Creative Spot by Mahendra (Speedy) Gonsalkorale

Is Reality a false notion

Is reality a false notion?

What is, is what is perceived

Perception's often manipulated

When it becomes deception

Weapons of mass distraction 

Sanath Lama's Presentation on Karapitiya

Lama's Karapitiya Presentation

Sanath Lama delivers lecture to Year 11 students at Royal College

On the 25th of January, 2017, Sanath delivered a lecture to the year 11 students at Royal College to motivate them to do biology and proceed to complete a career in medicine. The lecture was organised by the Royal College Doctors Association, as the number of students opting for biology after their "O" levels is dwindling. Many are opting for IT. To quote Sanath himself "I was filled with nostalgia because my first visit to the premises was in January 1948 when I entered the baby class ( Grade 1)".

A synopsis of his presentation is given below.

Good morning everyone. Mr. Abeyratne, Principal of Royal College, members of the tutorial staff, Dr Ajith Tennekoon, the President of the Royal College Doctors Association (RCDA), and other members of the association and dear students.

First of all I should thank the RCDA for inviting me to address the students and motivate them to study biology. I am filled with nostalgia as I recollect the first day I entered these premises in January 1948, when I entered the baby class or Grade 1. I came to school in a rickshaw with an "Ayah". I was asked to sing a song by my teacher Mrs Peiris and I asked her whether to sing in English or Sinhalese. She told me that the choice was mine and I proceeded to sing "Ba Ba Black sheep, have you any wool---". I sang this song for a second time many years later  in 1962 when I was ragged on entering the Colombo Medical Faculty!  Our batch had about 150 students of whom about 100 were boys. There were 33 old Royalists in our batch. This year our batch is celebrating 50 years of graduation in March with a grand re-union.

The most important exam that I passed was the University Entrance examination. If not, I would not be a doctor today and talking to all of you.You may notice that I have a long string of qualifications behind my name. Of these I value the MBBS degree the most, as without it I would not be what I am today. Out of the post -graduate qualifications, I greatly value the PhD,  because this degree helped me to advance in my academic career the most.

All of you young Royalists are a greatly privileged lot because you are studying in the best school in Sri Lanka and you should make the maximum use of the facilities available to you. You should participate in extra-curricular activities. Some of my former students excelled in sports when they were studying at Royal College. In the 70s I taught Maiya Gunasekera and Fred Perera, both of whom had captained the Royal College rugby team. Maiya is a surgeon while Fred is a neurosurgeon. In the 1990s I taught Harindu Wijesinghe and Rukshan Gunathilaka; both of them had captained the school rugby team as well. Harindu is a rheumatologist whilst Rukshan is a paediatrician. Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity are becoming major health problems today. In addition to your studies, each of you should participate in extracurricular activities as well, to maintain good health.

I wish all of you the very best for the future!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LnJ-1b1nii-O2OuH-EJmw04r464Zx0cJ5l8tbaMV3rY/pub?start=true&loop=false&delayms=3000

Creative Spot by Mahendra (Speedy) Gonsalkorale

Since I met you Baby.

This song was first recorded by American pianist and singer Ivory Joe Hunter in 1956.

It is a Rhythm and Blues number.

It became popular again in the 1960s when Sonny James released his much acclaimed version

Other notable singers  have been Dean Martin, Pat Boone, Lou Rawls, BB King, Wanda Jackson and Johnny Watson.

I sing to this Dean Martin's karaoke version by KtV entertainments.

Hope you like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05bgiuoD4xI

Crime and Punishment

The following article appeared in the August 2013 issue of the CoMSAA newsletter. Please click on the link below and read under "Anecdotes from the Past" (or cut and paste the URL). As I know that many viewers don't read the CoMSAA newsletter and because the print might not be clear, I have reproduced the original word document below. Anyway, I just thought it's worth a re-read.

http://www.comsaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Newsletter-August-2013.pdf

Crime and Punishment

By Lakshman Abeyagunawardene

With determination written all over our faces, we were eager to embark on the gruelling five-year course which was to begin shortly. That was 51 years ago when a batch of budding doctors with high expectations were converging on the main Administration Block on registration day.  Just prior to that, all of us had been summoned for the routine medical examination which is a part of the registration process. The hilarity associated with a medical student’s life had already begun. The University Medical Officer (UMO) had instructed us to bring with us a sample of stools for examination.  An overzealous colleague who was the sole entrant from a lesser known school in a so-called “outstation” had obviously misread the UMO’s instructions. He had brought with him a somewhat heavy parcel with a neat brown paper wrapping. His doting mother, always eager to help her loving son, had taken a lot of trouble in preparing this parcel. As expected, the other students had managed with just a small glass bottle containing a little bit of the smelly stuff! Recalling this hilarious incident, I am reminded of the well-known limerick which goes as:

“There was a man from Newcastle – who wrapped up some shit in a parcel” etc. etc!

Coming closer to the title of this story, what we didn’t know at that time was the dubious honour that was to be bestowed on us in 10 months time by “the powers that be”. As illustrated by the attached document which I have preserved over the years, almost all male students of the batch were suspended from lectures for a period of two weeks and fined rupees ten as punishment for what was described by the authorities as serious offences. I must reiterate here that I was only one of the recipients of this letter signed by the Vice Chancellor Sir Nicholas Attygalle.  All male students who participated in the fun and frolics associated with the Law medical cricket match that year received similar letters and were thus punished.

Medical students of that era had a number of fun-filled events to relieve themselves from the stresses and strains of studies and examinations. The Law- Medical match, Second MB trip, Block Seniors versus Staff cricket match, MSU elections, the annual Block Concert and Dance and the Final-Year trip were the highlights.

Law-Medical ‘63

We remember the Law-Medical ’63, not for the cricket, but for our involvement in two incidents as junior medical students. As outlined in the VC’s letter, those of us who participated in the fun and frolics were accused of:

1.      Invading the playing fields at St. Peter’s and Royal Colleges and interrupting a cricket match (see picture).

2.      Disturbing a class at Castle Street Girls’ School.

As tradition goes, being the most junior students in the Medical Faculty, we made preparations weeks ahead of the big event. We coordinated well with our parallel batch in Peradeniya who too were to join us. Dressed in black shirts with the skull and cross bones emblem, the juniors paraded the streets of Colombo in open trucks as usual. The trucks were loaded with “Gal”, “Pol” and barrels of draft beer and the boys carried on their “high spirited” fun and frolic in gay abandon. The match itself was played on March 1 and 2, 1963 at the Colombo Oval in Wanathamulla where our honourable seniors sat comfortably in the pavilion indulging in other forms of fun.

However, the merry makers somewhat exceeded the limits when they invaded the pitch and disrupted play in an inter-school cricket match at the St. Peters College grounds at Bambalapitiya. This drama was soon repeated at Reid Avenue where the Royal-Trinity match was taking place. Unfortunately for us, a Medical Faculty professor (who was unknown to us at the time) was an interested spectator there. He was an eye witness.

That was not all. The boys also “visited” Castle Street Girls School at Borella (present Devi Balika Vidyalaya) and “entertained” the schoolgirls who I am sure enjoyed the proceedings (at least initially) as much as the boys did. They giggled, ran hither and thither and waved invitingly as truckloads of unexpected visitors entered the school premises. However, in a matter of minutes, there was complete chaos when a few inebriated boys got out of hand. They were restrained by the more sober types who tried and succeeded in getting them back into the trucks before any real damage was done. But the school authorities were outraged.

As expected, a flood of complaints soon reached our Dean, particularly from an angry Principal and staff of the girls’ school. All male students who took part in the fun making were summoned to the main lecture theatre in the Administration Block. After a long drawn out inquiry conducted by the Dean Prof. Abhayaratne himself, punishment was meted out to those found guilty. The boys accepting “collective responsibility” and not resorting to finger pointing at those who may have “misbehaved”, avoided probable expulsion of a few students. They stood together as one, even at the height of the crisis. There were no whistleblowers, tale-carriers, sneaks or whatever such traitorous cowards may be called. It was clearly a case of inebriation clouding better judgement combined with mob instinct that was responsible for the misbehaviour of a few.

Punishment was therefore relatively mild although it was the much dreaded Board of Residence and Discipline (BRD) headed by the Vice Chancellor Sir Nicholas Attygalle which decided on disciplinary action. What saved the day was probably our rock solid unity. They simply couldn’t have expelled over 100 students in one go. The Dean’s daughter Rohini being a member of our batch, it was also rumoured that she may have mitigated on our behalf and prevailed on her father to soft pedal the issue. But that was mainly speculation among senior students. However, I must state here that our female colleagues stood by us during those difficult days. They took down notes even more meticulously than they usually do, and shared them with the suspended male friends.

Our batch was somewhat unique in that we were subjected to a second rag (in addition to the traditional “Freshers’ Rag” during the first fortnight) by our seniors when we were well into our second year in medical school. That was added punishment for our infamous role in the Law-Medical ’63. The vast majority of us didn’t deserve such harsh punishment. But we never considered it to be a black mark on our careers. On the contrary, we take pride in the fact that our unity may have prevented a catastrophic ending to the careers of a few colleagues.

Batch Reunion 2017 - Latest Update

Reunion 2017 (March 3, 4, and 5) – Attendance Update 17.01.17

	Name	Spouse (Accompanying)	Guests	Rooms	Hotel advance	Extra payment	Miscell:	Remarks
1	Swyrie Jayasekara Balendra	Ken	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded.
2	Pramilla Kannangara Senanayake		1	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded.
3	Sriani Dissanayake Basnayake	Ralph	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded.
4	Lakshman Abeyagunawardene	Mangala	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded.
5	Jimmy Wickramasinghe	Kathy	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded.
6	Malkanthi Wijesuriya McCormick	Jim	2	Two doubles	Paid
7	Lareef Idroos	Nabila	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
8	Rajan Ratnesar (Patas)		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Speedy. Initial formalities concluded.
9	Srianee Fernando Dias (Bunter)		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Manel R Wijesundera. Initial formalities concluded.
10	Sanath Lamabadusuriya (Lama)		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Anton. Initial formalities concluded.
11	Mahendra Gonsalkorale (Speedy)		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Rajan Initial formalities concluded.
12	Kumar Gunawardane	Kanthi	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
13	Cyril Ernest	Indranie	Nil	One double
14	DSC Attale	Rupa	Nil	One double
15	Lakshman Jayasinghe	Jecintha	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
16	Sujatha Lena	Rabi	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
17	Nalin Nanayakkara	Damayanthi	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
18	Harischandra Boralessa	Harshi	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
19	Rohini Abhayaratne		Nil	One single	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
20	Manel Ratnavibhushana Wijesundera		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Bunter. Initial formalities concluded.
21	Harsha Samarajiwa	Yulali	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
22	M.Z. Lameer		Nil	One single
23	Kusuma Jayasuriya Ruberu	Varuna	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
24	N. Vishweswara		Nil	One single	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
25	Vasanthy Thuraisingham Perera		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Shanthy. Initial formalities concluded.
26	Anton Ambrose		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Lama. Initial formalities concluded.
27	Chandra Silva		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Chira. Initial formalities concluded.
28	Suriyakanthi Karunaratne Amarasekera	Mahendra	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
29	Ranjith Kuruppu		Nil	One single	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
30	Mahesan Richards	Selva	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
31	Indra Anandasabapathy	Rani	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
32	Chittamparanathan Thiagarajah		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with VPH Rajapaksa. Initial formalities concluded
33	Senerat Jayatilake	Hemantha	Nil	One double				For one night only
34	Chirasri Mallawarachchi Jayaweera Bandara		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Chandra. Initial formalities concluded.
35	S.A.P. Gnanissara	Lilamani	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
36	Suren Iyer	Swini	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
37	Bertram Nanayakkara	Sunil	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
38	Shanthy Nalliah Edwards		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Vasanthy. Initial formalities concluded.
39	Nihal Goonetilleka		Nil	One single	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
40	K. Balachandra	Loretta	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
41	S. Sarvananda	Iroma	Nil	One double
42	Devayani Gunasekara Salgado	Anil	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
43	Sunil Abeysuriya	Sirima	Nil	One double
44	Bandula Jayasekara	Leela	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
45	Lalantha Amarasinghe	Priyangani	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
46	Preethi (VPH) Rajapaksa		Nil	One double	Paid			Sharing room with Chitta. Initial formalities concluded
47	Chitra Perera		Nil	One single	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
48	Dharmani Makalanda	Amara	Nil	One double	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
49	*JC Fernando	Sura	Nil	One double (Sharing room with spouse Sura)	Paid			Initial formalities concluded
50	*Surangani  Abeysuriya Fernando	JC	Nil	One double (Sharing room with spouse JC)	Paid			Initial formalities concluded

Rooms required:  Doubles – 38

                                Singles – 5.

*Though listed separately, JC and Sura will be allocated one double room. This list is only for our consumption. Hotel will have a separate list.