Dr. Eliyathamby Sivalingam:

A human being with endearing qualities

I write this in appreciation of my teacher and close friend who passed away recently after a long illness. I came to know Dr. Sivalingam or “Siva” as he was known to his friends soon after he had returned from post-graduate training in the UK and had been appointed as Eye Surgeon, General Hospital, Kandy in 1967. At the time this was the only eye unit in the Central Province and I had opted to go to Kandy for training. I remember Siva as a human being with admirable and endearing qualities – very courteous, unassuming and soft spoken. He was a gifted teacher who loved his work and spent most of his spare time teaching and encouraged me to accomplish my own goals. He gave care and attention to all the patients who visited the eye clinic without restriction and was even generous enough to give money to patients for lunch if they had to wait until afternoon before being attended to. I never saw him in anger or talk disparagingly of others.

After a year in Kandy, Siva assumed duties as Surgeon at the Eye Hospital, Colombo. I followed suit to continue my training. He brought to the hospital great skills and learning that influenced the quality of patient care. He was a brilliant teacher and was always willing to learn from others. He had no hesitation in seeking advice from his colleagues or juniors. His attitude to work and quality of patient care was of such a high standard that his unit was the choice of those intent on pursuing postgraduate studies. He was devoted to a work ethic which he pursued without fear or favour and stood by what he believed to be right and was never reluctant to express his views.

In 1974 Siva emigrated to the USA for the sake of his childrens' education. He began his career there as a Fellow in the Glaucoma Service at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and was soon appointed a staff member of the same service.

He was assigned to train the residents and perform most of the surgeries. Siva’s ingenuity was soon apparent in his new professional environment too, as he developed a new surgical technique “Partial Punch Procedure” for glaucoma, which became widely popular. During my visits to Wills Hospital, I was invited to clinical meetings as a close friend of Siva. I saw first-hand how his clinical acumen and surgical skills were highly appreciated by the staff at Wills. Siva’s exemplary life leaves much to learn from and gives each of us who were associated with him cause to celebrate the fact that we had the privilege to meet such a simple and learned man. I am personally very grateful for his guidance as well as the knowledge and the ethical practice he imparted during my training. Siva is survived by his wife Kamala and three children, two of whom are Ophthalmologists themselves. I hope they find strength and comfort to overcome this sad loss.

May they find solace in the knowledge that fond and inspiring memories of Siva live on in the hearts and minds of all those who knew him.

Dr. Upali Mendis

William de Alwis:

A legendary journalist of yore

Probably the last of the legendary journalists of yore who walked the corridors of the Daily News passed away recently at the ripe age of eighty. William de Alwis was an integral part of the then Ceylon Daily News team of staff reporters and held an impeccable record for accuracy. Puffing on his pipe one evening he told me that he would always check and double check a story before handing in his copy. It was a safe and better option than having a king sized bloomer against one's name in the morning, he chuckled. In those times By lines for reporters were hard to come by. They had to work very hard to earn one and it had to be a very big story of unshakable accuracy or a news coup of shattering importance to have the trite by line by a Staff Reporter replaced with a name. And how often had we seen the by line by William de Alwis on page one of the Ceylon Daily News.

William de Alwis was a steadying influence in a rather noisy news room in those times with cigarette smoke and ribaldry invading the air. He would sit calmly at a battered standard typewriter pounding out a story with his next best friend the pipe clenched between his teeth. He was I think the only journalist of that era who preferred the pipe to the cigarette and even resisted the blandishments of Bonny Fernando who strongly advocated the Havana cigar as health restorative and money saving as well. Willie remained faithful to the pipe and the pipe outlived the cigar by several decades.

With Willie's death a legendary chapter of elegant prose, accuracy and professionalism ended leaving memories of those spacious times when I too formed a part of the production unit of the Ceylon Daily News and was privileged to have known Willie and several of his colleagues many of whom have pre-deceased him. Now William de Alwis will join them to live in Ideal Happiness in the abode of the Gods.

May the verdant turf lie lightly over him.

Donald Nugawela

Ronnie and Arthur Abeywickrema:

They were lovable and gentlemen

A friend in need is a friend indeed. Arthur Abeywickrema, whose very sudden demise was a shock to us all, was one such person. Arthur was a gentleman and a lovable man who never forgot his friends and relatives. He acknowledged and spoke to everyone and took great pleasure in entertaining anyone - let it be friend or an enemy.

Arthur's elder brother, Ronald, was no second in all respects. What is unbearable is that both brothers passed away within ten days, on March 5 and 16, 2012. It is unbearable to all of us all that we shall not meet or see them anymore in this life. What we now remember is what both, Ronnie and Arthur uttered, did for us and gave us during their lifetime, and it was all extremely meaningful and beyond what words can express. Their sudden deaths continue to be a shock to us all who associated them.

May they be happy wherever they are and we bless then to be in Eternal bliss. May God bless them!

Ernest Kulasuriya

P.N. Ekanayake:

A very popular maths teacher among students

It was a very sad message that I received, of the sudden death of my second brother on November 3, 2011. All family members living at various stations were shocked and never expected this as we all had a very happy family get together in June that year, performing religious rites connected with our parents' death anniversary. After the passing away of our parents we all had to leave our ancestral house at Naranpanawa. We all are so connected as most of our children are married and employed in different spheres holding high positions. It must be mentioned that all of us are now retired and spending a contended life with the blessing and cordial relationship of the children. P.N. a Maharagama mathematics trained teacher at Dharmarajah College, Kandy was very popular among the students. With his wife he ran a tuition class at Aruppola. With his personal intervention, he helped me to admit my two sons to Dharmarajah College.

At their tuition class my two sons and daughter were treated like their children.

As we all were children of teacher-parents (Naranpanawe Kapurastenne Lokumahattya's off-springs) we were at several remote schools in the island with them.

Towards the latter part of the 1930s we were at Mamaduwa School near Vavuniya for about three years. (This was later an LTTE infested area).

P.N. was quite small at the time. I remember how we enjoyed the baths at the wewa. Later at Poppitiya School (about 6 miles off Meda Dumbara formerly called Madugoda) we with our elder sisters had a happy life surrounded by the shrub jungle around the school. I still remember how my brother walked with a stick behind buffaloes imitating a farmer at the paddy threshing floor in our village at Naranpanawa.

With the advent of urbanization the traditional village atmosphere vanished and we transformed into an urban culture. However we maintained a very friendly and bonded atmosphere. P.N. was very keen in making such occasions a success.

Our deep sympathies to his son Dr. Nishantha Ekanayake of the Kandy General Hospital.

Malli (and podi aiyya to others) we never expected you to leave us so suddenly. Our sincere wish is that you be born among us in the next birth in Sansara. May you attain the Supreme Bliss of Nirwana.

T. B. Ekanayake email

Ainsley Samarajiwa:

Scholar, teacher, Human Rights defender

It is with much sadness that I write these lines from London as I am unable to pay this tribute to Ainsley Samarajiwa, and tender my condolences to his wife and family in person. All I can do is to express in this way the high regard and affection I had for him. It was at Carey College where I was then teaching that I first met Ainsley. His enthusiasm and brisk manner impressed us immediately.

Unfortunately for us, Ainsley left to join the staff of Kingswood College, Kandy. It was shortly after the College came under the benevolent leadership of P. H. Nonis. In that air of freedom, Ainsley flourished. Before this time the College was not recognized for academic excellence because the ideals that the founder of the college had given emphasis to were gentlemanliness in its true form - self-discipline, manliness, loyalty and consideration for others. Unobtrusively Nonis added academic achievement to those ideals.

This change was spearheaded by a team of young teachers which included Anton Blacker, Leonidas James, B.A.Thambapillai and Ainsley Samarajiwa. In effecting this change, Ainsley as history master and class master of the sixth form made a significant contribution. Many students began to enter the university and when K.M. de Silva became Professor of history and Gerald Peiris became Professor of geography at the University of Peradeniya one could say that we had come of age. The well-known author Gaston Perera who is no longer with us and A.C. Visvalingam, Chartered Engineer were also his students. Ainsley was one of the scout masters of the Kingswood Group and along with the other teachers ran some memorable scout camps. These and other scout activities contributed greatly to the camaraderie in the life of the college. When Ferens, the Junior Boarding House, moved from Augusta Road to Pilimatalawa, Ainsley was prominent in the smooth transfer to the new premises. As the master-in-charge he shaped the new hostel, creating a little Kingswood in that semi-rural setting.

In 1959 Ainsley left Kingswood to become the principal of a small rural school in Katunayake which he served for over three years. Thereafter he joined the Examinations Branch of the Education Department. Here he made his mark as an efficient and incorruptible public servant. This incurred the displeasure of certain individuals who tried to dislodge him by bringing false allegations against him. He stood his ground and in the inquiries that followed he was completely exonerated and his accusers’ malicious motives revealed.

Ainsley's sense of social justice was so great that on the day after he retired from the security of government service he entered Law College and what was for him the unchartered world of the law. After qualifying as a lawyer he began a career of pleading the cause of those whose human and civic rights had been violated. As I had left the country by that time, I cannot speak from personal knowledge regarding that stage of his career but his services as a voice for the voiceless in our society are well-known.

Allied to this commitment to justice were his strong socialist views. On one occasion, when we discussed these, he said that he did not find his views to be in any way incompatible with his Christian faith. He said that in fact they were faith in action.

It was a great sadness for us his friends and colleagues, to watch the decline in his health, especially when it reached a point when he could no longer speak. To see such a dynamic person laid low like that was hard to bear.

It was a great consolation to see him so lovingly cared for by his wife Evelyn through all these years. For Ainsley, his passing was a release from life's fitful fever and for Evelyn, peace and contentment that she was given the strength to love and care for him till the end.

Sydney Perera

Sushila Wijayaratna:

A beautiful lady

Our grandmother Sushila Wijayaratna was a beautiful lady with an impeccable taste in fashion and the wife of Donald Wijayaratna, the founder of Donalds Studios. Her children loved her equally, and it is not a coincidence that almost all our names begin with the letter ‘S’ as an appreciation by her children to the mother they doted. As her grandchildren, we grew up romanticizing her love story, of how our grandfather had seen her on her way to school and fallen in love with her. It is not surprising that he had been drawn to this beauty with a Mona Lisa smile.

Even though amamma as we fondly called her had reciprocated that affection his proposals had been turned down by her parents who thought she was too young to marry. Grandmother and homemaker, amamma took seriously her duties. She gave priority to her husband above all other things and it was not uncommon to witness her moving around their home looking into our grandfather's meals, laying out his clothes if he had an engagement, or taking care of him. This devotion was always appreciated by our grandfather in return.

She may have been occupied with her responsibilities as wife and mother but nothing escaped the eyes of grandma. If you ever had something troubling you on your mind, amamma was quick to detect it. Be it issues faced during our adolescence when we visited her after school or matters later on in life, she would question us with her assuring and trustworthy smile. The question was sometimes accompanied by a side plate of her homemade love cake. She was a patient and understanding listener and her advice was brief and worldly. It baffled us how someone who did not pursue higher education could be so wise in her advice on many topics, especially on matters relating to career. In retrospect, it could have been that she understood through life experience that it was those same skills and qualities which made one a good homemaker that were required to make one successful in any other field. Qualities such as patience, understanding, hard work, good communication and tact, were all in abundance in our amamma.

I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me...
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was...
Henry Scott Holland

Shameena, Sushani, Prishan, Sudharshi, Sheahara, Sheahana, Sushmita, Suhashana and Sayarah and great grandchildren, Sebastian and Shanella.