Fourteen years have passed by since our grandfather passed away, yet we have an abundance of memories of him. We remember playing Robin Hood till the late hours of the night and pretending to be great warriors. We remember his love for animals where our backyard was our own personal zoo filled with birds, squirrels, dogs, tortoises, rabbits and even a cow at one stage.
We remember how he used his passion for music to teach us about the world through music and lyrics. We remember how his eyes filled with tears when we got our injections and remember waiting anxiously till he came home from overseas so that he could sneak us a piece of chocolate, just so that he could see the smile on our faces.
This is the story of our grandfather, ‘muththa’ to us, known to the world as Professor Nandadasa Kodagoda.
Our grandfather was born on October 31, 1929 in the rural village of Ahangama, south Sri Lanka. His initial education was at a Buddhist temple school in the village, followed by Mahinda College in Galle and later during the war at Nalanda Vidyalaya, Colombo. Throughout his years of schooling, he developed an exemplary command of his mother tongue Sinhala, which to this day lives on through his publications. He was also a believer in his religion, Buddhism, where he spread his inherent compassion and solicitude to people around him.
Later on, he entered the medical college and joined the Faculty of Medicine as a senior lecturer in Forensic Medicine in 1961.
As far as our memories serve, he was a busy man. We remember watching him on television, hearing him on the radio and seeing him receive many awards. But, we were too young to realise that he was actually busy imprinting his knowledge and spreading his passion for medicine throughout the country.
Our grandfather was a man with a big heart. We did not know him as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, or the Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo. We knew him as the man who hugged us when we were sad, the man who taught us about compassion and kindness to animals and people alike. The man who inspired us to do what we loved and taught us to be proud of who we turned out to be today. Although we were very young when he tragically passed away, we still have the fondest memories of him and that will never fade.
Memories that remind us to be better people and make him proud of our achievements and the challenges we attempt. We are able to be good citizens today because of the grounding he gave us with disciplined confidence and unconditional love.
To us, ‘muththa’ was not just a great man; he was a legend.
Ravikantha Uduwaka, Chavindi Uduwaka and Thilini Kodagoda
Her lively spirit will always live on in our hearts
Narges Nalliah
My sister and I, and our two brothers grew up in Manipay - the place in Jaffna that produced such great leaders like Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam and many others.
Manipay was also well known for beautiful girls, as we would be often told during our time. Narges was not only the most beautiful girl at the Vembadi Girls School, she was also an outstanding athlete, a famous high jumper, the school’s Sports Captain and the Head Prefect. She was the fastest sprinter at the Public Schools Sportsmeet in Jaffna. I distinctly remember my father shouting “a horse is coming” when he saw Narges running like a horse and winning a relay race.
Turning to the boys behind he proudly said, “the horse is my daughter”. She was the apple of my father’s eye. I remember he made her wear shorts, much to the chagrin of some, but she looked so beautiful in shorts and I would hear the boys say “her legs need to be insured”.
Like I said, she was the apple of my father’s eye, himself a great sportsman having captained St. John’s College Jaffna at cricket for three years in succession, followed by my uncle after him.
Narges was our kid sister, so many years younger than I, and she would always confide in me, making me most of the time feel that I was more than an elder sister to her, nay her mother, her chief advisor.
She was always bold and forceful in spite of her kind demeanor. I will never forget her telling me, that she looks forward to the day when she would fulfil her family responsibilities, come over, and look after me. Not to hear that voice again is a desperate thing, but I know we will meet again somehow, someday, to recount our past with all its melody and force and all the original refinement.
She was married to an eminent doctor, Ariam Nalliah, with a sound practice in Ruwanwella. They did so well in Sri Lanka, before fate decreed that they should migrate to Australia. I wouldn’t like to go into it in any great length at this point in time, but I know how difficult it was for them, to be overnight brought to naught in the country of their birth. My sister was a devout Christian, with the unfailing Christian spirit that forgives everything and everybody.
In Australia Ariam and Narges had to start life all over again. It was not an easy task for them, having to bring up and provide a good education for their two sons – Arjan and Raj. It was once again my sister, who stood by Ariam like a pillar, giving him all the support and encouragement at all times. It is to the credit of my sister that the two boys fared well in college, went through their education with distinction, both qualifying as doctors and today are gainfully employed. She had a strong personality and kindled a fire within us all, a flame that would never cease to burn. Her memory will never die, as she lives on in the hearts of all those who knew her, and held her in great affection.
Nesie Nalliah
Zahira students are indebted to this great teacher of Tamil and History
Prof. K. Sivathamby
Prof. Karthigesu Sivathamby, an academic par excellence died on July 6 at the age of 79 years. He was duly recognized in Sri Lanka and overseas, particularly in South India where he was well respected. Many accolades were showered on him, but his close connections with Zahira College, Colombo and its Principal, late Dr. A.M.A. Azeez, are not known to many.
Prof. Sivathamby delivered the Dr. A.M.A. Azeez Oration in 2000. In his opening words he said that “This invitation, in my view, affirms my identity as an Old Zahirian, and more importantly recognizes the fact of my association with Mr. Azeez during the time I taught at Zahira (1956 to 1961), but more importantly after that from 1961 to his death, with a break of about 2 to 3 years when I was a student at Birmingham University (1967 September to 1970 March)”. These emotional words prompted me to write of his life as a student and teacher at Zahira during the Azeez era. Many Zahirians will remember his tall and portly figure in school. He came to Zahira for admission dressed in a verti, banian and shawl and was the only student permitted to attend school in these clothes.
Karthigesu Sivathamby was born on May 10, 1932 at Karaveddy in Jaffna. His father T.P. Karthigesu was a Tamil Pundit, Saiva Pulavar and a Tamil scholar who was held in high esteem by the people of Vadamarachchy. He was a teacher for quite some time in schools in the Kalutara District, where he taught the subject of Tamil mostly to Muslim students.
Having passed the S.S.C. Examination at Vigneswara Vidyalaya, Karaveddi, Sivathamby was brought to Colombo by his father and admitted to Zahira College. He spent four years at Zahira (1949 to 1952), as he could not get sufficient marks in his first and second attempts due to a long illness and entered the University at Peradeniya in his third attempt. Dr. S. Ratnajeevan Hoole in one of his recent articles says that “it is thanks to Zahira College that Sivathamby received a sound school education leading him to University”.
At that time Zahira had a team of able teachers in all subjects. Sivathamby came under the tutelage of a coterie of teachers including Pundit M. Nallathamby, S.M. Kamaldeen, M.M. Uwise, Navaliyoor S. Nadarajan, M.A. Mohamed, S. Shanmugaratnam and Pundit P. Kandiah, who were the teachers in the subject of Tamil.
Sivathamby entered the Arts Faculty of the University of Ceylon in 1953 with S. Selvanayagam, M. Sheriff, A.M. Sameem, A.L. Wijewickrama and S.H.M. Haniffa. E. Pararajasingham (Science), A.R.M. Mansoor (Medicine) and A.D.V. Premaratne (Medicine) too entered in this year. After graduation Sivathamby, Selvanayagam and Sameem joined the teaching staff at Zahira.
The students of that era still remember the excellent manner in which Sivathamby taught the subjects of Tamil and Ceylon History. He made History so interesting that many students started reading the entire translation of Wilhelm Geiger’s Mahavamsa, copies of which were available in the College Library.
While being a student at the College, he started participating in Radio Programmes, specially in dramas.
He became an excellent actor and began conducting weekly programmes over the Radio, specially Manavar Manram (Students’ Forum) in which he encouraged many of his students to participate, some of whom still continue to conduct programmes even today for the last half a century.
With Azeez’s support he encouraged the blossoming and flourishing of Tamil at Zahira. He developed the ‘Tamil Manram’, stimulated the art of Tamil oratory and encouraged inter-school debates. Every month a distinguished Tamil scholar addressed the ‘Tamil Manram’. A result of this was that the College produced a fine crop of Zahirians who dominated the fields of Tamil literature, journalism, drama, oratory, classical literature, fiction and literary criticism”. These observations were made by M.M.M. Mahroof, an old Zahirian and an excellent teacher at Zahira
Sivathamby was in charge of the ‘Tamil Manram’ when A.C.L. Ameer Ali was President and I was the Secretary. He took it to great heights. During his University days he had acted in many plays. At Zahira he produced a drama ‘Nilalkal’, the Tamil version of Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts”, which was staged at the Ghaffoor Hall and its success was hailed by everyone.
The culmination of Sivathamby’s calibre in teaching was reflected in the performance of his students. At the University Entrance and H.S.C. examinations in December 1959, A.C.L. Ameer Ali and I received the All-Island highest marks for Tamil and received the C.Y. Thamotherampillai Memorial Prize. At the G.A.Q. Examination in April 1961 out of 75 students three Muslim students gained the first 3 places with ‘A’ grade for Tamil. The first two were Zahirians.
Prof. Sivathamby had authored 70 books and 200 research papers in Tamil and English. He had dedicated his book ‘Being a Tamil and Sri Lankan’ to Dr. A.M.A. Azeez with the words, “He, more than anyone else, ensured the continuity of my academic career”. For his close connections with the Muslims, the Muslim Media Forum had felicitated him.
S.H.M. Jameel
You who strove hard to end reign of terror should
have been living today
Lakshman Kadirgamar
The sound of bullet that pierced your heart
Still reverberates throughout Sri Lanka
We still breathe the air that mingled with
Your last breath, tho' six years have lapsed
The most precious patriotic son of the soil
Champion of peace stood for
democracy
Ended up earning the fatal wrath
Of the honcho of felines of striped kind
Kadirgamar Sir, your demise was so sudden
That lacuna created by your sad loss
Proved truly and really irreplaceable
Cos you strove so hard to end the terror menace
Now that most ruthless terror outfit in the world
Militarily defeated and wiped out in toto
Many moons ago and never to return
Kadirgamar Sir, you should have been living at this hour
S.G. Ratnayake
You surrendered your soul to His loving arms
Sidney Dickman
He said ‘Don’t come I’ll let you know’
But the Lord said ‘No you must go’
Days have passed, now you are with the Lord
He took you to His abode from your sorrow and pain
I thank the Lord for sending me to you
To surrender your soul to His loving arms
When I called on the Lord to take you to Him
He said you cannot hear nor see
But God in His glory proved him wrong
And gave you the strength to move your hands
You held my hand to show me you knew
I had come to bid you farewell
You knew I had to go so you gently let go my hand
As you were weak you could not help
At that moment God let our spirits be one
And gently took you to His loving self
No better way could we have parted
If we had not trusted in the Lord
Love is not what we do or say
It’s deeper than that I know
It comes from within in a more humble way
I made my peace with you and our Lord
By thanking and surrendering you to the Lord
I thanked Him for your life on earth so long
Knowing we will meet someday in God’s home
Your wife, Barbara |
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