REMEMBRANCE DAY 2022.

Remembrance Day 30th May 2022. Photo Gallery added. My sincere thanks to all the contributors - Speedy

Memories of some of my dear departed colleagues

By Suriyakanthie Amarasekera

First Row: Sunna de Silva, Russel Paul, Dawne de Silva, Bernard Randeniya,
Niriella Chandrasiri,  V. Ganeson
Second Row:Irwin Herath,  V.Kunasingham, B.L.Perera, B.Somasunderam,
N.C.D.M. Gunasekara,  K.Sunderampillai.
Third row:Tudor Wickramarachchi, Kiththa Wimalaratne,  Anna Ponnambalam, 
A. Satchitananda,  N. Sivakumar, Tilak Dayaratne

First Row: Sidath (Cigar) Jayanetti,  N. Balakumar,  Kamali Nimalasuriya, 
K. Sri Kantha, P. Lucien Perera, Priya Gunaratna,  
Second Row:   Arul (Sivaguru) Balasubramaniam, Punsiri Fernando,
W. Rajasooriyar,  M.P.C. Jaimon,  S. Vedavanam, Farouk Mahmoud
Third Row: JG Wijetunga, Manohari Navaratnarajah, Mahendra Collure,
Suren Iyer,  Sardha Jayatilake, S. Sarvananda 

First Row: Sue Ratnavel, Tilak Batuwitage, Desmond Gunatilake, Razaque Ahamat

Second Row: H.N.Wickremasinghe, Ranjit Kuruppu, Kamini Goonewardena, Lucky Weerasooriya

Priya Gunaratne: was one of the friendliest girls in our batch. In fact, I got to know her even before we entered Medical  College in  June 1962.  I was a  Visakhian for a brief spell from January 1962 to March when the A level results of December 1961 were released and found to my delight that I had secured a direct entry. I was a strange phenomenon at Visakha.... a new girl in the 2nd year of the A level class and a Christian at that! Priya was one of the first to extend the hand of friendship to me and instantly made me feel less of an alien! Our friendship remained strong and close. We had many shared interests ... our love for Table Tennis was one. I partnered her for the girls' doubles and we met as opponents for the girls singles in 1963. I was certain that I would get a licking as Priya was a much better player but it must have been one of her off days and I beat her by a fluke. We were both selected to be in the Uni team and were entered for an International University Tournament.   The first round was held in Peradeniya, and we had a marvellous time, but unfortunately got knocked out by a simply brilliant team from India.   

We went for the Peradeniya Colours Night. I recall Sriyani Dissanayaka,  (who later joined our batch), looking stunningly beautiful and being crowned the Colours Queen.                                      

I also recall what a beautiful mother of the bride Priya made when her daughter married Kalyani Nihalsingha' s son.

Being actively involved in organizing the batch reunions kept us in close touch. I was full of admiration for her courage at the way she faced her malignancy which ultimately claimed her life. She was indeed an inspiration to us all.

Chandrasiri Niriella: He was one of the more studious members of our batch. For some reason I cannot recall, he was nicknamed Johnny.

Chandrasiri was a good-natured amiable guy and I had a very cordial relationship with him. I was not at all surprised when he was appointed Professor of Forensic Medicine and soon reached the dizzy height of being appointed the  Vice-Chancellor of the Ruhuna University. He was the first amongst our friends to reach such a high Academic level.  He was well respected by students and staff alike. I was so upset to learn of his fatal cancer. It was heartbreaking to meet him after he had an enucleation of one of his eyes.

Several years later I met his young son who is now a renowned hepatologist when he was doing a Registar appointment at the Sri Jayawardenapura Teaching Hospital. Having just moved to Colombo, he was finding it difficult to gain entry to a good school for his little daughter. It was my privilege and pleasure to help him to get the little girl admitted to Ladies' College.

LGDK Herath: was another quiet one in our batch. Very pleasant but rather serious. I had the unusual privilege of being his trainer in Anaesthesia when he joined Jayawardenapura hospital and opted for Anaesthesia. It was great to guide him through the science and art of anaesthesia. It was amusing that we often forgot our roles and started jawing about the good old days. .. he lapsed to call me Suri on occasions much to the horror of the other junior and nursing staff. I found him very easy to teach and guide to acquire the manual skills required. He turned out to be a competent and caring Anaesthetist. When he decided to go abroad I was very happy to act as his referee and help him to secure a job. News of his demise left me with a sense of loss. 

Lucky Weerasuriya:  A tall fair handsome guy with a charming smile and a sunny personality .... the answer to any girl's dream. But he was already spoken for when he entered Medical College. His childhood sweetheart Ruvini to whom he was devoted. Both Lucky, Ruvini and I attended the same Church in Mt Lavinia. I have so many lovely memories of picnics, Carrom and TT tournaments, debates and netball matches where girls usually played against the boys ... Both sides cheated shamelessly! Lucky and Ruvini emigrated to the USA very early. They were blessed with two very caring sons who looked after them when Lucky got gradually disabled with rapidly progressing Parkinsonism. His demise was a blessed release. I am so glad that I met them at our Batch Reunions in,2007 and again in 2012. It was lovely to catch up. By our last reunion in 2017 Lucky was too incapacitated to travel. May his soul Rest in Peace.

Mano Navaratnarajah:. I remember her charming good looks,  and gentle nature She was always polite and soft-spoken. One would never guess that her dad was a very important person ... being the Chief Justice at the time. Mano never put on airs and graces and was a dear friend.

S Vedavanam:I have very fond memories of Veda .. his boyish good looks, his quiet sense of humour and most of all his sunny smile. Though he was a V and myself K and we were never in any group together as students we shared a warm friendship. I remember the many chats we had . Perhaps the fact that I am guilty of being a chatterbox ( I remember how one of Bunter's three brothers who has forgotten my name described me as her friend who talks and talks and talks and aaàaaaaa and talks again ! ).

I feel so sad that I lost touch with Veda after graduation. I am filled with regret that we did not organize Batch Reunions earlier.

The first-ever reunion in Sri Lanka was organized by JC, Sura and myself in 1988 We coopted Lucky A a little later. It was an uphill task as we had no idea of the locations of our batch mates nor the married surnames of the females. We were delighted that we were able to gather 22 of our batch mates living in Sri Lanka and had a wonderful time chattering away at The Holiday Inn over dinner. We had also invited Carlo and Pandi as guests.

The first Batch Reunion including those living abroad was held in 1997 our 30th Anniversary, at Coral Gardens Hikkaduwa. This needed a lot of organization and we were lucky to have Swyrie with all her contacts and Priya with her enthusiasm for joining the committee. I am so sorry that I never met Veda at any of our Reunions held .... but will always remember him with affection

V Kunasingham: I do remember with deep affection. He sat next to me during Physiology lectures ( Karunaratna , Kunasingham ) He was indeed very shy, always gentle and soft-spoken. I remember vividly how Dr Ratnavale got Kuna to walk with a stiff knee, and then add on a foot drop... clearly demonstrating the circumduction walk of hemiplegia.

Sue Ratnavale: I remember Sue who was always charming and friendly. I remember singing in the SCM Choir at her Wedding at St Paul's Milagiriya Church.

Priya, Ganesh and Ranjith Kuruppu were all very close friends who I had kept in touch with ....it's hard to believe that I can't pick up the phone and have a chat with them as I used to.
Ranjith was so full of fun. I am sure most of you can remember his "Dance of the Seven Veils" at one of our batch reunions. I had the privilege of helping him with the dressing, putting on the wig and makeup! With his fair complexion, he did look very seductive!

HN, "Cigar" as we fondly called Sidath were also special to me. Incidentally, Cigar was responsible for getting me thrown out of Thanaballs's Ward Class by making me grin while watching his antics while standing behind Thanaballs' chair.

Russel Paul and Dawne: Russel was a man in a million So gentle and unselfish. He would often stop his own studies to explain difficult subjects to anyone who sought his help. Though he was brilliant he never showed off or made you feel inadequate.

Kamali Nimalasuriya: Another absolutely brilliant batch mate, with a quiet sense of humour
Anna, another gentle and rather quiet friend, -seen but not often heard like so many.

Sardha: I regret I had lost touch with her after graduation. Her tragic experience of losing he young son due to an ICH made her a recluse.

Ganesh: was such a special friend to me as indeed he was to many in the batch.
I clearly remember Ganesh singing popular Sinhala songs lustily in the bus all the way to Habarana on our Ruby Anniversary in 2007.

While all of us seem to age Ganesh looked eternally young with boyish good looks and an endearing smile. It was so tragic that Ganesh who was a teetotaler should succumb to cryptogenic cirrhosis. I got to know his daughter Nishanthi very well when she worked at Jayawardenapura Hospital. In her, I saw the same gentle qualities and utter dedication to the patients in her care due no doubt to the shining example of her father who she took as her role model.

Suren lyer: was another dear friend who I was so glad to meet after more than 4 decades. His sudden and unexpected demise left us all shaken I remember him dancing no stop at the batch reunion. I recall how he used to carry a photo of his sister Sita who died tragically from Ulcerative Colitis when a 3 rd year medical student in Pera in his wallet and show it to us saying it was his girlfriend.

Kamini G: Another special friend.She was always so smart and pretty, always kind. I remember that in our 3rd year she lived in terror that her mother who had left Medical School after her 2 ND MBBS to get married would join our batch! I remember telling her that it would be so sweet and a record. We became even closer as we served as interns under EV Pieris. I was delighted when her daughter Rohini joined my daughter Manique to sing at the Doctor's Concert of the SLMA for three consecutive years. Their item was called " Doctors Daughters”

I can go on but feel I had better call a halt. Hope you enjoy reading my snippets of some of our dear departed Batch Mates.

My dear friends, we will always remember you with love and affection.

“To live in the hearts of those who love you is to live forever!”