Memories are as strong as ever of a kindly gentleman of impeccable standards

Capt. Sanka Rakkhita Wikramanayake

It has been a year since my father-in-law passed away. I think of him often. He was and remains an enormous character. Many who read this article will know him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost aviation pioneers. To me, he was a devoted family man and it’s this man that I write about.

Long before I was married to his daughter, I met Rakkhita in the arrivals lounge at Bandaranaike airport. Tall with a slight stoop, he bid me a warm Sri Lankan welcome. He didn’t say much other than to point out where we should wait for the car and the driver.

I was a soggy mass of tiredness…but it didn’t seem to bother him, or, if it did, he did not let on.

Moments later, the Toyota Crown cruised into view and stopped next to our luggage. The driver leapt out while Rakkhita calmly took his seat. Stepping into the air-conditioned luxury of a spotless car with my wife was something I was to repeat many, many times.

Rakkhita was a very, very keen car owner. Always spotless, I came to know about 17 cars over the years. All different, all gleaming and all shaming me into keeping a better car myself when I got home to England. For me, that Toyota Crown was the very best and certainly the most memorable.

Rakkhita was a quiet man. He didn’t really enjoy a drink but very much enjoyed the company of others. He loved to listen to his beloved grandchildren who, in turn, loved their Seeya very much. He was utterly generous, utterly indulgent. There were always pretty clothes and toys for them – the bigger the better. He loved their personalities and games, even, at one point, photocopying reams of 20 rupee notes as part of a homemade counterfeiting operation with his youngest grand-daughter.

Naturally calm and aware of how imposing he could be, he was always smartly dressed. Some things would animate him though. Petty bureaucrats came in for a real pasting. He enjoyed a political debate. Always nodding politely and generously at your arguments but clearly believing the opposite.

Rakkhita was always up for a loaf, helping us stock up on sought-after Sri Lankan items only available at Arpico, Paradise Road or Raux Brothers. He enjoyed his adventures with us, travelling to the East when things started to open up there. He’d have tried to come to Yala when we camped there one year, given half the chance.

He loved his food and hankered after the old classic dishes. He liked nothing more than to tuck into braised lamb shanks with balsamic and onion gravy, potatoes and carrots…in 34 degrees of heat. I cooked many Christmas lunches for the Wikramanayake family – in searing heat – with the full expectation that there would be stuffing, bread sauce, home-made gravy aplenty – the works. One always felt the weight of expectation – Rakkhita was a man that you didn’t want to disappoint but he was always very gracious about my efforts.

He was a man of immediate action. He knew a lot of people and could make things happen at the touch of a button. Rakkhita had a distinct air of authority about him. People everywhere seemed to rush to him… and then rush off again to carry out their designated task.

This was no more evident than when we embarked on a local adventure to find my grandfather’s grave at Kanatte cemetery. We had, for years, suspected that he was buried at Kanatte as my ancestors had been tea planters in Ceylon for multiple generations. It was said that after selling the tea estate prior to the independence of Ceylon in 1948, my grandfather had died of peritonitis in Colombo whilst waiting for the boat back to England. So, one day we were all off for a loaf in Colombo, but Rakkhita had called ahead to Kanatte. We made our way to a small reception building some way into the cemetery. A couple of large registration books had been placed on an empty, dusty table in the dimly lit building. There was some debate as to the year of death and therefore which book to refer to but, five minutes later, we were all gazing at the entry in the register. I confirmed that it was indeed my grandfather, Charles.

The look of sheer delight and pleasure on the faces of the Kanatte staff was reserved solely for my father-in-law. A couple of cemetery gardeners were quickly dispatched to clean the grave site up and moments later, we were standing by my grandfather’s grave which was, incidentally, not a cricket ball’s throw from my wife’s grandfather and Rakkhita’s father’s grave. It’s a small world and I have Rakkhita to thank for making it smaller for me.

The trigger for this article was a flight I took from Colombo to Singapore. I tagged on a week’s work in Singapore at the end of another holiday with my in-laws. I took my seat and was immediately quizzed by a couple of Sri Lankans on what I was doing; where I was going; and why I had been in Sri Lanka. I mentioned casually that I had married a Sri Lankan. I was asked for my wife’s maiden name. “Any relation to the Chairman of Air Lanka?”, was the next question. I had to admit to them that I was lucky enough to be his son-in-law. The mixture of pride and happiness on these men’s faces is a memory that will die with me. “Great man,” they said in unison. “Strong” and “tough” were the words that accompanied starry-eyed gazes at the cabin ceiling. I was overwhelmed. They didn’t seem old enough to know or care about my father-in-law…but they did.

I come to the memory I hold most dear. That is of Rakkhita making his way gently across the impeccably manicured lawns of his beloved Bolgoda lake house to the pool where, together with my family, we had taken refuge from the heat. He sat by the pool just watching and laughing at his grand-daughter throw herself into the pool and clamber out again and again. His smile was serene, magnanimous. He would sit for a while and then his faithful Labrador, Charlie, would wander over and plonk at his feet. We would all spend a while at the pool.

Those days are gone now but my memories are as strong as ever for a kindly, gentle man of impeccable standards and respect, high expectation and dry sense of humour. Rakkhita was a strong man, independent of thought, a listener and very much his own man.

May he rest in peace.

 Richard Hamilton

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My guru and mentor, your legacy lives on

Professor Dayasiri Fernando

 The sixth death anniversary of Professor Dayasiri Fernando, eminent surgeon and great teacher fell on November 28.

Fondly referred to as ‘Prof. Dayasiri’, he was a visionary who accomplished his mission whether it was in the field of medicine or society in general.

He had his primary education at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia where he later served as a member of the Board of Governors. He entered the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 1961, graduated with Honours in 1965 and was awarded the Gold Medal for Operative Surgery. He obtained his FRCS (Edinburgh) in 1972 and FRCS (England) in the following year. Later he served as a lecturer in surgery at the Department of Surgery, Sheffield University UK.

Returning to Sri Lanka, he started his career as a Consultant Surgeon. He was awarded the Smith & Nephew fellowship for Gastroenterology in 1976 which gave him the opportunity to work with the world renowned colorectal surgeon John Goligher in UK. His appointment as the Surgical Gastroenterologist to Kalubowila Hospital on his return can be regarded as a milestone in Gastroenterology in Sri Lanka. Having worked with the giants in the field he developed a special interest in colorectal surgery and has done pioneering work in this field. I had the privilege of being his trainee when he performed the first ever gastrointestinal anastomosis using the stapling device in this country.

One of his greatest contributions to the field is the establishment of the Sri Lanka Society of Gastroenterology (SLSG) in 1986. While serving as its President from its inception he was also a member of several international gastrointestinal organisations such as Asia Pacific Society of Gastroenterology and World Organisation of Gastroenterology where he established close contacts with world leaders in the field such as the late Professor William Chao (President of the Asia Pacific Society of Gastroenterology at the time). Through these contacts he was able to secure several training fellowships to prestigious training centres in Japan for many of our trainees including myself.

Prof. Dayasiri served on the editorial boards of several reputed gastroenterology journals such as ‘Journal of Digestive Endoscopy’, ‘Hepatology and Gastroenterology’, and ‘Gastroenterology Today’.

Prof. Dayasiri was a surgeon par excellence. He was called to perform surgery on two heads of government. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was operated by him during my tenure as his Senior Registrar at the Department of Surgery of the University of Colombo. Though he wanted me to assist him for the surgery I was unable to do so as I had to operate on his patients at the National Hospital that day. Accompanying him on a post-operative visit to Mrs. Bandaranaike’s residence at Rosmead Place, I came to realize that he was a long standing close associate of Mrs. Bandaranaike. This connection would have played a major role in establishing the Faculty of Medicine at Sri Jayawardenapura University where he became the first Professor in Surgery. Later he became the Dean of the same faculty and went on to become the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.

He also operated on President J.R. Jayewardene and I accompanied him on the post-operative visits while on a brief holiday during my foreign training.

In 1998 Prof. Dayasiri became the 16th President of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka.

Prof. Dayasiri made an immense contribution to undergraduate teaching and post-graduate surgical training. He joined the Department of Surgery of the University of Colombo as a senior lecturer in 1983 and later became Associate Professor. Thereafter he was appointed the first Professor in Surgery of the newly established Faculty of Medicine of Sri Jayawardenapura University in 1997. He also served as a member of the Board of Study in Surgery, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM). His untiring efforts saw the establishment of the gastrointestinal surgery as a separate specialty amidst resistance from various quarters.

He was a father figure to his trainees. When I was appointed as the Consultant Gastrointestinal Surgeon to the Teaching Hospital Kandy in 1997, I was entrusted with establishing the very first Gastrointestinal Surgery Unit in the Department of Health. I had to start from scratch. Prof. Dayasiri was a tower of strength and helped me to overcome many difficult situations during the years that followed.

Admirably his services were not confined to the field of medicine. He once served as a group captain in the Sri Lanka Air Force. He also served as a member of the National Presidential Salary Review Commission. After retiring from the University he was Chairman of the Public Services Commission.

In recognition of his services to the country he was awarded the Vidyaprasadini and VidyaJothi awards. He passed away in 2015. Today seeing the highly skilled and enthusiastic next generation of gastrointestinal surgeons, I believe his dream has come true.

Prof. Dayasiri, my guru and mentor, your legacy lives on.

 Dr. Amal Priyantha Munidasa

 

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