I will start off this appreciation of Loku Thaththa, Neville Siriwardena, with an admission of guilt: it has taken me exactly one year to write a few words celebrating his life. He passed away on February 28, 2008, after a brief illness.
He was the eldest in a family of many brothers and sisters – Olive, Enid, Earl and Vernon (my father). They were the offspring of a distinguished couple living in Wackwella, Galle – G. R. Siriwardene and Florence Agnes Siriwardene. G. R. Siriwardene was a teacher at Richmond College, Galle and later at Kingswood College, Kandy.
Loku Thaththa was educated at Kingswood College, Kandy. He was a much loved science teacher at St. Aloysius College, Galle, and later at Piyatissa Maha Vidyalaya, Galle. He enjoyed teaching at the latter school, especially teaching and helping the less affluent. He was also a former librarian of the Galle Fort Library.
What I remember most about Loku Thaththa was his own library of books and records, in his house in Kaluwella.
As a child, when I would fall sick, I would be taken to their house, and Loku Thaththa and his wife Loku Amma (the late Mrs. Clara Abeysekara Siriwardene) would take good care of me. I remember the Hindi records he would play on his gramophone. He was also a very good painter.
Loku Thaththa was a familiar sight on his “ladies” bike. He always had a smile on his face, and even when he talked on the most serious of topics, there would be a touch of his humour.
His love for music remained with him to the very end. I was told that while he was lying in hospital, in the last stages of his final illness, his fingers were tapping out a rhythm that he must have been hearing subconsciously.
He would take his violin with him where-ever he went. One Christmas (in 2003), we took him to our home in Kitulampitiya. My parents and I enjoyed ourselves as he played our favourite carols and Sinhala and Hindi tunes, and we had a singsong. I can see him standing, placing the violin between his chin and neck, and playing away.
The last time I met him, I took along a photograph of him with my son. He was delighted.
I did not expect him to go so soon. I admired his youthfulness, even at the age of 89.
Loku Thaththa helped me with my first letters, “The Akuru”.My parents tell how happy he was when I recited the whole alphabet after he got me going with the “A”. Later, when I was pursuing my studies, I kept reminding myself of that first push Loku Thaththa gave me.Thank you. I am ever grateful to you.
My father was very fond of his Aiya, and I think the passion we all have for music, especially those old Hindi numbers, was inherited from Loku Thaththa.
He was a very knowledgeable man. When I think of him, I think of Oliver Goldsmith’s lines:
“And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew.”
Nisha Siriwardene Peiris
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