By Appu Sumathipala
Kumar, I have
done my best to document the names of the inmates, during my stay in good old
Bloem. I have no idea how we got the name Bloemfontein. Was there some donor from
South Africa, native to the Capital of Orange Free state (name Free State
subsequently)?
It is with
great regret that I have to tell you that I was not aware of either Bora or you
during my stay at Bloem. I entered Bloem in my third year and had to undergo a
minimal rag, which lasted less than a week. We had a mixture of students from
the first year to the final year. As far as I remember, all were Medical
students.
Our Warden was
Prof Ranaya, and the Sub Warden was Dr Fernando who was Demonstrator in
Physiology. After his departure,Dr.Kularatne,one of Ranaya’s Registrars, took
his place.
I was the “BUTH
MASTER” for two consecutive months and had the key to the telephone lock.I made
sure that no one got away without paying for the calls.
I have a good
memory of a vast number of the residents,upto now. They were,Marcus Fonseka,
Jayasekera brothers,Makuloluwa brothers, P Kandiah,ChrstiKarunakaran,Edwin
Kirubaratnam,S L Manawadu(known as SAL Manawadu),Nadanachandran(Neuro-Surgeon
in Australia), Milroy Nanayakkara(Married Actress PunyaHeendeniya),P N
Neelaranjitharaj,L W Ratnam,Sabanayagam,A E Singaratnam,Sivarajasingham,Milton
Solonga,DenilWickramasuriya(President of the Hostel). They were from the 1960
batch.I might have missed a few.
The 1961 batch
included D S C Arulanandan,A H de Silva(Ex-Thomian),Ganeshamoorthy,V
Srikantha,N Satchithanandan,Yogaraj,Vivekananthan (better known as DOC VIVE), Sam Zoysa, RB Lena.
Some names have evaporated from my memory.
The1962 batch
was unique with multiple Professors and Consultants,all over the world. It included
Con Bala,Bora,Cyril Ernest,Kumar,N S Jayawicrama, K Srikanthaand me(AHTS).
1963 Batch
included P A de Silva, MHR Deen,P S Jayaratna,MNDP Jayathilake(secretary),Asoka
Thenabadu,Thiagaraj(MNDP’s rowing partner) Eardley Weelathgamuwa. Some names
have evaporated from my brain.
1964Batch.CJAmarasuriya,Arulanandan,Jayasiri
Fernando and his roommate another Fernando,Sockkanathan and my
roommate,Lafeer?.Few more namesonce again evaporated from my brain.
We also had
Walter Jayasinghe from 1958 batch, famous N Rasalingam who served in NZ until
his demise. I remember one Valikantha,who passed away,in his prime of life from
cirrhosis.
The behaviour
of our Srikantha and the big lad Sivarasingham were atrocious under the
influence of ethanol, especially after their late nights.Dinner plates were
often smashed, and the sub Warden was blind to their mischievous behaviour—both
escaped expulsion. When sober,Sivarajasingham was a gentle giant.
These are just
a few of my memories from my Bloem days.
