Death of Dr.P.R. Anthonis - Consultant Surgeon.

Dr.P.R.Anthonis - Consultant Surgeon died on 17th Dec. 2009. His funeral will be held today 19/12/2009. He was 98 years old.

email from Bernard

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

1960 entrants Reunion in July 2010, Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

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 2^nd July 2010, Lunch to 4^th July 2010 Sunday Breakfast.

Additional Rs2000/- each for the Gala Dinner on Saturday 3^rd 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

htlres@keells.com

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

Have a nice day.

Meeting at Duru's house - 21-11-2009

Seated - Sarath Kapuwaththe, Ranjini Thevarapperuma, Durumila Kumara, Geri Jayasekara. Standing - Philip Veerasingam, Buddhi Kaluaratchchi.

Stories of our batch-mates

Dayasiri

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 11^th of November 2009.

1962 - Kalatuwewa

Photo - Sivaraja's collection

Correspondance

In our opinion, at this time we do not need clinical lectures -although we requested in the past. Some kind of entertainment would be more in line. Thanks to every one who is working hard to make our gettogether a success.
Lalith and Shanthi Fernando

A joyful part of any trip is the preparation and more suggestions and comments is fun Daya jayasinghe.

Email :- philavi@sltnet.lk

My comments re "attempting to please everybody" were made tongue-in-cheek! I found the suggestion for a lecture to follow clinical sessions and other such grave indoor activities rather amusing. Especially after a lifetime of giving and receiving lectures!! Also, One must keep in mind Bill Cosby's great quote "The attempt to please all is the surest road to disaster". Anyone thinking of having fun on your 50th.Anniversary weekend ? On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 4:53 PM, <Csn48@aol.com> wrote: Philip, I would like to second the idea. Since many of us may have retired one or two speakers from outside the rofession may liven things up. Asoka Dissanayake Wonderful to hear the various comments at least to note some of our batch mates are still able to think sane, awake and not in a confessional state. It must be humanly impossible to please everyone but would be worthwhile if we can please the majority as indicated. To me, the important thing is the opportunity for most of to 'meet & greet' How we spend our time once we are together would be entirely left to the individuals. The organisers have to put up a 'programme' of sorts which would be appealing to those who are planning to attend. I am so grateful to all those who have shown an interest and a commitment to attend the Get Together. I am also grateful to the Organisers for their efforts to make this event a success. We need more comments- good, bad ugly or indifferent. best wishes Nana Suggestion for the re-union from Dr.Daya JayasingheDear all,You all might want to consider having a guest speaker, or keynote address etc on topics like Veddhas in ceylon,History of medicine in srilanka,Srilankan stockmarket and investmants or Ayurveda medicineand similar topics of interest. In our Gynae meetings we have had Stock market, Bart Cummings on race horses, Lifestyle and retirement etc Best wishes, Daya j./ * Shouldn't we at least *attempt* to please all!! After all keeping a large number of people engrossed, entertained or amused for all of 48 hours minus sleep time is going to be a major problem for the organisers. As for me I would try to catch up on lost time meeting old buddies and generally chilling out.. I have had my fill of old farts spewing hot air. Enough to last a life time and more! However, I once met a retired archaeology dept. person who joined me for a drink at the Polonnaruwa rest House. To cut a long story short, early the very next morning this gentleman took me on a walkabout through the ruins of Polonnaruwa. I have rarely spent a more exhilarating day. He brought old polonnaruwa to life for me. Pointing out and interpreting the evidence easily missed by the casual tourist. It was a fantastic experience. Best Regards Dawood