work the feel of a “travelogue’ as well.
The total
impression given by the ‘Memoirs’, is that the reader has been given the
opportunity to meet a cultured professional, who has an intense love of his
mother country and a marked ardour for serene domesticity. In his concluding
segment, we come upon the author as a voyager who has reached a calm haven,
after tumultuous travails. He nursed the dream, that the day he and his wife
will live in retirement, in Sri Lanka. He reinforces this resolve by saying
that “my homeland attracted me like a magnet”.
The work comes in an elegant hand-cover version. And, all
the author’s experiences are available to the reader at Rs.750. This is indeed
a memorable Memoir.
https://shop.slma.lk/product/from-hikkaduwa-to-the-carolinas/
You will have to be quick because only 6 books are in stock.
Postscript. In a subsequent post, Lucky said this (and I publish it to show what a sensitive man he was)- "I had failed to mention Speedy's father Edwin Gonsalkorale in the opening chapter ", My Birthplace Revisited". This I think is unforgivable because I distinctly remember my mother talking about the Gonsalkorale family long before I met Speedy in 1962". My response was, "As for not mentioning my father Edwin Gonsalkorale, you are totally and unconditionally forgiven!"
