Anil Moonesinghe:

Worked tirelessly for the people

The likes of Anil Moonesinghe are very sadly no more. Hailing from an aristocratic background with almost feudal visions, Anil threw himself into the hurly burly of politics with sheer dedication and commitment.

Anil, originally following his initial labour party background, joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party - the Trotskyite part of the day in Ceylon - As colleagues in the left movement are all politicians who left their indelible stamp on the country’s politics – Dr. Colvin R de Silva, Dr. N.M. Perera, Dr. S.A. Wickramasinghe, Pieter Keuneman, Leslie Goonewardane and others. He was given the seat of Agalawatte and in 1956 in that historic election, he won his seat - but did not rest on his laurels and worked tirelessly for the people of his constituency.

As a result when in 1960, Ceylon witnessed two Parliamentary elections in a single year following the tragic assassination of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Anil was rewarded by his people who elected him twice, successively, to the same seat. In 1970, when the coalition government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected to office, the onerous post of chairman of the Ceylon Transport Board was given to him. He held this post until 1975.

I can recall an incident which showed the determination and competence of a person like Anil Moonesinghe. I refer to a late afternoon – 3 p.m. - when Anil escorted by a host of over 20 CTB top staff was at the Pettah Bus Stand to supervise how the CTB buses took in their passengers and at what times they left, supervising personally the arrival and departure of the CTB buses. That was the chairman CTB himself which spoke volumes for his ability, dedication and commitment to providing an efficient bus service to the public.

In later years, Anil resigned from the LSSP, of which he was Secretary and decided to join the SLFP – In May 1983, he won the Matugama by-election. While seated in the Opposition ranks, Anil fulfilled his task by articulately discussing the issues that were raised. In his long span of 27 years in Parliament, his final years were spent as Deputy Speaker. For me, personally it was a privilege to work alongside him, both as a distinguished Parliamentarian and as a cousin.

After the morning sessions were over, Anil would invite me to have lunch with him.

Over lunch, we talked of the day’s happenings in the Chamber and then drifted on to other mundane things.

Being a grandson of Anagarika Dharmapala, he worked a lot for the revival of Buddhism and immersed himself in the uplift of activities of the Maha Bodhi society.

In later years he functioned effectively as president of the Maha Bodhi society.

Anil had a great vision for seeing a united Sri Lanka and by his untimely death, Sri Lanka lost a valuable citizen. His simple, homes and approachable manner has endeared himself to many.

May he attain Nibbana.

Nihal Seneviratne

Matilda Stella Pieris Seneviratne:

Forest Hills’ lady with a golden heart

Matilda Stella Pieris Seneviratne (nee Gunasekera) passed away 20 years ago on August 16, 1992 at the age of 83, leaving a great void in the hearts of all her loved ones. Born on December 7, 1908, she was the youngest daughter of Don James Gunasekera of Mattumagala and Cornelia Weerasinghe of Waragoda, Kelaniya.

She married our father, Durand Paul Pieris Seneviratne, who was working for the Ceylon Government Railway at the time on January 31, 1936 and was blessed with five children - two sons and three daughters. Of them, the fourth in the family, our sister Preeni Lalitha (Polly) met with an untimely death at the age of 10 bringing pain to the minds of Ammi and Thaththi and all of us. We were a close-knit family.

My parents were great entertainers and ours was an open house to all. Every Sunday was a day of entertainment, with friends and relations gathering to have fun. Sea baths at the Uswetakeiyawa beach, cricket and badminton matches and bridge parties were a few items in Thaththi’s agenda and Ammi, you were always ready with all the goodies to feed the crowd. Never did you grudge it.

Our front garden was left bare for numerous sports activities. We were never sent out to play as all the sports were available at home. All of Thaththi’s friends and their children came to ‘Forest Hills’ to play. Cricket matches were very frequent. The naughtiest of the players (hot tempered) were my Chuti Aiya, Gamini (Bunny) and Anton Cramer. Loku Aiya, Upali, was a bully and Ashley Wickrema, the peacemaker. To control them all, Ammi, you were appointed the umpire by Thaththi. What a task for you, Ammi. But you handled them beautifully and in the end fed them all to their hearts content. What a lovely caring mother you were to all of them.

My father used to always enjoy a game of badminton with mother. She, in her normal attire, the saree and father in his sports shorts. He used to thrash the shuttle cock all around the court to make mother run screaming with fatigue, and father used to enjoy this saying that she needed that exercise. Oh! What a wonderful couple they were.

The lover of tennis that he was prompted Thaththi to name our home at Kandana, ‘Forest Hills’ after the place where the famous West Side Tennis Club and venue of the US Open is found in New York. I still remember the day Thaththi came home jubilantly after defeating the reigning tennis champion F.C. de Saram.

Thereafter, he led the Government Services Tennis team of Ceylon to victory. Ammi, you were the driving force in all achievements of Thaththi. Special diets were prepared by Ammi to keep Thaththi fit for his frequent tennis tournaments.

Ammi’s sewing talents were incomparable, and I remember very vividly how Thaththi used to get the best of dainty dress material for Ammi to turn out our dresses. The chief designer at the famous textile emporium, F.X. Perera’s Colombo, was a good friend of Thaththi’s. He used to drop in at our place with samples of his latest dress materials like Robia Voile, out of which Ammi would select the best even before it came to the market and would turn out the most beautiful dresses smocked in numerous designs. They were unique and were admired by all.

Though Ammi and Thaththi were almost of the same height, Thaththi used to insist that she wore a heel, and said that it was for posture. Truly, she looked majestic when dressed in the most tastefully selected sarees by Thaththi.

Domestics were in plenty at the time. Maggie was the chief of them for long years. Ammi, you looked after them so tenderly. All the pieces of jewellery were made for them and quite a few of them given in marriage at the proper time.

Kandana was a cosmopolitan town. With the commencement of the World War II, the Colombo folk had to be evacuated and quite a percentage of the Public Servants, got stationed at Kandana, as the G.P.O was shifted to the magnificent hostel building of De Mazenod College. Thereafter, all communities, Burgher, Malay, Tamil and Sinhalese lived in harmony for many years. All the festivals were celebrated by our parents as we had a large circle of friends from all communities. Vesak decorations at ‘Forest Hills’ often drew admiration of all including the Chief Incumbent at our temple, Ven Dhammadinna, who used to give an award for the best illuminated house.

Ammi, you had the joy of seeing all eight of your grand-children, five boys and three girls who loved you so much. I still remember how you blessed Arjuna, the oldest of them, when he came to inform you that he was getting married. Thaththi too used to dote on him being the only grandchild he saw who was so precious and cute. Sad, he did not live to see the rest. Had he lived on his talents and qualities would have rubbed off on all of them.

Though I am no writer nor scholar, Thaththi, with the backing you gave me when preparing for the S.S.C Examination, I was able to obtain a distinction pass for English. I also remember with gratitude my teacher Lois Fernando (Wijekoon). In that era of the 1950’s, credit passes were the requirement for higher studies. The five credit passes for medicine, I did get, but I opted to become a teacher. When I got my first appointment, Thaththi, your advice to me was to do an honest job and be truthful to myself. I can say that I’ve done that to the letter and that I am proud of my students who have reached great heights in their chosen fields, especially in medicine, and are shining stars in Sri Lanka as well as many parts of the world.

Dear Ammi and Thaththi, your two sons and youngest daughter too have brought much credit to both of you by following in your foot-steps. Your sons,Upali and Gamini went on to serve the Police Department and the Ceylon Civil Service respectively with much distinction while your daughter Duranthie has done much to mould many a child during their tender years into fine young men and women. We hope our collective deeds would also bestow merit on you both.

The revolving bookshelf with a collection of invaluable books on literature, science, general knowledge and many others was a treasure, but for us as little children was only to play hide and seek and enjoy its movement going up and down like horses on a merry-go-round. It was much later that I spotted an identical one when we were holidaying in Nuwara Eliya at another railway officer’s residence.

Then I learnt that it had been a group of privileged CGR officers who had got them shipped from England prior to World War II. So naturally Ammi had to keep a vigilant eye on it so the little rascals wouldn’t damage it.

Reciting of the following Elegy by Thomas Grey by Thaththi was a treat to listen to. Though this was meant for Ammi, it was deeply rooted in our memories as well:

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

Ammi and Thaththi had to undergo great pains many a time. Once it was the major floods that devastated the NCP and my brother Upali, a dare devil Police officer was stationed in Anuradhapura and the most alarming piece of news reached us saying “I am still among the living”. Thaththi was prepared to sacrifice anything to save him. It was his good friend, uncle Ahmed who came forward. He in his brand new Mercedes took Thaththi with all the possible food items in search of his son. After rescuing several drowning people, my brother had been found perched on a tree through exhaustion awaiting help.

In any crisis in the family, being the eldest daughter, Ammi used to find comfort in confiding in me. Ammi, I am glad I was there for you at such times. Her fervent hope and prayer was that all four of us would build houses in our garden and enjoy life with her peacefully to the very end. Sadly, that was not to be.

Dearest Ammi and Thaththi, I could write volumes about the great and sad events at ‘Forest Hills’ and your memory stands tall through them all as the two glittering gems that have faded away along with the warmth of the breeze that touched everyone back then.

What we owe you this birth is enormous. I hope and pray on behalf of all your loved ones that your journey in samsara be a short one, with all the merit you gained in heaps and bounds from simply the way you lived your life.

May you both attain the eternal bliss of nirvana.

Rukmani(Kitty)
Raddalgoda