Appreciations
View(s):No more chats at Hulftsdorp, but the memories will linger
SULAIMAN JIFFREY MOHIDEEN
Innah Lilahi Wa Innah Illaihi Rajyoon – surely we belong to Allah and to him we shall return.
It is almost two months since my dearest friend and mentor Moiya passed away after the Ramazan festival. I still cannot believe that he has left us and gone to his almighty leaving me and his closest friends especially Maxi, Rohan and Nimal not forgetting Daya Pelpola presently Ambassador, Rome.
I cannot forget the annual Voetlight Dinner organized by the Voetlight Society exclusively for lawyers where I always organized the table for the ten of us headed by none other than Daya Pelpola, the most senior member of the ten including Nuala, Nalini my wife, Mano and Sudath Jayasundara.
Every year I would pick up Moiya for the event and drop him back at his residence. It was full of fun which I feel will never be enjoyed again. I cannot forget the days when he would call me to pick him up to go to Hulftsdorp when his driver was on leave. On the way he would ask me to switch on the car radio to the golden oldies, especially the songs of Jim Reeves and Elvis Presley whom he could imitate to the core. I have had the opportunity of listening to him at the Oaths party of his and his batch mates of the Group of 67 at Law College where in addition to the Sinhala baila songs which I will say without any hesitation that nobody can sing like him, there were requests for more and more of his songs in Sinhala and English.
Moiya was one year senior to me but we were friends till his demise. I retained him as counsel in cases in the District Court, Civil Appellate Court and Supreme Court not forgetting the famous case against the Finance and Guarantee Limited and Golden Key Limited. He commanded a good rapport with the Judges who respected his honesty, legal prowess and his seniority at the Bar. He was Treasurer of the BASL for three consecutive years and was elected uncontested. He never failed to attend the Bar Council Meetings held on Saturdays at the end of each month and I had to take him for the meetings. No sooner he got down from the vehicle he would make a quick dash to the second floor of the BASL building to enjoy the Kiribath and Katta Sambol which he really loved and cherished. I enjoyed his company every time I accompanied him for the meetings as well as every function organized by the BASL and the Colombo Law Society of which I was an Executive Committee Member. It is with a heavy heart I say that I miss his companionship at this moment when I go for the Bar Council Meeting by myself.
When it was confirmed that he was to be appointed as Ambassador to UAE, he asked me to drop in at home since he wanted to give his NLR’s and CLE’s to my son Dhanushan, who is practising as a counsel. When my son took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law, he was present in the Supreme Court ceremonial hall to witness the ceremony and was the first to wish him. Even after his appointment as the High Commissioner to UAE, he was in constant touch with me.
Just one week before his departure from Dubai when I called him he casually told me that he had knocked his toe against the staircase railing and was going to the doctor. I did not know that it was for his terminal illness till I visited him at his home after hearing from his dearest wife Neloufer that he had come back to Sri Lanka for treatment. I could not believe the news and could only pray to God to save him from his deadly illness. I spent considerable time with him – he would be lying on his sofa holding my hand having a long chat till I departed from his home after having a meal when the family broke fast during the Ramazan period. After the Ramazan festival on Saturday afternoon I got a frantic call from his daughter that her dad had passed away.
Till Moiya’s departure to UAE, as Ambassador, every year on Ramazan day he would call me in the morning and warn my wife not to cook lunch and personally come to deliver the sumptuous biriyani lunch which we really enjoyed. My family conveys our deepest sympathies and sorrows to his beloved wife Neloufer and his children at this hour of grief.
Moiya, though you have left us your memories will linger in eternity and when I see the table where we would sit and chat at the lounge at Hulftsdorp I feel the vacuum which you have left and I say goodbye, my sweet Prince till we meet again.
Ganesh
You are no more, but you live in spirit
Victoreen M. Hassan
It is with a sense of deep sadness I write about my loving wife Victoreen. M.Hassan. We spent a happy and peaceful wedded life for almost 40 long years until Victoreen passed away peacefully on August 25, 2008 after a brief illness.
Vicky, ten years have passed since I lost the light of my life. Although you cannot hear my voice or see my smiles, I feel the love you had for me and hear you in my heart. You left your human body, but your soul will never part.
Your gentle, loving, admirable qualities, and sincerity were evident at the crowds that thronged at your last journey. It broke my heart to walk beside you on that fateful day.
Now all I have are memories and a photo in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which I will never part. Today, tomorrow and forever my whole life through, I will always love and cherish you. In secret I weep, in silence I cry, as each lonely day passes by. There is only one thought that eases the pain and it’s knowing we will be together again. Loving thoughts till the end of time of a wonderful wife I am proud was mine.
For all you gave me and our children through the years, your time and love, your prayers and tears, your patience, caring, and sharing, for all this and more ‘I still love you’.
You were a wife in a million, and you meant the world to me. Each night I shed a silent tear as I speak to you in prayer to let you know I love you Vicky, and just how much I care for you.
Thank you for your endless love, that helps me through each day. You’re the wife I loved, and I was proud to be your husband and every day in a small way I celebrate your life.
Finally, thank you Victoreen for the wonderful and generous sacrifices you made for me, our children, and all the loving care and affection you showered on us. I remember not what I did for you, but what I was for you, and what you were to me. Thank you for loving me and being what you were.
Till we meet again. Sadly missed by your loving husband.
M. Kamil. A. Hassan
I will always be grateful to you
Rita Tampoe
You gave me part of you…
Time stood still when you lay down
Gushing memories remotely sour and sweet
Misery and happiness
Overpowered and weak
In an all buoyant family there is always that one.
I was that one.
The weak lifts the head and survive if not left to lie, die.
Purposeless and aimless
But, you gave me part of you whom I was and whom I was not
This is and was my lifeline,
I rose above all that was around me and part of me
I let it go and let it be behind me
You gave me a seamless exposure, to all the world could offer
To books and beyond
It was this that lifted me up and away from the chaos
To live and be who I am today
I am and will always be ever so grateful
Mummy………..
Dulanee Tampoe Weerackody