Sunday Times 2

To Professor with love

View(s):

Rattaran duve, apey rattaran duve,

Obayi diviya artavat keley.

Giyadaa patan igila kurulu kooduven

Santhosayak naeae sithey.

Our daughter, our beloved daughter,

It’s you who brought meaning to my life;

The day you flew away from our nest

You took away the joy of my life.

Naevatha enna duve,

Igilalaa giye samu gena
apey kooduven

Obath kooduvak thananna ne?

Igilala gosin thanapu kooduvath aran

Naevatha enna piyaambalaa, duvey

Come back, dear daughter, come back,

You fled away, you bade farewell

To our nest to build your own, didn’t you?

Fly, and with the nest you made
come back to us again, our daughter

Professor Carlo Fonseka will be remembered for many things big and small;

The above touching little lyric is surely one of them for me -loveable for its charm and memorable for its candour like the
man himself.

C. N. S.