Appreciations
View(s):She radiated calmness, kindness and generosity of spirit
ANNABELLE CHRISTINE RANJINI MANUELPILLAI
I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Annabelle Christine Ranjini Manuelpillai on October 1. A truly remarkable individual, she left an indelible mark on my life and career. I had the great privilege of working under her tutelage when the Fifth City Branch of the Bank of Ceylon first opened its doors in May 1970. As a manager, she was exceptional – fair, supportive, and inspiring. But it was her kindness, compassion, and warmth as a human being that made her truly unforgettable.
One of my cherished memories is the opening ceremony of the Bank of Ceylon’s Fifth City Branch in 1970. Mrs. Manuelpillai, resplendent in a striking beige saree, was a vision of elegance, reminiscent of a film star gracing the pages of ‘Filmfare’ magazine. The Chief Guest, the Governor General of Ceylon at the time, seemed utterly captivated by her presence. It was as if time had stood still, with Mrs. Manuelpillai at the centre of the scene, radiating poise and charm.
She played a pivotal role in shaping my career trajectory. In 1973, when the Bank of Ceylon began promoting junior clerks to fill the cadre of managers for new branches at the Agricultural Service Centres being opened throughout the country, she saw potential in me and encouraged me to apply. Despite not having the typical qualifications, I was selected, thanks in large part to her recommendation. Her confidence in me was a turning point in my career and I’ll forever be grateful.
What makes Mrs. Manuelpillai’s legacy even more special is the way she touched the lives of those around her. I had the pleasure of visiting her last year with my Fifth City workmate Sarath Dias and despite her frailty, she welcomed us with the same warmth and friendliness that I remembered. We spent a lovely morning reminiscing about old times and sharing stories about our experiences at Fifth City Branch. Her pride in her little garden, at the rear of her house filled with organic vegetables, was a testament to her nurturing spirit.
Another cherished memory I have of Mrs. Manuelpillai is meeting my wife, Leona (Patsy) Miskin, who also worked, albeit briefly, at Fifth City Branch. We’ve now been married for 50 years and during that morning’s conversation Mrs. Manuelpillai quipped, “I well remember your courting days and you must thank me for bringing her into your orbit!” Her words brought a smile to my face, and I’m grateful for the role she played in our lives.
As I reflect on her life and legacy, I’m reminded of her serene calmness, kindness, and generosity of spirit. May she rest in peace, and may her heavenly abode be filled with the same warmth, love, and beauty that she brought to the lives of those around her.
Branu Rahim
You lived well and were loved well by all those who mattered to you
Nakuleswari Balendra
My wife Nakuleswari (Nakul) passed away on September 17, at the age of 83, after a brief illness. We have lived together for over 62 years, commencing our togetherness from 1963.
She was fortunate enough to breathe her last on the lap of our eldest son Elangco, who had come down from the U.K to see her, least expecting that this would be the last time he would see her in person.
On the advice of her family physician, she was not admitted to the hospital, but passed away peacefully in her own home in the morning, with me and other friends by her side.
Nakuleswari was the daughter of Manicavasgar Sampanthar (a successful farmer in Poonery) and Mrs. Pakiyam Sampanthar. She was the daughter-in-law of Manicavasagar Kanagasabapathy and Mrs. Sivayogam Kanagasabapathy. All were residents of Columbuthurai, Jaffna.
Though my wife and I were cousins, we seldom met. She was in Jaffna and I was in Colombo with my parents as my father held a transferable job as a Station Master.
My wife attended the Chundikuli Girls’ college where she completed her GCE (O’ level). Though she was good in her sewing, she gave her service free to her neighbours and relations. When she was engaged to me, in 1962, most of her neighbours and relation were rather concerned as she would join me in Colombo and her sewing service would be discontinued to them. They were right.
I referred to her as ‘Nakul’. Nakul, was a faithful wife who was a strict vegetarian like me and most others in Columbuthurai. She excelled in cooking vegetarian dishes. Whenever our non-vegetarian friends dropped into our home, they were treated to a sumptuous vegetarian lunch/dinner which included her special dish ‘Katharikai Porichu Pachchadi’. Invariably they were heard to say that ‘if we can have this type of food, we don’t mind being vegetarians’. An unsolicited ‘certificate’.
Soon after our marriage we lived in a rented house in Wellawatte. In 1970 we bought our own house and property and moved to Nugegoda, where we expected to live the rest of our life, with our two sons. Our youngest son Cheran was born in our home in 1971.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. The communal riots in 1977, affected us and my sister, who was our immediate neighbour, very badly. We were forced to pack up our bags and leave. We relocated to Nakul’s ancestral home at Columbuthurai. Of course, I had to return to Colombo to continue my employment. I was rather sceptical about my wife’s capacity to look after our two mischievous boys who were able to gain admission to my alma mater, St. John’s College, Chundikuli, Jaffna.
My fears about Nakul’s capabilities in managing the boys were unfounded. She disciplined and managed them well without much of my assistance. The eldest left for the UK and the youngest left for Canada. Both of them are doing well, thanks to the good foundation laid by their mother.
With the passage of time both of us visited Canada for my second son’s wedding and often the UK, where our grandchildren kept pestering their granny for various types of food and short eats, which, Nakul happily obliged.
While in England my son took us to various places including Scotland and France. Nakul enjoyed these short stays, proud that her son was responsible for the numerous tours. Our last outing was to Cochin, India in 2020, sponsored and accompanied by our second son Cheran and family. Thereafter there were no more foreign visits but we travelled the country accompanied by both our sons and grandchildren. She was indeed a proud mother/grandmother- happy that her children and grandchildren cared for her individually, jointly and severally.
In 2023, however, Parkinson’s took a toll on her life. Despite her efforts get over it, she failed, much to the disappointment of all the family and the grandchildren in particular. Her health and mobility deteriorated more than envisaged.
All possible efforts were made by us to make her happy. I must sincerely thank Vasuki, Vathana and Nathisha – the three maids, who looked after my wife with tender care and affection.
Nakul/Amma! You left us after showering us with a long period of unselfish love which we may not have returned to you in equal measure. But we all did love you and continue to love you.
You lived well and were loved well by all those who mattered to you.
Love is an ocean! Once you fall into it, you cannot escape, you get submerged by the waves of love and affection. Nakul! You were not only a loving wife but also an affectionate mother to me, when occasion demanded.
Kanagasabapathy Balendra
Realising his vision of harnessing rain water for Jaffna would be the greatest tribute to him
Prof. R.K. Guganesharajah
This is to honour the memory of Prof. Ramalingam Kandiah Guganesharajah, a son of the Sri Lankan soil, for his efforts in bringing out the greatest engineering contribution ever made by anybody, Sri Lankan or international, for the harnessing of water resources particularly in the Jaffna Peninsula. He managed to accomplish this while teaching at Surrey University (UK) working with postgraduate students. Noteworthy is his association (1999 to 2011) with Mott MacDonald – an engineering development and management consultancy – under the auspices of the World Health Organization on the subject of the protection of quality of water and human health.
There had been over a dozen attempts, for almost 300 years, to solve Jaffna’s drinking water problem, including some by well-known water resource consultants in the world – Israeli (Tahal 1966), German (GTZ 1984), US (2002), and Australian (SMEC 2006) – but nobody could fathom how to deal with evaporation loss from shallow lagoons. These studies by foreign consultants paid little attention to harnessing anything from the considerably large (1200 MCM) total annual rainfall of Jaffna Peninsula, much of it lost due to high evaporation – 1700 mm in shallow lagoons. SMEC decided to draw water from the Iranamadu irrigation storage reservoir, pumping through a distance of 75 km to Jaffna but this was halted when paddy farmers intervened to safeguard their livelihood, established over 100 years ago.
What intrigued Prof. Guganesharajah, the local Jaffna boy who was involved with his teachers in testing the quality of Jaffna well water while studying at Jaffna Central College in the 1960s, was that even the most famous water resources consultants in the world, who worked on very small annual rainfalls (around 400mm) in arid regions in the world, had no sustainable solution to the Jaffna problem, where there is an annual rainfall of 1210 mm.
Prof. Guganesharajah considered rainwater harvesting where there is over 1200 mm annual rainfall as the most promising and obvious option to collect fresh water at a very small cost, while it is also the most environmentally suitable (International Conference on Northern Waters ICNW 2019) proposition for the Jaffna Peninsula for its typical geography and the climate.
In 2015, Prof. Guganesharajah had a brainwave: collecting part of the water getting lost through evaporation in shallow lagoons as a major source for human consumption. The idea was to prevent the loss of rainwater through evaporation from the water surface with an absolutely simple engineering intervention, but with technology much superior to that which was adopted in the 1916/24 model by S.G. Taylor of the Irrigation Department (F.R.G. Webb, Divisional Irrigation Engineer 1945) in the same location (east lagoon), where the quality of water was most acceptable as new lands and abandoned lands due to salinity were reclaimed while cattle drank water from the lagoon during the dry season, which has never happened before.
The concept developed was to draw a small fraction (18.25 MCM) of the total rainfall (94 MCM) into the 78sq. km area Vadamarachchi east lagoon and store it in a 10 sq. km. tank built outside the lagoon. This was evolved with the help of 12 postgraduate students who were engaged in studying all aspects of Jaffna water supply, leading to 10 Masters, an M.Phil, and a Ph.D. degree between 1999 and 2011, while many more University of Surrey postgraduate students were engaged in related research in some other critical places in the world.
The research work under the World Health Organization contributed to over 25 M.Sc. projects and 5 Ph.D. studies. This joint venture supported the development of the first network-based three dimensional numerical hydraulic and water quality model for the Jaffna Peninsula in 2003, and it is a major milestone in the engineering history of the Jaffna Peninsula. This software has been used for surface and groundwater systems in more than 150 projects in over 40 countries.
The Jaffna proposal presented as the main keynote address at the Northern Province Water Resource Development colloquium held in January 2017 was well received. In Prof. Guganesharajah’s own words, “This technology developed for the Jaffna Peninsula has relevance to hundreds of other places in the world, and projects will come up in dozens of places within a few years after the Jaffna project is physically carried out on the ground.”
The feasibility study was carried out by the Irrigation Department involving 7 specialised divisions. Further, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, the National Building Research organisation, the Water Resources Board, and the Survey Department were directly involved in the study. Analysis and design proposals were presented in 7 appendices. The estimated cost was Rs. 2000m. Cabinet approval for implementation of the project on an accelerated basis at a cost of Rs.2000m. was granted Ref. 18/1786/820/012 of 04/09/2018. Thereafter, an environmental study was carried out by the University of Jaffna, and clearance was granted by the Department of Wildlife Conservation on 26/10/2019 to proceed with the work. The project implementation on the ground was ceremonially begun on 22/07/2020, and the estimate was revised upwards seven-fold to Rs. 13,600 million as against the originally approved Rs. 2000m by the same Irrigation Department. Consequently, the work was abandoned as the sevenfold upward revision of the estimate could not be justified. This devastated Prof. Guganesharajah, but due to his perseverance, a new start was made by the Minister with the appointment of a new Project Director on 21/03/2022, subject to cabinet approval.
However, the cabinet paper was never sent as the estimate of Rs. 13,600 m could not be approved. Thereafter, the subject was discussed with the new Minister on 20/09/2022, and a new cabinet paper was submitted to restart the project with a view to completing the same within one year at a cost of Rs. 2000m. Consequent to a cabinet decision on 09/01/2023, to recommend one proposal out of 4, the Governor of Northern Province recommended Prof. Gunesharajah’s proposal as the priority one on 12/01/2023.
In the final analysis, it was the wish of Prof. Guganesharajah to provide drinking water to an over 600,000 population in the Jaffna Peninsula by harnessing rainwater within the Peninsula through an absolutely simple but excellent engineering intervention, evolved during his lifelong, dedicated engineering research. This stands out as the latest technological development in the science of hydraulic civilization of Sri Lanka and will be applicable to many other places in the world.
Prof. Guganesharajah passed away in September 2025, before witnessing the fruits of his most remarkable research benefiting his countrymen. His dream, lofty and grand, appeals to the powers that be in this country today to forge his vision into reality.
Vidyajothi Eng. A.D.S. Gunawardana
Irrigation Engineer, Retd. Secretary, Ministry of Irrigation and Water Management
I miss your voice, your laughter and just you
Meena Melvanj
It’s been a year since you left us mum, to be with Sai at his Lotus Feet.
Though you are physically no longer with us, your presence is felt every moment and you are always there in everything we do.
You were my light, my teacher and my best friend. Our relationship was one that no one will know.
You lived a life full of kindness and gave so much of yourself to everyone around you…. Always putting others before yourself.
I am everything I am because of you and what I learnt from you.
I miss your voice, your laughter and just you. Everything I do, it’s you I think of. You were my guide, my strength.
Thank you for every moment I spent with you mum. Until we meet again, I have only the memories.
Deepa
You are no longer there to answer the phone…
Indra Kumarasinghe
A blink of an eye
Releases the tears brimming my eyes
Three hundred & sixty-five days
That feels like an eternity
Since you’ve been gone, Ammi
My list is growing
Of all the gossip I am gathering
The silly jokes I am memorizing
Cute animal videos I am saving
Every day when the time
aligns with Sri Lanka
I check my phone to make a call
“I’m going to tell Ammi…..”
A sharp dagger slices through my heart
A stark reminder, a wake-up call
to reality
You are no longer there to answer the phone
I can’t share my
burdens
I can’t share my proud moments
I can’t share my funny stories
I can’t share my life, my love, my happiness anymore
You’re no longer with us, Ammi
And it hurts to the very core
The void you left is a dark abyss
Raw ache is still too much to bear
How long do I wait?
How long before I see you once again Ammi?
Rasanjana Kumarasinghe
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