Reflecting on the passing away of Duru, our dear friend

Duru's funeral

asoka dissanayake

7:49 AM (22 hours ago)

Dear All,

I am so sorry to hear about the passing away of Duru. I'm not sure whether she was in a fit state to apprehend our thoughts expressed in the Card that Ranjini had put together at the Reunion. She was closely involved in organising the previous ones and we missed her very much. 

May she attain The Supreme Bliss of Nibbna

Asoka D

Manasara Wedisinghe

Dear  Asoka.D

Thank you for  your  note.

Just  a  small  correction.

The Card  you  wrote  about ,which  was  signed by  our  colleagues  at  the    Re Union  meeting  held  on  7th  iJuly

was  the  work  of  my   wife  Piyaseeli.

It  was  done  by my daughter  in  US   and  brought  down in  time  for  the  Re  Union  for  every one present  to put  their  signatures on o it.

After  the  event   ,  the  card  was  hande d   over  to  the  carers  of  Duru  at  her  bedside  by  Piyaseeli...

Duru  was  not  quite  conscious  at  the  time,  but  opened  her  eyes  once.

This  is  only  to  set  the  records  straight.

Mana Wedisinghe

Funeral arrangements - Durumila Kumara nee Gunawardena

Daya & Nalini Rodrigo

We will take a wreath of flowers from all her friends in our batch.

Philip Veersingam

7:06 AM (9 hours ago)

to daya

Wedi, Bill me for my contribution for the wreath.

Philip

daya & nalini rodrigo

9:07 AM (7 hours ago)

The funeral notice :

Dr. (Mrs.) Durmila Olivia Kumara - Everloving wife of PS Kumara, loving mother of Jehan, Rehana, and Senaka, much loved Achchi of Ayesha, Soraya, Yannil & Akhil, passed away on 3/8/2018.

Cortege leaves residence 77/5, Barnes Place, Colombo 7 at 4.30pm on Sunday 5th August 2018 for cremation at Geberal Cemetry, Borella at 5pm.

No flowers by request.

.

Kathir Nadanachandran

10:08 AM (6 hours ago)

Dear All,

We are sorry to hear this sad news. May the family be given the strength to bear this loss by the almighty and by all our thoughts and prayers.

Nadana and Rathy Nadanachandran 

Charith Nanayakkara

1:35 PM (2 hours ago)

Dear Nalini

Thank you for sharing the sad news of the demise of Duru - such a wonderful and most helpful and caring batch mate of ours.

We regret very much our inability to attend the funeral services but please offer our heart felt condolences to her surviving family.

We can only offer our sincere thanks to them at this time of their great loss and unbearable grief.

She would be greatly missed by her family, her close relatives and friends and all of her batch mates who appreciate her active involvement in the batch ReUnions held in the past.

Best wishes

Nana

W Edirisinghe <edirisinghew@googlemail.com>

12:47 AM (4 hours ago)

Dear  Mana and Nalini,

I am so sorry to hear passing away of Duru. Please convey my deepest sympathies to Duru's family,

Raja Edirisinghe

Obituary - Demise of our Batchmate Durumila Gunawardena

Manasara Wedisinghe			9:48 PM (6 hours ago)

Dear All. It  is  my  sad  and sorrowful  duty ,  to inform  you  of  the passing  away  of  our  dear  friend   Durumila Gunawardena. The  news  was  passed  on to me  by   Udula Pathirana. Details  of  the  funeral  arrangements   are  not  known. Philip  :   please  put  this  notice  on  the  Blog. Mana Wedisinghe Asoka Jayaweera 10:07 PM (6 hours ago)

Thank you for notice. I had planned to visit her again when I was there for the re-union but elected not to when I heard about the decision her family and doctors / caretakers, had made because of her incurable and progressive neurological condition. Maybe I was a coward but I did not know how to react with her with this information. May she attain sumsara !

Duru's funeral

Inbox

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Udula Pathirana			12:23 AM (3 hours ago)

to me Dear Philip,  Further to Wedi's message to you, I was told by Duru's husband that the funeral will be in Sunday in Kanatta. I didn't ask the time as I am in UK and cannot attend. But if you ring her home, 0112697188 you will be able to get the details from someone there.  Hope you are well. Take care. Regards Udula

Appreciation

From: Rasiah Ganeshamoorthy <moothy1941@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2018 at 9:24 AM
Subject: Re: Re Union 2018 held on 7th July 2018
To: Manasara Wedisinghe <2018reunionmedbatch1960@gmail.com>

De4ar Mana and Piyaseli

Jeyadevi and I read all the mails about our batch reunion.  Jewel on the crown is our Kulari's ie Nana's writeup. (kulari in Tamil mean shouting)

We are on the spiritual path.  whatever time is available we devote to the path.   Jetwing and 5 star  stay is out of our mind.  Glad to know that all have enjoyed.

May the triple Gem bless you with all what you need.

Dr.R.Ganeshamoorthy and Jeya

From: sugi somanathan <sugisomanathan@googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2018 at 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: Re Union 2018 held on 7th July 2018
To: Manasara Wedisinghe <2018reunionmedbatch1960@gmail.com>

Thank you to you and all in the committee that helped in organising the Batch Reunion- I have had no bradband services for the last three weeks and hence the delay in Thanking Everybody and sending my appreciation. Please circulate to all concerned.

Sugi

1960 Medical Entrants Batch ReUnion – successfully completed

Dear Batchmates

Let me  at the outset offer my very sincere thanks to the Organising Team led by Asoka Dissanayaka and ably supported by the local Team- Mana Wedisingha,Jayalath De Silva, Philip Veerasingham, Piyaseeli Wedisingha and Lucky Jayasekera and all others who worked behind the scene.

I am sharing this  on behalf of quite a few batchmates who attended the ReUnion on the 7^th July. They were delighted with the wonderful opportunity  offered once again to hold the latest ReUnion 58 years since our entry into the Colombo Medical Faculty in 1960.

It was quite apparent that the Organisers had taken so much  of effort, time  and energy over many months even at the expense of their family and social life to make this special Event  a great success.

Those of us who were lucky to be participants of the latest ReUnion would recollect that we all entered the  Colombo Medical Faculty in the swinging sixties- to be precise on the 7^th June 1960. As Asoka  had stated in his most illuminating article published in the Island  newspapers on the 7^th July, we were a unique ‘Batch’ in many ways- unique group of individuals much like the United Nations. Each of us with a very different view of ‘Fame and Success”, from different schools across the country, different socio-economic backgrounds and different faiths, but united in eagerness to begin  our medical journey.

 Unique, in that we had multi-talented mixture of academics, sportsmen & women, musicians and a jolly and carefree  types. We were , and are, a unique group because, despite the hard work to get into medical school and come out alive, we have each forged our path to success, and yet still  share a common bond- that of being the ‘300 batch’. It was so apparent that we were able to mix and gossip along on an equal footing as one family.

 Those who stayed overnight  had much more opportunities to meet and greet and reflect on the ‘good old days’ and share some of their family and social gossip.

As in the past, we found many ‘regular attendees’, not so regular ‘attendees’ and ‘non attendees’. This year too, there were quite a few ‘regular attendees’ and couple of ‘1^st time attendees’. There may be variety of  genuine reasons  for those who did not attend but quite a few who have never attended our ReUnions, may  not have found these ReUnions  of any great importance.

We had app. 50 of our batch mates from across the globe along with some of their spouses and close families swelling the numbers to almost 90 on the day.

 The venue was superb except that the hotel owners would have thought the participating medicos were a bunch of spring chicken as some of the facilities available was not meant for the old and the frail( do not get offended if you are still fully able bodied).

 The Days  Event was well organized to gave more time to share personal glimpses in a light hearted way, rather than engaging in a serious ‘academic session.’ We had once again shared our sweet memories of all those who had departed over the  years ( 75 and counting) and showed our respect and gratitude by 2 minutes silence at the start of the proceedings.

 The production of a souvenir( for free distribution) and the plans to  provide  a Group Photo  of the participant batch mates  with all their names added on ( for those who were keen to purchase) must be  greatly appreciated  by most as these could be added on to the collection of   memorable souvenirs

 The Evening programme had much more variety with  light music throughout the evening.  The dancing troupe had a selection of Kandyan, modern and Indian dancing which was most eye catching for a wonderful start. The specially prepared ‘Goden Oldies’ booklet gave an opportunity for the participants to have a lovely ‘Sing along’  spell guided by the talented Live Band.

The Organisers had tried to cater to most of the burning needs of the participants- plenty of refreshments- soft and hard liquor to quench  their thirst, wonderful array of hot and spicy  food Sri Lankan Style for the Gala Dinner, to  fill their empty  stomachs and  mixture of selected   scintillating live  music to show their muscle power.  Many of us also admired the hidden  musical talents of few of our batchmates and their dancing prowess.

Most of the attendees stayed till the music was stopped later in the evening.

It is unfortunate that we had such a wonderful evening of entertainment and refreshments & tasty food along with the excellent company, to be enjoyed only by those who stayed in the hotel.  The ReUnion was held in Sri Lanka over the years since 2005 mainly to encourage the ‘locals’ to participate but the ‘locals’ may have other reasons why they do not find it appealing to stay overnight.

I am so pleased that even after 58 long years, we have continued to organize these ReUnions successfully and to the satisfaction of most. There may be few ‘brick bats’ on the way I guess.

I am happy to offer a big Bouquet to all the Organisers for a job ‘Well Done’ and to all those who took the trouble to come along and make this once again a great success.

 I can vaguely visualize Sarath Kapu in the distant horizon far away, grinning and whispering ‘ Machang, I never thought you guys could organize another batch Reunion without me’

Very best wishes

 Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara

Kettering

UK.

Photo by Wedisinghe