Appreciations
View(s):Fond memories that will be etched forever in our hearts
Sithy Ossman
It is with much grief that we received the sad news of the passing away of Sithy Ossman after a brief illness on March 26 at her home in London.
Aunty Sithy was the daughter of the leading gem and jewellery dealer O.L.M. Macan Markar (MMC) and the dearly beloved wife of the founder and architect of the All Ceylon Muslim Congress who served as its First General Secretary, M.S. Ossman (Barrister –at-Law, London, Australia and Sri Lanka) who pre-deceased her.
Domiciled in London for the past 25 years, she invariably went out of her way to extend a helping hand (physically and financially) to whoever sought her assistance. She did not falter in her onerous duties and always maintained the common touch. She was a tower of strength and inspiration to her husband in all his political, social and cultural affairs.
She invariably shunned the glories of exalted office in whatever services and activities she did. Even though she was brought up in the lap of luxury and blessed with all the comforts in life, she never hesitated to extend a helping hand to anyone who sought her benevolence. She was humble, genial and affable to all her friends, colleagues and relatives.
I must also voice my sincere appreciation and heartfelt gratitude to my Aunty Sithy for the motherly care and affection bestowed on me after my operation for a cardiac arrest. Today, thank God, I am still alive because of her kindness. Aunty Sithy is no more but fond memories of her will be etched forever in our hearts.
Her funeral took place in London in the midst of her family members, close relatives and friends. She leaves behind her daughters Zuliha, Haniya and sons.
May the Almighty Allah grant her the eternal bliss of Jennathul-Firdouse.
Ameer A. Sanoon
A friendship that goes back 30 years
SWANTHRI DASSANAIKE
It saddened me no end when I heard of the death of Swanthri on April 18. In the middle of the Coronovirus lockdown we couldn’t leave our house so I wasn’t able to even meet with her family and attend her funeral.
My friendship with Swanthri goes back over 30 years. When my husband Simon and I began attending the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour on Bauddhaloka Mawatha in the late 1980s there was a group of ladies who were involved with the work in the Cathedral. I well recall Muktha Wijesinha and Norma Tennakoon speaking to me and introducing me to this group.
From that point on, I joined them to make tea for our congregation – not such large numbers as now. We didn’t have a pantry so we used two rooms (which have been reconstructed to form the Cathedral offices) and we drew up a ‘roster’ of tea makers taking turns to do this work each Sunday after the service.
As time went on we had to work out a system on our own and Swanthri asked me to be her partner on the roster! Ever since, everything we were involved with in the Cathedral made us link up together. I was amazed at the number of committees Swanthri was on! I recall her and some others arranging the eats and drinks which were served at all the meetings where the congregation was involved, making palm crosses for Palm Sunday, organizing the offertory to the point where she used to have coloured ribbons allocated to each of the offertory helpers and matching colours strung up against the sides of the seats so that they could identify their correct line of seats in the church!
On every fifth Sunday the Cathedral had an English/Sinhala/Tamil combined service after which breakfast was served – Kiribath and the curries and sambols that went with it. We had a wonderful team of ladies who organized this – Swanthri included of course – and I was privileged to be one of the helpers! I constantly kept in touch with Swanthri regarding all these activities. She used to always come very early to church to check that everything was in order before the service.
We used to have a Church Sale once a year and the members of the congregation formed groups who undertook to run various stalls – from food and drinks, clothes etc., Marlyn Dissanayake and Swanthri asked me to join their stall, and together with Chitra and Rupa Simithriarachchi and Nalini Ellawala we ran a stall named ‘This, That and the Other’–collecting donations of all kinds of miscellaneous items from members of the congregation and our friends. We sorted them out into various ‘categories’, wrapped them up beautifully tied up with ribbons – the price pasted on each package! We had great fun and a close sense of friendship when we did all this – and of course managed to make a very profitable sale of these items!
Swanthri was also very talented and I loved getting her little boxes beautifully decorated with beadwork, which she used to do as a hobby! When I was the Editor for a few years of the Cathedral Bulletin, Swanthri was on my Committee and did all the proof reading. Sadly over the last year she was not keeping physically fit and very seldom came to Church. I used to call her often and try to visit her whenever she felt well enough to have visitors.
I miss my chats with her and seeing her in church. But I know that she is with the Lord and safe in His love and caring.
Anthea Senaratna
The most kind and loving father a girl could have
Wijith Seneca De Chickera
My father was a gentleman, gentleman-cricketer, gentle and kind, and a genius in his own way.
Born in an era when family traditions, values and noble deeds were the hallmark of family life and societal norms, my father grew up in a milieu of cousins, friends and playmates who spent their time in the vast outdoors; playing cricket, bathing in rivers and the sea, plucking fruits off trees they would climb and catching fish.
Born in 1939, to his father Walter and mother Princess in her ancestral home of Molligoda Walawwa, he was afforded the best education at the ‘best school of all’ – Trinity College Kandy. Here he excelled in cricket, being bestowed the coveted ‘Trinity Lion’ in 1959.
His forte was pace bowling and he had many a schoolboy scalp to his credit. He also played rugger and featured in two Bradby encounters, and was a Presidential Scout. The young scion of a Ceylon of a different vintage enjoyed his school-life to the maximum and balanced sports and academics, winning the coveted Christopher Jayawardene Memorial Scholarship for the best all-round student.Having reached the top rung in school, he entered the University of Peradeniya where he graduated with an Honours Degree in Economics. His mercantile career spanned Schweppes, Browns, and Cornel & Co., and he last served at the Organization of Professional Associations as its Centre Director.
As children, my brother and I would listen to interesting stories from Trinity, Kandy and Peradeniya University. (My favourite was how he left a rug outside his room door at university for a dog to keep her warm!) He loved dogs unconditionally, though horses were his passion. Our childhood was colourfully littered with a plethora of dogs and cats that lived with us.
My father was kind and loving, and generous to a fault. He was always there to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate, and speak a kind word to everyone he encountered.
We had many childhood adventures with him: be it exciting train trips, short bus rides, long holidays and happy family functions especially during Christmas. My father had a lovable and gregarious personality, a heart of gold, a mischievous streak, and a love for humanity that transcended societal labels and taboos.
He was a Christian who embodied Christ’s forgiveness of humanity on the cross, epitomizing the adage: ‘Do not have aught against any.’
At the end of his life, his beloved school motto – ‘Respice finem’ (Look to the end), – made him realize that his Lord and God was calling him to his real home.
He was the most kind and loving father a girl could know. He loved my mother and brother a lot, but I knew he loved me a little more. Thaaththi, you are in my heart, dimples and all! I know we will meet again on a fairer shore.
Sharlene De Chickera
Here’s to our beloved friend and one of the unsung heroes of our time
Smuttu Sivarasa
I write this tribute not only to extend our deepest sympathies to Siva’s family, but also to remember some of our dearest memories of him and cherish his love, kindness, virtuousness and integrity.
I got to know Siva during our days at the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) and we became closer friends while we worked at Maduru Oya (one of the five reservoirs constructed under the Mahaweli accelerated programme.) The Maduru Oya team was a close-knit family. Most of us starting our careers at the time were bachelors except for Siva, Vetti, Thiru and a few others yet, we all formed an inseparable unit; we met at every opportunity during most evenings and weekends.
The Maduru Oya site connected to distant towns by poor transport links had only modest facilities to offer and yet we were content. We cherish the days spent there as some of our happiest: I still fondly remember the impromptu Thosai parties we had at Siva’s or Vetti’s or Thiru’s houses.Those days, whenever we were hungry or fed up of chummery meals, we used to gate-crash Siva’s place, knowing that Meena always had a Thosai mixture prepared.When we had parties in our bachelor dormitories, we invited all the families.
When it came to sporting events, playing cricket on makeshift stony camp ground is something to remember: Siva was an active participant. We also remember many trips we made. Pasikudah beach was one of the favourite attractions and I still remember a week-long trip organized by Siva, Vetti, Jeba, Thiru, Yaso, Shanthi Kumar and a few others in 1983 for us to visit Jaffna and Nagadeepa. During our stay in Jaffna, grand lunches and dinners were organized at their ancestral homes by their parents. We could travel all over Jaffna peninsula and our visit to Nallur Temple was a very special experience.We will never forget the traditional Jaffna hospitality. On the way to Jaffna we were to pass Siva’s place and to our surprise he had arranged a box of Thal arrack for us. Though, he was a devout teetotaler, Siva knew how happy we would be to taste the local stuff
On another occasion when we were gathered for an evening party, Siva rushed into our dormitory. He was on the night shift and usually he would never leave early to join us if he was on duty. From his appearance, we knew that something extraordinary had happened. He told us he and his night shift crew working in the dam site had a big fight with a fellow expatriate Engineer engaged in excavation works. Siva had noticed pieces of ancient square bricks coming out of the ongoing excavation and he suspected the presence of an ancient brick structure buried underneath.He had tried to stop the excavation to conduct a proper investigation before causing damage to the suspected ruins. As the expatriate Engineer could not be convinced, Siva had come to seek our support to halt the work.
We all immediately jumped into jeeps and rushed to support Siva and his team. The sudden arrival of around 20-30 people calling for suspension of excavation work made the expatriate Engineer yield and work was stopped. Someone informed our Chief Resident Engineer Granville Herath, who had gone to Colombo H/O for an official meeting and he alerted Minister Gamini Dissanayake to intervene. Finally, the Dam Engineer from Crippen Int. came to the site and officially announced suspension of further excavations till the Archaeological Department or any other Government Authority gave the clearance. Subsequent investigations showed that the timely action of Siva and his team had saved the now well known “Maduru Oya Sluice” or “Ancient Biso Kotuwa” of the Maduru Oya ancient dam, a Sri Lankan engineering marvel.
Siva’s alertness led to this historic discovery and preservation of an invaluable monument of cultural importance and engineering excellence. Let us put on record his achievement and appreciate and honour him for his service to our nation: he is truly one of the ‘unsung heroes’ of our time.
Siva studied at Ananda College and his Sinhala was fluent. He respected and treated all equally. This story is incomplete if we do not mention some of his efforts to socially and culturally uplift the local population together with our Maduru Oya team. Our team was closely associated with the Most Venerable Kithalagama Sri Seelalankara Thera of Dimbulagala temple and several other poor Buddhist temples. Many of the social and cultural events, during our off days were coordinated by friends like Siva. Interestingly many of the engineers at the Maduru Oya dam project were Hindu.
We as a team, took great interest to visit remote villages and temples to donate dry rations. We donated beds to some monks stationed in remote temples located downstream of Maduru Oya. Books and stationery were collected and distributed among children in those remote areas.
Our thoughts and prayers at this moment are with Meena, putha Rajeev, Siva’s father-in-law and beloved relatives. It was truly a joy to work with and to have known Siva. We will never forget the warmth of his innocent smile, which brightened up our days. We will never forget his humanity, courage, generosity and his boundless kindness.
May he attain supreme bliss of Nibbana.
Susith Arambepola