Introduction by Lucky
Viewers will recall that there were blog posts in recent years to commemorate our departed colleagues. For example, one that comes to mind is "There is a Road" by Zita (24th of February 2017) The most recent was what ND wrote last year and was published in this blog on May 15. A small committee comprising Speedy, Zita, Rohini, ND and myself was set up to formalise this feature and observe it as an annual event. This "commemorative committee" has been working behind the scenes and taken a few decisions. Among them,
1. To observe March 3rd each year as Remembrance Day.
2. In 2019, it will take the form of a poem/song (composed by Rohini Anandaraja) with musical backing provided by Mahendra (Speedy) Gonsalkorale.
The reason for selecting March 3rd was that our 50th Anniversary Batch Reunion was held at Jetwing Blue Hotel in Negombo on that day.
Speedy adds: When Lucky thought of doing something special on our Blog for Remembrance Day, he turned to Zita, Rohini, Nihal and myself. Readers might recall the lovely poem produced by Zita last year. For this year. we were unanimous in suggesting that Rohini is the best person for the lyrics of the proposed publication. As expected, she came up with a beautiful and moving poem. The next question was whether we publish just the poem or make it a video-poem like the one I did for one of Rohini's poems (Ode to the Moon). Again a unanimous decision was made to make it a video-poem and I was entrusted with the task. This gradually evolved from a video-poem to a vocal YouTube type of production with music composition by me and lyrics by Rohini. At every stage, we all kept in touch via email and many hours and many drafts were done till we finally arrived on the version you will see and hear. The extent of cooperation and the offering and acceptance of critical comment was simply amazing. We hope that you will enjoy it and we like to recall the whole purpose of this exercise, which is to remember with fondness our dear departed colleagues. To get the best experience of watching it, please use your computer or television screen rather than your mobile phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Their names liveth forevermore
By Nihal (ND) Amerasekera
By Nihal (ND) Amerasekera
As a teenager I was an avid reader of the Doctor series of books authored by Richard Gordon. He glamorised the lives of young doctors beyond measure. The story was focussed on the trials of medical students at St Swithin’s hospital, London, taught by the egocentric and irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt. As I look back, although ‘Doctor in the House’ was a part comedy, there were many similarities to our lives at medical school. It is hard to quantify how much of this flashy and enchanting depiction of a doctor’s life influenced me to take up medicine as a career.
My life changed forever as I entered the Faculty and much of 1962 remains a haze. There are a few memories that still remain. In those days I was entranced by pop music. Being a fan of Cliff Richard, I recall seeing the film ‘The Young Ones’ at the Majestic cinema. Life then was a dream. It was hard to handle the adulation and keep my feet on the ground. I developed a sinister arrogance and an assured sense of entitlement and dreamed of living happily ever after. Life always has ways to bring us back to reality!! The rest as they say is history. I cannot believe a year has passed since I last wrote for Remembrance Day. This is the day we first met as a batch. I recall the happiness I felt despite the indignities on that fateful registration day.
With my Evangelical Christian upbringing, Faculty life needed some getting used to. I am an only child from a boys' only school. I felt self-conscious in the extreme in the new environment. I remained in my best behaviour in the company of girls, being gallant and courteous!!Many of the girls too were reserved not wanting to be seen as ‘easy game’ in the patriarchal society of 50 years ago. On arrival at the Faculty, I found some of the lads were self-assured and poked fun at the world around them. I soon realised they were not radical extremists but just lived lives expected of bohemian medical students. So I had to adjust and seek the middle ground. I stopped blushing at their unbridled erotic humour. Then I discovered alcohol, learnt to think freely, argue, question and not bother too much about what the world thought of me.
Ours was the golden age of medical education in Sri Lanka. I feel greatly privileged to have been taught by some remarkable teachers. We soon learnt to survive and even thrive in that air of toxicity. In reality it wasn’t all bad. The tough life gave us self-reliance, confidence, grit and determination. I am told, the atmosphere and attitudes have evolved significantly to reflectchanges in society.I remember our teachers with much affection and gratitude and thank them for their commitment to teaching.
Those were our formative years and we were all in it together. The hard toil and the trauma of the five years brought us closer.Our batch of 150 students showed tremendous unity and loyalty to the batch. Most of what I remember now are the good times. I still recall with nostalgia the booze, baila and the bawdy songs at those MSU parties in the Common Room.
Then after the finals we dispersed to meet on rare occasions at reunions and gatherings. The years rolled on when our professional lives slowly came to a conclusion. On our onward journey several of our friends departed this life. What I still remember are their young smiling faces as they walked the corridors of the GHC and the lecture theatres. I cannot believe they are with us no more to joke and reminisce of the times gone.Their photos bring them back to life again. We will take this opportunity to celebrate their lives thanking them for their contribution to life, society and country, where ever they lived and worked.
I’m certain we have all lost close friends from the batch. I lost my best friend in Bernard Randeniya.This has left an echoing void. There is not a week that passes without thinking of him. As a young medical student he was funny, gregarious and an incorrigible flirt. He enjoyed good food, generous helpings of the amber nectar and loved a jolly good sing-song. His love of life, amiable kindness and generosity always stood out. The time we spent together were a rich gift.
Do make every attempt to keep in touch and there is no better place than our own hangout in cyberspace – we call the Blog.I wish more join-in to make a comment if not willing to make a more substantial contribution in the way of a poem, painting or prose.
Farewells, Reunions and Get-togethers are invaluable. I am not a regular visitor to Sri Lanka and have never been to its well organised and popular reunions. The Grand London Reunion was my last big gathering of the batch and that was way back in the 20th century. Pramilla’s precise organising skills and dogged persistence in tracking down people has made the LondonReunion a must attend for many in the UK. It is well attended by mates from up and down the country.I am aware through the courtesy of the blog the many gatherings of the batch in Colombo organised by Lucky and Pramilla. These no doubt bind us together.
Comments:
- Lucky AbeyMarch 3, 2019 at 3:28 AMAs usual, I am making the first comment. Speedy and Rohini deserve a special word of thanks from me. I have listened to this video over and over again. Each time I do so, I begin to wonder how much hidden talent there had been in our batch. It is a truly remarkable piece of work. I know how much effort they put into it. All for our departed colleagues.ReplyDelete
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Lucky , All the committee have done their bit in this production-You have all been there to encourage, support, and even fling the occasional ‘dig’ at each other, always in good spirit and humour, to end up with this musical,visual and vocal masterpiece by Mahen in remembrance of our friends who have gone before us, as well as their families.Delete
Thank you all.
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It is indeed sad to see the faces of 38 batch-mates who are not among us.ReplyDelete
there are some who lost their lives in a comparatively,young age.We do see hidden talents,of our remaining mates,from time to time.I wish,they will continue to do so in the future.
C'est la vie(that is life) -
Vow! Rohini I never knew that you were a song writer too! I was in tears listening to you song backed by Speedy's lovely music. Never realised so many of our mates have left us. Thanks very much for remembering them with these moving song. What next?ReplyDelete
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Shanthy, how lovely to see you- I didn’t know I could write a song either !!Delete
Please do stay with us here on the blog. -
Lovely to see you Shanthy. Rohini did some splendid work. It was first a poem and I made it into song with a melody with some alterations to the lyrics. Rohini and I exchanged ideas on this and finally arrived at what you see and hear. Please keep in touch.Delete
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Rohini’s wonderful lyrics and Mahen’s beautiful melody have given birth to a lovely composition we could play annually on Remembrance Day. They are talented musicians who will have a special place in our batch hall of fame.ReplyDelete
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As of this moment, there have been over 1,120,000 "hits". With such a large audience scattered all over, ND's idea of playing this video annually on Remembrance Day is worth following up.ReplyDelete
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I like to echo comments made by Lucky, Rohini, Zita and Nihal that this was very much a Team effort and to me one of the most satisfying moments was when I showed it to some friends here and many of them felt quite emotional and all of them were genuinely touched not just by the video, but by the fact that our batch chose to honour our colleagues in this manner.ReplyDelete
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I wish to add that a minor error had crept in to the video where the last row in the first selection of photos of colleagues in the video did not appear (Tudor to Tilak). This has now been corrected and the link to the corrected video is this:ReplyDelete
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efVhRpdahr8
1 comment:
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Lucky AbeyMarch 4, 2019 at 3:03 AMPlease bear with me. I am trying to update the blog without losing the comments.ReplyDelete
