The cry of the 'Devil-bird'.

Dear Colleagues,
A book written by me and edited by Dr.Tissa Kappagoda titled 'The cry of the 'Devil-bird' ' will be available for sale at our get together in Dambulla. This is a follow-up of the earlier book 'Remembered Vignettes' covering our days at the Medical Faculty.
'The cry of the 'Devil-bird' ' covers the various experiences of 40 years of Medical life of the author in Ceylon/SriLanka. I am sure you would enjoy reading this latter book. Pictures of the covers of the books are shown above.
Both books will be for sale priced at Rs.1000/- each, at the get to-gether in Dambulla.
You may like to buy extra copies so please get your copies early.
Philip

Scientific sessions - Dambulla get to-gether.

SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS LECTURES
10 am Saturday 3rd July
Limited strictly to 15 mins. per paper
1. Lessons Learnt – Charith Nanayakkara
2. Food & Ethics : The Asian Dimension - Tissa Kappagoda
3. Ethical clinical practice & clinician as advocate – Pearl Hettiarachchi
4. The cardio-vascular disease epidemic – Nihal Thenabadu
5. Garlic, smell of rotten eggs & a possible substitution for Viagra – what have they in common? - Asoka Dissanayake
6. The applied anatomy and biomechanics of Muralidharan's bowling arm - Buddy Reid
7. Far off things – Phillip Veerasingham
8. Innovative Designs for Underwear - Gerri Jayasekera
9. Fruits, vegetables, & insulin resistance - Tissa Kappagoda

email from Sydney & Pearl.

Karals,
Yes, we agree with you. Sidney & I are aware of the outstanding contribution made to Sri Lankan Cricket by Daya & Ranjini not just in the 90's but well before. Our recollections go back to the early 80's when the " Pandita- Gunawardena " household was a buzz with activity for SL cricket. We joined in those early years in the many events organised for fund raising, celebrating & get togethers!Daya carefully nurtured & supported the team & of cousre this was enabled by Ranjini. Yes their generosity, dedication & determination to see our cricket team attain great heights & thereby our motherland gain international recognition is highly commendable.They continue to support SL cricket 3 decades on. Well Done "Pandita-Gunawardena " team.Long may it continue!!
Sidney & Pearl

email from Daya & Ranjini

Dear Karals,

Ranjini and I were both very touched and very appreciative of the sentiments that you have expressed in your e mail to the batch.

In a way, one kind of forgets the difficulties one had to overcome in the early days, even before Sri Lanka acheived ICC status, which happened in 1981.

It also gave Ranjini and me quite a lot of pleasure and satisfaction in looking after the young cricketers who came over to this country with very little peripheral support, eg physios etc.

When I read your observations I was reminded of our contribution and a sense of deep satisfaction we had in helping the country of our birth.

I was also involved in helping to get an expert opinion on Muralitheran's arm, which I did through one of the best known orthopaedic arm specialists in the UK, based in Manchester. I well remember Murali staying at my home for a few days before we sent him to Manchester for the opinion. It proved very favourable to us and the report was, of course, submitted to the Sri Lankan cricket board at the time.

Just one correction I would like to make, is that the body that I liaised and represented for Sri Lanka was the ICC and not the MCC.

Many thanks, Karals, once again.

Although I am very pleased to read this and point out this very minor correction, I am still not sure where this information, if at all, will appear in our get-together.

Kind regards,

Ranjini and Daya

Photo gallery - 1960 Batch

Annesley De Vas Gunawardena in 1960 and in 2010.

email from Lakshman Karalliedde

To all,
It was great to read the tribute to Kapu. I am not reluctant to highlight that there would be a grave omission if we some one does not write re Daya and ranjini and their efforts towards Sri Lanka cricket during the infancy of the sport (whilst there is no shortage of folks making mileage/money etc) from the present staus of Sri Lanka cricket.I know very little but you would know some one who knows more.When the Sri Lanka cricket team arrived in England for the fitst time (I think) Daya, Ranjini, late Derek samarawickrema, late Dr Bernie Peiris -these are folks I knew of and many others hosted them in their residences, fed, watered and financed and provided transport etc as they were very poorly remunerated. I am aware that Daya and Ranjini organized several fund raising projects along with others in the group, but Daya and ranjini were in the forefront. They also established and enhanced relationships with the Governing Body of the MCC and other personnel of influence in the cricketing world to enable Sri Lanka to enter the global arena. These were pioneering and very significant efforts, voluntary and at their own expenditure which, as with many things in life are now possibly (hopefully not) forgotten. I had just arrived to the UK in 1990, my participation was nix but was certainly aware of the efforts and expenditure by these batchmates of ours.This was, to my knowledge a period in Sri Lanka International cricket where there were no rewards. honours etc for such activities.There should atleast be some mention of these two in particular, there may have been other whom I am not aware of, even at this last stage.
Karals

Remembering Anton Fernando by Lalith Fernando

Anton-- One of a kind.
Having the same last name, I had the fortune and pleasure to sit next to Anton and be in the same group all through the five years of medical school thereby come to know this unique person closely. Anton had friends every where and no one too big or small for him to associate .He never lost a moment to talk to anyone who had befriended him, and invariably got late to his destination because of this. I wonder this was the reason he got late on the first day of medical school. Anton was all ready and willing to help anyone no matter what time of the day it was.Anxiety, getting excited, worrying about disasters/ failures were not in his vocabulary; his concern was to take care of it and not worry. They say "time and tide wait for no man". Anton did not wait for the time nor the tide. His lightheartedness was extreme. Anton(he was my best man) was driving me to my wedding ceremony when the fan belt broke somewhere on Flower Road; Anton was cool as a cucumber while my bride to be and relatives were getting worried and anxious that I may have done a bunk. Needless tosay I began to worry in getting late for this important,one-time-in-life occasion; Anton's response -"We have all afternoon, she is not going anywhere"!!. In addition to all these qualities there was a very much lighter side as well. On the way to Peradeniya for our convocation, stopping at Pasyala (as tradition warranted) for Kadju (girls), Anton teasing these girls one by one ,was asking them how much each cashew costs( they were sold in 100 s) while sampling a few at each kiosk. He had no need to buy any by the time he reached the end of the kiosks, as he was already full. He never missed a western cowboy film; even during the exam times he dragged me to watch them. All he could say was "Maximum that could happen is fail"; I know for certainty he prepared for signatures each morning on the train from Jaela to Maradana and impress the likes of Profs. Waas and Lester Jayawardan.,As we all know Prof Rajasuriya and Cooray to smile was an extreme rarity; Anton achieved that too.Anton, the unique person he was, after his internship requested Head office , to be trandferred to Ambilipitiya where nobody wanted to go; this may explain why he went to Botsuwana.One thing that stuck in my memory is that Anton loved the song - 'Lo Ada Ninde'; it was his favourite song and sang it all the time and asked me to sing along too; it was sung at least ten times on the way to Peradeniya and back. I sing this song often in the shower( that's the only place I am allowed to display my singing prowess!) and of course remember Anton.--- I regret I could not see you for a very long time. Hope you are listening when I sing this next time; for you Anton, my friend, "Rantharu babale nil akase, lassana mal waage".