The profession with a prefix ‘Noble’, even the royalty would lower their sway
Fifty long years of hard slog, amidst rain, hot sun, freezing snow or cold spray
A super batch of medicos toiled sake of humanity, here at home & a few far away
Returned with friends to relive their impressive past, in a truly memorable way
The milieu is pretty, gorged with heavenly scent, delighting the Resort, ‘Eden Spa’
Southerly winds rocked in harmony flowers & buds, dancing on tree tops near & far
Mixing soft pollens with the nippy morning dew and produced a heavenly aroma
To salute the deeds of prodigious sons and daughters of beloved mother Sri Lanka
Butterflies & bees forgot for once, to visit the nectary to fill their bags of honey,
Instead flocked to the resort to please us, and danced waggling their empty tummy
Babies on mothers’ laps, seeing our fun & frolic, smiled, giggled and blethered friskily
Ignoring copious pouring milk from ‘melons’, in mums’, covered in bras cagily
Dwellers in tiny tree hutches, eagerly came out in hot Sun, sat to stare Patiently on the watched, with their large eye balls, focus on the grand affair
Birds busted out of nests, danced to their songs, exhibiting amorous ‘love play’
Splashing flower petals and pollens, ignored their usual morning bites & prey
Fish big and small busy in the sea, in rivers, rivulets and brooks near and far
Formed gentle ripples lovingly, sniffing, cajoling and enticing, for one look extra
Beat of their fins, sprayed drops & split the colours of Sun rays to form a rainbow
Thus did their very best to delight us & and converted our hearts, to a fervent altar
Water falls from hill tops rushed nonstop, jumping through stones and rocks,
Slowed down in the meadow at the resort, to share our fun, with thievery peeps & checks
The monarch of planets, sent energy beams in form of brightest pure white rays
To rejuvenate us, as well to peep at our beautiful damsels romping on pastures and pools!
The Event Report Oct 24th to 26th – 2014
By far the best batch of medicos entered the medical school, Colombo Held their reunion golden, ceremoniously in Beruwala, at the ‘Resort Eden’
For this gathering of famous, distinctive medical men and women, Some with their better halves, gleefully joined, 1964 batch mates, eighty seven!
Returning to our own ‘Bethlehem’ of the medical world, was amazing and wonderful
As I opened the door to enter, saw the bunch of wriggling mates with gleeful smiles
Being unable to pick which one to meet first and to let go my pent up feelings and give hugs
I got the same feeling of that of a mosquito entering a nudist camp with plush red hot boobs!
Flashed back fond memories as we sat on respective seats of the lecture hall physiology
Remembered like yesterday, Professor Koch, saying that we were the ‘cream of the society’
For making this gathering of my beloved mates in such a fantastic ambience
Please accept my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to the RU organizing committee
It was truly a magnificent titanic affair, pretty colossal
Like of which so far unheard of, and surely there was none parallel
Everyone was eager to meet their mates, after so many decades
Initial task however, was to get the name correctly of the bubbling buddies
Anoja started the forum giving the agenda and the house keeping points Aley got us in stitches reminding how he became brave to speak in English
The beaver of the batch Lakshman, underlined the programme’s, dos and do-nots,
Narme and CJ too gave glimpses indicating how our three days would progress
Walking through our library was poignant as I passed the seat I used to sit
Reminded my days as I saw some poor students fallen asleep on the book
I had a smile as fifty years ago I never thought I would make it
When we think back it wasn’t as bleak as we as students thought and felt!
It was yet another great idea, RU organising committee had planned
To offer to the library copies of Text Books, written by our own mates
In addition, the offer of twenty or so scholarships to the needy students
Was truly a magnanimous gesture our most generous batch mates made
Current staff were admirably gracious and were very cooperative
Continuing the glorious trend of our professors and Academics
Anoja and many others must have had a very positive influence
We were even treated for tasty cinnamon buns and Milo milk refreshments!
Thirty odd Kilo meters, our journey from Colombo to Beruwala Hotel
I am not alone to say this, became the most entertaining track to trail
Knowing the lyrics and history of film songs, ‘Kadavunu poronduwa’ to date,
Playing his guitar like a professional, Esiri sang in his most melodious voice
While Deepthi, Mahendra, Swana, Shakut and others joining the chorus
What a pleasant surprise the welcome at the hotel was
Traditional drummers and Kandyan dancing men and girls
Escorted us to the hotel on a carefully laid red carpet
Glamorous welcome I have ever experienced, the most
In all my seventy years of life and truly very elated, I felt!
Almost all of us were around or soon becoming septuagenarians
The failing memory was the killjoy, unlike the youthful former days
Some alas showed the savagery of time slightly more than the others
Yet with a hint secretly whispered, recognised correctly all our mates
Learnt how to boost the morale with a white lie, everyone abode
‘Oh you’ve not changed a bit, please tell me, how you did’
The sweetest thing we yarned to hear, came out from every buddy
Diplomacy was rampant as all tried to make each other very happy
A bouquet of flowers to those who toiled to make the occasion possible
Professor Anoja of Pharmo and ethical fame was the skipper astute
Lakshman and Aley handled finances, bookings and things many more
CJ did a stupendous job, spreading across the globe, the ‘RU gospel’
Narme, editor in chief, did rationalize contents of the souvenir very well
There were aspects which made our souvenir great, grand and unique
Firstly the acumen of the editorial team, Anoja. Lakshman and Narme
New ideas from so many, like the ‘then and now’ photos and the ‘mini bios’
For which Dharma and Wimal did a painstakingly difficult job collecting details
Poetry corner, memories and appreciations of our teachers and mentors
Photos, and jokes especially from Titus, elucidating the richness of our past years
One other striking thing striking about our ‘souvenir golden’
Was the absence of commercial ads and no outside interventions
We are proud and grateful to have two willing, affable mates
Wije and Seelan who bore entirely the batch souvenir expenses
Dharma, Wimal and Selvaranee sorted out affairs in the U.S.
CJ, Praxy and yours truly, managed to energise the Britishers
Mahilal, Mahendra, Nimal and Seelan removed cobwebs from the Aussies
Ana, Indira and MLD in Canada, Ruthraj in NZ inspired respective mates
Of all the mates who made our reunion a spectacular event
Core contribution of a few stand well above the wall parapet
From the first day to the last, every single aspect of this mammoth event
Laky, Shanti, Narme, Anoja, and Aley our heroes, on that there’s no contest
Let me thank on behalf of the batch to all their spouses
They worked hard and were the catalysts for the RU success
Those who came to the party decorated the gathering with their graces
Special mention is made for those spouses of batch mates
Who were intensely involved in organising and setting this party colossus?
Faizal Zavir mesmerized enire Beruwala with his divine music
Gaspar sponsored the Friday evening karaoke performances
Esiri Karu sang yesteryear Sinhala euphony, tingling auditory senses
Deepthi delighted thewhole place with her flute and Baila dances
Must mention here a line about our batch ‘cake queen’
Selvarani, produces a delightful cake in our every reunion
Praxy’s contribution to the RU also need a special mention
She was a useful busy body, a facilitator to keep things moving
Her after dinner speech following the Gala ceremony was a good ‘thanksgiving’
More importantly supervised arrival of foreign liquor under the guidance of Seelan
Hotel accommodations, refreshments and the food were class first
Smiling faces of all the staff and the atmosphere was excellent
The milieu of the venue was excellent rates were so low it was a steal
Must thank the committee and our Sam, for finding a jewel of a Hotel
It was humbling and a fantastic experence on Saturday to share a meal with us
Great Prof. Priyani De Soysa our beloved teacher at an age eighty nine plus
With Dr Ana Soysa former ENT surgeon, the arrangement to be amongst us
Yet another grand mile stone and showed our committee’s Sterling Class
It was not just song and dance and food for the tummy they did arrange
To rid the cob-webs from our brains scientific meeting Prof Anoja was in charge
Chosen were five top class respected medical giants in their respective fields
And a joker also was given a chance to put the gathered crowd in ‘nine stitches’
Most memorable, hilarious and enjoyable part of our Golden reunion
No doubt was the hurriedly arranged drama show ‘the block concert’
Each country was given to produce a drama or two in this event
The USA team won everyone’s heart on that there was no conflict.
Anslem compered the concert with his usual command and the professional touch
Some characters were so good there performances could match any professional act
Dharma’s performance of a pregnant lady going through a twin confinement
Obstetrician, Banda used scientific jargon to translated all filth uttered by the patient
Also cannot get over how ‘pretty nurse’ Perumal, for contraceptive used a Panadol tablet
Gaspar, Chandra, Narme, Aley, Mahilal, Eddie, Soma, Banda, Piching, and Willy,
Damayanthi, Deepthi, Rose, Anoja, Indrajee, and many others agile, like Donney
Danced to the sixties music through the night and created an ambience heavenly
Those of us with croaky voices and creaky joints, just watched, yet felt very jolly
Taking the group photo alas, had a set back with stops and starts
Rain gods were unkind to us but none of us were deterred
First with spouses then on our own, dodging the falling rain drops
Somehow we did stand together shoulder to shoulder all in one shot
As they say ‘All good things must come to an end’
After three wonderful days we had to say ‘Good buy’
Just like the scenes of hugs and tears when siblings do apart
Each one with tear filled eyes was sad to let go mates and part
Having returned to the four corners of the globe, quite depressed and sad
We desperately try to hold on to incidences and faces; the dream experienced
I for one feel like a baby whose favourite toy has been rudely snatched
Without doubt everyone wants soon the RU64 committee, a repeat enacted
Finally please forgive me if I have omitted to mention important events
My memory is not as good as my student days is now rapidly wining
Contents here are obviously very remote from the wonderful happening
If there are omissions consider me not as a batch mate rather as a sibling
Ariya
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Hi all, We had what I call a “MICRO RU64″ at our house on Feb 15th. Errol and Rosemary drove over 100 miles to join. The others were 15- 30 minutes away. This was mainly to view photos we took at Golden RU 64 an of course the skits, reliving the October RU. Thanks to Selva and Mahesan we got a DVD of all the skits. It was extra fun to watch with others. We had a few others mostly senior to us – Drs Nihal and Sarogini Gooneratne, Dr Eugene Anandappa and three other family friends. These people helped me with the Sinhala pronunciation, grammar for our skit and gave some constructive criticism. It was much fun and all enjoyed the lunch prepared by Yogamany. The non medical persons must have lost the little respect they had for me after they saw our skit! This has given the impetus to have a Mini RU 64- North America” soon. whether it will materialize is any ones guess.
News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 