What every student sitting for the AL exam should know

email sent by Prof. Asoka Dissanayake.

Prof Sivasooriyar- Obituary

Prof Sivasooriyar is no more
Great soul, amazing teacher
Single handedly ran gyn obs department Jaffna during darkest years of Jaffna
Rest in peace my dear Sir
Deepest sympathies to Sivasuriya Sivaganesh

Dr. Sivasooriyar was our demonstrator in Physiology in the early 1960s. His son Sivaganesh is in the Department of Surgery, Colombo Faculty.

Aranya Monk, Rev. Rasagalle Seevali, Ehatuwewa, off Ambanpola, Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka.

 We  went by a Pajero 4 wheel drive to this forest Monks residence. We had to  walk to the Kutys. The resident monk the Rev. Rasagalle Seevali, is the son of our batch-mate, the late Dr. Fonseka, who was GP at Yatiyanthota..

The Bodhi tree

The resident Monk - Rev Rasagalle Seevali

The residence of the monk built on top of a rock. Deer, Pea-cocks and elephants roam this place.

The track leading to the 'Kutys'

One kuty built under  a rock

Another kuty

Batch 1960 entrants, Medical batch Colombo in June 2018 at Negombo.

Late Viji Ponnambalam

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Nihal Gooneratne

Feb 16, 2019, 7:56 PM (10 hours ago)

to me

Hi Philip:

                  I wonder whether you received my E-mail  about Viji’s death.

Viji Ponnanmbalam  passed away about 3-4 weeks ago. As she was in the 2^nd batch I did not know her well.  After a stroke, she was aphasic  and hemiplegic for nearly an year. She was a bad diabetic and had a stormy course in the ICU the least few days of her life

With kind regards

email from Brahman

Remembering Viji - Blog posts

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Philip Veersingam <philipv203@gmail.com>

5:57 AM (12 hours ago)

to Brahman, Brahman

My dear Brahman,

We were sorry to hear about Viji's demise. I am forwarding some thoughts on her expressed by our batch mates. May the sweet memories of her bring you comfort in your loss.

Web-links:-

https://medicalbatchcolombo1960.blogspot.com/2019/02/remembering-viji_3.html

https://medicalbatchcolombo1960.blogspot.com/2019/01/reminiscences-and-condolences-re-viji.html

https://medicalbatchcolombo1960.blogspot.com/2019/02/remembering-viji_6.html

Brahman Sivaprakasapillai

7:03 AM (11 hours ago)

to Chandran, me

Hello Philip 

1.  Thank you very much for your email and the links to the messages from your batch mates
2 . Viji and I got married on Jan 22, 1966 and Viji was rushed to the ER at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia . This was the only time that I could not accompanyViji to the Hospital.  I am most grateful for the intervening 53 years we spent together. We have 3 wonderful children and 2 grandchildren (one of I refer to as a “menace on 2 legs”)!!  This grandchild takes after Viji and will make sure that I will not forget Viji!

3.  Chandran Ponnambalam was Viji’s body partner  and the 2 Ponnambalam were  cracking open the skull on the body adjacent to the one being worked on by Piyasens I n.b. NOT Piyasens II. Viji took wielding the mallet too much to heart - poor Piyasens I paid the price

4.  I am no longer able to tease Chandran as the “guy who got an earful from Viji’s Father!

May my good wife reach Mooksha

Dr Brahman SIVAPRAKASAPILLAI

Sent from my iPhone

Remembering Viji

CHARITH NANAYAKKARA	Mon, 28 Jan, 20:20 (10 days ago)
to Philip, me, M.P.

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

Trip with Nadanachandran and wife to 'Bo-path Ella' waterfall and 'Saman Dewwale', Rathnapura.

Remembering Viji

           More than 35 years had passed after we graduated holding the degree of MBBS from the Medical Faculty at Kynsey road, Colombo, Sri Lanka. After our batch of 275 students completed the very demanding five year course in 1965, we were scattered in various parts of the globe pursuing our varied interests in Medicine. 
In the efficient, busy and modern Changi Airport in Singapore, Piyasena our batch mate spotted another batch mate Viji, who would stand out in a crowd any day. He quickly approached her and was recognized immediately with laughter and glee in spite of the passing years. She introduced her husband Brahman to Piyasena. She recalled and related an incident during the ‘Block years’ while doing their dissections on the human body. Both were sharing a human body during dissection. An argument had arisen and Viji had a final say delivering a gentle knock on the head of Piyasena using a human femur bone used in our studies. Piyasena had fainted and collapsed on the floor. There was panic in the dissecting room. A liberal amount of water was splashed on Piyasena’s face. There was fear and trepidation on Viji’s face as she pictured a charge of homicide on her with her well known criminal lawyer father rushing to her rescue. Piyasena got up from the floor to Viji’s immense  relief. Next day all was forgiven and the incident cemented a lasting friendship among both, which was renewed at Changi Airport 35 years later.

            Viji’s father Mr. G.G.Ponnambalam, was a famous criminal lawyer much in demand in his time. He became the Minister in charge of Fisheries, in the post-independence government headed by The Rt.Hon.D.S.Senanayake as the Prime-Minister. He had his residence in Queens road close to College House, the University Students Hostel. Our batch mate Milroy De Silva was resident at College house. In an encounter with Mr.G.G. Ponnambalam, Milroy had introduced himself as a ‘body partner’, (sharing the same human body for dissection) of his daughter Viji and got a telling off for using the term.

Viji with her Mother, Father and
Brother when her Father was a Minister

                 
Viji got married to Brahman and emigrated to the USA where she pursued the field of radiology. At our reunion in Dambulla, I inquired from Brahman whether Viji received and read my regular emails. Brahman with his usual sense of humor replied that Viji knew only to read X-rays not emails.

            Even at this reunion she was not well and consulted our batch-mate Cardiologist D. Thenabadu at Colombo later.

            Viji was always cheerful and  good fun.

Our condolences go to Brahman and the family members. May the sweet memories remain with you.

May her ‘Athma’ attain the feet of the ‘Paramaathma’ and live in Eternal Bliss.

Philip G V