A man of infinite kindness Dr. Cecil Dayananda Tikiribandara Godamunne In his young days, a kitten he had saved would, at night, snuggle on his neck and Cecil would not move for fear of disturbing its slumber – this is only one typical example of his infinite kindness throughout his life. In his career as [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Appreciations

View(s):

A man of infinite kindness
Dr. Cecil Dayananda Tikiribandara Godamunne
In his young days, a kitten he had saved would, at night, snuggle on his neck and Cecil would not move for fear of disturbing its slumber – this is only one typical example of his infinite kindness throughout his life.

In his career as a medical doctor the affection of all those who had been to him is reflected in this simple remembrance: “Doctor had only to put his hand on our body and we would be cured..” An aunt maintained that “the only talisman you need for protection is to carry a photograph of Cecil in your pocket…”

Additionally he dedicated his life to a wide range of social welfare services.
One was the Kandy Humanitarian Organisation, which he founded in 1992 and was President of until his death. Through this organisation he helped to save over 15,000 cattle from slaughter. There are no slaughter houses in the municipal area of Kandy any longer. He obtained an order from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa banning the slaughter of milk cows in Sri Lanka. It was a well organised movement which ensured that saved cattle were not sold back to butchers. Support was elicited from government farms such as Mahaberiyatenna, Kurunegala Plantations, Nillawa Estate, private coconut estate owners, farmers etc to take on saved cattle.

The Kandy Association for Common Protection through the Animal Welfare Community also known as KACPAW of which he was the Vice President and the Save Our Friends Association of which he was President housed some 200 dogs and cats until they were given for adoption. Mobile immunisation programmes were conducted for those animals that could not be housed in homes.

In 2010 Dr. Godamunne, with well wishers, restored the oldest Kandy Buddhist Association ( KBA) building established in 1945 by Bhikkhu Dharmapala and now fallen into disuse. He served as president of the Association till February 2015 and as trustee until his death. The Centre maintained a hall for the use of meditation/ training and a room to house the administrative secretariat of all welfare services.

A Sarana Sewa Elders Home for males and females and a Sarana Sewana Boys Home are maintained through this association at Mavilmada, Kandy, largely funded by private donations and a small government allowance.

Until recently, a common sight in Kandy town was a frail old gentleman with a walking stick carrying a parcel of food to feed a certain hungry old man on the street, as a well as a few dogs around the corner. This is the last image of the oldest Dr. serving in the Kandy District, Dr. Cecil Godamunne popularly known as Dr Honda Hitha.
May he attain Nibbana.

-Kandy Buddhist Association and the Kandy Humanitarian Organisation


Following right action, he led an illustrious life
Dr. Mervyn Gunasekera
The untimely passing away of Dr. Mervyn Gunasekera shocked the professional community. He was only 67 years. Mervyn had been a man of virtue, right concentration and wisdom befitting the teaching of the Lord Buddha as laid down by the Noble Eightfold Path. He spoke the truth based on both his learned knowledge and tacit knowledge (experience) on a wide subject matter that benefitted people.

He spoke on his subject of engineering- civil engineering in particular as applied to the construction industry, project management and management of people. He spoke on Buddhist values, social standards and entrepreneurial life. He spoke everywhere- in universities, law college, the Institute of Engineers, professional groups, conferences, both local and overseas, voluntary army and Dhamma schools to mention a few. He had no harsh words, ill will or carrying tales. Instead he carried one message consistently- of standards. Standards in the workplace, society, schools, professions and at home. He was a kind of missionary of his own make – and he led an illustrious life.

Mervyn followed right action and right livelihood. He selected the path that would help him reach his full potential. He did not stop half way to earn money by means that were open to educated men like him. He aimed at developing perfection in his profession. For his living he selected a noble activity that helped people’s security, satisfaction and joy- construction.

Setting an example to his colleagues he went for developing right understanding and thought through continuous learning and practice. He used to share with me his experience of buying books on his overseas visits in particular. Articles that he wrote and presented in conferences and workshops stand in testimony to his continuous search for knowledge.

The hallmark of a man is the legacy he leaves behind. Over four decades he moulded the construction consultancy services in the Sri Lankan economy. A civil engineering graduate of the University of Ceylon in 1975, he obtained his M.Sc in construction management from Loughborough University of Technology, UK. I had the opportunity to be a partner in his education as his thesis supervisor when he studied for his PhD in Business Administration at the University of Sri Jayewardenapura from 2004- 2008.

By the 1990s, Mervyn had earned a name in the construction industry and started his own business LAN Management Development Services Ltd to provide project management consultancy. In addition he served as the Chairman of Union Chemicals PLC, and the company received many awards like the National Safety Award, National Green Award etc – evidence of Mervyn’s management style- professionally driven and enriched by corporate social responsibility.

He was a distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) and a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers, UK and a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka. He was President of the IESL (2000/2001) and President of the Federation of Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia (200-2003) a position held by a Sri Lankan for the first time. He founded the Institute of Project Managers Sri Lanka and was its president until his demise.

He contributed to knowledge by reading papers in conferences and publishing his work. When the tsunami struck he volunteered to serve in many projects launched under my purview at the PIM and published guidelines for those involved in post-tsunami reconstruction work under the title ‘ managing projects’. He said his experience as an Air Force volunteer was invaluable in understanding approaches to rebuilding.

In 2011, Mervyn was recognised by the IESL with the award of Eminence in Engineering – the highest award an engineer in Sri Lanka could be accorded. He attained this through hard work becoming an engineer par excellence in our country. The vacuum created by his demise will remain as the monument we all rally around.
-Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara


Unforgettable memories of my beloved mother
Marhooma Hajiani Fathima Zohara Gaffoor
It is with unforgettable memories that I pen these words of appreciation for my beloved mother Marhooma Hajiani Fathima Zohara Gaffoor, who passed away on May 27, 2009.

Born on October 30, 1928 to a Moorish Sri Lankan family, descendent of Sinna Lebbe Marikar Sahib Dorai and Haji Ismail Effendi, daughter of Marhoom Mohamed Anis Bin Haji Ismail Effendi (brother of Marhoom Mohamed Sameer bin Haji Ismail Effendi), my mother –Marhooma Hajiani Fathima Zohara Gaffoor -was an extremely devout and dedicated house maker, who truly knew how to make our house a home.

She also co-edited her late father’s Muslim magazine: “The Muslim Views “which was internationally circulated at that time and was the woman behind the success of my father Marhoom Alhaj Deshabandu Mohamed Sadique Gaffoor -a writer of Positive Thinking and inspirational books in the style of Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale. She also assisted him in secretarial work.

She agreed to join the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union in the early ’70s, at the bequest of a friend who lived in our neighbourhood. She inspired us to assist in uplifting orphans and the needy Muslim girls.

Due to her intense motivation, my youngest sister and I continued our higher studies, in an era when most Muslim girls did not pursue higher studies. My mother attended our convocation and certificate ceremonies. Today, many years after her demise, we remember the joy she felt at our achievements.My youngest sister and I reached the height of our careers, while my second sister opted to be a housewife and nursed and cared for her dedicatedly.

From Muharram onwards each month of the Arabic calendar was revered and respected. She set an example to us by her unfaltering prayer.”Ask help from the Almighty’. .” Pray the Quran daily” she would reiterate .We followed her advice.

My mother had fine handwriting and excelled in English, Tamil and the Arabic language. She was dexterous in paper craft. She encouraged her two grandsons and three granddaughters to play with jigsaw puzzles and mind games to retain a good memory.Though at the latter stages of her life ailments set in I still recollect the days she would never slumber during the day, bustling around the house, checking on us and the maids.

My family and I, together with my siblings: – Fareena and Feroza, and their families can only live now with sweet memories of her.

Dear Mother may Allah grant you Jennatul Firdouse.
-Z.Farhana Refai


Fiercely loyal, caring and unassuming
Angelo Ranasinghe
Our dear friend Angelo passed away a year ago aged just 41. It’s still really hard to comprehend that he’s no longer with us and although his loss was truly heart breaking, the passing of time has allowed us to remember so many wonderful memories that he left us with.

I first met Angelo, or Angie as we all called him, when I was 10 years old at S. Thomas’ Preparatory School, Kollupitiya. As I got to know him I realised that whilst he was gregarious and fun loving he was also fiercely loyal, unassuming and caring. In fact in the 30 years that I knew him I think he was the friend that all of us loved being around the most.

I think that’s because he had so much warmth and love in his big heart and over the years whilst many things in all our lives changed, Angie always remained uncomplicated, genuine and kind.

I know I speak for all of us who knew him when I say that there are too many fond memories of Angelo to write them all down here. We all have our own favourite, and there are countless comical situations we found ourselves in because of him too.

He was wonderful company and without question the funniest person I ever knew, blessed with an ability to make you smile no matter the situation, and also to light up a room with his anecdotes, impressions or just his own infectiously loud laugh. If you knew Angie and you close your eyes now, then I know you’ll smile when you think of your favourite memory.

Later in life when we were in school at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, I also remember Angie had these amazing dreams, and he always believed that achieving these were his destiny.

That was his most endearing quality, the fact that he always had so many hopes left to fulfil. Sadly in an unforgiving world it was difficult for a unique person like Angie to ever find true fulfilment, but he is at peace and in a better place now, and I pray that in heaven he will achieve the dreams that he strived to fulfil in life.

Anyone who knew Angie also knew that he would always go out of his way for you without a second thought, no matter what the request was, his response would usually be ‘no problem at all machan’. He loved his family and he loved his friends, and even though he faced many personal challenges later in life we will all remember Angie for his love of life, sense of humour and most of all for the unconditional affection he had for the people he cared for.

My last memory of Angelo was from February last year, three months before he passed away. We laughed, we reminisced about school days, we said goodbye, and then he was gone. They say that when special people leave us they live in your heart forever and Angie will always be a testament to that saying because he will never be forgotten. Along with my friends Dirk, Nishan, Suresh, Sathi, Sanjeeva and countless others we miss him and are proud to have called him our friend.

Angie, if you are looking down on us, then buddy you’ve left a void that can never be filled, but we’ll always carry the energy of your happy spirit with us. You were a loving son, brother and trusted friend and though we may never have told you how much you enriched our lives when you were with us, your friendship was a gift, and we’ll forever cherish the short time we spent with you.

To use one of your own phrases that still makes me smile…I just wish you hadn’t ‘checked out’ on us so soon…Rest in Peace my old friend…our loss is heaven’s gain.
-Priyantha (Aley) Alagoda


The most wonderful person in the world
Gabriel Arunraj David
June 3 marked the 35th death anniversary of my father Gabriel Arunraj David. He was to me everything a father should be and more. Kind, generous to a fault, a lover of books, animals, plants and children, the inventor of the most amazing stories – Tolkien and J.K. Rowling pale in comparison, a superb cook – I have yet to eat chapati, buriyani or fruit buns as good as Daddy’s, but most of all he loved me and made me feel I was special – “you are my Chubba, you are my Princess”, he would always tell me.

He died at the age of 62. It was a terrible shock as he had just been given the green light to go back to work after having suffered a major heart attack. In those days there were no bypasses and Daddy lost two of his four heart chambers with his first attack. Of course he never took it seriously. He came home from hospital saying “It was just flatulence, nothing more” and proceeded to eat his two fried eggs and bacon, accompanied by fried bread every day for breakfast . His motto in life was ‘eat, drink and be merry for today you live, tomorrow you die’!

My childhood was golden and a fairytale! Growing up in Ampara in a huge garden filled with birds, monkeys and of course snakes, life was a daily adventure. Our dogs, cats, chickens and other pets, along with myself ran wild. The day always began with a walk or rather tiptoe through the garden with Daddy in search of fairies. Of course though I never saw one, Daddy was quick to point out the fairies’ furniture, toadstools of a myriad colours, striped, with polka dots, stars, etc, of every colour and shape.

Some years ago when I was well into my forties, it so happened that there had been a heavy shower of rain the previous night; I was chatting to my mum and remarking on the fact as to how drab and colourless the toadstools were today unlike those of my childhood. My mother gave me a strange look and said “Your father used to go out every morning before you woke up to paint the toadstools for you”. I was dumbstruck to be told that my wonderful father would get up every morning and painstakingly paint them in order that I could retain my belief in fairyland!

The only cloud in my childhood was the fact that I had to have four square meals a day and spend what seemed to me an inordinate amount of time in the ‘high chair’, from which I could not descend until I had eaten everything that was put on my plate. Daddy would come home from work for lunch and within seconds I was off the high chair, on his shoulders, and we would be playing trains and lo and behold all the food on my plate was consumed!

Daddy had green fingers. He had only to touch something and it would bloom. A lover of rose plants above all, he had over 400 plants and 80 varieties of roses at home and he would jealously guard them from my mother who would demand roses for the vases at home only to be told that they were not ready for plucking.

As with plants, Daddy wrought magic with animals and children. They would just flock to him! My parents’ best friend’s son was a problem child who derived pleasure from flouting his parents and teachers. In desperation his parents turned to my father. Daddy told them, “take him out of school and give him to me”, which they did. He went off with my father to Ampara where he spent six months with Daddy. He returned a changed person. Such was my father’s power over children.

Generous to a fault, my mother never allowed him any money apart from what was required to buy a packet of 3 Roses cigarettes. “If I give your father any money he will give it away. One of these days he will come home without the shirt on his back”, she would say. Having said that, when Daddy died, three strangers appeared at our front door wanting to pay for Daddy’s funeral! My bewildered mother inquired as to who they were and were told “Mr. David helped us, he gave us our start in life, all we can do is to pay for his funeral.”

Daddy was posted out of Colombo during his tenure with the RVDB – River Valleys Development Board. He would come home once a month and oh, how happy and excited I was jumping up and down near the front gate, running up to the balcony to get the first glimpse of his Land Rover, and when he finally appeared, I would jump on to his back amidst the barking of the dogs and mewing of the cats. Daddy had one particular cat – Blacken, the ugliest, most bad tempered cat you could ever come across.

lacken would never deign to stay at home, only coming for his meals, but 10 minutes before Daddy would arrive, Blacken would mysteriously appear at the gate and the servants would say “Mahaththaya langa athi”. When Daddy died, Blackens’ grief was terrible to behold. He howled, he cried, he jumped into the coffin, his outpouring of grief was remarkable. He then disappeared for three months and returned a wraith, with all the life in him gone.

Books and learning were Daddy’s twin gods. Nothing could replace them. The day he came home to Colombo from Ampara, he would have a cup of tea, bathe and then off we would go to Cargills, Caves, Lake House Bookshop, for an orgy of book buying. We would return home with the back seat of the car piled high with books. Daddy would then painstakingly sit down, write my name and the date on each book and then proceed to cover them with polythene and brown paper in order to protect them.

Daddy was full of sayings;’ I will pass this way but once’, ‘you carry yourself wherever you go’, ‘learning is golden’, and so many other simple truths which hold good even today. He would constantly say ‘I bequeath to my children not houses or estates but learning’.

A very traditional, old-fashioned Indian, he believed that all marriages were arranged in the cradle, frowned on all our boyfriends, had very firm views on what girls could and could not do such as “ girls do not climb trees”, “girls do not ride bicycles”, “girls do not have facial hair”, “girls must have long hair”, the list was endless.

It is 35 long years since he died but I still miss him. I hope he knows how much I loved him and still do and how grateful I am to him. He gave me love, a sense of belonging , values, a code of conduct, a sense of discipline, and most of all, a wondrous childhood which none of the travails of adult life can ever take away.
He was my Daddy, the most wonderful person in the world!
-Anusha David


Diamond in the rough, framed in Eternity
Ranjan Morais
It is with profound sadness, that I pen these lines as a tribute to my dearest friend Ranjan, who was closer than a brother and my most valued mentor, with whom my comradeship spanned over four decades. Ranjan to the world was a lover of souls. His area of expertise were in ‘diamonds’ and ‘framing’, they were but mere tools to enter the lives of people and leave lasting impressions.
To me, Ranjan was a diamond, who possessed well defined traits that a prospective buyer would closely look for.

Cut – He was refined, classy, in all his ways. The first day I met him, he wore purple bell-bottom pants which was in fashion at that time (70’s). His house in Nawala was a home tastefully decorated and portrayed his taste and class. From the watches he wore to the cars he drove they were all exotic. He was someone who was unique, not to be easily copied and created his ‘own’ stellar brand.

Clarity – Ranjan would never empathise with someone who was trying to self destruct but rather guide them to a path of accomplishment. He was frank and blunt to the extent that sometimes his words of advice would sting but it would not be long before those close to him would understand their sincerity. He kept to his word at all times. His ability to buy valuable/ branded items at discounted prices and sell at a competitive rate always left his clients happy as it was a win –win. This was the key ingredient to his mega success in business.

Carat – He was worth his weight in gold! He was a person who could be happy for others as if they were his own. I remember a party he threw in celebration of a promotion I received, at his home where he invited my closest friends. His attention to detail to make it a memorable one for me still resonates in my heart.

Parents who would walk into his shop to have their child’s graduation photographs framed, would be made to feel the joy of the occasion. Even to strangers he would show love and empathy. His staff were treated like his own family and he would be sensitive to their needs and lend a helping hand whenever he could.

Colour – What tempered his life were the values instilled by his parents and his love for God. With all his glamour and astute business skills, he was someone whose life was driven by his creator God. He would always dedicate his success and blessings to his maker.

Though in his mind a ‘Prince Charming’ what he really was a ‘Philotes’ (Greek god of friendship), and those who associated with him closely understood that perfectly. His exuberance for life was visible in the pace at which he undertook challenging projects of building multiple houses, renovating offices and hotels. His race in life also ended faster than most, but the number of lives he touched and the smiles he put on people’s faces definitely outnumbered the days he walked this earth.

‘My life was enriched by your friendship’. I am sure heaven has received a Pink Diamond that will enrich the Kingdom above.
-Crys

Advertising Rates

Please contact the advertising office on 011 - 2479521 for the advertising rates.