This blog is about the entrants in the year 1960, to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ceylon, Colombo. The email address for communications is, 1960batch@gmail.com. Please BOOKMARK this page for easier access later.Photo is the entrance porch of the old General Hospital, Colombo, still in existence. Please use the search box below to look for your requirement.
Dayasiri
Did enjoy very much reading about your progress,
And of others too.
Our group, and some close to our group,
Can contribute very much to the development in medical services.
Several are retired and some may not be as mobile as they were, a few yrs ago.
Discuss this with those you come across often and listen to their opinions, proposals,
And see what we can come up with?
The combined knowledge within our groups, is something of the magnitude that Sri Lanka
Was never able to muster in the past.
Before more of the group joins the less able group,
It may be worthwhile to look at any and all possibilities, how much can be contributed in ideas and action,
And how it can benefit the present and future generations.
Just a thought, maybe it’s worth pursuing, and we can anticipate many obstacles
As we proceed, if we decide to..
Ref our meeting next yr,
Someone suggested many non clinical proposals.
One was Veddha and its impact on past and present sri lanka,
We can start, a limited, interactive discussion, limiting each to 3-5 minutes
From the various literature[much of this in the old writings, Portuguese and Dutch times, is not readily available]
Their assimilation in the Vanni, and other areas[as vanni ettho etc]
And intermarriage with so many Lankan cultures,
Would be interesting,
And more so as their original population is dwindling now less than 1%] with extensive inter marriage
Change of vocation ,learning other languages, living among other communities,
Their impact, contribution, and survival maybe of interest and significance to all of us, who took so much for granted.
Bernie [Bernard de silva]
Cincinnati Ohio
Decisions of the organising committee, for the 1960 entrants batch reunion.
The meeting was held in the house of Durumila on 21/11/2009.
It was attended by Sarath Kapuwaththe, Geri Jayasekara, Buddhi Kaluaratchchi, Ranjan Fernando, Philip Veerasingam, Ranjini Thevarapperuma and Durumila Kumara.
1. Problems regarding the printing of the souvenir were discussed. These included the charges for advertisements in it. Buddhi and Duru promised to get some adverts.
2. The costs for attendance are as follows:-
Single rooms Rs.10,500/- per day
Double rooms Rs.12,000/- per day
Triple rooms Rs.15,000/- per day
A two day booking will cover Friday 2nd July 2010, Lunch to 4th July 2010 Sunday Breakfast.
Additional Rs2000/- each for the Gala Dinner on Saturday 3rd July 2010.
3. There is no advance payment for bookings now
Please give your full name, the type of rooms required and the number of days one or two to the following by email and get confirmation
Ms.Indu. Chandrawansa is dealing with the bookings.
Please keep in mind the heavy bookings in the tourist hotels in Sri Lanka.
You cannot get last minute bookings.
4. There is a special option for anyone resident in Sri Lanka from the 1960 entrants batch, to attend the sessions from outside. The hotel costs for meals for those resident in SLwould be:-
Breakfast – Rs.1400/-
Lunch - Rs.1400/-
Dinner – Rs.2800/-
5. Anyone interested in a trip to Trincomalee and night stay there, after the get-together at Dambulla, should contact us at
1960batch@gmail .com
Prof Dayasiri Fernando, our ex-batchmate ended up as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Jayawardenapura University after being Professor of Surgery. The following two tales relate to him.
The first one he told me personally. He said that he took part in the production of the famous Shakespearean play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ put out by the St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia in the 1950s. He played the part of Portia. One of the prompters working behind the screen as a student at that time was the present Minister Prof.G.L.Pieris, he informed me.
The second story was related by him to his surgical students at the Jayawardenapura Medical Faculty. Henry Jayasena the famous actor had come to him for the surgical treatment of a malignancy of the colon in the late 1990s. Dayasiri had operated on the cancer. Henry Jayasena on recovery from the surgery, had asked Dayasiri what he wanted as a present. Dayasiri had requested a part in his famous play ‘Hunuvateye kathaava’ (An adaptation from the East German author Bertold Brechts ‘The Caucasian chalk circle’. This was staged in its English translation by Karen Breckenridge at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo, when we were doing our internship in 1965. I went to see it and it was a superb presentation). Henry Jayasena had given him the part of the deposed king to act, on the next stage performance of this play.
Our batch-mate Dr. Weerasinghe acted in the production ‘Janelaya’ produced by Henry Jayasena while we were students at the Medical Faculty in the early 1960s.
Henry Jayasena we heard with sorrow, died on the 11th of November 2009.
