Lucille Amarasuriya:

Avid social worker and clever fund raiser

It was just the other day that my friend Srima Seneviratne came up to me and said, “Savi, none of you can aspire to hold a candle to your mother, she was one of the most gracious, talented and charming people I have known in my life.” Srima is absolutely right, and this is not the first time I have heard people expressing similar sentiments about her.

My mother, Lucille Amarasuriya, passed away on July 25, 1986, at the age of 72. When she died I felt rudderless as she was such an integral part of my life. She moulded my personality and ingrained good values in me. She was the person I respected and admired most and was, in my opinion, the role model of good motherhood. An important chapter of my life ended with her demise. Simple and unassuming, with a charming smile on her beautiful face, she was to me the embodiment of goodness, intelligence, ability and rare artistic talent.

Being the youngest of her seven children, when I look back on our childhood days, what strikes me most is how we were to have such a selfless, clever and wonderful mother. Despite the fact that she led a very busy and productive life, giving voluntary service to many organisations and Buddhist temples, while also lending a supportive role to our father who was in public life, she was there for all seven of us when we needed her.

She gave each of us undivided attention, taking an interest in all our varied activities. She prided herself in designing beautiful dresses for us girls, making them herself or supervising their stitching to perfection; for dressing us up gave her much joy and pleasure.

So many of her friends and relatives came to my mother to have their daughters’ saris and jewellery designed by her. She never dreamt of charging them, and her designs were very professional especially the jewellery, although she never had any training in these lines.

What always amazed me was her extreme versatility. Way back in the early 60s, she produced the most beautifully hand moulded lotuses and roses. They were self taught creations. She crafted them which much reverence for ‘Bodhi Pujas’ and later obliged friends and relations by producing them as table decor for weddings. It was always done as a gesture of friendship and love and never for monetary gain.

She used them, these beautiful wax lotuses, for the first time, as centre pieces for tables at my sister Saro’s wedding in 1965. In those days, when themes for weddings and birthday parties were relatively unknown, she always had particular themes for our birthday parties and weddings.

As a little girl of four, I still remember the unforgettable birthday gift she gave me – a baby doll in a beautifully draped bassinet together with an exquisite layette. I can still picture the daintily embroidered baby shirts and the exquisite white lace robe. This gift was so meaningful as it was a labour of love. The lovely fairies she painted on my tiffin box and drink bottle when I first entered the Ladies’ College kindergarten are still vivid in my memory. These are some of the early and precious memories I have of her, though more than half a century has elapsed.

She was an avid social worker and with her original and imaginative ideas she was a clever fund-raiser. She organized many flag days in aid of charities such as the CNAPT. As children, we had much fun participating in these flag days. She did great service for the All Ceylon Women’s Buddhist Congress and at the Siviraja Home for the Blind in Mahawewa.

With the help of foreign diplomatic missions she organised a very successful and colourful costume show with song and dance at the Galle Face Hotel, called “Around The World”, to collect much needed funds for the Blind Home. As a child I remember walking the ramp at the Galle Face Hotel, when she organised a dress parade with Mrs Yoga de Soysa to collect funds to build a Girls’ Hostel at the ACWBC. Many carnivals and ‘melas’ too were enthusiastically organised by her for similar charities. Almost single handedly she raised funds to build a two storeyed assembly hall at Vajiraramaya during the time Reverend Narada was the Viharadhipathi.

She was a very active Inner Wheeler and had the honour of being the first Sri Lankan District Chairperson of District 321, which included Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. She had such a vibrant and appealing personality and could put her hands to almost anything, perhaps with the exception of cookery.

Mummy, I think of you every day with gratitude and affection. May you attain Nibbana.

Savitri

Sigamani Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy:

He gave much to Kandy

Sigamani Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy passed away on July 31, 2010 after a very brief ailment at the ripe dotage of 81.

Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy who was a successful business entrepreneur was better known among the Kandyan people as a multi religious man.

He was born on October 7, 1928 at Pt Pedro in Jaffna. He was schooled at Hartley College, Pt Pedro, a prestigious boarding school, from 1935 to 1947. He was an outstanding student, a sports star, a member of the college soccer team.

After completing his studies at Hartley College, he migrated to Kandy and helped his father and his paternal uncles who had established themselves as a group in jewellery enterprise in Kandy as Nagalingams Jewellers.

Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy inherited the business, which grew to become Kandy’s premier jewellery store.

In 1993, he was honoured by the State and bestowed with the National Honours Award of Excellence - ‘Sri Lanka Sigamani’ by the then president of Sri Lanka, President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy’s spouse, Pathmasanie Nagalingam had passed away in 2001. They are blessed with four sons Manoharan, Ravi, Ramani and Mohan, all distinguished old boys of Trinity College, Kandy who are All-Island Justices of Peace.

Jewellery was not only the subject that has captured the heart of Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy. He was attached to the religious affairs of his own religion, Hinduism and the religious affairs of other communities in Kandy.

In social life, he was a prominent social worker and a notable philanthropist. He was unpretentious, simple and lovable.

He moved very closely with the religious activities of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy, the Sri Maha Kataragama Devale, Kandy and the Sri Selva Vinayagar Kovil, Kandy. Nagalingam Ratnasabapathy was a patron and a live-wire of several religious, cultural and social service organisations and a vice president of the Central Province Hindu Association, based in Kandy.

One year ago, you left us to be in delightful heaven. You are never forgotten.

May he attain Ama Maha Nivana, the Greatest Blissful Nirvana!

Ealian Abeysirigunewardena

Kusala Wichitra Abhayawardane:

Social worker turned politician

MP Kusala Wichitra Abhayawardane was born on November 01, 1920 and passed away on July 20, 1988. She represented Borella Electrorate in Parliament from 1970 to 1977. Her seat was in the rear of the old Parliament. Who was seated next to her was non other than Ronnie de Mel a member of the United Front Government, who was elected to Parliament by the people of Devundara (Dondra) now an adviser to present President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Kusala contested the 1970 July General Election from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. (LSSP), not because she was involved in party politics prominently, but because of her husband Hector Abhayawardhane who was a leading party activist regarded as a think tank who cut his leftwing political stature working under an Indian socialist for more than 15 years.

Kusala was not born as a daughter of a proletarian family to take the hammer and the sickle, but was born to a very rich family with the silver spoon in her mouth. She had her graduation at London School of Economics.

She did not have the slightest idea to do politics. But she was convinced as a young rich and educated girl that social justice should be guaranteed to all irrespective of their class, caste, creed, culture or politics. She was attracted by the teachings of Krishnamoorthi, she involved in some activities mostly confined to ideological discourses. Although the topics were important and the participants were very learned intellectuals, Kusala was not happy because no practical activities emerged and they were far distanced from the real life.

Kusala was drawn to the National Sramadana Movement with a lot of interest. She trusted Senior Rural Development Officer Abeysekera and regarded him as her Guru. He had a vision and dedication to carry forward the programme entrusted to him by the then Government. Kusala came to Sramadana camps with a team of women with very strong economic social and educated background.

Kusala devoted her time, energy and money to make the voluntary work camps conducted in many parts of the island successfull.

She was able to win the 1970 General Election without much difficulties because she was the common candidate of the United Front under the strong leadership of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Bernard Soyza became one of her very close associates. Dr N M Perera, Dr Colvin R de Silva, Doric de Zoza and several well educated and seasoned politicians were her partners within the party circle. She cut a figure as a different politician. While doing everything possible to meet the requirements of her constituents; she took more interest to work outside politics to serve the needy people. Her doors were opened not only to the Borella people, but also to any one from any electorate.

During the seven years she represented Borella electorate in Parliament, her house was opened to the people in all the seven days of the week, if she was at home. She kept very close contact with foreigners and exchanged views with them. She attended international conferences and seminars on issues such as world peace, equal place for women, Solidarity with Vietnam, Palestine and several other countries involved in national liberation struggles.

J Gunadasa Jayawickrema