Family News from Colleagues

Starting a New Feature

I hope that others will send me their stories too. So much has happened since we were together over 50 years ago. Grandchildren seem to feature a lot in informal conversation and here is your chance to share your experiences with your Batch colleagues. I will keep adding contributions as they come, to this post to keep it all together.

Speedy - Acting Blog Admin

We have five contributions so far. (1) Srianee Dias (2) Lucky Abeyagunwardene (3) Appu Sumathipala (4) Sanath Lamabadusuriya (5) Chirasri Jayaweera Bandara

(1) Family News from Srianee Dias. (scroll down for the others)

It turns out that my grandchildren are having far more interesting experiences than I am having at this time.  While I am finally bracing myself for my first international trip since March 2020, heading just across the northern border to Canada, my grandchildren have launched themselves into their ‘gap year’ experiences. Taking time off from academics for a year after high school has been a longstanding tradition in Germany, but it is not so common in the United States.  I confess, I am just a little bit envious and wish that I had done something like that after leaving Ladies’ College and embarking on the grueling journey in the field of Medicine.

My 19-year-old grandson, graduated from high school (called the Gymnasium, in Germany) in June 2020, just as the pandemic was gathering momentum.  His graduation ceremony was pared down with limited attendance.  Only the parents were allowed to be there, not even his sister.  The gap year activities he had been planning had to be completely abandoned.  Instead, he enrolled in courses at the nearby University of Hamburg, but never left his bedroom, because along with other young people all over the world, he had to follow all his classes online. He was bored beyond comprehension!

In 2021 he signed a one year contract with AmeriCorps, as a deferred gap year project. AmeriCorps is an organization that works in partnership with other non-profit agencies mostly within the United States.  He joined a team based in St. Louis, Missouri, in a program called ‘Beyond School.’ It is designed to keep young kids engaged in school, with interesting after school programs, and the goal is to prevent them from dropping out of school as they grow older.  The AmeriCorps volunteers are paid just enough to cover their rent and food, but not much else!  He seems to be enjoying the challenge, based on the limited details that I get via texts! He is also enjoying the various aspects of American life, sharing an apartment with a roommate and attending his very first baseball game!  It will be interesting to observe how all these experiences will influence his future decisions.

My granddaughter, who just turned 18, graduated from high school in June 2021, after coping with all the COVID restrictions in Germany, including a scaled-down graduation ceremony similar to the one her brother had.  She decided that her brain needed a break after all the stresses of the final year of high school!  Since she had already spent a semester in Connecticut as a high school freshman, she now wanted to experience something entirely different in another part of the US, but something easy!  One idea was to scoop ice cream at an ice cream shop!  She is presently living with my older daughter and son-in-law in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, and working in a vegan cafe!  Life is not too shabby, because in her free time she gets to enjoy the beach and the colourful sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico every evening.  Her coworkers, however, are from a ‘different world’ and she is observing and listening to them without getting into any conflicts.  When she first started her job, she wore a mask the way most sensible people do. But when she observed that the people around her, neither the staff nor the customers, were wearing masks she ditched her mask in a bout of self-consciousness. Luckily, that was short-lived, and sensibility won the day! She decided to ignore any comments or funny looks that may come her way and resumed her mask-wearing at work.  As far as I know, she has not had any problems about her choice. Beginning in January she hopes to return to Germany to do a few internships before she begins her university studies later in 2022.

I decided to share the news about my grandchildren’s activities because these opportunities were not available to us when we were students, but I believe are accessible to present-day high school graduates.  Most parents urge their children to continue with higher education immediately after graduation from high school, but I wonder if that is the best choice?  I hope that parents (and grandparents)  of young people will encourage them to sample the ‘real world’ at least a little bit before they focus on higher studies and have to make important decisions about their future.

(2) Lucky celebrates his "big one" with his family including children and grandchildren

Our Blog creator Lucky celebrated his 80th Birthday with his family. Those present apart from his wife Mangala were his children  Shehan and Dilushi, and grandchildren - Prashan (16), Anisha (13) and Nimesh (11). His Daughter-in-Law Prasadani was also there.

Lucky still has problems with his eyes and find typing very difficult.  I got his permission to post this with pictures of his family. What a happy occasion! 

I am sure all of us will join me in wishing him many more productive and happy years.

(3) Appu Sumathipala

My daughter's elder son who is 19 yrs, took a gap year, in order to see the world. He obtained the necessary grades to enter Aston University to read computer science. Covid 19 ruined his plans and he joined the supermarket Sainsbury's Supermarket to spend his time until next Academic year. My son's daughter, similarly obtained grades to do languages, most probably in University in Edinburgh. She too has applied for a gap year with the same idea of travelling around the world. She will be 19yrs on the 1st of November. My opinion was that they should complete their degrees and embark on tours. During our days, in school, we never heard about gap years and getting short term jobs during vacations. There was no opportunity at all, even in the private sector.

(4) Sanath Lamabadusuriya

Elder son-Shamin Prasanna, born in 1976, studied at Richmond College, Galle and Ananda College Colombo and represented the latter school in Chess and Badminton. Graduated from Colombo. Captain of the University of Colombo chess team. He specialised in Rheumatology and is presently working as a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Nuwara Eliya District General Hospital. He is married to Prabodha Panditharatne with one son, Sasmin.

Second son-Harshan Indrajit, born in 1979-Studied at Richmond College Galle, STC Mt Lavinia and at Royal College, Colombo. Studied at Steyning Grammar School, and obtained five "A" s at the London A level examination.(Best results of the school, after many years). Studied Medicine at Clare College, University of Cambridge and at the University of Oxford. Presently working as a Consultant Paediatrician at the Swindon Hospital.

Represented Royal College and Sri Lanka in scrabble and won many tournaments Won many scrabble tournaments in the UK and represented the country as well. In the Countdown series on Channel 4, he was the Runner-up.  In 2003, he was the British National Scrabble Champion and was the runner-up in the World Scrabble Championship in 2017. In 2017, he was conferred the title of Grand Master in scrabble. At one time he held the world record for the highest number of points for a single word, which was "Kreuzers", (an old German coin) scoring 329 points. He is married to Michelle Gunasekera, (Peradeniya graduate) who is currently working as a Research Fellow, at the Royal Infirmary, Oxford. They have one son named Inesh

Daughter Dilusha Amriti  attended Ladies College and Visakha Vidyalaya..Later she graduated from the Colombo Medical Faculty, topping the batch with First Class Honours, obtaining four out of five distinctions and winning 11 Gold Medals.(I also topped the batch in 1967, obtaining two out of three distinctions and with a second class. She outdid her father by more than a mile!). Later she obtained the MD (Colombo) and became a Board Certified Specialist.  She worked at the Norwich Hospital until recently as a specialist for the Care of the Elderly before deciding to return to Sri Lanka for good. She is married to Upul Wickramarachchi who is  a Peradeniya graduate who worked at the Norwich Hospital as an Interventional Cardiologist and obtained a MD from the University of East Anglia.His name is in the Specialist Register in the UK. He has the MRCP(UK), as well. They have a son Tharusha, who is four years old and a daughter, Samadhi, whose first birthday was on the 26th of October.

I have three grandsons and one granddaughter, whose first birthday is today. Dilusha's son Tharusha is 4 years old. They decided to return to Sri Lanka for good and are living with me since their arrival, about 10 days ago.

In Sri Lanka there is an enforced gap period after the A-Level examination. It extends usually beyond one year. During our time it was entirely different. We used to sit for the University Entrance Examination in December and enter the University around next June.

(5) Chirasri Jayaweera Bandara

My son Anju studied at St. Thomas Prep. Colpetty and Royal College Colombo.

He studied Medicine in English at the Kursk State Medical University, Russia.

He is working as a Medical Officer in an Orthopaedic unit at the National Hospital, Colombo. He didn't want to do postgraduate studies saying he will be posted to faraway places after qualification This would lead to leaving the family and going on his own. Since he was interested in photography he decided to pursue that line. He is a professional photographer and has followed many courses in photography. He enjoys doing wedding photography and other special occasions.  

This is a photograph of an Indian couple who came to Sri Lanka for their wedding and Anju was the photographer.

My daughter Anjali studied at Methodist College Colombo and Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo.

She studied Medicine at the Kasturba Medical College Manipal, India.

She passed her finals in M.D. Ophthalmology in Jan. 2021. She is working at Eye Hospital, Colombo as Senior Registrar for one year. She has to do one-year training overseas.

She will be board certified as a Consultant Eye Surgeon after her training period.

She does pencil drawings and these have been published in the Journal of the Medical College, Manipal, India. The painting of the pony is one of her many pencil drawings.