Zita’s Poems and my tribute to Zita- Nihal D Amerasekera

Zita’s Poems of a beautiful life

From Nihal D Amerasekera 

In Zita’s book of poems are glimpses of her past and present in verse. With her academic training, she has arranged the poems under headings highlighting the various aspects of her life, moods and feelings. There are thoughts of people and events. The poems also have a deeper philosophy and a generous flow of emotions. Reading between the lines is a must for Zita’s poems which makes them so very revealing and relevant. Despite being very expressive and intensely moving, the poems are very readable. I have done my best to understand what Zita has tried to convey in verse. Varied thoughts come together in a note of hope. The poems are refreshingly tender and sensitive but always thoughtful and lyrical.

With the help of her son, Rohan, the poems have now been gathered into a book. The proceeds from its sale and donations will be given to Cancer Research UK. The beautiful book cover was drawn by Zita. It shows her love of nature. My thanks to Rohan and Zita for publishing the poems. I enjoyed them immensely. 

My Tribute to Zita 

Zita Perera was schooled at Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena. After her success in the University Entrance examination in 1960, she proceeded to a 6-month course in Chemistry at the University of Ceylon prior to joining the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo. 

I saw Zita for the first time in September 1962 amidst the mayhem of the rag, the confusion of physiology lectures and the stress of anatomy signatures. As I now look through that haze, although Zita oozed charm and personality, I never had the good fortune to speak with her. In those days, men and women didn’t mix as freely as now, not even in that higher seat of learning. After the great dispersal from Kynsey road in 1967, it took a further 48 years to see Zita again. This time she was with her husband, Jo. They both seemed happy, jovial and lively.  Mahendra G has kept in touch with Zita and we all met up at Côte Brasserie off Oxford Street in London. It was 2015, and we had all retired from our professional lives. Despite the years, this was a remarkable bonding, and there was so much closeness and intimacy. We retraced our lives since medical school. I remember it to this day the clarity with which Zita related the story of her life, work and family. What stood out was how contended she was with her life. Always smiling and forever young, Zita accepted the advancing years with delight and optimism. She is delightful company, always spoke kindly about people, and there was never a harsh word. 

Humility is something that came naturally to Zita. When we met Zita, she never spoke much about her professional work as an Ophthalmologist. She was successful at the Fellowship examination (FRCS) in Ophthalmic Surgery. Zita’s specialist training was at the centre of excellence, Moorfields Hospital in London, where she received her Certificate of Higher training.  Zita is indeed a fully qualified Ophthalmic Surgeon. She speaks most warmly about her spell in Sri Lanka as an Ophthalmologist at the Sri Jayewardenepura hospital. There she started a modern Laser service. Lasers have become as essential to the practising ophthalmologist just like the scalpel, the magnifier and sterile gloves. Zita’s photo now adorns the Ophthalmic Department to remember her huge contribution to the treatment of eye disease in Sri Lanka. Zita is far too modest to acknowledge praise and wore that intelligence and brightness so lightly. 

Zita has a deep concern for our planet and the perils of global warming. She felt that we were not doing enough to prevent a catastrophe. Zita has written at length with authenticity and eloquence about her sadness for the plight of those affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka. She has a strong egalitarian streak that surfaced in our conversations. We met again in the summer of 2016.  This time Sanath Lamabadusuriya joined Zita and Mahen for lunch in London. After a long walk down memory lane, we exchanged our fund of medical anecdotes. Although rather quiet Zita has the remarkable ability to tell a story and deliver it fluently and with flair. After the sumptuous lunch, Zita took us to “Just Joe’s” for a cappuccino, where we continued our banter. 

Zita was very keen to meet the batch-mates and joined us in all the London Reunions organised by Pramilla Senanayake in 2016, 2017 (one in Spring and another in the Summer), 2018, 2019 and January 2020. These generated great excitement, warmth and sentimentality. At each one of those, Zita walked round the tables with such grace and charm to speak with everyone. On those occasions, I recall her joy, vitality and guileless spirit. She was always there but never conspicuous, always elegant but never stealing the limelight. Zita appeared on our Covid-induced Zooms despite the technical glitches that hounded her. In September 2018 there was a lunch at Satay House in Paddington for Rajan Ratnesar and his lovely wife, Queelan. They were visiting London from California.  Zita and Jo arrived all the way from Southend-On-Sea, like Royalty, in a plush chauffeur-driven limousine. Although this was a brief encounter, we had a most memorable afternoon exchanging anecdotes and laughing at the travails of youth. 

Zita always had a strong feeling for the batch. Her supportive and encouraging comments has helped to keep our Blog alive. Blessed with a rich vocabulary and a great gift for poetry she lit up the Blog with her special brand of rhyming poems on a multitude of diverse topics. The poems are an eclectic mix, some gentle observations others inspired by her seaside home and some very moving. Zita has contributed several articles to the blog which have been greatly valued. She writes with gravity and depth and also with lightness and humour. 

Zita is a talented musician and has entertained us on her Clavinova playing that delightful Nocturne from Chopin, Massenet’s endearing Meditation from Thaïs and also that eternal French favourite ‘La Mer’. 

She takes great pride in her family. Zita’s husband, Jo, was an optometrist with the famous upmarket opticians, Raybans. Zita and Joe with their children and grandchildren are the beneficiaries of a life well and fully lived. They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 2017. Zita loves living in Southend, that affluent enclave by the sea.  She often said how constantly mesmerised she is by nature, the 4 seasons and the wildlife. Being so close to France they became regular visitors and spent many holidays there. The family became Francophiles learning the language, enjoying the cuisine and appreciating the wonderful French music. 

Zita loves country music. She and her mother have been active members of the Hank Snow fan club. While Hank Snow was on tour in London, Zita and her mum met him personally. Incidentally I too have been a fan of his brand of music and recall with much nostalgia listening to the Hank Snow Quarter on Radio Ceylon every weekday at 9am - during the school holidays. I had a large collection of his music in a digital format which I was able to pass on to Zita.  Zita and Joe have asked us to spend a weekend over with them at Southend but Covid came along and we just couldn’t make it happen. In my association with Zita what stands out is her overwhelming honesty, altruism and gentle kindness. 

With her evangelical upbringing, Catholicism means a lot to Zita. She finds it’s teachings immensely comforting. Zita has remained a deeply religious person all through her life. There was the occasional wobble which was transient. We all have had our share of vacillations and indecisions in our search for that elusive “Truth”. 

We met in medical school in our youth when we all felt immortal. Death and disease happened to others. We euphemistically referred to them as patients. In the fullness of years now, we know the occupation is no inoculation against disease or grief. It will reach us with monotonous regularity as we age, until it is our turn to leave this planet. The detached emotional tidiness that we had as doctors has now evaporated. We now feel the same emotions as everyone else. 

To live the life one wants, in the way one wants, is rare and is a brave and inspiring gift. To persevere and live it with dignity and peace is something to be greatly admired. Zita, you have achieved your goals better than most. It has been a great privilege to get to know you and thank you for being my friend.

19th September 2022. NOTE FROM BLOG ADMIN Mahendra

I decided to add comments of appreciation to the main post as it would become a suitable archive.

Tribute by Rohini Anandaraja

Nihal, This tribute to Zita is a very kind gesture.
I endorse all that you’ve expressed about her gentle nature and her talents.
Her poetry in the blog in all its variety has been very entertaining and clever.
I am so pleased to learn that the family have made the collection available in the form of a book and shall take steps to secure a copy. 

Tribute by Chirasri Jayaweera Bandara

Nihal,Congratulations for an excellent tribute to Zita. You are a great writer and you should write books.
I have known Zita since our internship days together under Dr. Misso.

During my postgraduate training in UK I have been to Zita's and Jo's place and spent weekends together between 1977 and 1979.
I admire Zita's courage and determination to sit for the final MS Ophthalmology exam conducted by the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine Colombo. Cassim and I were examiners! She was successful and was working at the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital Kotte.
During that period we used to visit each other and have meals together
After she and her family moved to UK I had a E mail stating that she was stranded in Spain and she needed 2000 sterling pounds urgently. Since I couldn't contact her I sent this via Barclays bank London.
When I realised it was a fraud I rang up Barclays Bank and requested .them to stop payment. Luckily payment was stopped but I lost 100 pounds. When Zita came for our batch reunion subsequently she gave me a cheque for 100 pounds which I didn't accept,
What are friends for if we cannot help them in time of need.
When I heard of her illness I have been in constant touch with her and praying for her and wishing her all the best.
Pram has a book of Zita poems for me. I am looking forward to getting it and reading it.
Nihal wishing you all the best.

Tribute by Mahendra Gonsalkorale.

Nihal’s article is superbly crafted as usual. Zita deserves all the praise showered on her by Nihal, Chira and Rohini and it gives me great pleasure to join them. I must thank Lucky and the Blog which was the vehicle through which I re-established contact with Zita and her lovely family. I have visited them on several occasions and every time I went, I was greeted with love and affection, not just by Zita and Joe but also by Nisha and Rohan. I felt completely at home and relaxed.

Zita’s poems are structurally perfect as she obeys all the rules but what makes them special is her vivid imagination and deep sense of humanity and love. She is without doubt a very special person, a person with whom I have had deep discussions on the nature of life, faith and belief. These are subjects you have to tread carefully with some people as it can cause misunderstandings but with Zita we were totally honest with each other although we did not always agree. But this is the essence of human nature, to question and disagree while always respecting another view as surely, us mortals cannot claim to be know everything.

Zita it has been my good fortune and great privilege to be your friend and may you always find the comfort you seek.