This important message is being sent out to all members of our batch whose e-mail addresses are on record with me. It is about the 50th anniversary celebrations since our graduation in 1967. We hope to hold this event in Sri Lanka in 2017.
You will recall that we had a highly successful Reunion at Chaya Blu in 2012 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our entry to the Colombo Medical Faculty in June 1962. Let us try and do even better in 2017 with more participation.
To do that, we need to prepare the ground work before deciding on dates and venues. First of all, I have to update my e-mail list which still remains the most convenient way of contacting you all.
Let me also remind you that I am doing all this voluntarily on your behalf. I agreed to function again as the Secretary of the Organising Committee at Swyrie's request, only on condition that she will again lead the effort as she has been doing for many years.
As I have said repeatedly, there are many in the batch who have not provided e-mail addresses. Whenever I send out a general e-mail, I have also noticed that many of them bounce back either because the addresses have been changed or that some do not check their mail regularly. To begin with, let us address this issue. Other formalities like co-opting a few more members to the Organising Committee will be done at the first planning meeting to be held shortly.
Below is a list of those who have never been in touch with me since we graduated in 1967. Some of them have e-mail addresses (on paper), but they never reply.
1. Anandappa, Marie
2. De Silva, Bernadette
3. De Silva, Mahasena (KLMT)
4. Dolawatte, Piyaseeli
5. Doss, A.E.J.
6. Goonawardene, Kamini
7. Goonawardene, Padmini
8. Hettiarachchi, Manel
9. Jayatilaka, Saradha
10. Kanagasabai, Sushila
11. Kanapathipillai, Easwaran
12. Navaratnarajah, Manohari
13. Navaratnasingham, G.J.
14. Perera, Chitra
15. Perera, Dharmini
16. Perera, Gwendoline
17. Perera, M.G.F.
18. Ramanaden, Shirlene
19. Ramanathan, U.C.
20. Rasanathan, M
21. Ratnavel, Sue
22. Samarakoon, Edwis
23. Saparamadu, P.D.D.
24. Sathanathan, S
25. Shanmugavadivel, Vanitha
26. Selliah, S.
27. Selvadurai, S
28. Silva, Rita
29. Singharayer, M.
30. Sivananda, P.
31. Subramaniam, Indrani
32. Thiraviam, P.
33. Thirunavukarasu, Tilaka
34. Visvanathan, M.
35. Wickramasinghe, L.P.J.M.
36. Wijeyekoon, Asoka
The following have e-mail addresses, but my e-mails always bounce back. Or they never reply.
1. Abhayaratne, Rohini
2. Balasubramaniam, N.
3. Chinniah, Navam
4. De Silva, Ananda (UVA)
5. Wickramasekaran, R.
5. Wickramasekaran, R.
I need your help in contacting the above named in both categories. If you are in touch with any of them, please forward this e-mail to them if they are on e-mail. Otherwise, just keep them informed by some other means and try to rope them in.
Before I conclude, I must state that two members who were in the Organising Committee in 2012 have passed away since then. They are Priya Gunaratne and Lucien Perera. We will not have such a large committee this time but rest assured that I will keep you informed with regular updates.
For your information, I give below the list of members who have left us for ever. May they Rest in Peace.
Members of the 1967 Batch who have passed away
- S.R. (Sunil) de Silva
- A.R.K. (Russel) Paul
- Dawne de Silva Paul
- Bernard Randeniya
- Niriella Chandrasiri
- V. Ganeson
- L.G.D.K. (Irwin) Herath
- V.Kunasingham
- B.L. Perera
- B. Somasunderam
- K.Sunderampillai
- Tudor Wickramarachchi
- K.N. (Kiththa) Wimalaratne
- Anna Ponnambalam Sathiagnanan
- A. Satchitananda
- N. Sivakumar
- Tilak.A. Dayaratne
- Sidath Jayanetti
- N. Balakumar
- Kamali Nimalasuriya de Silva
- K. Sri Kantha – 15.9.13
- P. Lucien Perera – 14.6.14
- Priya (Gunaratna) de Silva – 8.10.14
- Arul (Sivaguru) Balasubramaniam – 15.10.14
- W. Punsiri Fernando – 15.11.14
- W. Rajasooriyar – 6.1.15
- M.P.C. Jaimon – 26.3.15
- S. Vedavanam – 1.7.15
Await further news.
Cheers!
Lucky
A lot of us love this blog Lucky and let's hope that even those who do not directly contribute, enjoy visiting and reading the variety of interesting posts that have appeared from time to time. To the "silent majority" I say, "this is yours, please use it and enjoy it!".
ReplyDeleteLet us hope we get sufficient numbers for the planned 2017 reunion. Knowing Swyrie and Lucky, it will be a time to savour and remember and please do make every effort to attend. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible and recall those wonderful times. Lucky has done everything humanly possible to gather everybody and I hope his efforts will be rewarded.
My thanks yet again to Lucky who had this idea of the Blog and made it a reality. My thanks also to the Organising committee for the 2017 "Big Bash"!
Sorry to hear about the batch mates who have not contacted you at all and whose whereabouts are not known. Unfortunately I am not in touch with any of the above but so hope some of them will finally contact you as I think 50th anniversary is significant. It will be so nice to meet up with them. I sat next to some of them during the whole course. Please, please, friends, where are you? We want to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteZita
I know that some like Speedy and Zita are doing so much, not only for the blog but also by urging others to be more active.
ReplyDeleteI have come to the conclusion that some colleagues prefer to live in isolation. If they cannot travel, why not contribute to the blog at least. We can only respect their choice and not bother them.
I fully agree with you Lucky. Personal choice is important and to be respected. "We can take a horse to water but can't make it drink", as the old saying goes. To me those who do not read or contribute to the blog are still dear friends as well as those who for whatever reason cannot attend reunions. There is no judgemental conclusion, just a recognition of choice as you rightly say.
DeleteMahendra, that's a very good way of looking at it. 'Whether you are vocal or silent, contributing to the blog or not, in touch or not, seen or unseen, you are still my friend and I am proud that we all studied together in our wonderful med school days. Wish you all the best wherever you are!'
DeleteZita
I know that some like Speedy and Zita are doing so much, not only for the blog but also by urging others to be more active.
ReplyDeleteI have come to the conclusion that some colleagues prefer to live in isolation. If they cannot travel, why not contribute to the blog at least. We can only respect their choice and not bother them.
I have declined for personal reasons. Nevertheless, I support the event fully and wish it every success. I admire the energy and the courage of the organisers to hold a Reunion. Do keep me posted of its progress.
ReplyDeleteI remembered an anecdote and felt I should pen it before it vanished. It was a soggy afternoon during the stress of the Prof Rajasuriya appointment. There were only a few male students available for the ward round. The Prof quipped "Where have all the flowers gone" and we fell about laughing. The timing was masterful and we never thought he listened to popular music. Although Pete Seeger wrote it in 1956 its words resonated with the Vietnam War and became synonymous with the carnage and futility of war. My apologies if I have already documented this.
ReplyDeleteI must say I am surprised ( and delighted) that Prof KR had this not so well known side to him!
DeleteNihal, you are our Prof KR specialist. And you keep coming out with some fantastic one liners from him! And we do enjoy reading them.
DeleteZita
Even with just a handful participating in this dialogue, what a fascinating forum this blog has turned out to be. But I can't help wondering how much more interesting it would be with more participation.
ReplyDeleteI had ND in mind when I wrote that we should respect personal choices. Of course, I didn't want to go public with ND's decision not to attend the 2017 Reunion. Now that he himself has done so, I am certain that if not for his personal reasons, he would have loved to spend a couple of days with long lost colleagues somewhere in our country of birth. We should all commend ND for wishing the Reunion well, although he himself won't be there.
I thank Zita, Mahen and Lucky for their kind thoughts and their support for this marvellous Blog. Those who comment and contribute have become close friends. Arrival of Sanath Lama on the scene has given it much needed impetus. There are many others like Srianee, Sriani and Rohini Ana who have helped to keep the Blog alive and buzzing. With the oncoming Reunion there will be much in common to discuss. As always It is an open Forum for our batch where comment is free but facts are sacred.
ReplyDeleteI really hope that we will have a good turnout at our next reunion. I know that there were a few reunions earlier when I was unable to attend, probably because of work commitments. People have their reasons for not showing up. I will do my best to be there, and it will be fun to reminisce and catch up.
ReplyDelete