Appreciations
View(s):Dr. T. Gangadharan
A true gentleman with noble qualities
News reached us that Dr. Gangadharan –Ganga Mama- had passed away. He was 86 years old, a selfless, true gentleman with noble qualities. He was a multi-faceted, clever physician whose name was well known in the Northern Province.
I met him last in 2006 when I was a volunteer nurse in Puthukudiyiruppu, Kilinochchi district. Dr. Gangadharan was related to my father and growing up in Jaffna we met him intermittently. He hailed from a family of physicians and was the grandson of Dr. Jeremiah.I instinctively liked him; he had this kind smiling face that attracted younger people to him.
Dr. Gangadharan performed over and beyond his training as an ENT physician. He delivered babies, anaesthetised his patients and was skilled in surgery. My father said he was also a flute player. He was keen on agriculture and discussed agriculture related issues whenever they met. People were full of praise for his ingenuity. He had extensive medical knowledge, and his vast experience worked tirelessly during those years of peace and war.
After arriving in Kilinochchi, I waited for his arrival at the Ponnambalam Hospital, Puthukudiyiruppu with a host of young mothers, men and children. He was the most senior physician in the district and patients travelled from all over Wanni seeking his care. He immediately greeted me as I introduced myself as ‘daughter of Dr. V. Sandirasegaram’. That smile had not diminished even after all those years.
He insisted that I stay at his estate in Vattapalai, a few miles from Puthukudiyiruppu. He recalled our family relationships for a while, spoke knowledgeably about the land and its people and the old temples that were still venerated by the local villagers. As our vehicle pulled into his property, the first to greet us were his beloved cattle! They lovingly nudged him and I was introduced to each of the cows and the calves. The bull kept a discreet distance, but snorted occasionally to make his presence known. Ganga Mama pointed to him and said his name was Bin Laden!
He walked me through his coconut estate and proudly explained the challenges in the cultivation of coconut trees, including the use of organic fertilizer. His late wife had kept meticulous notes on each of the coconut trees including the year when planted and annual yield. A caretaker named Muthulingam and family lived in a thatched hut. Ganga Mama had done the electrical wiring, on his own and installed innovative devices in his house. Necessity had made him an inventor and once again those skilled hands fixed the problems encountered. .
We listened to Carnatic music in the evening and I was given an explanation of the electronic player which he had put together! He had a good knowledge of Carnatic music and briefly discussed his love of flute.
He also narrated the emergency medical work for the wounded during times of upheavals. He had become adept at performing impromptu surgery, setting broken bones, suturing even as blood flowed and consoling a departing soul. He had to manage only with basic surgical instruments and those skilled healer’s hands worked tirelessly. He was an eternal optimist but a realist who knew in his mind the ‘ultimate despair that’ awaited the unsuspecting population. Never in our conversations did the good doctor say, “I am”, “I was” or “I shall be” or ever a word of regret about his difficult life. He seemed freed from thirst or hunger. He lived for his patients and was the epitome of selflessness and humility. The population referred to him as ‘Mamanithan’, a great man.
I can think of no one thus far like this good doctor extraordinaire who could be held as a golden example of the Precious One’s statement on who qualifies for nirvana. I quote from Sir Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia:
“His dying leaves- as the sum of him, a life count closed,
Whose ills are dead and quit, who’s good is quick and mighty far and near,
So that fruits follow it,
“No need hath such to live as ye name life,
That which began in him when he began is finished,
He has wrought the purpose through,
Of what did make him man,
Never shall yearnings torture him, nor do sins stain him,
Nor ache of earthly joys and woes invade his safe eternal peace,
Nor deaths and lives recur; he goes onto to Nirvana…..ceasing to be”
He was an exceptional man and we thank him for sharing his life with us.
-Malathi Sandirasegaram
DR. MARK AMeRASINGHE
A versatile medical
professional
Mark- my good friend and colleague for over 60 years departed from this world on March 1. I was delighted to read a lovely tribute by Dr. Philip Veerasingam a week after his death in the Sunday Times of March 8. I have preserved a copy of it for my records.
Mark led a versatile and accomplished life in many fields, exceeding the Biblical Psalmist’s life span of three score and ten by another twenty. He was two years senior to me in the Colombo Medical School and passed out as a doctor in March 1950. His batch was the most brilliant that the Colombo Medical School has ever produced over nearly 150 years of its existence, as the largest number of distinctions and first and second classes were recorded by that batch.
I came to know Mark and Premini very well when they arrived in Liverpool in 1959, which was very popular at that time for many of our Sri Lankan trainees, as Prof. Charles Wells was the Professor of Surgery. Mark wanted to specialise in Orthopaedics under Prof. McFarlame and do the MChOrth.
I had the privilege of delivering their first daughter Amila at Walton Hospital Liverpool, where I worked as registrar for two years. My wife Rita, who had experience of looking after three children was helpful to Premini till we left UK in November 1960. Mark came back to Sri Lanka a few years later after his qualifications and was appointed as the first Orthopaedic Surgeon to Kandy General Hospital which became the Teaching Hospital of the University of Peradeniya. He had an uphill task to get his clinics, ward and operating sessions, but in no time he got all these organised and his unit was one of the best in the hospital.
Premini became a consultant Radiologist at Kandy and they made their home in Anniewatte where they have been living for the past 50 years. It was here they brought up their four daughters Amila, Krishni, Ishika and Manju. Amila got married and had four children, two daughters and two sons and they are living in Canada. Krishni got married and I had the privilege of delivering her two daughters normally over 20 years ago.
Mark had music in his blood and he satisfied his musical talents with the help of Prof. Valentine Basnayake in Kandy. After his retirement Mark became a senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy in Peradeniya for five years and published a dissecting manual, which was very helpful to the medical students. I got a copy of it and gave it to my grandson who is a medical student at Sri Jayawardenapura University. The dramatic monologue was his forte and I have attended several of his performances at Alliance France and enjoyed them very much.
Mark had a bypass operation earlier but unfortunately he developed heart attacks after 2007 and there after this handicapped his later life, but he remained very much physically active. Premini and the daughters looked after him with greatest affection and care. Mark and Premini used to travel to Colombo from time to time and stay with Ishika. I used to regularly visit them.
In later years Mark used to sit at his computer and write articles on various topics relevant to happenings in the country. These were published in the Sunday Times. I used to relish reading them. His last article appeared a week before his death.
Premini had her writing talents and she published four books which I have read, the last one was titled “Tangled Threads”. I am very grateful to her for writing a beautiful tribute to my wife one week after her demise two years ago.
The death of Krishni at a relatively young age of cancer about six months ago affected Mark profoundly and brought on his final illness of heart failure.
Mark used to tell me that his earlier generations had been Catholics and later by marriage some became Buddhists. Mark has fought the good fight and run the race. May the God Almighty grant him eternal rest.
-Wilfred Perera
Merrita Fernando
She took life as it came
It was the morning of February 23. My husband called out to me and said “Read today’s obituary, you are in for a shock”. I opened the paper and saw Merrita’s face staring at me from the page. It said she had passed away on February 15. I remembered that it was February 14, just the previous day that I had had a long chat with her on the phone. At lunch time, I had felt an inner voice telling me to ring her. I am so happy I did so. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Merrita and I were known at St Bridget’s as “the Inseparables”. We were together from the baby class right up to the London Matriculation. And in addition, when my parents put me in the boarding at St Bridget’s, when I was seven for two whole years, Merrita was there too and we got up to all kinds of mischief.
When I spoke to her on February 14, little did I think that that would be the last time I would be hearing her voice. I rang her daughter Nedra as soon as I read the notice, and she said that Merrita had passed away in her sleep, while watching TV the night of the February 14. She was an ardent tennis and cricket fan, and thought nothing of sitting up till 2 a.m. when the matches were on.
We used to meet up occasionally for lunch, but sadly these were few and far between in recent years.
Her faith in the Lord was profound. She took life as it came, and was never agitated about anything that happened. I will miss her phone calls. I pray that God may grant Nedra, Manilka and Naresh the necessary strength to bear their loss bravely. May she rest in the presence of the Lord.
-Therese Motha
D.T.DEVENDRA
Remembering a great scholar
Don Titus Devendra was born on April 1, 1901 in the village of Kalegana, Galle. He was the second in a family of eight children. His parents overcame great hardship and privation to educate their sons in Richmond College, Galle whose Principal was Rev.W.J.T. Small. Among his contemporaries were former Prime Minister W.Dahanayaka and the educationist S.F. de Silva.
He left school at 18, having excelled at the Cambridge Senior Examination, and became a teacher to help support his family. He taught at Siddartha, Balapitiya and St. Anthony’s College, Kandy before joining the staff of Ananda College, Colombo. Here he came into the orbit of its charismatic young Principal P de S. Kularatne who was a moving spirit of the Buddhist renaissance which was then sweeping Colonial Ceylon. Together with his closest friends G.P.Malalasekera and Ananda Mivanapalana he followed Kularatne and adopted Arya Sinhala dress which they wore to the end of their days as a symbol of their nationalism.
When Malalasekera became Founder Principal of Nalanda Vidyalaya, he was one of the team of pioneer teachers who built this school from scratch, often struggling to make ends meet on a meagre salary irregularly paid. Gifted with the power of great concentration he studied by himself, while teaching at school, and graduated as B.A. (London) in 1928. The same year he married Clarice Ruth Felsianes, and they went on to raise a family of four children.
Devendra went on to teach at Dharmaraja College, Kandy [1936-1943] and later became Principal of Anuruddha College, Nawalapitiya [1943-1944] and Sivali Vidyalaya, Ratnapura [1944-1948]. While at Nalanda he began to develop his abiding interest in Sri Lanka’s history and archaeology which led him to become an internationally reputed scholar in this field. He belonged to a select network of basically amateur enthusiasts who, while pursuing their respective professions, explored their country’s past thus, more or less, creating the new discipline of Ceylon History.
He became one of the great teachers of this subject which he taught with dedication and passion. His studies were never confined to books but firmly rooted in exploration and observation of historic sites. He spent his leisure and school holidays in studying old inscriptions and visiting ancient places with bands of schoolboys. He was a prolific writer on historic, cultural and Buddhist topics to newspapers and magazines as he firmly believed in the popularisation of knowledge. International journals of repute also invited his contributions to scholarship.
While teaching at Dharmaraja his first book “This Other Lanka” , a collection of his writings, was published in 1941 as the maiden publication of the Ola Book Company founded by his friend, the legendary journalist D.B. Dhanapala.
In 1948 he bade goodbye to a teaching career of 30 years to join the Archaeological Department as the Assistant Commissioner responsible for publications, a position uniquely suited to his talents. Here he found his true métier and his work flourished. His duties, however, were not restricted to producing publications. He was a kingpin in the Department and participated in all its field activities and was Commissioner Paranavthana’s true right hand. Devendra wrote the first ever archaeological guide books to important sites as Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Panduvas Nuvara and Yapahuva. He conducted the excavation of the Kota Vehera in Dedigama and other sites. Some of his best scholarly works in learned Journals such as ‘Artibus Asae’ date to this period. He also functioned as Acting Archaeological Commissioner before he retired in 1957.
In his “The Buddha Image and Ceylon” [1957] he suggested the unusual thesis that its origins may have been in this country. His magnum opus “Classical Sinhalese Sculpture”, a distillation of his thinking on the contribution of Sinhalese sculpture to world art, was published by Tiranti of London 1n 1958 His last book “Tanks and Rice”[1965] is an enchanting epiphany of his journeys through the homeland he loved so deeply.
Devendra was interested in all aspects of Buddhism, but more specifically in its impact on the civilization and culture of the Sinhalese. He was also dedicated to the cause of Buddhism in Buddhist schools to which he had given decades of his life. Along with his dear friend Malalasekera who founded the World Fellowship of Buddhists [WFB] in 1950, he was a Founder Member and the first Editor of the W.F.B Newsletter which gave international publicity to its activities. It was, therefore, natural that after his retirement from the Archaeological Department he joined Dr. Malalasekera at the University of Ceylon in Peradeniya as Deputy Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism.
D.T. Devendra passed away peacefully in January 1972 while yet active in study and research.
-T.D.
Nipun Rajantha Jayamaha
Counting days to meet you again
Golden gates of heaven open wide
As souls enter the bliss of eternal delight.
Passing the fiery flames
And the fog of sins to be repaid,
Look down on the life he once lived
Men toiling, weeping, mourning,
In a mirage, aiming for an illusion of riches.
Counting days to meet you again,
On a shore where the fortunate souls,
Roam around the mighty one seated on the throne.
Counting days to escape that fog of lost living souls
To an everlasting life filled with you and love.
Greeted by the arms of our Saviour,
To stay till the end of time.
Godchild and loving cousin Nishee Perera
Major Asanga Nanayakkara
An officer par excellence
My beloved son Asanga Nanayakkara’s 8th Death Anniversary fell on March 21. Asanga was an officer par excellence in the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps. Both my wife and I called him “Puncha” though he was a senior officer until his sudden death on this fateful day of 21.03.2007.
He and his only brother Ravi were like friends rather than brothers. All of us were very united and a happy foursome. After his school career, he joined the Sri Lanka Army as an officer cadet. After completion of his military training at Diyatalawa, he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and posted to the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps. During his army career he successfully completed many overseas military courses and served for nearly 18 years in the operational areas in the north of Sri Lanka. Until his tragic death on this day, he served his motherland honestly and very efficiently.
My son Asanga’s death was big blow to all of his dear ones, particularly to his wife Sujeewani daughter Sonali and son Asug. Had he been alive today he would have been the happiest person as his two children are doing well in their studies.
-Edward Nanayakkara
K.C. Kaimal
A tribute to my father won’t be complete without mentioning his boss
A tribute to my late father was a long felt need. But writing this necessarily entails a tribute to his boss H.W.Jayewardene, Q.C., as well, because the life and work of my father was closely associated with his. Therefore, this is a twin tribute.
My father came to Sri Lanka as a youth, from Kerala, a southern state in India. He was a Malayalee and high caste Nair. Having no formal education, he was a self-made man. First he worked as an Office aide with a leading Burgher lawyer, Mr. Swan.
Through sheer perseverance he learnt the English language and assisted Mr. Swan in his Court work. He progressed soon and became his Court Clerk. On Mr. Swan’s elevation to the Supreme Court as a Judge, he was seconded to Mr. E.F.N. Graetian, Q.C. and worked for a period until he too was elevated to the Supreme Court as a Judge. It was then that he joined an upcoming young lawyer, Mr. H.W.Jayewardene as a Court clerk and served him for a long period of about 25 years, until his death in 1974.
My father was a strict disciplinarian. His dress was a simple verti, shirt and coat. He travelled to work on a bicycle. In due course he gained proficiency in both spoken and written English. He not only attended to H.W.J’s Court work but also managed his household affairs, servants and personal work. H.W.J valued his work greatly and treated him as a member of his family.
He was respected amongst the Malayalee community. His contemporaries from Kerala were the well-known Dr. Chacko, Dr. Pannikar, both Ayurvedic doctors of repute, Mrs.Pulimood, Principal of Visaka Vidyalaya, Mrs. Abrahams, graduate history teacher at St. John’s, Nugegoda, Mrs.Ayesha Rauff, Principal of Muslim Ladies College,Colombo, Mr. Chathoor of Chathoor & Co, T.P. Kesavan of Kesavan & Co Accounting & Audit firm, M.D. Madhavan of Madhavan & Co, Mr. Kumaran of Nippon Hotel and Mr.Vellayi, Editor Malayalam journal “Samathuvadi” among others.
My father along with A.K.Nair, Adiyodi,K.N.T.Pillai,Vellayi, M.N.Nair and Rev and Mrs Abrahams founded the Ceylon Malayalee Mahajana Sabha, headquartered at Sri Narayana Guru temple premises in Colombo North. As a man of influence in his community, the politicians of the day, such as Colvin R de Silva, Doric da Souza, Osmand Jayaratne, J.R.Jayewardene sought his help to canvass votes at election time.
He worked full time for H.W.J at his residence and at Hulftsdorp Courts. In addition, he also assisted the crème of lawyers such as E.B.Wickremanayake Q.C, N.E.Weerasooria Q.C, George Chitty Q.C, N.K.Choksy Q.C. Sam Kadirgamar Q.C., Navaratnaraja Q.C., S.J.V. Chelvanayagam Q.C, Colbert Jayewardena in their Court work. He also helped the budding juniors of the day like Kasi Choksy,Chandra Seneviratne, N.R.M. Daluwatte,Ben Eliyatamby etc in Court work and in their legal careers.
My father was well versed in court procedures and practices, which he gained from years of practical experience. He advised and guided litigants to the right counsel according to the nature of their cause of action. He had a good command of the English language and could write well, in a crisp and precise manner, with a touch of legalism.
His boss H.W.Jayewardene was more than an employer.His interest transcended official work to the family. He took a keen interest in my education and met all the expenses such as hall fees etc at the University.
HWJ was a gentleman “par excellence”; a great human being. A few incidents in my life are indelibly etched in my memory , which illustrates the quality of the man: When my father fell ill with a lung infection, he got him thoroughly checked/diagnosed by his brother Dr. R.P. Jayewardene, who arranged for his admission to Badulla Hospital, for his recuperation.
My first-born daughter got a urine infection and fever and at the same time, my father was admitted to Welisara hospital for a chest ailment. My daughter passed away aged five years, and hearing this after two days, my father too passed away due to grief and shock.When my daughter’s funeral cortege reached the Kanatte Gate, I saw Mr.Jayewardene standing there and joining the cortege on its way to the burial site. He was deeply saddened and condoled with me.
Two days later he visited my father’s home and paid his last respects to the man who was associated with him for 25 years. He called me to a side and told me in a low voice “ do you know that your father had the legal knowledge of a Proctor”. It made me happy to hear such a compliment from this legal luminary.Having noticed his photograph hanging on the wall, he requested a copy of that photo,which I gave to him later. H.W.J bore all the funeral expenses of my father.
When I met my college and University mate DIG Merill Guneratne, he exclaimed “Soma I was surprised to see your father’s photo in front of H.W.J’s table, when I called at his residence on an official matter.” That was the mark of the man- a man of simplicity, humility and humane quality. Who else would keep a photo of his humble servant on his work table and pay respect to him daily? I doubt if any. This demonstrated his sincerity of feeling. When my friend had told him that the photo is that of his friend’s father, he had praised him highly. H.W.J was great not only in mind but in heart as well.
My father loved the H.W.J family. He was very fond of his children, particularly Dr.Hiran Jayewardene. The children grew up with him. H.W.J’s benevolence was equally shared by his gracious wife, who had great regard for my father.
I have penned this tribute in a debt of gratitude to my father and his kind boss H.W.Jayewardene, Q.C. at the same time, because both were connected to each other. May they attain “Moksha” and “Nibbana” respectively. These are different only in name, but mean the same thing- that is freedom/liberation.
-Soma Palan