Old emails sent to Phillip G V

Dear Philip,

Just back from a holiday .Thank you so much. 2 books have arrived. I am arranging a draft for USD25 to be posted to you .Little extra is added in case the commisson

eats into it. If it is still short please let me know. I will get to reading the book tonight. Scanned it though,especialy your fathers post card. Very touching and nostalgic.

My father used to address his letters to me as....'.My son,'......He was in Malaysia living with his eldest daughter. I was looked after by the extended family in

Chulipuram. Now is giving back time and I am doing with love and fond memories. Days at Kinsey Road really toughened me for the future & I am truly grateful to our

great teachers and friends.

Tomorrow is Wesak,a public holiday in Malaysia. Good  to take a flashback in time. Keep sending your emails

Happy Wesak to all at home

RAGU

(Dr.Ragupathy, - Penang, Malaysia)

dear Philip,
thanks for the books.I found it very absorbing. Didn't put it down till I read it from cover to cover. One or two factual errors I noticed. The one with the motor bike was sellaraja and not his cousin sellaturay.
The book was not meant to be a who's who of the 300, hence I would not wholly agree with Dawoods comments. I understand that some peope may want to get in touch with some long lost colleagues,as most of us getting on!. may be you could help with email addresses that you may have.
sara (20/5/2008)

(Dr.Sarawanamuththu, UK)

Dear Philip,

Thank you very much for the book received today. It is a fantastic book to read which reminds of the college days. Your effort was much appreciated. I will send you the money as soon as possible.

 Remember us to  your family.

Kanapathy

(Dr.Kanapathippillai, GP UK )

Dear Philip and Ramya,

Sorry about the delay in sending this cheque. It was only because I still work full time and just feel lazy and relaxed. However today being a bank holiday, I thought I must attend to this.

            As for the comments on your book. It is very well written and though it has probably been not your intention it is so readable for even a foreign medical graduate. This is because your references to scientific material is so precise. I like your style of writing. I shall encourage you to write a short story, giving some of your beautiful experiences you share with us on the internet.

            I don’t know whether Ramya had a chance to lay her hands and read the book Brinda Punya wrote. I know publishing a book would never reap the financial and artistic contribution one makes but you can be really happy that you have left something for posterity and a great tribute to all our past teachers.

            My son was recently conferred a FRCP. We hope to be in SL around mid July and I would probably get a chance to buy 2 more copies from the book-shops.

Regards from Punya and Milroy.

Subject: Vignettes
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:13:15 +0000

Hi ,
Your book was an interesting read. Some points for your 2nd Edition
perhaps ?
1.  B S A is  BIRMINGHAM small arms and not British S.A. They made excellent Rifles
and also Cars. One was owned by Deriniyagalla (? P.E.P) Clerk to the House of Representatives.
They later made Motor Cycles and are now defunct.

2. George E de Silva was famous for the  Gondola joke. A councilor suggested
having a few Gondolas in the Kandy Lake and George E is purported to have said
"why buy a few, if you buy a pair, they will reproduce !"

3. Paristology Sivalingam was also known as  "Judo Siva" for his flailing arm action
mimicking movements in Judo.

4. Earle Fonseka had what was probably the first kit car in Ceylon. It was a
beautiful small  "Arkley" with an A35 engine and fibreglass body. Arkley is
just north of Barnet  in Hertfordshire.The company later became T V R for
specialist sports cars £50,000 plus.

Sincerely
Frank Sebastianpillai






Dear Philip,

My son-in-law Dr Sujeewa Kumarasena purchased your book from your son-in-law Charaka who is working in the same unit at NHSL. I really enjoyed your book as I am from the batch who entered Medical College in 1961. There was one error. Lalitha Mendis was a Professor of microbiology and not parasitology. I really enjoyed reliving the medical College days since most of the people mentioned were well known to me.

Regards

Dr G N Lucas

Hi Philip

Thanks-looking forward to reading your book -wonderful to renew the glorious days of the nostalgic past. Pity the Pollies have caused so much bigotry and bloodshed. If not for the enforced brain drain we would all be living there in Peace and Harmony.

Address;  93 Henry St
              Merewether NSW 2291
                Australia.

Kind Regards

Hamilton Koelmeyer

Philip,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book.  Below is an extract from an email I sent to two of my 1952 MBBS batchmates, now living in retirement in Colombo, (aged 83 and 84), and who are in touch with me my email.  One of them had been Dean, Medical Faculty in Colombo around 1967 - 1968 era.

Congratulations on that excellent book.

Victor Benjamin,  in Goodooga NSW 2831 (a place hardly ever shown in any map of Australia)

"A 163-paged book with title  REMEMBERED VIGNETTES (recollections of the life of a medical student in Ceylon of the early 1960's,  Collected and Narrated by Philip G. Veerasingham, Edited by Tissa Kappagoda, was made available through my youngest brother who is a 1962 MBBS.  The book refers to the batch that commenced Internship in 1966, and there is mention of name of one who was an Intern under me (at Colombo South Hospital in 1966), but who seems to have got lost as far as rest of his batchmates were concerned. (He went to UK to specialise as a Neurosurgeon,  but ended in Australia, and is a senior well respected Orthopaedic Surgeon in Victoria).

I wonder whether you had access to that book.

Reference to several teachers well known to us makes very interesting reading.  They must have been students of you, Stanley.

There is reference to Sivalingam (Parasitology).  Only Pathologist remembered is Willie Ratnavale.  There is no reference at all to any Pharmacology, Bacteriology, Forensic Medicine teachers, or any reference to the University Staff that taught them Pathology and Paediatrics. 

You can get details on availability of the book from  http://www.ph-books.com/bs.asp?id=62   (the publishers in Colombo), who have advertised it as a best seller.  It has been published by Perera Hussein Publishing House,

80A, Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 7.  I noticed one factual, but irrelevant error.  The favourite teachers appear to have been D A Ranasinghe,  Stella de Silva,  Prof Rajasuriya,  Antho, Batho, Austin, and a few others.  "Pissu" Jansz gets special mention in several pages.  It is the first time I came to know that Anne Ranasinghe was Jewish in origin, and that explains her easy assimilation of Colombo as her permanent life-long home.  She had no other country to belong to.  She would have been an asset to Ranasinghe.

I knew Philip Veerasingham, who was Resident Surgeon at Kandy for a short time, during period of my work at Kandy Hospital."