Dr. Nandadasa Kodagoda lived a highly principled life
Siri Gunasinghe
Dr. Nandadasa Kodagoda (Nande or Koda for some of us) was not just a
medical practitioner who excelled in his speciality, Forensic Medicine,
but a physician for your soul, rather your mind, as well.
He was a wonderful friend, a great support when needed and above all
a good man. It is sad beyond all description that he had to pass away,
at the height of his potential, before he could achieve much of what he
had in his mind to do, such as the eradication of the social ills that
threatened, and still do, the very continuance of our time-honoured
communal mores.
His interest in the well-being of his fellow men was one thing he
pursued relentlessly. Perhaps the experience he gained during his
forensic practice instilled in him an abiding interest in people;
consequently he developed a large hearted willingness to understand the
problems that brought these people to his notice.
He set himself the task of finding solutions to the problems he knew
were caused by a society that was not particularly concerned with the
welfare of its less fortunate members. It would appear that he was
encouraged in this task as the natural result of growing up in a
Buddhist cultural environment that made him the liberal humanist he was.
I came to know Nande through my brother. They were classmates at
Mahinda College, Galle. As a Mahindian myself, I can recognise the
influence his old school must have had on Nande that made him not just
an exemplary professional but a man capable of enthusiastically
embracing his cultural heritage as an essential part of his mental
make-up: it was not merely something to be talked about as a pastime.
That culture informed all his activities. It was the basis of his
thinking that it was his duty to be a productive member of his society.
I have a feeling that Nande thought of social activity as a function of
living within a social organisation where being a friend for those who
were in need of friendship was of the essence.
Nande was, as the cliche goes, a man of many parts. His wide ranging
interests covered not just the ills of our society but also whatever was
good in it. His social activities were aimed at ending evils such as
child abuse and drug use as well as preventing the spread of AIDS.
He served as member or chairman of various committees set up to deal
with these affairs. His humanity led him to establish an organisation
specially to provide financial and other types of aid to the families of
members of the defence forces and the police service at a time when such
families received little consideration from the society at large.
I am happy to note here that his services were recognised by the
State and other bodies and Nande was duly honoured. He was a Desamanya.
His love of the Sinhala language and literature made Nande a popular
personality among men of letters and artists. It was this interest in
culture that formed the basis of my friendship with Nande and won him my
respect. I will always remember the many evenings we spent together at
his home discussing various topics pertaining to language and
literature.
These discussions often led to heated arguments about what was right
and what was wrong with the contemporary practice of the arts; what was
true and what was untrue in the historical documentation; what should be
accepted and what should be discarded in religious discourse.
I seldom agreed with his views on language in particular. He was a
purist of the Munidasa Coomaratunga persuasion which, I always thought,
and still think, an aberration that goes counter to all known linguistic
criteria.
My own view of language was, and is, that it has its own logic and
lives by its own rules and that we cannot stem the flow. I could not
convince him that Hela is just one stage, if that, in the long evolution
of Sinhala, and that it belongs in the past and no longer functional.
Our debates about language and literature went on hour after hour and
ended by agreeing to disagree. We never had an adversarial residue after
endless hours of weighing each other's ideas and opinions. It was always
an amicable handshake. what struck me most was the enthusiasm and the
intensity with which Nande defended his position.
It was admirable. He was a very popular broadcaster with the SLBC. In
his broadcasts he covered a variety of subjects, mostly dealing with
socially significant matters. He often highlighted the burning questions
of the day and drew society's attention to the fact that those questions
needed meaningful answers.
His contribution to Sinhala literature and the arts through his
writings and his broadcasts over the radio was regarded as very
significant, particularly, for its educational value. He was an
indefatigable man where such activities were concerned: he was always on
the go.
Nande impressed us all with his deep understanding and love of the
history of the country and its culture. His deep-seated feelings for our
social and cultural traditions and his hopes for their future were
obvious.
His views on these matters were clear and strong and he held fast to
them. They were not abstractions or just convenient notions; they
defined his attitude to life and were put into practice in his
day-to-day business of living. Nande left a vacuum that is very hard to
fill.
It is not at all surprising that the highly principled way of life of
Dr. Nandadasa Kodagoda earned him the respect of his close associates
and of those who were not that close as well. In many ways he was a role
model.
That his passing away is a huge loss to the country cannot be over
emphasised. To many of us who were his friends and close associates,
Nande's death came as a veritable shock: it was untimely. It means the
drying up of what used to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
May he attain Nibbana. |