Sunil Ranjan de Silva (SR) The first to go
By Kumar Gunawardane
The print is very small as it has 5 columns. If you click on the post, it will appear on a new tab showing it much more clearly. Try it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! - Speedy
Apologies for the small print. I shall try and get a word document from Kumar
ReplyDeleteKumar
ReplyDeleteI do remember so very clearly reading your fine tribute to our beloved SUNNA when it first appeared in the Sunday Island. As usual you have done him proud with your elegant penmanship. Sunna was such a lovely person. I recall his humorous stories revealed with a poke face. I recall most fondly his hilarious banter with Chanaka and Lubber in the Common Room, between lectures. He was just one of a kind. Thank you for recalling those cherished memories
Thank you, Kumar and Nihal. I knew Sunna at Royal where he was one year senior to me. Although he was neurologically stable, his expression coud be described as almost "mask-like"! The facial muscles were generally resting with the occasional twitch. I didn't know him well as we didn't have many common links. His younger brother became an eminent cardiologist in Sri Lanka.
ReplyDeleteThe description of his days in Galle bore many similariites to my residenyt days at Regent House, Colombo, then at Matale and later at Welisera. The freindshio and bonding, buth masters, helping each other when on call, the romantic side-shows;all part of the typical life of the junior doctor in Sri Lanka. Aming many things I valued those days was the obligatory afternoon siesta- ,most civilised!
When I was at Matale, Jeff Babapulle had a spell as Buth Master and it was the most expensive we had! But the meals he provided were fantastic, imcluding the size of the portions. He was a character, certainly was!
Sunna clearly was a soft hearted person to whom you related well Kumar. It is sad that he had to exit the stage prematurely. Thanks again for an excellent article.
This is a literary masterpiece written with much feeling. I would urge those who haven't read this to do so before it disappears into the ether.
ReplyDeleteHis loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and friendship will live on.
Hi Kumar
ReplyDeleteThanks for an excellent tribute to your beloved friend ,written with so much feeling.Sunna was loyal and concerned about his friends.When Sydney's father passed away,he picked me up from my home and we drove all the way to Wellipenna in Matugama,to convey our condolences.
Sunna was sincere,told what he felt directly to you,gave sensible advice,witty and a keen sports fan.
Kumar
ReplyDeleteDear Mahen, Nihal and Bora,
Thank you for your kind remarks . You saved me from the ignominy of being the first not to have any comments at all.
Thank you Mahen for publishing. I wrote this in 2017 but Lucky for some reason included only the link to the article in the Sunday Island. Sunna’s brother Manik was and is still the chief editor of the Sunday Island. He made some noteworthy alterations. Mahen one point you mention is that Sunna has a younger brother who is a cardiologist. Correct me if I’m wrong , but the person you indicate is probably no relation..
Sunna was indeed very special. We were privileged to have him as our friend. Later on when we had lost some of our inhibitions he made a special effort to keep in touch with colleagues both male and female.
Hence , also my sadness to witness the decline of the blog. This and the reunions kept our year and its wonderful memories and friendships alive.
Thank you Mahen, Nihal and Bora for your heroic efforts; not forgetting Lucky who initiated it all. Mahen’s innovations and ND’s gems will outlive us. Bora’s Banter was one of the best features; written in his best conversational style. I can picture his half-smile whenever I read them. This was a characteristic of Sunna too.The humorous stories related blandly with an occasional devastating punchline.They sometimes hit the nail on the head with startling effects.
We must keep the blog going.
Dear Kumar,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing about our good friend Sunna. (I managed to read it easily by, “Selecting All, Copying and Pasting” it onto a separate document on my computer- aren’t you impressed?)
He was indeed a unique and warm individual and became a good friend after we both ended up in Brooklyn for a few years.
I had several “Close Encounters” with Sunna over his short life. My earliest recollection of him was when we lived fairly close to each other as young children. My family lived down 5th Lane and Sunna’s family lived on Charles Place (I think that was the name) which was a side street off 5th Lane. His sisters were at LC, so I knew who he was when he walked past our house to Royal Primary. Sadly, his older sister Gita died when she was about 10 years old of a sudden illness. My older sister was her classmate, and my sister remembers that it happened over a school vacation. No one at LC explained Gita’s death to her young classmates. I believe that nowadays children get counseling, as they should when such things happen.
(Part 2 will follow)
When I saw Sunna for the first time in the Anatomy Lab sitting alongside a cadaver, I knew who he was, and was awestruck by his generous use of “bloody and bugger” in his everyday speech. I found it rather intriguing! I became better acquainted with him when he and I were members of the infamous group that drove the usually unflappable Ernie Pieris to kick us out of the Pre-Clinical ward class! Some of the other members of this group were Swyrie, Laksman Jayasinge, Padmani Goonewardene, C. Maheswaran and V. Ganesan. I believe Ernie Peiris forgave us and took us back after we apologized.
ReplyDeleteAfter our internships were over, Sunna and I were both unemployed for a few months. The government did not give us our nest appoinments. Sunna kept himself busy by helping his father with the supervison of their estate. I was married by then and was living in a rented house in Kosgama, on the main road to Avissawella My husband was the MO Kosgama and I was playing ‘housewife!’ Sunna would drop in to say hello on hiis way to visit the family estate. It was always lovely to see him.
A few years later we were in Brooklyn, part of the migration abroad, and Sunna also happened to be doing his internship in one of the hospitals there. He frequently joined us for lunch along with a few other bachelor friends and I began to realize what a warm soul he was beneath his gruff dead pan exterior.
(Part 3 will follow)
Around the time I started my residency training in pathology at Norwalk Hospital, in Connecticut, Sunna moved to Pittsfield, Massachussettes to continue his residency training. He kept in touch, and once surprised me in the middle of the day with a phone call. He said he was in the hospital coffee shop dowstairs! Of course, I dropped everything and joined him for a cup of coffee. Those spontaneous visits were his signature. He didn’t fuss over anything. If you were busy, he would move on and stop by another time. But, I was never too busy to spend some time with Sunna when he dropped in. He just wanted to check if his friends were OK. And he really made an effort to stay in touch.
ReplyDeleteI also remember visiting him in his apartment in Pittsfield with my husband and young daughters. He introduced us to Buffy Saint Marie’s music. I had never heard of her then, but she is an indigenous Canadian-American singer songwriter (now 82 years old) who composes anti-war songs, one of them being “Universal Soldier.” She has won recognition for her social activism. It is interesting in retrospect to know that Sunna liked that type of music.
Sunna’s death in a traffic accident was shocking to all of us. I remember tossing and turning all night long after I got the news.
The memory of Sunna’s kind soul and caring friendship will remain with me for a very long time.
Hi Friends, I started writing on a separate document and as you can see I got a bit carried away! I had to copy and paste it in 3 parts because CAPTCHA kept telling me that the comment was too long! Anyway, I did it. Thanks to all who shared memories of Sunna. I thought it was important to share some of my memories of him which were from several years after we left medical college. He was a great guy!
ReplyDeleteIt was lovely to read your stories Srianee. I had no idea you knew him so well. You mentioned how you very cleverly - "(I managed to read it easily by, “Selecting All, Copying and Pasting” it onto a separate document on my computer- aren’t you impressed?)" yes, I am impressed! But I hope other less enterprising readers read my advice at the top of the blog pahe to -"If you click on the post, it will appear on a new tab showing it much more clearly." In fact this applies top any photo or image in a post. For example, in the previous post on JC, if you clicj on his pipe-smokig photo, the bloh page will show onl the photo. If there are more than one, the others are also shown as "postage stamp" small images at the bottom and you can move from one to the other. On the top Right hand corner, there is a small box with a cross on it and if you click on that , it reverts to the Blog page. Sunna's article is really an image and not text and is treated as such. If you are on an i-pad, you can enlarge the photo by using your finger to stretch the image on the screen.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned a Cardiologist who I thought was Sunna's brother. Does anybody know whether I got the relationship right?
Kumar, Srianee, Nihal, Bora, Lucky, Suri and many more- I appreciated your help in keeping the blog alive.
Mahen
ReplyDeleteThe cardiologist you are referring to is Dr Thenabadu's BIL,Sriantha De Silva,a Royalist,few years junior to us.Sunna had two brothers.Manik the editor of the Island newspaper.Sadly the other brother died tragically following a RTA, about ten years ago.Knocked down by a motorcyclist,whilst crossing the Havelock Road.
Thanks, Bora. I thouight Sriantha was Sunna's brother but I was mistaken. So sad to hear aboout the other brother who died ina RTA. By the way, time for another collection of humour from you!
ReplyDeleteBora, you are quite right; S R de Silva is a cardiologist and is not a relation of Sunna, although both of them shared the same name. He was few years junior to me in medical school. His father was Dr. B K de Silva ,who was a senior health administrator. Nihal Thenabadu is married to Sriantha's sister. Another sister is married to one Piyasena, an old Thomian with a withered arm who had an elder brother, Rienzie Piyasena, who specialised in Nuclear Medicine.
ReplyDeleteI was quite friendly with Sunna at RC and later in medical school. He also played billiards with me. At the interview to enter the Medical Faculty as a Lecturer, Sunna's father Walwin de Silva, who was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo, chaired the interview panel; on my way out, he inquired from me very softly ,"who plays more billiards, Sunil or you ?";that was because I had mentioned billiards as one of my extra-curricular activities. Although there were many applicants for the post, I was selected and embarked on a career in Paediatrics. This happens to be my 54th year of academic Paediatrics.
At RC, Sunna appeared to be very angry with his elder brother Manik. We used to wonder whether it was all a show, so as to mislead us.
Thanks for that clarification Sanath. The SR I was referring to came to Kandy as Cardiologist just at the time I was leaving my post as Neurologist there in 1979. I believe he stil works as a Cardiologist in Colombo, maybe in the Private sector. He was in the same batch as my brother Nihal who is now in New Zealand.
DeleteHave you won any noteworthy tournaments in Billiards (or Snooker)?
Mahendra, in medical school, in the final year, I was the Runner-up to Late Kiththa Wimalaratne, in the Billiards Final. In the earlier rounds I beat Tudor W and MDNK (Nihal ) Gunatilleke and few others. The very first year I participated in the annual billiards tournament at the Health Department Sports club, I won the Championship beating many senior players. After that I represented the HDSC in inter-club tournaments; other members of the team were Professor Halim Sheriffdeen, Dr. Narendra Wijemanne and one other.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1980s when I was at Ruhuna, most evenings I used to relax playing billiards at the Galle Services Sports Club, located within the Fort. My sparring partner was a senior GP named Daya Perera, who owned the Sri Lanka Private Hospital located within the Fort. The billiards marker used to work in the Technical College at Kaluwella during day time and the Medical Faculty was located in the premises of the old Mahamodera General Hospital. One evening, the marker gave me an aerogramme sent to me by Dr. Michael Mars from GOS, inquiring from me whether I would like to participate in a research project involving cleft lips and palates, to which I sent a positive reply. This important letter had been delivered to the wrong address and perhaps I got it because I played billiards! That led to the initiation of the Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and Palate project which continued for another 20 years or so. It has the largest data base for unoperated cleft lips and palates, anywhere in the world. There were several other benefits including my MBE. I happened to be the first and only Sri Lankan, domiciled in Sri Lanka to be awarded a Royal Honour after those were abolished by SWRDB, in the mid-1950s.
If you wish to know more about the Project, you could access it on the YouTube.
Mahendra, Nihal, Sriani and Kumar,
ReplyDeleteAs regular contributors belonging to a minority, I strongly feel that our Blogspot is loosing momentum fairly rapidly and may grind to a halt fairly soon. One of the reasons may be the use of diverse WhatsApp groups, which seems to be gathering momentum.
Sanath, sadly, I have to agree with you. It has not been easy to maintain interest and the curtaim may come down in this very worthwhile project started by Lucky. I will be shortly posting some artciles leading upto Remembramce day (30th of May). If any batch colleagues read this comment in response to Sanath's, please drop a comment.
ReplyDeleteHi Kumar , This is Suri. I read your article about Sunna with interest. You have captured the life of internship so vividly.
ReplyDeleteCan you please identify the girls in the photograph .. I can recognise Rohini A, Darmini Perera, Chithra Perera. Swarns Witharna and Rohini Senaratne. are the others Pera girls ?
Thank you Suri.
DeleteSeated on the extreme left is Ranjan Fernando anaesthetist. He was president of the college of Anesthesia at one stage .An old Thomian.
Next to him is Amitha Samarakoon ( Wijekoon now). She is in UK. She was from PERADENIYA as is the girl seated next to her; both of them were my co-HO s. Amitha in surgery and Vasanthi in obstetrics. Vasanthi may have been with us in Colombo for a while. Next to her is ? Maldeniya. She married Jupiter Moonamale. I cannot recall the name of the girl next to her.
A lot of the boys were from Pera too. One of them Percy Karunatileke’s son is the celebrated writer Shehan K who won the Booker Prize. Percy, who was an obstetrician in Wanganui NZ married a sister of Chanaka Wijesekera.
We did have a wonderful time in Galle
Kumar