It was in the early part of the
second MB. We were a long way from picking acquaintances in our batch.
The Christians of the Student
Christian Movement went for our Sunday church services to the Ladies College
Chapel. After the Church services we would meet for short eats and a cup of
tea. Douglas Arulanandam, jovial as ever, pointed out Anula Aluvihare and told me that the European Ladies College Principal,
who was also present at the tea, was
fond of Anula and pronounced the name Anula as ‘An-You-La’.
Vijitha Nikapota had a Lambretta
scooter. One day we spotted Anula riding side saddle on Vijitha’s scooter. This
was one of the earlier hitch-ups in our batch. Both of them, and Prof Basnayake
were active members in the Ceylon Symphony Ochestra.
When I was DMO at Koslanda, I
would conduct a Maternity Clinic at Nikapota. I heard this was the
ancestral home of Vijitha. I met quite a few of his relatives there.
I was Co-Senior House Officer with
Vijitha at the Orthopaedic Unit Kandy. The Nikapotas invited me and my wife for
a dinner, to their residence at Deweni Rajasinghe Road Kandy. It was a dinner
enjoyed in the company of a Mr.Jacob, a civil engineer, one of Vijitha’s friends.
We parted ways and Vijita branched
off to Radiology and Anula to Mental Health, and they later settled down in the UK.
Vijitha came to the Peradeniya Teaching
Hospital and updated the MOs
there, on their knowledge of Radiology, when ultra-sound scans were new.
Anula also made frequent trips to Sri Lanka to help in the field of Mental
Health.
A few years back on one of their
trips to Sri Lanka, at their request, I went with them to the Alupola
waterfalls. Vijitha and his cousin, who accompanied him, had a lovely time
bathing and frolicking in the river. Anula and one of her female acquaintances enjoyed sips from a
bottle of wine from Bordeax, which I had brought along. I remember Anula
remarking ‘Bordeaux wine near a lovely waterfall. What more do you want in life’.
Years rolled on and we met at our
batch get-togethers. The love shown to each other and their enjoyment of music bound them together. Their
commitment to help others was one of their outstanding characters.
As we sing in that beautiful Christian hymn-
‘In
the sweet –In the sweet,
Bye
and bye – By and bye,
We
will meet on that beautiful shore
‘In
the sweet –In the sweet,
Bye
and bye – By and bye,
We
will meet on that beautiful shore ...’
Our condolences go out to Vijitha
and his family.
‘May
the Good Lord Bless and Keep you,
Whether
near or far away…’
From Philip and Batch mates of
1960 Medical entrants, Colombo.
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