FAMILY NEWS FEATURE: Contribution No 1: FROM SANATH LAMABADUSURIYA
Sanath Lamabadusuriya very kindly responded to my request to batch colleagues to send me news of family members' achievements. Sanath is justifiably proud of his son Harshan. This is his email to me.
Please send me any family news you would like to share.
Dear
Mahendra and Nihal,
Thank you
very much for the invitation to contribute to our blogspot
Our second son, Harshan Indrajith Lamabadusuriya is currently a Consultant Paediatrician in Swindon. He is an Oxbridge graduate, domiciled in the UK. He is married to Michelle Gunasekere, a Consultant in Nephrology, and has one son, Inesh.
This year he won the UK Open Scrabble Championship, which is more prestigious. because there were participants from all over the world, unlike the earlier tournament which was confined to British citizens.In 2017 he held the world record for the highest number of points for a single word, namely Kreuzers which scored 329 points.
In 2017 he
was the runner-up in the World Scrabble Championship.
In the mid
1990s he won the Countdown tournament on Channel 4 of British TV.
He was
featured in the London Times recently, the links of which I sent both of you
via WhatsApp.
Kind regards,
Sanath
Please send me your own family additions and I shall add to this post so that we can appreciate your good news togther.
ReplyDeleteLama
ReplyDeleteCongratulations !
Harshan's achievements are great, well done.
Like father like son, following your footsteps to be a Consultant Paediatrician, you must be proud of him.
Chira
Hi Lama
ReplyDeleteYou must be justifiably proud of Harshan's achievements. My congratulations to both of you. Not only has Harshan achieved a respected Consultant Paediatrician post (no doubt inspired by you), he has reached such spectacular heights in Scrabble!
I sometimes play Scrabble with my family, and proud of myself if I score anything over 50 for a single word!
Harshan's score of 329 is simply astounding! By the way what on earth does "Kreuzers" mean??
Great that Harshan beat the Brits in their own language.. they have such a superior attitude over us Asians.
I remember being asked " How long have you been in the UK to learn to speak like that ? Do you think in English? Do you dream in English ??
I used to love to correct their grammar just to prove a point.
I remember astounding my Consultant when I identified the tune he was whistling in the OT as the Trumpet Voluntery! He asked me how on earth do you know that . I informed him that it brings back precious memories of my School where the National, School and Girl Guide flags were taken up to the Alter for dedication on College Sunday annually to the glorious sound of this music .
Wishing Harshan even more spectacular successes in the future.
Suri
Sanath, thank you for sharing the details of Harshan's amazing achievements! Hearty congratulations to him and also to you for your "genetic" contribution! I'm sure you are very proud of him.
ReplyDeleteI was amused at Suri's observations about the condescending attitude of the Brits! Occasionally, I run into situations like that too. We'll show them!!!
BTW Suri. Kreuzer was the name of a coin in Southern Germany which preceded the German mark. In German the word means cruiser.
I love playing scrabble too, but not at a competitive level. When I play with serious players I am amazed at the words that are allowed in Scrabble. For example, "Za" is a word that is allowed and it is an abbreviation for pizza. After several frustrating encounters I finally invested in a scrabble dictionary. There are some very strange words that are allowed. I think we should plan some "Forever 62" Scrabble games when I get settled back in Colombo. What do you think?
Congratulations Sanath. I am so happy for you. These are things that keep us happy and smiling these days.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Mahendra for posting a short biography of Harshan. Thank you Chirasri, Suriyakanthi and Srianee for your sincere comments. Harshan's journey in life has been rather unusual.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at Ruhuna, our two sons attended Richmond College, Galle. When I moved to Colombo to occupy the Chair in 1991, our elder son Shamin entered Ananda College and Harshan entered STC Mt Lavinia. As there was an excellent library at STC, Harshan got addicted to reading English books. When he was 12 years old he was reading books such as Mostly Murder by Sydney Smith and Simon Templar authoured Saint books etc. Later he moved to Royal College at my insistence. He still thinks that STC was the better school! His reading habits was at the expense of the school text books. Buddhika and I thought that he would not enter a University and we thought of purchasing a coconut estate for him to live off the land. We visited the coconut triangle every Sunday and eventually purchased one in Kosagama, Weerapokuna. However, Harshan has not visited the estate as yet! At RC , he was introduced to scrabble by Missaka Warusavitharana (son of an anaesthetist).He won some tournaments and represented SL in scrabble.
In 1996 I came to Worthing, Sussex on two years sabbatical leave with my family. The two boys were admitted to Steyning Grammar School.
There was a dramatic change in Harshan's school work. At STC and RC he disliked the way he was taught but at Steyning there was a dramatic change for the better. He obtained five As at the London A level examination and entered Cambridge University for the pre-clinical years and crossed over to Oxford University for the clinical years.
He continued to participate in scrabble tournaments, winning most of these, including being the Champion of Countdown, which was a very popular TV programme on Channel 4. At the Worthing Hospital I was better known as the father of Harshan, although I was a Locum Consultant ! Later he specialised in paediatrics and is currently a consultant in Swindon.
I never enjoyed playing scrabble with him because of the use of very unusual words by him, which are not in common usage but found in the scrabble dictionary!
Srianee, you are quite correct, Kreuzer is an old German coin.
Harshan's education journey is interesting! It shows how important teachers are. In Sri Lanka they tend to be too didactic. It is great to have a passion for something as he does for scrabble.
DeleteFull disclosure: I looked up Kreuzer! 🤣. I knew it was a German word, but didn't know how it qualified as a legitimate word in scrabble.
Hi Lama,
ReplyDeleteI read your account of Harshan's educational journey with great interest. Which years was he at Richmond and STC.?
Mahendra's uncle E R De Silva was the Principal of Richmond for a long time and my mother and father both were on the staff at STC as was my Brother in law Duleep de Chickera was the Chaplain ( cum Rugger Coach) and later the Sub Warden of STC. Perhaps Harshan may know them.
I was interested to learn that he liked Sydney Sheldon's , and Leslie Charteris books. lnterestingly one of the he Simon Templar books is dedicated to Rev Boyer Yin who was the the brother of Leslie Charteris , and who was Chaplain and Choir Master at STC for a very long time . The dedication reads "to my brother who is a priest, who never should have been one !"
Congratulations once again on his stupendous achievement
Hi Suri
DeleteReverend Yin also taught the College Form (equivalent of A level) Pure and Applied Maths. Not surprising his name being Yin, the boys nicknamed him “Cheena”. It was well-known that his step brother was Lesley Charteris, the author of Saint.
Above comment is by Suri
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteLama, Thanks for sharing Harshan’s educational journey . He has done great in his own time and in his own way - Congratulations to Harshan and my Very Best Wishes for future achievements.
Hello Sanath
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the achievements of Harshan and his journey into the professional world that his father shone as a bright star in the firmament of paediatrics. We are proud of his many successes in the immensely competitive world of Scrabble. I send him my very best wishes for the future.
Very pleased with the responses on Harshan's achievements. Please send any such information you like to share about your family with your batchmates
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Chirasri, Suriyakanthi, Srianee, Indra and Rohini for your complimentary messages. Harshan was at Richmond College from about 1983 to 1991. The Principal was Mr. Suriyarachchi. When I moved to Colombo in 1991, elder son Shamin gained entry to Ananda College based on the results of the Grade V Scholarship exam and Harshan was admitted to STC Mt. Lavinia. When Mr. Suriyarachchi came to RC as the Principal. he wanted me to come and meet him with the two boys. He asked Shamin whether he wished to move to RC, which he flatly refused; when Harshan was asked the same question, he replied that he would like to go home and think about the offer! Then both of them were asked why they came to his office. They said "my father asked us to come"!!.
ReplyDeleteLater Shamin told me that as he was representing AC in Badminton and Chess, he did not wish to cross over and play against his friends.(Later he captained the chess team of the University of Colombo and became a member of the Amalgamated Club.)
I coaxed Harshan to cross over to RC, but as mentioned earlier, he still thinks STC was the better school! When I came to Worthing on sabbatical leave for two years in late March 1996, the two boys were admitted to Steyning Grammar School.
Two years ago our eldest grandson, Tharusha Wickramarachchi was admitted to STC, although his father Dr Upul is also an old Royalist. Both of us thought that STC is the better school at present because of better discipline and lesser number of students.
Hi Sanath
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to hear about your son’s achievements. Congratulations to both father and son.
You must be a proud father; Harshan has fulfilled all that a parent can expect from a child.
I’m glad that you have experienced fulfilment, happiness and satisfaction through your children. You deserve it. Afterall, it’s all about the genes.
Very impressed with the response from our batch mates. That is the spirit - let’s keep it up and keep the blog buoyant.
Thank you Bora for your very sincere sentiments. Very recently Harshan had won the Easter Matchplay 4 of 4 tournaments, so far this year.
ReplyDeleteNo worries sanath, even 10 out of 10 will come your way, I saw channel 4 programme where Harshan took part knew he had to be sri Lankan but didn't realise that he was your son. Nithya
ReplyDelete