Sad news of another Batchmate passing away
Mangalam Sabaratnam Krishnadasan passed away
peacefully yesterday, December 22, 2022.
Thank you Srianee for the news and message I am posting today.
Mangalam by Srianee
I remember Mangalam as a gregarious fun loving person. She was often teased by the guys in our batch (I’m not sure why) but she was a good sport and took it very well. It was fun to hang out with her.
After graduating in 1967, she emigrated to the US and qualified in Physiatry (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), practised in California and then moved to Puttaparthi, India to work in the Sathya Sai Baba movement. Later she returned to the US.
(This is merely a very brief announcement and not the tribute that Mangalam deserves. I hope my friends will pardon me for any inaccuracies. Please share any memories of Mangalam.)
Srianee Fernando Dias.
SHANTHY NALLIAH
ReplyDeleteOh dear very sad news indeed! Our deepest sympathy to her family. Shanthy
Heartfelt condolences to her family.
ReplyDeleteJosephine (Edwis) Francis.
Vanitha, Mangalam Sivs and I had surname starting with S and were in the anatomy dissection group
I meant to write Siva
ReplyDeleteI don't think I met Mangalam after she left for the US. I remember her as a lovely and one of the most attractive girls in our batch. Sad to hear about her demise and my sincere condolences to her family.
ReplyDeleteMahen, I am pretty sure that Mangalam came to our reunion in UK in 1992 (?) and you would have met her then. I was in touch with her somewhat indirectly, when her two sons were attending Haverford College in Pennsylvania at the same time that my younger daughter was at neighboring BrynMawr College. They became friends. I last spoke to her in 2020. I am regretting that I didn't pick up the phone and talk to her more recently. I didn't know that she was struggling with some serious health problems.
DeleteShe was a lovely person.
She was at the London reunion. (IA)
DeleteSrianee and Indtra, I honestly cannot recall her that time, But then, I cannot recall many who I know were there!
DeleteSorry to hear the sad news. My deepest sympathies to the family
DeleteI met her in LA while on holiday
We went out for a meal too
Not seen her for a couple of years
May her soul rest in peace
Susheila
Deepest sympathies to Mangalam’s family..Hope she rest in peace.I met in 1992 at our batch get together in the UK , we had a good time .Mahes Nadarajah
ReplyDelete25.12.22.
ReplyDeleteFrom one of Managalams closest friends Sura Fernando.
After graduations too the same closeness and friendship continued with one another.
Mangy as we called her was my chief bridesmaid. And when they settled in saibaabas city in India we would exchange news. And her spell in Srilanka few years later we got together again .
After she returned to USA we communicated atleast every month.
I knew of her last illness but she passed away after short illness.
Our sympathies to her family
May her soul rest in peace.
O dear I am so very sad to learn of another lovely batch mate's demise." Mangy " as we fondly called her was always full of fun. Though we were quite close during student days I had lost touch with her completely after she went abroad . I do have many memories of fun times we shared. May her soul rest in peace
DeleteI can’t quite remember meeting Mangala after leaving the Faculty in 1967. For what ever reasons I associated her with Yoga
ReplyDeleteMay she Rest In Peace
Dear Sriani and all,
ReplyDeleteThe passing away of yet another colleague induced a deep melancholy. I remembered with nostalgia 1962. We had a baptism of fire but in the exuberance of our youth we were invincible, immortal; but with each year and each passing away, the ebullience fades and the illusion is chipped away.
The photo of Mangalam you had posted is the one embedded in my memory; a picture of innocence, sweetness and hope. The butterfly framed glasses added to the vision.
Our first encounter was in the Block; that seedy rundown edifice reeking of formalin, the gloom partly dispelled by single naked bulbs. A friendship did not blossom, much less begin. She was reserved and I was diffident and tongue tied. But I did steal glances while she dissected assiduously. Some boys with no such inhibitions would stamp loudly whenever she walked up the physiology theatre.
Our next meeting was in Los Angeles In the University of Southern California teaching hospital. I was an advanced research fellow in echocardiography and she was a rehabilitation physician. I introduced myself to her in the cafeteria, but she appeared not to remember .
Mangalam had an Australian connection; her sister who was senior to us in Medical School,is in Brisbane QLD and her daughter Lakshmi is a facio maxillary surgeon in our city.
My condolences go to her children.
May she Rest In Peace, the peace which she richly deserves.
Kumar
Dear friends, thank you for sharing your memories of Mangalam. Please check out Sura's contribution as well.
DeleteKumar, "the seedy edifice reeking of formalin" that you described, (and where we first encountered each other) is going to be torn demolished pretty soon, I hear.
I wonder what will replace it?
Kumar and Srianee, many others are also concerned about the imminent destruction of the "Bloc" building. Nihal A is also very concerned and he has communicated with me regarding this matter. I think he will be contributing an article about it in the New Year, to our Blogspot and perhaps the press as well . As the current President of CoMSAA, I will take it up at the next Executive Council meeting in January 2023. I have already discussed this matter with the Dean, Vajira Dissanaike
ReplyDeleteI will insist that the facade facing Francis Road would be retained intact.
Much saddened to hear of Mangi’s death. She was vivacious, fun loving and ever ready to help others. She had a confident personality and was never afraid to voice her views on issues. I made friends with her through Kamali who was my schoolmate. Her car was the mode of transport for many of us to reach the late morning lecture on time once released from ward appointments on the Norris canal Road end. Several years ago while on a WHO work assignment in the USC hospital LA I stayed with her. She not only hosted me at her beautiful home but drove me daily to USC and made certain that I was well fed at the staff canteen on her hospital account. She even organized a dinner party for me to meet some batchmates in LA. These were happy times when she spent with Krishnan and her children.
ReplyDeleteIn later years once she shifted to the Sai Baba Ashram I had the pleasure to host her in Kandy for a few days on one of her visits to Sri Lanka but regrettably lost contact since then. I am glad that she passed away in peace surrounded by her beloved children. It was a privilege to know you Mangi I will always treasure your memory.