Appreciations
View(s):Anula Gopallawa Kapuwatta
She personified the noble Kandyan tradition
An aristocratic Kandyan lady Amila Kapuwatte was one of the few deeply engrossed in the Kandyan social ethos. She was a charismatic leader in a society now prioritised by money and power.
The trail of memories she left are still green and will be forever etched in our memory, reminding us of the gentle soft-spoken Aunty fondly called ‘Anula Nendamma’ by my wife Doodie and all those near and dear to her.
The late Anula Kumarihamy sacrificed all worldly comforts to live in a simple manner and did not seek personal aggrandisement even though she was a scion of Kandyan aristocracy with blue blood in her veins. She lived a simple life without treading on anyone’s toes. I have met many multifaceted ladies in the various strata of society but have yet to meet a lady of her calibre who valued tradition and spawned rich rituals.
She was equally admired for her aristocratic features and regal bearing at all family and social events. Anula Kumarihamy was the light that once illuminated Kapuwatta Walawwa, Kotuwegedara and is now sadly extinguished. Though we mourn her loss with profound sorrow through our religious conviction we are conscious that all things must pass.
Anula Kumarihamy was born at Ranawana Walawwa in Kurunegala and was the product of two renowned families; her father being the late Wijeratne Banda Gopallawa, then a rural court judge, and her mother Leelawathie Ranawana Kumarihamy. They were well to do families of noble lineage in the North-Western Province, held in high social esteem but they lived a normal down-to-earth life on a low key, and their generosity towards the needy exceeded all boundaries as they were never stingy or tight fisted when it came to helping others.
Anula Kumarihamy had many siblings and her formal education was at Holy Family Convent, Kurunegala, where she excelled in sports and developed a marked patrician accent in English. She was an inspirational person. In that era, women from illustrious families engaged in any outgoing vocations paid tight obeisance to elders and were nurtured in Buddhist values to lead a traditional way of life. She was given in early wedlock to Robert Bandara Kapuwatta, a grandson of Kapuwatta Dissawa, the first to hold the office of Diyawadana Nilame at the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy.
I witnessed how she maintained the sprawling garden at their mansion in Kapuwatte Walawwa, filled with flowers of many hues; an ample testimony to her tasteful artistic nature. Her hobbies were looking after her domestic animals and gardening.
She was always quite comfortable clad in a neat Osariya. Anula Kumarihamy had an enviable personality and a pleasing complexion with a winsome face and was always regarded as vivid portrait of Kandyan aristocracy.
When she was ailing at a private hospital in Kandy, she told my wife that life is always in a state of flux and I noticed her bottom lip tremble and tears well up in her eyes when she said this; but she surmounted her sorrow. She will continue to live in the hearts of those she left behind. In the cycle of rebirth she ended her life’s journey a couple of months ago, taking another turn on the voyage of Sansara and left a great void in family circles.
Sarath Dhanapala
Lily Sladen
Goodbye, English Rose
With the sun gently setting over the “Sleeping Worrier”, the sad procession of mourners proceeded down the eucalyptus avenue of Forest Park valley to the strains of hymns sung in memory of our beloved Lily who was laid to her eternal rest on that cold grey evening of August 6, this year.
The six children and the family lost the beacon that brightened their pathways. We are left in a gloom that can never be illuminated again.
Lily, the daughter of a retired English planter Harvey Sladen and Sri Lankan Rani started life in luxury but never lost the common touch. It was always candlelight and silver with her father but she enjoyed the hospitality of her maid Kumari in her rural home sharing roti with lunumiris. She was a lady who was down to earth and loved simple living. In bringing up our six children, educating them, giving them in marriage and seeing to their futures she gave me unlimited strength and was always by my side.
As she grew up in Bandarawela, she felt she belonged to the church congregation there. As time passed she felt that serving the poor and the needy in Keppetipola would be much better. Thus she launched the “Health-Nutrition-Education” programme which was conducted in her verandah for the poorest of the poor children of the surrounding villages. It was a free programme giving around 50 children at a time education in English, good manners, health habits and making English a life skill. They were served a wholesome breakfast and supplied with study materials. Three teachers worked alongside her and the programme was in its 21st year when she passed away.
The children always looked forward to the two annual sports events during the National New Year and Christmas seasons. She always preferred to run this programme on a low key — unheard, unsung manner. Many people who came for assistance were always sent back contented — in cash or kind. She shared whatever she had gladly, with the needy.
In her eco lodge which she conducted as a home stay she hosted many foreign and local visitors. All those who arrived as guests left as lifelong friends. We were really strengthened by the number of messages of condolences from different parts of the world.
She was well travelled covering most parts of the island as well as India and almost the whole of Europe. She was hosted warmly in every country she visited by those who held in their memories her hospitality at Country Home and her tantalising Sri Lankan cuisine. She conducted with them programmes on cookery, handicrafts, cultural aspects and biological agriculture. She was more or less an ambassador for those who wanted a Sri Lankan experience. The only thing she could not complete was the book she compiled, “A Food Trip Through Uva”, which she left behind in the form of a manuscript.
All we can say is that her time was well spent in the service to humanity.
Though she has left us physically we are all determined not to let her go spiritually. We aim to keep her memory alive by continuing the good work she conducted which was really her pastime. Nothing could replace the radiance with which she lit up our lives.
“Goodbye English Rose – till we meet again someday” – Thank you for the good times.
Upali R. Karunaratne
and Family
Ravindra Soysa
Head of a cooling business, he had a warm heart
My cousin Ravindra Soysa, who would have been 59 today, went away in the early hours of September 12, leaving all of us in tears, terribly shocked and saddened by his sudden demise.
It was only the previous day that we were all with him, enjoying his generous hospitality when he and his family moved into the beautiful new house he had built.
Born as the eldest child and the only son, to Austin and Lalitha Soysa, he had his primary education at Nawalapitiya, and thereafter at Ananda College, Colombo. He chose air conditioning and refrigeration as a profession and after working in a couple of such establishments, set up his own small business in air conditioning and refrigeration, 35 years ago. Almost at the same time he married Durga Fernando from Panadura. Durga was the driving force behind his success, and together they built their empire “CiviMech” Group of Companies.
When his father passed away in the mid-70s, it was Ravindra who shouldered the responsibility as the head of the house, of looking after his mother and two younger sisters, to whom he was virtually a father, until he gave them away in marriage.When his mother was struck down with a terminal illness some years ago, Ravindra took great pains to see that she was treated by the best doctors in the country and did his best to make her life as comfortable as possible, until she breathed her last.
Although a successful businessmen, Ravindra was a humble man. He had a great sense of humour and on many occasions I had fallen victim to his mischievous practical jokes. Together with my family, we have joined him on many trips. It was a treat to be in his company with never a dull moment. I nostalgically recall the school holidays that my sister and I spent with Ravindra’s family, either at their home in Moratuwa or at ours in Panadura. After his marriage, we had many good times at his home in Egoda Uyana, not to forget the lavish parties he hosted.
He was always ready to help the less fortunate. Anyone going to him for financial assistance, whether it was for an illness, a child’s educational need or a personal matter, was never sent away empty handed. During his visits to his plantation at Girandurukotte, he had observed that the Mahiyangana hospital had no waiting room, and the patients who travelled many miles to get their medical needs attended to, had to stand under trees and wait their turn. He lost no time in making plans, together with the hospital authorities, to construct a much needed waiting room at his expense. He also built and donated a house for a disabled war veteran. Being a devoted Buddhist, he did yeoman service to many temples in the Panadura and Moratuwa areas.
He was a good employer to his staff. He was kind and sympathetic to everyone, always ready to listen and help them out when the need arose. They are all shattered by his sudden death. The hundreds of his employees who flocked to his house and grieved at his funeral was ample proof as to what a wonderful employer he was.
He was a loving and caring husband to Durga and a devoted father to his three children, Nilusha, Dilusha and Dhanusha. It is sad that fate denied his son-in-law, Kanchana the pleasure of a longer and joyous relationship with him.
Farewell dear Ravindra, we will miss you terribly. The void left by your death, can never be filled.
May you be born as my own brother, throughout our journey through Sansara.
Savitri Soysa
Major Raja L.A. de Silva
Living with your memories
Fifty two years of memories so very precious,
Today’s sadness and loneliness are not easy to bear.
But the memories of your affection,
And the happiness you brought to my life
Keeps me sane and has helped me to survive the past five years.
I lived without you by my side
Your ever loving wife
Olga Crake
Remembering you, fondly
Our hearts are like a memory book
Its pages, dear mother
Hold all the living thoughts of you
Recorded year by year.
A book of golden yesterdays
Bound with love and care
A rare edition, mother dear
Because you’re treasured there.
Mum, we treasure still, with love sincere
Beautiful memories of one so dear.
Children, Grandchildren,
Great-Grandchildren and in-laws