LAREEF IDROOS IS SERIOUSLY ILL

LAREEF IDROOS IS SERIOUSLY ILL

A collection of appreciations and memories from colleagues

We have received news that our beloved batchmate, Lareef Idroos, is seriously ill. He is being well cared for in a Hospice.

I have had many messages of appreciation from batchmates, and I shall be publishing them in this post over the next few days.

Lareef is a charming and popular person, a thorough gentleman, who specialised in Nephrology after emigrating to the USA. He is an Old Thomian and, apart from being a skilled physician, he is well known as one of Sri Lanka’s most talented cricketers. He is one of a select band of cricketers who have represented two countries (Sri Lanka and the USA) in cricket at the highest level (another being our own Cyril Ernest). Such leaders in sports and academia are rare to find. He excelled in cricket as a leg spin and googly bowler. Lareef played for St. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia (as captain), SSC and the University of Ceylon and also represented the country with distinction before the country gained test status. His University side created history in Sara Trophy and university cricket, by becoming the first and the only champion side (1962/63). 

He was re-elected President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association of North America, West Coast in March 2012. He was first elected to the post in February 2010.

His generosity and support for his home country were demonstrated when Lareef and Nadarasa Vishveshwara, who are both members of our batch, paid a visit to the Colombo Medical Faculty Library a few years ago and donated books worth Rupees two million to the library. During his tenure as President, the SLMA of North America also assisted the Jaffna Medical Faculty and the Jaffna Surgical ICU.  The Cancer section in Kurunegala Hospital and the Paediatric section of the Cancer Hospital have also been beneficiaries.

He settled permanently in California with his wife, Nabila, and their three daughters, Shireen, Sabrina, and Samira. Lareef and Nabila were frequent attendees at our Batch Reunions.

Let us all pray for him and his family for comfort and courage.

There are numerous articles featuring Lareef on our blog. Simply type 'Lareef Idroos' in the search bar to access them.

Mahendra "Speedy" Gonsalkorale, Blog Admin.

Messages

Nihal (ND) Amarasekera

I am sorry Lareef is unwell. He’s such a nice guy. I last met him in 2012 at the Cinnamon Grand. He was with Cyril Ernest. We had a lovely chat. I hope he is comfortable and free of pain.

Rajan Ratnesar

I did visit him last weekend, he still looks the same with his mind alert. We talked about his illness and he has accepted the terminal nature of it. I don't think Larif and Nabila would mind if we mention that he is on Hospice. Sad to see a good friend and active person like Larif going through this

Suri Amerasekera

So very sad to hear of Lareef's illness. He was always with a smile and a sense of fun. I will certainly uphold Lareef in my prayers for relief from pain and peace of mind.Also, Nabeela, whom I got to know during our many batch reunions in Sri Lanka, for Comfort and Strength at this difficult time.

Srianee Dias

I was also very sad to get the news of Lareef’s illness. I have many fond memories of him, while in Medical College and later.  Like everyone else, I wish him freedom from pain and peace.  I sent him an email, which I hope Nabila or one of his daughters will read to him.   

“CG” is the Thomian Centenary Group.  Lareef always joined them whenever he was in Sri Lanka and supported their activities from afar.  I think they are all aware of his illness now.

Swyrie Balendra

I heard about Lareef a couple of days ago. My wish for him now is that he is pain free for the rest of the time. It’s indeed very sad news.

Jimmy Wickremasinghe

I was sorry to hear about Lareef. He is such a nice guy.

Susheila Thiagarajah

Sorry to hear about Lareef
Hope he is pain-free for the rest of his life
He was a friendly chap.

Rohini Ana

My thoughts and prayers will be with Lareef, Nabila and family. May Lareef stay comfortable and at peace until he meets his maker

Harsha Boralessa

I was very sad to hear of Lareef’s illness through my good friend Kumar Gunawardene.

He was a level-headed, sensible, disciplined, very religious and well-mannered individual.

Lareef, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Chirasiri Jayaweera Bandara

It was very sad to hear about Laleef Idroos illness. Let us hope and pray that he will be comfortable and free of pain. I wish him all the very best !

Josephine (Edwis) Francis

Sorry to hear that our batchmate Lareef is in hospice care. I wish him pain free for the rest of his time with his loved ones.

Sanath Lamabadusuriya

I would like to echo the words my batchmates have made regarding Lareef , which I fully endorse

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Nihal D Amerasekera

It must have been 1957/58 when I was told by an inveterate cricket fan, like me, that

A 16-year-old Thomian spinner has entered the immensely competitive cricket arena.

He was Mohammed Lareef Idroos who swept in like a whirlwind. He soon became

the talk of the town during the school cricket season. Lareef mesmerised batsmen

with his beautiful rhythmic action and superb leg spin bowling. He captivated

spectators with his magic delivery which was the googly. This he disguised with such

guile and cunning. His immaculate control and subtle variations of line and length

frustrated and undermined the best batsmen. Lareef’s bowling on the breezy wicket

at Mt Lavinia was lethal and the pitch became a graveyard for visiting teams. I recall

with such clarity Lareef's Googly whipping the bails off the unwary. He took a bagful

of wickets at every match making the Thomian team simply unbeatable. In school

cricket, Lareef was ‘feared’ and respected in equal measure. His photo and his

bowling skills graced the sports pages of the daily newspapers all through the cricket

season. He was the outstanding schoolboy spin bowler of his era. Lareef revived the

art of leg spin bowling and earned his place in the pantheon of the great spin bowlers

in school cricket.

Lareef captained an invincible Thomian team in 1960. He entered the Faculty of

Medicine in Colombo in 1962 for a career in Medicine. Lareef toured with the Ceylon

Team to India in 1964/65. Lareef played for the strong University of Ceylon team that

won the coveted Sara Trophy in 1962/63.

I consider myself immensely fortunate to have had Lareef in my years at the Faculty

of Medicine. Despite the hard grind of 5 years in med school, Lareef made time for

the game he loved. Cricket was in his blood. At the faculty, he was reserved but also

courteous and polite. He remained a good friend to many. Despite his high profile,

Lareef was modest and unpretentious.

After the great dispersal from the Faculty in 1967 Lareef emigrated to the USA in the 1970’s. I never met him again until 2012. I was seated in the lobby at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo with Senthil Sinniah who was the Wesley Cricket captain 1959/60.

It was such a pleasant surprise to see Lareef walk in with Cyril Ernest. I was so happy to see them both. We walked down memory lane, speaking of those glorious years of school cricket of the late 1950’s. Lareef, Cyril and I caught up on the lost years since leaving the Faculty. After all those years, Lareef Idroos remains a gentleman, a true sportsman and an amiable friend as I have always known him.

Lareef is on a journey we must all take in the fullness of time. May Lareef be

comfortable and free of pain.

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An email to Lareef from Kumar Gunawardane on the 20th of August 2025

My Dear Lareef,

It was wonderful talking with you the other day. The chat triggered our shared memories of the school by the sea, the Colombo medical school, and thereafter, engulfing me in a warm glow of nostalgia.

Kanthi and I remember you in our daily prayers in the mornings and at the going down of the sun, when we light lamps to our Lord Buddha and divine beings, as well as to Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, and St. Anthony of Padua. We also invoke your Lord, Allah, to protect, heal, and bless you and your family.

I think you arrived at the school by the sea in January 1951. You joined Lower 3B The form mistress was Mrs Welikala, a very pleasant motherly lady. She was very kind to all of us even the few recalcitrant ones. I recall seeing her being dropped off at school by her husband in a Morris Minor, with the daughters in the rear seat. She took most of our classes, but also there were noteworthy characters like Mr De Alwis a.k.a Poltokka our Sinhala teacher,; aptly named for his knocks on the head on errant boys. You and I likely missed out. Our class was in a long single-storey building away from the main school ; it housed the boarders’ dining room and kitchen, and also the ‘ Book Cupboard’, an apt name as it was a single small room. There was a long corridor on which we occasionally played cricket with a hard ball. A painful incident was my unprotected right knee being hit by a ball which escaped the bat .The next day it was swollen to the size of a small football. My mother applied red sandalwood paste on it and the swelling subsided after a few days. She was well-versed in our ancient systems of medicine, being a seventh-generation descendant of a reputed medical clan; it was she who steered me towards medicine. My ambition was to become an archaeologist or writer.

The redeeming feature, however, was the adjoining small botanical garden to which we non-Christians escaped during the chapel interval. The swimming pool too was next door; compulsory swimming classes for us day scholars were held once a week, which were very enjoyable, but regrettably my swimming skills are minimal. How about you? For many years, Thomians were the undisputed school swimming champions. 

The following year, were you in Upper 3 C ? Our class was in a small two storey block jutting out of a single storey building. It was as you would recall on the land side of the Big Club and there was also a tennis court nearby. Next to the two storey block were the fives courtswhich have been demolished to pave way for another structure. It’s a shame as it was donated by Dr R.L.Hayman who was one our greatest benefactors. We would sit on the railings of the fives courts and watch our cricketing heroes including you playing on the centre wicket. There was a huge banyan tree too beside which a Japanese plane had crashed during World  War 2. Beyond that was the Winchester house and the tuck shop which doubled as a sports pavilion.

The new sports pavilion named after Mr DS Senanayake was opened by his son, Dudley Senanayake. You would have been there too. Dudley made a very witty speech. The warden had said that Independence was won by DS. Dudley, in reply, said it’s not often that one gets a chance to put right one’s Warden. It was not my father who won independence for us in 1948; it was won in 1956 by SWRD. The whole Big Club, where the ceremony was held, erupted into laughter. What extraordinary people the Senayakes were!

The form master  of U3 C was Mr Muttiah, whose special form of punishment was lashing on our soft  calves with two wooden foot rulers placed one on top of each other. He was also the scout master ; we looked forward to their  annual concert , a leading performer being ‘Lokadaya’ Samarasinghe. As “Sam the Man “ he led his group at the Akase Kade which served hoppers and egg hoppers in the top floor of the Ceylinco Building. It was Ceylon’s first skyscraper and also boasted the first escalator.

You would have played in the Under-12 and Under-14 cricket teams. The master in charge of the former was, I think a Mr Manickam and the latter probably  Mr LAH Arndt , who taught us English in U 4 C. He belonged to a famous Thomian clan as did Mr D.N Pereira our form master in L4B ; he was better known as “Bulto” which he chewed after lunch in lieu of a cigarette. DNP was also renowned for his smart western attire and his beautifully polished shoes.

Your cricket would have come of age, like for many of us, under Lassie Abeywardane in the Small Club. In our time, it was more gravel than grass. Now it’s a smaller version of the ‘Big Club’ and boasts a well-equipped indoor games facility. The grounds, too, are well-maintained and well-grassed.

From Upper Four onwards, we were always in the C form. In 5 C you shared a desk with Bora and Gamini Marapana. The form master was Orville Abeynayake and the Latin teacher was Mr C.H.Davidson. In U4C Latin was taken by Cannon R.S.DE Saram. There was a wave of silence as he walked to our classroom. 

They all liked you, because you were a model student, apart from being a top-notch schoolboy cricketer. You were a good singer, too. At Warden de Saram’s farewell concert, you sang ‘Oh Island in the Sun’, the Harry Belafonte calypso. I was seated behind the Cannon in the auditorium and I saw him clapping energetically.

We were in Upper 6 C  in 1957 your initial year in the first eleven cricket team. How proud we were of you. When you left the class at 10 am after the second period on Friday morning for the match, our applause followed you till you disappeared from sight. That was a golden season for you with 49 wickets before the Royal-Thomasian, and we were so disappointed for you when you didn’t achieve the magic half-century.  But you had very good seasons in the subsequent years. Ponni related to me this intriguing yarn. At a Royal Thomian, you had four wickets when he dropped a sitter off you. There was a loud scream  from the commentary box by F.C.DE Saram. “ You T….. Bastard” He had taken a bet that you would take five wickets in that match which you subsequently did. He was a superb coach, although he used barracks-room language when annoyed. But he was generous with his praise, too.

It was such a pleasure for me to join first eleven practice from 1959 onwards. You Dennis Ferdinands, Nihal Gurusinghe, Errol Lisk, URPG, Annesley de Silva, Michael Sproule and others were so friendly and helpful. One evening Ronnie Reid joined us for a bat at practice. I was asked to pad up with him. That was the best batting of my short cricket career. I hit every bowler, including you, for boundaries all round the wicket. I was truly inspired by him.

Dennis F, who opened the bowling for Wood House, was the fastest bowler I kept to. Nihal G was very quick too, but he didn’t bowl much in the first eleven matches. There was a surfeit of talent then. I remember late URP G , a man with a unique sense of humour. We met him again at your house in Glendale. Once at a University preseason match, I held a catch diving to my left. A team member remarked, “ Gompa, you should have taken that catch. You were at leg-slip. G retorted smilingly, I moved away to applaud Kumar.”

I also remember the first match of the 1960 season against St Benedict’s at Kotahena. Cyril Ernest  was  caught by me behind the stumps in both  innings .FC praised me for my good keeping.. That night, you entertained the whole team at your parents’ spacious home. I remember your father was all smiles too. The next match against St Peter’s was on a dust bowl, and you , Thomma (BWRT) and Keith Labrooy were spinning the ball almost square. I missed a couple of chances, and that was the end of my first eleven career, although I had four scalps.

This email has now exceeded its limits. I will write the rest next time. With your permission, I will send it to our Colombo Medgrads 62 Blog to make them aware of your tremendous cricketing and medical achievements.

With kindest regards to you, Nabila and family.

Kumar