Recollections of our Teachers from Faculty days – Part 2

By Mahendra (Speedy) Gonsalkorale

In my previous instalment, I paused after Pathology. Why not parasitology and Forensic medicine?  You may ask. This series is not meant to be comprehensive and my apologies to my teachers who for whatever reason did not make as lasting an impact on me as others. However, in some cases this might be for favourable reasons and apologies may not be necessary. Moving on….

Prof Rajasuriya brings mixed emotions. He was undoubtedly a phenomenon in his own time, but I never took to him as I thought his teaching methods were archaic and based on fear. In my view, he did not treat us as adults which were so much of a contrast when compared to his Senior Lecture, Oliver Pieris who was not only an able Physician but a great teacher who treated us as mature adults. Some of my colleagues however, still thank Prof Rajasuriya with a lot of emotion and gratitude because “if not for his disciplinary methods, I would not have got through my finals”. As the saying goes, “it takes all kinds”.

Prof Navaratne’s lectures stand out in my memory. He would stand near a window peering outside while lecturing to us in his monotonous, heavy didactic style. What emerged from his oral orifice were gems which had to be carefully collected in the form of written notes and kept in safe keeping for later digestion. In the post- lunch lecture, it was not unusual to see some of my colleagues in the front row catching up with their sleep but thankfully, nobody snored and Nava didn’t seem to mind. Nava was yet another with thick black rimmed specs, the favoured style of the time. He was a striking figure as he was small, slightly hunched, narrow and furrowed frontal area with bushy eyebrows and most of his face gently moving forwards towards the apex of his facial contour, his nose. He often wore a “bush shirt” with a sort of built-in belt made of the same material as the garment.

Prof Ranasinghe of Obs &Gynae fame was an anachronism even in his time. Not for him to stimulate his students to enquire and research the subject. All that was required was to commit all his notes to memory to be regurgitated at the exams. Futhermore, the regurgitation had to be in the right order. “There are 5 causes of post partum haemorrhage, and they are a) xx, b)yy c)zz…” and so on and when a student is asked for the causes of post partum haemorrhage the answer had to be the 5 he gave us, and you know whether you got them in the right order because his fingers would fold in the right order, for example, if the student gave “z” as the first cause, and “z” is the third in HIS list, his middle finger would fold. If the student gives 4 causes (say the first 4), he would point his little finger at him and ask “what is this” – and the answer is NOT “Sir, that is your little finger”. But he was always smartly dressed and his enunciation was clear. Scoring high marks was eminently possible. As to his clinical skills, well, that was a mystery.

Senior Lecturer Dr Viswanathan (later Prof) was a total contrast. In the time allotted to him he would ask us not to take down any notes but just listen to him and at the end of the class, you are free to make notes. He said that useful information can get through the skull, be understood and stored in the brain during an attention span of not more than 20 mins. He always summarised the key points in his lecture at the end. We did not realised it at the time, but he had clearly studied not just Obs & Gynae, but teaching and learning theory. His lectures were clear and succinct – a good teacher.

In Paediatrics, I vaguely recall Prof CC d Silva. His presence was noted mostly by his absence. He seemed to be away most of the time and was typical of some Academics who are “rarely seen or heard in their own territories”. When he spoke, we wondered whether he was an European, such was his accent. He also had this habit which some have of tailing away his voice towards the end of a sentence. He would for example say, “When you consider diarrhoea in infants, we must never forget important cause such as  Aaaaa…………”. As the last words were almost whispered and gobbled, we were left in the dark. We were also very aware of his reputation and International stature.

Having said all this, I am sure all of you agree with me that on the whole, we were well served by our Teachers and that we owe them a deep debt of gratitude.

I shall return in due course with my recollections of our Clinical Teachers.