Brief Personal Memories of My Departed Friends. By Srianee Dias
Sunna de Silva: A man of few words with a heart of gold - his spontaneous visits in Kosgama and in Norwalk, Connecticut - always a pleasant surprise.
Dawne de Silva: Sweet and gentle, floating into class with her incredibly long hair trailing behind - comforting me on the phone in New York City on the eve of my 2 year old daughter’s scheduled surgery.
V. Ganesan: His loquacious and charming personality - sitting next to me during lectures, filling me in on the gossip circulating among the guys. (Yes, I found out everything!).
Kitha Wimalaratne: A quiet and reserved guy - visiting us in our small apartment in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife and two sons - a good dad.
Satchi (Michael): A “Renaissance man” with a wide variety of interests - a kind and helpful friend, who sprang into action to arrange a consultation with a leading pediatric surgeon, when it became apparent that my daughter needed surgery.
Tilak Dayaratne: Remembering a quiet guy - sharing friendly greetings in the hallways.
Sidath Jayanetti: A talented musician who entertained us at various gatherings, during and after Medical College - his penchant for making humorous comments, under his breath (while sitting behind me) during lectures, eliciting chuckles from his neighbours.
Kamali Nimalasuriya: A lovely, bright person - memories of an encounter before Medical College as members of our respective school teams on the “Do You Know” radio contest (her team won, but she didn’t remember!) - our last meeting at the Hikkaduwa reunion, taking morning walks on the beach with Manel.
Priya Gunaratna: Her dazzling smile which lit up the whole room - her brave and positive attitude during her long illness.
Vedavanam: His friendly, cheerful personality.
Janaka (J.G.) Wijetunga: Hanging out at the House Officer’s quarters in Ratnapura, chatting at the dining table.
Manohari Navaratnarajah: A sweet and gentle personality - her dignified and somewhat reserved demeanour.
Suren Iyer: His outgoing nature and friendliness - our warm re-connections at several reunions following graduation.
Sue Ratnavale: A beautiful person, inside and out - our long phone conversations (sadly missed now) - our visits in Las Vegas and Connecticut- her love of Shakespeare and disdain of Trump - her brave and pragmatic attitude in handling her illness.
Desmond (C.D.) Gunatilake: Occasionally catching the same bus to Medical College from Mt. Lavinia - attending his wedding in NYC, where he showed up late after getting stuck in Manhattan traffic.
Razaque Ahamat: His wicked sense of humour - his witty narratives and the photos of his flowers which we were privileged to enjoy on the blog.
H.N. Wickramasinghe: Our warm and friendly conversations whenever I met him on my visits to Colombo.
Kamini Goonewardena: A kind and beautiful soul, who was very dignified and genuine.
Lakshman
Weerasooriya: A talented, soft-spoken, gentle soul
- riding on the same bus to Medical College with other commuter medical
students from Mt. Lavinia, Dehiwela and Wellawatte - sharing my lecture notes
with him during the infamous suspension of the male members of the batch -
later enjoying many visits with our families in New York City, Connecticut and
Florida
Srianee, that was a great idea! I hope others follow. I already got one from Chira. Rohini Ana's is also in the queue!
ReplyDeleteSrianee
ReplyDeleteA lovely collection of memories to cherish. So lovely to remember friends and so sad so many have left us. Such is life!!
Srianee
ReplyDeleteAs Mahen commented great idea and great to remember friends.It is sad but that's life.
Hi Bora
DeleteGreat to see you back on the blog. Welcome to our dwindling world again. Do stay with us. The summer sunshine always brings hope.
Bora, it is good to see you back. Your input was very much missed. Hoping to see you again regularly
DeleteSrianee, Thank you - It’s great you have taken the time to share your memories of each of these batchmates -Those who were close to us continue to live in our hearts.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for acknowledging my brief, personal memories of some of the friends we have lost. As Rohini said, they "continue live in our hearts."
ReplyDeleteON BEHALF OF PRAM SENANAYAKE
ReplyDeleteIt was so wonderful to read the tributes to our dearly departed colleagues from the Batch of 62.
Speedy ,many thanks for your idea to have a remembrance page annually
Thanks Srianee and ND for your wonderful tributes. Brought back a flood of memories.
I for one truly value our batchmates. Each one has something to offer to our group and each other I love to keep in touch, so grateful to Lucky for having started our blog. Long may it live.
The Blog is great but when possible it is also great to meet. I love the personal touch. So when ever where ever possible our mini reunions strengthen our friendships I love these reunions and will continue to organize them in the UK ,SL or where ever an opportunity arises. Thank you to all those who come from near and far to meet
In Colombo we have a mini dinner group that meets regularly. These give us a wonderful opportunity to meet chat and reminisce
It is always good to have spouses of batch mates join us. . I consider them very much part of the batch
I am truly blessed to be part of the 62 batch. Thanks to each one of you for your love and friendship
Srianee, I read them again and again and every time I read it, I get more out of it. Your pithy observations are so true. Thanks a lot. I may add a few to the list with some of my own observations which won't be as acute as yours!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mahen. I just added a comment to your list.
Delete