Sunday, January 27, 2019
Obituary - Demise of Viji Ponnambalam
- FYI
Inbox
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Sun, Jan 27, 11:06 PM (6 hours ago)
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Hi Philip:
I am sorry to inform you Viji who as a result of a stroke, was aphasic
and hemiplegic, was in the ICU a few days ago. She passed away at about
5:00 am New York time on Jan 27th.
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Mon, 28 Jan, 20:20 (9 hours ago)
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Hi Philip
I
was saddened to hear the death of another batch mate of ours and tried
to add a comment on to your blog repeatedly with no success!
I
have not met Viji since we qualified in 1965 but I could well recollect
her bubbly and majestic walk during the medical college days.
She was friendly, loud and full of smiles and was humble in spite of her famous and well respected father.
I
cannot recollect her attending any of the batch reunions but I used to
get news about her from our batch mates in USA intermittently.
She would be sadly missed and our list of the survivors from the famous 300 batch gets shorter and shorter.
Please convey our deepest sympathies to her surviving family.
Nana
C.S.Nanayakkara
UK
Charith Sena Nanayakkara
1 comment:
Hi Philip
It brought me great sadness to hear of the passing of Viji Ponnambalam. At Medical School everyone knew her as the daughter of the famous GG Ponnambalam. She was tall, charming and cheerful and spoke with the confidence that came from her elite upbringing. I never got to know her well in the Faculty.
In 1974 my first job in the UK was in pathology at the Chase Farm hospital in Enfield where Viji was a registrar in paediatrics. I literally bumped into her in a narrow corridor of that old Victorian building where she spoke to me with a radiant smile and her characteristic exuberance. Viji was held in high regard by her superiors and colleagues. She worked exceptionally hard day and night to care for her patients. There were many occasions when I saw her well passed midnight attending to her on-call duties, as I ambled along to the pathology department.
In that year there were 25 Sri Lankan doctors working in that hospital. Makuloluwa brothers and W.A.T.E (Titus) Perera too were part of that team. Sri Lankans love a party. Viji was there at the social functions in the ‘doctors mess’ contributing to the fun and laughter that was ever present at the institution. The doctors’ TV room was where we all congregated for a chat and a laugh. On those occasions Viji was unpretentious, kind and most helpful to everyone. She had no time for gossip and tittle tattle and was greatly respected by the Sri Lankan medical community.
After completing a year I moved on to another hospital and lost contact with Viji. I never had any news of her until I heard the sad news of her demise. I was surprised she had given up Paediatrics to specialise in Radiology. All of life is one huge compromise!! It is wonderful to hear Viji has had a successful professional career, a happy family life and an active social life in the USA.
May she find Eternal Peace.
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