A gift from the heart

I had gone to my favourite haunt – the Bambarabotuwa valley – in the Rathnapura district, Sri Lanka. I had taken my wife Ramya and a younger sister’s daughter Mercy in her mid 20s, to show her the sights. My sister Mary had immigrated to West Germany in the 1970s during the troubles in the North and East of the Island, with her husband Nicholas. Mercy was born in Germany and was resident there. She was now in the University and was proficient in German, English, French and Tamil. On the drive to Wewalwaththe from Rathnapura, the beautiful hills, valleys, streams and waterfalls shrouded in mist here and there, held her spell bound. Her home in Germany was two hours drive from the Swiss border. She had visited Switzerland very often, visiting relatives. I asked Mercy how Switzerland’s famed beauty, compared with scenes that we were passing through. She said that Sri Lanka won easily. We went visiting a villager who’s wife, suffering from an advanced demyelinating disorder, was being looked after by her family.

On returning to Rathnapura we went to have a late lunch at a restaurant. We had ordered fried rice and devilled fish. Mercy said that the meal was exquisite. While we were there, a couple with a 14 year old daughter came to the restaurant and ordered tea. A few minutes later the waiter who served us came to me and inquired whether I was from Avissawella. On my replying in the affirmative he said that the gentleman having tea said that he knew me. The said person walked up to me and said that I had operated on him nearly 15 years ago at the GH Colombo. He introduced his charming wife who was an art teacher and his daughter. He went back to his table finished his tea, and bade a cheerful farewell to us and walked away.

I went up to the counter to buy some sweets for my grand children left behind in Avissawella, as there would be tiny hands exploring my trouser pockets for ‘lollies’, on my return from the trip. I paid for the sweets. Then the cashier told me that the gentleman I spoke to, had paid for our fried rice and devilled chicken before he went away. He had told them that I had helped him 15 years earlier. I could only accept the state of affairs as the cashier refused to accept money for what had been already paid. Mercy was highly amused by the incident and I am sure told it to her German friends when she returned there after her holiday in Sri Lanka.

Thanks to Piyaseeli, Manasara and Asoka.

Dear Colleagues,
Let me add the thanks due from the batch to
1. Piyaseeli and Manasara Wedisinghe for all the hard work put in and the efficiency with which it was carried out.
2. Dr Asoka Dissanayake for the care taken in the group photograph arrangements and his excellent presentation on Garlic, and rotten eggs.
This is to rectify an error of omission from the report of the 1960 batch get together at Habarana.
Philip.

email from Dharmakeerthi Makuloluwa.

The crowd at Chicago.

Dear Nana
It is heartening and admirable that you are taking a keen interest in the welfare of the medical students scholarship programme and your interest to form a " colombo medical college
Alumni association."

We have not formed any Alumni fund except that we hope to get in touch with Nalini who is the local rep when she returns to SL , and hand over the money (Rs 60000/=) to the medical faculty for the M S scolarship fund through the contacts she has known.
I suggest that you get in touch with Nalini regarding the formation of an Alumni Association.

Devi donated the money volantarily and it was added to the the MS scholarship fund.

kind regards
Organisers

email from Nana

Dear Piyaseeli & Wedi & all the Organisers

Many thanks for the very detailed minutes of the Organisers 'Post- Event' Meeting. I am delighted to note that some of the money left over would be sent to the Alumni Fund and Medical Student Scholarship Fund.This is wonderful news indeed.

I would be grateful if you would kindly let us know the contact details of those in charge of the Student Scholarship Fund & Alumni Fund. I am fully aware of the existence of a 'Medical Students Financial Assistance Scheme' held at Colombo University and I have kept in touch with the chair person of this Fund.We have raised nearly 6 lakhs of rupees ( thanks to the collective donations made by our Group mostly from UK but well supported by some of our batch mates from USA & Australia). This will go for supporting 2 needy Colombo medical students for 5 years ( & recurring).

Some of you may be aware of our efforts to establish a 'Colombo Medical College Alumni Association' following the 'Presentation ' made to the Dean & Senior Academic Staff in Colombo on the 1st of July. The presentation was made possible thanks to the valiant efforts by Nalini as our 'local rep' in Colombo. As far as we are aware, we have so far not been able to establish a Colombo Medical College Alumni Association but the present Dean Harsha Senevirathna is supporting us in our efforts & have assured me that he is working on it.

We are also not aware of any existing Colombo Medical College Alumni Fund but this is also to be established. We are working on a consensus to determine the aims & objectives, with clear guidelines for its administrative accountability, transparency and agreed aims & objectives.

If the Alumni Fund is already established, all the Alumni (not only our batch mates) could make their contributions for the welfare & betterment of the Colombo Medical Faculty, its Students & the Educational & other essential needs. We also do not have to proceed any further with our efforts.

Your comments are gratefully appreciated.

Nana

When Jayalath sent us a detailed statement of accounts, I sent a response to Jayalath & the Organisers (via the Blog Master but unsure if you had seen it. (I will attach a copy of my response dated 6.10.10 for your perusal but you can delete it if you have already seen it

(This is what I said on 6th October)

Dear Jayalath

Thanks for the detailed audited statements of accounts of the 2 ReUniuons held in 2005 & 2010.

This is very professional & indicates that you have missed your vocation- a chartered accountant. I know you are a very wealthy medical mudalali but you can still change?

The detailed statements provided confirms our strong belief -the extent of your combined efforts and valuable time put in by all the members of the organising committee to make the event a great success as it was.

Getting the projected estimated costs to be so close to the actual final budget is to be greatly appreciated & deserve our congratulations.

Few personal comments:

1. As recently commented by me, the experienced organisers can organise the next Get Together in couple of years rather than wait for another 5 long uncertain years.

2. Make it less expensive ( cost of Rs 350,000.00 approx is very expensive and I ma so grateful for all your combined efforts in raising the amount

3. Decision to charge Rs 1000.00/head as registration fees was very wise ( otherwise you would have run it at a loss)

4. I can see only Devi making an individual contribution of Rs 20,000.00 towards the costs. Well appreciated but why?

Excellent work. Congratulations once again on a job well done.

Nana

C.S.Nanayakkara

sena nanayakkara

Dear Philip Pleasse forward the above document to the Blog Thanks Piyaseeli

Meeting of the Kandy organizers of the Batch reunion held in July 2010

Meeting of the Kandy organizers of the Batch reunion held in July 2010

Dear All

Kapu , Jayalath and us ( the Wedis) met at Jayalath’s residence on the 14^th of October . The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the course of action to be taken with the left over money from the batch reunion.

The following is a summary of the discussion that took place.

Kapu read out a few cards of appreciation sent by batch mates and thanked all the organizers and Participants, without whom the occasion would not have been a success .He also thanked us for the secretarial work done getting through loads of paper work.

In this regard a special thanks goes to

Philip for setting up the blog, being the chief communicator which he performs so efficiently even now. He was behind the organization of the event of “remembering our departed batch mates” as well as coordinating many other activities.

This he did despite having to manage his wife’s illness that came on just before the Reunion, thankfully her recovery was uneventful.

Nalini for organizing a very fruitful clinical sessions, and being the chief organizer for the Alumni Scholarship programme for medical students ,coordinating and organizing the donations of money books, and equipment much needed by the various departments of the Colombo Medical faculty. Well done Nala!!

The presence of most of the faculty teachers at the handing over ceremony spoke volumes as to how much the donation was appreciated.

We thank all those who silently contributed both in kind and money for the welfare of the institution that nurtured all of us in this noble profession. We all can be truly proud of you all & hope we can continue to help in the future

Durmila for keeping in touch with JKH and getting hotel accommodation for a relative low rate, facilitating transport through Walkers tour buses, In addition to hosting all the Colombo meetings.

Gerry for organizing the concert, much looked forward to by all and keeping us all in fits of laughter and making the clinical sessions all the more hilarious.

Lucien Heather & Travis for their parts in the concert, Anula, Palitha, and Pearl for their interesting papers at the clinical sessions.

Ranjan for printing of the Souvenirs and organizing the transport to and fro from Colombo

Nana for organizing the participation of batch mates from UK and the “ mostly U.K” donation which included a few from U.S.A for scholarships to medical students. Also for that interesting paper which was an eye opener to all. His penchant for constructive criticism is appreciated.

Buddy Reid for organizing the “Australian 11” donation to the medical faculty and for the display of his musical talents at various events

Nihal Gunaratne who made the network connections to the computers at the faculty

Tissa Kappagoda for editing and printing the book on Anecdotes ,presenting an interesting paper at the clinical sessions and advising us on many matters

Jayalath stated that a sum of rs 70,450.27 is now in our Bank account.

Expenditure was high because the rates for printing souvenirs, group photographs, and the band was almost double this time.

More than 90%of the money collected at registration was spent on the photographs.

Devi Jesudason who donated a sum of rs 20000/= requested that the money be used for one of two purposes.

1. to be used if there was a shortfall

2. to be given for the medical students scholarship fund of the faculty.

A big thank you and a salute to all those who raised funds for the event

Rohantha for raising a major part of funding

Nihal Tenabadu, for raising a substantial amount of funds.

Buddhadasa for raising funds from ads for the souvenir and more

Jayalath raising funds with souvenir advertisement, also for doing a very professional job as the Treasurer and hosting the meeting of 14th

We decided to donate a sum of rs 60,000/= of the money remaining to the medical students scholarship fund . The balance of money will remain in the account . We however feel that retaining the account is a good idea as it gives an opportunity for us to contribute towards the Alumni scholarship fund.

Finally the last but not the least a big thank you and salutations to Kapu , our President who is greatly gifted in organizing and getting things done( he is not exactly a slave driver !!! you know ).Besides both of you hosted the meetings and we enjoyed the informal chats . wishing you and Kanthi who has given us her unstinted support ,Good health, happiness and lots of laughter .Ayu-bo wewa

The organizing committee takes this opportunity to thank all other batch mates who have helped us in numerous ways and apologizes for any oversight in omitting their names.

We thank and salute all our participants once again

Let us keep in touch via email , even snail mail, meet as often as we can, even though it may be small groups, relax, enjoy and laugh . After all laughter is the best medicine.

Cheers

Organizing Committee

Landscapes of 'The Pearl of the Indian Ocean' - Sri Lanka

Please click on the following web address to see pictures of some landscapes of Sri Lanka. All pictures were taken by me. Copy and paste the web address in blue on to the address bar of your browser. Click on the pictures to see an enlarged image. See the 'older posts' by clicking on title 'older posts' in the bottom right hand corner of each web page. Please bookmark this page for easier viewing later.
Philip

http://imagessrilanka.blogspot.com/