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Two days before Vesak I watched Sri Lanka's foremost songstress Nanda Malini being felicitated by Eagle Insurance at the BMICH. She was the recipient of the annual Eagle Award of Excellence which the company awards to two persons of repute in the field of arts. That evening Nanda Malini was not invited to sing. Instead seated in the front row she watched a beautiful video clipping of her songs - some of the more popular ones picturised for the TV.

A day after Vesak, she sang in front of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in the annual 'Sadhu Naada' - the Vesak musical offering presented by Swarnavahini. It was a nostalgic journey for Nanda and the viewers. She took us back to when she was just nine years old singing her first ever song -'Budu Saadu' - which she sang over Radio Ceylon's children's programme 'Lama Pitiya'.

She spoke about her closeness to religion and recounted that every landmark event in her musical career had a link to Buddhism. As a young girl at the 'daham pasala' in Deepaduttaramaya, Kotahena, she recited a Buddhist poem in a contest and won the top award for the school. Then came her debut on the radio when she sang 'Budu Saaadu'. When she went before Pandit Ratanajankar for the grading of radio singers, the number she sang was 'Vandimu Sugata'. She began her musical programmes as a super grade artiste with the song 'Sasara Sayuru' by Mahagama Sekara. Her break into films (she was picked by Pandit Amaradeva at the age of 13) came in 'Ran Muthu Duwa' where her first song was 'Buddha Divakarayano.

That evening, her selections included some of her early songs all with a Buddhist theme. She had sung them over the radio nearly four decades ago. She was all praise for the relatively new musical group from Negombo led by Dinesh Fernando, a versatile musician who changes from the violin to the guitar and plays both fluently.

That lovable theatre personality Felix Premawardena is no more. I can yet picture big, burly Felix making a dramatic appearance as the hunter in Henry Jayasena's 'Kuveni' and dashing the short axe with a big shout. Earlier he made his mark as the leading actor in Henry's 'Wedagathcama'.

The teacher from Wesley College was fond of the theatre and learnt stagecraft in England. He followed a course at the New York Theatre andwas with New York's Bran Theatre for three months. He enjoyed acting and later directed several plays beginning with 'Minis Gathiya' based on Andre Obey's Biblical drama, 'Noah'. This was followed by 'Deva Varama' based on Robert Bolt's 'A Man for All Seasons'. His comedy 'Kaluvare Jaramare' (Peter Shaffer's 'Black Comedy' proved popular with the audiences. So was 'Marabere'.

'Chaaya', the Sinhala adaptation of J. B. Priestley's 'An Inspector Calls' won him the Best Director's Award in 1972. Earlier, he was Best Actor in Premaranjit Tillekaratne's 'Ammai Appai'.

Though Felix acted in films and teledramas, he will always be remembered as a devoted, talented theatre man.