1960 Medical batch, Colombo, Sri Lanka.: 2014-12-07

Saturday, December 13, 2014

A ’ Caffringa’ Dance (Portuguese origin) at a Christmas Carols at The St. Mary’s College, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Please click on the web-link below with speakers on :-

Statins and cataract

http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/news/20141205/daily-statin-might-raise-your-risk-for-cataracts-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Meniscus surgery for the knee.

email from Muttuvelu Maheswaran

Dec 5 (9 days ago)

PLEASE GET A SECOND OPINION IF AN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON SUGGESTS SURGERY!! PERHAPS A RHEUMATOLOGIST?

He suggests an alternative to

surgery could be physical therapy

to help maintain and restore muscle

strength and range of motion

Symptoms can also be treated with ice and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, he says

http://rsna2014.rsna.org/program/details/?emID=14004808

This is the Lodge built by my nephew Viran Perera close to Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. I stayed there for 3 nights recently and on the 5 occasions we visited the Park saw 10 leopsrds. All four bedrooms are air conditioned. Local and western meals are available. No credit card payments can be made at present

Have a nice day
Placid
(Dr Placid Coorey

compared to the prices charged by the hotels in the vicinity the price is reasonable. If you wish to get further details or make a booking please contact Viran at pereramviran@gmail.com

From: Viran Perera

Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 4:48 PM

Subject: Koragaha Lodge is finally on the web

Hi All,

Please see below link. The website for 'Koragaha Lodge' was launched this afternoon.

http://www.koragahalodge.com/

Best regards,
Viran

Friday, December 12, 2014

Lucien Weeramantry - An Appreciation.

email from Senaka Weeraratna

Lucien Weeramantry
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/appreciation07.htm
The passing away of Attorney-at-Law Lucien Gregory Weeramantry on August 17 has cast a gloom amongst the legal fraternity at Hutftsdorp and his wide circle of friends whom he had very intimately befriended over the years, both in Sri Lanka and abroad. It is not my intention to write about his unmatched international achievements of which I am certain many others more knowledgeable would record for posterity. I write this appreciation to speak of Lucien Weeramantry the lawyer I knew at the Bar and nothing more.
After I was called to the Bar in May 1959 I had the good fortune of instructing Lucien Weeramantry in my very first Case which was the Trial of the then National Football Coach in a cheque Fraud Case. Lucien, who was many years my Senior, in all humility insisted that I refer to him simply by his first name and never add the prefix ‘Mr’ or ‘Sir’ when addressing him which is usually the legal tradition adopted by juniors at the Bar when addressing their seniors. This instantly endeared him as a lifelong true friend for many decades to follow.
A couple of years later, 1961 to be exact, fate decreed that Lucien and 1 should appear for the defence of three of the main accused in the country’s most sensational murder Case, that of the Assassination of then Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. Lucien appeared for the assassin Talduwe Somarama Thera and my clients were Mapitigama Buddharakkita Thera and H. P. Jayawardena, the 1st and 2nd accused respectively. Being in almost general control of the defence it fell on me to retain a Counsel for Somarama Thero, which was no easy task due to the political climate at the time. However Lucien Weeramantry when approached by me had no hesitation in accepting the challenge and the dedication he exhibited thereafter in the course of the Supreme Court Trial towards his client in the face of tremendous odds earned the admiration of all including the Trial Judge, Hon. T. S. Fernando, Q.C., who when addressing accused Somarama Thero before sentence of death was passed on him remarked, inter alia, “You have been defended by Counsel, who has throughout these long and arduous proceedings exhibited towards your case a devotion which has been the admiration of everyone in this Court. But having regard to the strength of the evidence against you, there has been, in my view, no Counsel yet born who could have saved you.” I do not think any Court in this country, least of all the Supreme Court, has ever paid such a glowing tribute to Counsel in a Case. Lucien Weeramantry fully deserved it.
In the ensuing appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal Weeramantry filed a petition setting out 60 grounds and argued it for full five days before a Bench of five Judges presided over by Chief Justice Hon. Hema Basnayake Q.C. which again had little success. But Lucien was a great fighter and a further Appeal was presented to the Privy Council against the Appeal Court verdict. Having obtained the services of eminent English Counsel D. N. Pritt, Q.C., pro deo, Lucien and I prepared the necessary Brief to be sent over to London. In doing so I had referred to Somarama as “the Assassin.” When Lucien spotted this he was visibly upset and asked me to correct it to read “the alleged assassin.” Such was the devotion of the man to his client whose interest Lucien always held to be paramount. By this he also exhibited his control to legal phraseology.
Another moving moment which should not go unrecorded was when the day of Somarama’s execution drew near Lucien telephoned me the day before the execution and wanted me to accompany him to the death row at the Welikada Prison to see Somarama for the last time. We went there the evening before the execution but our mission did not succeed as the authorities refused to grant us permission to see the prisoner. Lucian however managed to convince the Prison Guards to at least inform Somarama that we had come to see him but were not granted access. The sight of the hangman hurriedly going about the last minute preparations for the next mornings execution was too much for Lucien’s human heart to bear and we left the prison in stunned silence.
Lucien Weeramantry was a gentleman to his finger tips, he was always well groomed and immaculately dressed and enjoyed the fruits of life to its full. He thoroughly enjoyed the life in Court in the mornings as much as he did the evenings. He was one of Hulftsdorp’s most glamorous lawyers at the time I joined the profession. Nothing could worry him because he was always strongly in control of any situation. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

R. Wickramarachchi
Boralesgamuwa

Professor T. Nadaraja - brilliant legal mind

email from Senaka Weeraratna

Professor T. Nadaraja - brilliant legal mind

by H.B. de Silva

http://archives.dailynews.lk/2004/12/24/fea04.html

It was in Peradeniya that I first met Professor T. Nadaraja. We were then in our early thirties, an age when one is neither too young or too old, when friendships made are of closeness that survive the passage of time.

As I now look back in my twilight years on those happy carefree days, my memory lingers on those who made a deep impression on me, one of those persons was Professor Nadaraja. A friend told me that he was dead, he brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.

It was with great sadness that I learnt of the passing away of this very learned man. It was such a pleasure and an education in itself to converse with him. He has often been described as an eminent jurist and an outstanding academic scholar, but he was much more than that.

Ever since his undergraduate days at the University of Cambridge he had been a collector of books. The library at his home had books on various subjects. He had an excellent collection of books on Indian philosophy, religion, art and sculpture.

He was interested in the ancient civilisations and culture of Greece and Rome, China, Egypt, Persia and the Maya's of South America, as well as the more recent history and culture of the Western world.

His library contained well-known books on English Literature and poetry and comparative religion. He was a master of the English language and very precise in the use of the spoken and written word.

He had a profound knowledge of Hinduism and that can be judged by a book written by him called "The Cult of Siva with special reference to the Dances of Siva".

His mother a gentle and cultured lady, was the daughter of Sir P. Arunachalam and it was her great influence on her son that made Nadaraja a lover of books, and music. At an early age she taught him the Thevarams (hymns) the Tiruvasagam and the other Tamil classics.

He was a firm believer of the Perennial Philosophy. In the preface of the book "Islam and Perennial Philosophy" authored by Frithjof Schoun the meaning of Perennial Philosophy has been explained as "The Philosophia Perennis has come to signify for those devoted to traditional studies an eternal truth at the heart of all traditions, corresponding to the Sanatana Dharma of Hinduism and al-hikmah al-khalidah of Islam".

It is not surprising that he should have inherited this vast knowledge of Hinduism, as his paternal and maternal ancestors have been known as builders of temples. On his paternal side he came from a wealthy family well-known for sponsoring charitable causes.

His great grandfather built the Sithy Vinayagar Temple and pilgrims rest in Colombo where Swamy Vivekananda visited and gave a lecture. Nadaraja was the chief Trustee of this temple from 1945 onwards.

On his maternal side, his great grandfather Gate Mudaliyar Arunasalam Ponnambalam, the father of the three famous brothers P. Coomaraswamy, Sir P. Ramanathan and Sir P. Arunachalam built the well-known Sri Ponnambalavanesvara Temple in Colombo, His son Sir P. Ramanathan renovated the temple and modelled it on the lines of the famous South Indian temples.

His grandfather Sir P. Arunachalam built another well-known temple in Mutwal, Colombo, called the Arunachaleswara Temple. Professor Nadaraja was a Trustee of all these temples.

He was the patron of the Hindu University Society at Peradeniya when the Law Faculty was there. He has contributed many well-known and learned articles on Hinduism to various journals.

An interesting account of Nadaraja's family background is in a book about the genealogy of the Jaffna Tamils. It states that Mudaliyar Aramuganathapillai Coomaraswamy was the first Tamil to be appointed to the Legislative Council in 1833.

His son Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy who was the first person who was neither a Christian or a Jew to be admitted as a Barrister of London. He was also an appointed member of the Legislative Council. Sir Muttu's son was the renowned scholar Ananda K. Coomaraswamy.

Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy's sister married Gate Mudaliyar Arunasalam Ponnambalam who built the Ponnambalavanesvara Temple in Colombo. He was the father of the three illustrious sons, P. Coomaraswamy, Sir P. Ramanathan and Sir P. Arunachalam, these three brothers were also members of the Legislative Council.

When Sir P. Arunachalam retired from the Civil Service, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council. Sir P. Arunachalam's son, Sir A. Mahadeva, KCMG, was a member of the Legislative Council and the State Council. It is unique that a member of this family has served in the Legislature in an unbroken line from 1833-1947 for nearly one hundred and fifteen years.

In the sphere of education it was his grandfather Sir P. Arunachalam who first pleaded for a University to be established in Sri Lanka, and he is rightly known as the father of the University Movement.

The first Hall of Residence in the University campus at Peradeniya was named Arunachalam Hall to honour the memory of Sir P. Arunachalam. He also wrote a well-known book on Law called "Digest of Ceylon cases".

It was his grand uncle, Sir P. Ramanathan who was the first person in Sri Lanka to ask the government to establish a Law College, and it was through his efforts that the Law College was founded. He was also responsible for publishing the Law Reports.

It was into this family that Nadaraja was born on the 27th December 1917. Natured from early years in the culture and traditions of his forebearers he distinguished himself in the study of law.

His books on the "Roman-Dutch Law of Fideicommissa" and the "Legal System of Ceylon in its Historical Setting" were described as classics and have been cited in Sri Lankan and South African courts, where the Roman-Dutch law prevails. He has written numerous articles on different aspects of the law and these are available in the Law Library of the University of Colombo.

Nadaraja was educated at Royal College, Colombo, where he won many prizes and the coveted Shakespeare Prize. He proceeded to the University of Cambridge for his legal studies and entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

He was awarded First Class Honours in both parts of the Cambridge Law Tripos, the Bond Prize for Roman Law, the Davies Prize for English Law and the Post Graduate Law Studentship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

At Lincoln's Inn, London, Nadaraja was awarded the First Class Certificate of Honour by the Council of Legal Education, London, and the Buchanan Prize of Lincoln's Inn.

He obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Cambridge University, and he was awarded the Hon. LLD (Colombo University) and the Jaffna University conferred the degree Hon. D.Litt. on him.

The Bar Council of Sri Lanka honoured him in recognition of the contributions made by Nadaraja in the field of legal literature and legal education by conferring Life Membership Honoris Causa on him.

Professor Nadaraja was a lecturer at the Ceylon Law College from 1943-49. When the University of Ceylon started a Department of Law in 1947 Nadaraja joined the Law Department in 1947. He was appointed Professor of Law in 1951. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts 1957-1960.

When the Department of Law was made a Faculty of Law, he was the Head of Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1960 until he retired from the University. He was Chancellor of the University of Jaffna from 1984 until he passed away on 20th January 2004.

Nadaraja was President of the Classical Association 1970-71 and a past President of the Royal Asiatic Society, where his grandfather Sir P. Arunachalam had been the first Ceylonese to be elected to that post.

Professor Nadaraja was a soft-spoken and cultured man. He was ready to help anyone who came to him for advice or material benefits. Whatever charity he did was never publicised, he considered them to be unremembered acts of kindness and love.

Photo: Venue: King George Hall, University of Ceylon, Colombo Campus

Occasion: Lawnite – Annual Social of the Law Faculty Students Union

Date: July 1972

Left to Right: Mrs. Nadaraja, Mrs. Gulasekeram (University Library Staff), Prof. T. Nadaraja ( Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Ceylon), Professor B.A. Abeywickrema( Vice – Chancellor, University of Ceylon, Colombo), Senaka Weeraratna (President, Law Faculty Students’ Union),

and Dr. M. Sornarajah (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law)

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Why painful memories linger

Please click on the web-link below:-

http://www.livescience.com/49071-why-painful-memories-linger.html

Sent from Popular Science News for Android.

Fermented Rice a neglected Vitamin store.

Email from KK – ‘Palan choru’ – ‘Heel buth’.

Pazhaya saadam - the word means "old rice". This is a Traditional wisdom of South India. A wonderful healthy eating life style now ignored in Modern India and ridiculed as a poor man's life-style food.

In olden days, all farmers and all laborers who did lot of physical work ate this fermented rice food for breakfast. This gives sustained energy with all natural nutritional supplements which comes from the fermenting bacteria in it. It is so soothing for the intestines and does not irritate it because the rice is fermented and digested by bacteria. Another plus point is these trillions of bacteria will produce copious amount of B complex Vitamins and d vitamin B12 ( a good source for vegetarians) and K vitamins and also add to the fiber in the stool preventing constipation.

Pradheep, in his personal experiments, lost almost 8 pounds by eating 10 days fermented rice and fermented barley with yogurt ( in USA , the temperature is generally less optimum for making fermented rice unlike in India).
I stopped water therapy and ate refined foods for a month and made my levels go to the upper side of normal. Then ate fermented rice and fermented barley using organic-whole-milk-yogurt for 10 days and checked my blood parameters before and after this regimen.
For lunch this fermented rice or barley along with a cup of cooked vegetables (each day a different one).


Eating Fermented Food		Home checked Values	Hospital checked Values
	Day-1	Day-10	Day 20
Fasting sugar (mg/dl)	92	71
2hrs after meal (mg/dl)	123	106
Cholesterol (mg/dl)	193	172
Triglycerides (mg/dl)	155	125
Weight (pounds)	152	144
Blood Pressure	123/80	101/70	99/71

I ate more carbohydrates (breakfast and Lunch) like brown-rice and hulled-barley and to contrary belief I get these values very low. At night I ate one plate full of well riped fruits like grapes, cherries, bananas, apples etc. I used organic radiance farm whole milk to make yogurt. That is rich in cream and lots of fat. These 10 days I did not do water therapy also. Inspite of that my values were low. I used home-test kit for this evaluation. In another 10 days I will check in hospital how these values look.
Brown rice or hulled-barley (dont use white pearl-barley) was soaked overnight and then cooked with excess water in pressure cooker. Then when in room temperature conditions, half a teacup of Indian curd (yogurt) was added to cooked rice or cooked barley and allowed to ferment overnight (kept in oven in cold winters to give warmth).
Fermenting rice in Cold countries: Add yogurt to rice and ferment it overnight. IN USA and commercial yogurt is made using two bacteria: Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. But the texture is not good, it is slimy and soury. But in Indian curd or yogurt Lactobacillus casei is used. The taste and texture is really good.
You can also use butter milk, which is yogurt without the cream.
To make home made yogurt, boil milk (quarter gallon) and when it is luke warm add 2 or 3 ounces of yogurt. Allow it to ferment for overnight.
What rice to use?
Use brown rice for fermentation instead of white rice. click here to read about processing of rice. Converted or parboiled rice has been treated with steam to force nutrients into the kernel before polishing takes place; it lies between brown and white rice in nutritional value. Refined rice is one of the cause of soaring diabetes in rice eating population.

Brown rice, which has undergone only enough milling to remove the indigestible outer hull, is the most nutritious form. Further processing results in white rice, which has lost the bran and germ. It cooks more quickly and is easier to store than whole grain brown) rice, but is much lower in protein and minerals.

But soaking, makes brown rice very palatable. After cooking rice, then ferment the rice when it is slightly warm or completely cool. Hulled barley (not pearl white barley) can be used instead of rice for kidney problems and heat in the body.

Why fermented rice? Known as gut microbiota, the trillions of bacteria that populate the human gastrointestinal tract perform a variety of chores. These "friendly" microbes help extract calories from what we eat, help store these calories for later use, and provide energy and nutrients for the production of new bacteria to continue this work.
So eating fermented rice we actually introduce always healthy bacteria into our body. The stomach pH kills most of the bacteria in the fermented rice , but remember some of them manages to sneak into the intestines and produce a healthy bacterial colony that even relieves constipation, because they add as fiber to the stools.
Misleading education.
By numbers, the bacteria in our gut is more than the number of human cells. We can say even that we are just a human bag of bacteria. Due to the discovery of penicillin we have been educated with a wrong notion that bacteria means bad. Lot of research now shows that "too clean" leads to many allergy diseases. We would like to alter and state that decreasing the healthy bacteria in our gut causes increased allergy problems.
Modern research is now slowly understanding that the bacteria flora in the body is very very important that when it is disrupted can lead to many diseases and surprisingly obesity. This Study shows that changing The Bacteria In Your Digestive System Be An Obesity Treatment.
This article tells us the makeup of each person's gut microflora influences their health, and abnormalities in gut microbes have been linked to diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
A specific population of bacteria present in our gut is crucial to our health. However, some treatments for cancer, particularly those that deplete the body's immune cells, have high potential to disrupt the natural balance between our bodies and these commensal microorganisms, causing disease. This Studyshows that the result of total body irradiation in cancer treatment depends on the type of healthy intestinal bacteria. When mice had good healthy bacteria, the radiation was effective. Conversely, a reduction in the number of host microorganisms by the use of antibiotics reduced the beneficial effects of TBI on tumor regression in these animals.
Beware: This is a caution to everyone not to use antibiotics unless really needed. Most of the children and medications contain chemicals and anti-biotics that distrupts the gut bacteria and also make them vulnerable to more infections. We might use them for temporary relief of cold and fevers, but in the long run we are increasing the chances of other diseases because of disrupting the bacterial flora.
Use only organic milk , because non-organic milk are from cows given lots of antibiotics which gets into our human body through the milk. Lazy and ignorant modern mothers give their children these unhealthy milk to children even without boiling the milk. These antibiotics destroy the gut bacteria making the children grow and spread unhealthy bacteria to everyone. It is common to hear from parents about their children bringing unhealthy infections after going to school. Little they do realize it all comes from unhealthy eating and life style of the children which everyone are responsible.
This preparation is called Pazhaya saddam pazhankanji / kulutha choru and Paaniwala chawal in hindi.

Cook rice and soak in plain water over-night preferably in a clay vessel or porcelain container. Keep in a warm place like making home made yogurt, so that you allow healthy bacteria to grow in it. Next day morning mix with a small quantity of buttermilk (optional) , chopped shallots (pearl onions) and salt.

Eat (or drink as gruel) this highly nutritious vitamin B rich fermented food that will quench the acidity of the body. The best part of it is that it supplies lots and lots of nutrients especially Vitamin B12, for vegetarians. This is the richest source of Vitamin B12 for vegetarians. It also restores healthy intestinal flora (bacteria) and relieves all diseases related to stomach and intestines, like dueodenal ulcers, infectious colitis, Ischemic colitis, Radiation colitis, Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, Diverticular disease, Hemorrhoids, Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), celiac disease , candida infections etc.

It is the bacteria cells that also contribute to the bulk of feces that when reduced is one of the factor for constipation.
Ignoring this energizer food recipe modern Indians are going after fad energy boosting foods and supplements like power bars, boosts, horlicks which cause more damage than good and also causes increase in various diseases like diabetes.