‘I’m happy when I can make others happy’

Well-known and popular personality of Kandy, Dr. Nihal Karunaratne recalls anecdotes of a colourful life to Udumbara Udugama

Deshabandu Dr. Nihal Karunaratne can tell you from A-Z the colourful history of Kandy, though he says modestly "I am no historian”.

More than all his numerous qualifications (BA: MA CANTAB:M.B.B.CHIR, Cambridge, M.C.G.P., Fellow of the Kandy Society of Medicine, M.Sc. Honouris Causa - Peradeniya), he has worked for the nation for the preservation of nature and the environment.

Reluctant to speak of his life and work spanning over half a century, he tells us that he has already written his Autobiography 'A Doctor Remembers'. "My grandfather came to Kandy from Colombo in 1878 and started his medical practice," he says. At that time there were no MBBS doctors, only licentiates of Medicine. There had been only two doctors in the Kandy hospital and his grandfather practising in Kandy.

It was in 1539 during the Portuguese period, that Dr. Karunaratne's ancestors had come from Dambulla and resided in Nagoda a village close to Ragama.

'People's Dispensary'

Dr. Karunaratne's father took over the family practice in 1913 from a Dr. Kreltzsheim. The dispensary was known as the 'People's Dispensary' on Trincomalee Street (now D.S. Senanayake Vidiya) and remains popular among the citizens of Kandy todate.

"My father George Wilfred Karunaratne returned to Ceylon after graduating from Cambridge and was in the Government service for a short period. In the latter part of 1918 he joined a general practice for a salary of Rs. 500 - which at that time was considered a princely sum."

His father's practice grew and in the mid-1920s he had patients mainly from Akurana, Galhinne and Muruthalawa. Most were Muslims. There were also many Kandyan families who were his patients. He made house visits to see his patients and they became very good friends.

"I was born at home on June 9, 1928. My parents were hoping for a daughter and they would have been disappointed when their third child was also a boy!"

He had a very happy childhood. The family lived in Trincomalee Street until 1932 and he relates many a prank played with his brothers. During the annual Esala Perahera, the pavement near their house was full of people seated for hours waiting in anticipation to view the grand procession. The perahera would stop near their house and the mahout would come upto the door step and ask for coconuts for his elephants. "My brother and I would drag a gunny bag full of coconuts to feed them.” Each time the elephants stopped near their house, they would give them enough coconuts to feed about 6-7 elephants. “When the cook realized this, he would complain to my mother who would berate us saying she was expecting about 20 guests to dinner that night and how will the cook manage! We were punished. Sent to our room. No Perahera and not allowed to meet our friends that night. We were in the sin bin!"

"On another occasion the people were seated waiting for the Day Perahera. It was a very hot day and they were getting baked in the sun. We had a bright idea, or so we thought. We wanted to be helpful and cool the people by creating rain. So, we fixed a long tube to a tap and the other end was sent down over the balcony. We opened the tap and immediately ran down to see the fun ! The people came fuming into my father's surgery and complained. We were punished again."

"We were admitted to Trinity College, Kandy in 1934 and went in our father's car but returned in two rickshaws. My rickshaw driver was Kalu Banda and my brother's driver Tiney. By then we had shifted to Victoria Drive, round the lake. After school we would come down Hill Street and when we got on to Trincomalee Street the race would begin. Urging our respective rickshaw drivers to run faster we would pass the Boat House, the present Mahanayake Thera's official residence and from there it was a race neck-to-neck with the two of us screaming our heads off, urging the rickshaw men to run faster. The winner was given fifty cents taken from mother's dressing table drawer!"

He wanted to go to Royal College as his father and two generations before him had all studied at Royal. So he sat the entrance examination and came second. He was admitted to Royal in 1940 and spent over two years in the College boarding. At Royal too, he was his naughty self!

"The late Bunty Zoysa (who became a famous criminal lawyer and Queen's Counsel) after a Royal - St. Joseph's cricket match asked us whether we like to have a buriyani feed. Eight of us went to the Buhari Hotel in Maradana and ordered mutton buriyani, chicken curry, special roasted and devilled chicken. For dessert we ordered watalappan, ice cream and sherbet. We had our fill and before the bill was brought Bunty whispered that he would count upto three and all of us would run as fast as we can and get into the halted bus on the opposite side of the road. We did just that and the bus took off the second we got in. The waiters came running after us shouting 'horu navathwanna' (stop those thieves). But by the time they reached the door we were safely on our way to the hostel!" he related.

When Royal College was closed in 1942 during the war, his father sent him to Dharmaraja College, Kandy as he feared there would be a Japanese invasion. "I was yearning to go back to Royal. In the third term, my father took me to Colombo and left me with my grandfather and I went to Royal once again."

His grandfather's house 'Clare' was next to Ladies' College and this brings to mind another incident. The school's stage and changing room could be seen from their house. Through the grills they could see the girls changing their costumes! "We not only watched them, we made rude remarks at them. Once during a concert the girls happened to be at the window. My cousin Tissa and I with two water pistols each, sprayed them on their faces. Imagine what happened to their make-up ? The principal, Miss Opie sent their college peon to inform my grandfather that there were two hooligans in the house."

It was not all play and no work. Dr. Karunaratne the scholar and sportsman excelled in both. After a successful school career, he entered Cambridge University to study medicine.

He went to England by ship. The passage cost only 35 pounds. "My brother met me at Southampton and took me to Colonial Centre.” After four days he went to Twickenham where he had to share a room with another. A Nigerian walked in and introduced himself as Kenyata. He was about 40-42 years of age and 6' 4".

“He asked me "Are you hungry?" "Yes Sir." "Do you know to eat in a cafeteria ?" "No Sir." "Then come with me and do exactly as I do." "Okay, I will."

"He took a tray. I took a tray and filled the tray with whatever he took. I watched him carefully and how much he paid. When the cashier was getting ready to bill me I had already placed the money on the counter. The cashier was surprised and asked "How did you know the amount? I didn't give away the secret!"

They walked upto a table where there were some others. "Jomo Kenyata introduced me to them - this is Nihal from Ceylon a medical student going to Cambridge. Among them were Julius Nyerere (later first Prime Minister of Tanzania) and Ali Bhutto from Oxford (who became Prime Minister of Pakistan). They were all discussing politics! I was the least interested."

Later in the evening Kenyata and he went for a walk and he was given some sound advice. “He said ‘Remember you are an ambassador of your country. Whatever you do reflects on your country. Do your country proud.’ I never forgot these words," Dr. Karunaratne recalls.

At Cambridge, they had fun playing pranks on each other. "We had the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race. Every student took part in games.” He played rugger and took part in athletics. "At one rugger match, Christ’s College vs. Clare, I heard someone shouting 'Ado! umbata mathakada mata dunna wadde nuwaradi ?' (Do you remember the agony you gave me in Kandy)? It was Michael Kagua. My memory flashed back and I remembered the 2nd leg of the Royal-Trinity Rugger match in 1944. Kaguwa was the star player for Trinity. I had to 'mark' him. Though he was an Ugandan he knew Sinhala as he had studied in Trinity. We had a beer after the match and became good friends. Michael, a Ugandan prince became Chief Justice of Uganda. Sadly, he and his wife were gunned down by Idi Amin's men in their home town in Nigeria."

He related another interesting anecdote about a Rolls Royce which he and his friend Mike bought for ten pounds! They could not believe it. On inquiring about the 'mistake' he was told the husband of the lady who sold it had died leaving a last will. In that he had mentioned "the Rolls Royce should be sold and the proceeds of the sale given to his mistress!"

Cambridge days came to an end when Dr. Karunaratne passed his final examination. "At the viva one question asked was when I qualify would I practise in England or go home? My reply was ‘I came from Ceylon and studied under the finest teachers in the finest University in the world. I wish to do my internship and work in a few hospitals to gain more knowledge and experience and then I wish to go back to my country.’ I wasn't sure whether I had said the correct thing and was wondering whether I would pass the exam. By afternoon the results were posted on the notice board and I had passed the examination."

In Sri Lanka, he joined the Government service and worked at the General Hospital Kandy but lasted only for a short time due to a misunderstanding with the Ministry of Health. "As I had not given notice of leaving , I paid back one month's salary which was Rs.1690."

"The next day I asked my father whether I could practise with him to which he agreed. I would go every day to the People's Dispensary. But there were no patients for two weeks! Then a gentleman quietly opened my door and wished me Good Morning. I was so happy that I went up to him and made him sit and started to take down information about him. I examined him and wrote down everything I observed but could not find anything wrong. When he asked me what my conclusion about him was I said you are in good health and I did not charge him a fee. I saw him out of my room but instead of going away he went into my father's room. I was worried as I thought the patient was not satisfied with my diagnosis.

“Later when I met father he said ‘My friend Rahman came to see you and he said you were polite and had examined him from head to toe’. When my father had asked why he had gone to see him, he had stated "I just went to see Loku Mahattaya's son because I had not seen him before!" It was a courtesy call !Dr. Karunaratne had a very good practice for over 45 years and still does, at a new location to which he shifted this year.

Apart from his interest in medicine, he has also contributed immensely towards the fields of environment, social and religious work. He helps people rich and poor in need of advice and financial help, though he does not like to talk about his good deeds. His staff relate that he does not take a fee from the poor village folk who come for medical treatment.

Many of his pet projects centre round the Kandy General Hospital. He was the first in the island to start a fund to collect money for the purchase of a C.T. scanner. They collected Rs 12 million. The Blood Bank was shifted to the Frazer ward and re-done at a cost of Rs.70,000. The present waiting hall for patients and many more projects- too numerous to be mentioned here are other projects. "Donations were received from the Government as well as the general public for the hospital work," says Dr. Karunaratne.

He was a Founder member of Lions Club of Kandy in 1964 and Life Member, has won several international awards and says for 40 years his attendance was 100%. He was founder and President of the Nivahana Society for Rehabilitating Mentally ill patients. As a member of the Peradeniya University Council from 1980 - 1990, he was responsible for microfilming all books in the Library.

President J.R. Jayewardene commissioned him to write the history of the Udawattakele Forest, the only forest situated in a city. The forest reserve of 252 acres was fenced with the help of schoolchildren working Saturday mornings. The project took one and a half years. He even got some prisoners from Bogambara to help in this work. He has written numerous articles on environmental issues and delivered many lectures. He is a founder member of the Wildlife Trust of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Karunaratne has also collected funds and built Buddhist meditation centres, among them the centre at Bowalawatte - Ambakote (Digana) where foreign visitors come for three month courses.

When Queen Elizabeth visited Sri Lanka to open the Victoria Dam, she had brought with her two paintings and asked President. J.R. Jayewardene if he could identify them. Promptly he had said the only person who will be able to identify them is Dr. Nihal Karunaratne. "He telephoned me and and requested me to come immediately to Colombo. He sent a car to fetch me." Dr. Karunaratne identified the paintings as two scenes round the Kandy Lake. "One was really the Kandy Nursing Home on Malabar Street."

Dr. Karunaratne has written several very valuable books. His first book was Udawattakelle- The Forbidden Forest of the Kings of Kandy. The other books written by him are, From Governor's Pavilion to President's Pavilion, Forest Conservation in Sri Lanka from British Colonial Times, Legislative Enactments of Forests from 1812 to 1992 and Kandy- Past and Present.

One last question I asked was why he always wore white. "It is a sign of purity," was the answer. He said that he was influenced by the then Principal of Dharmaraja College, Mr. Mettananda who always wore white. Mentioning the Principal he smiled and related an incident at school. "One day two others and I scooted off from class and were walking down the road when we met Mr. Mettananda. He came up to us and said ‘good morning boys, have a nice day!’ We went red in our faces and walked back to class very sheepishly."

Dr. Karunaratne is a happy man and says, "I have always wanted happiness by making others happy." In appreciation of his work to this country and more so to Kandy, the Hantana Road in Kandy has been re-named Dr. Nihal Karunaratne Mawatha.