Patient being prepared for surgery

Consultant Eye Surgeon of the Hemas Hospital, Wattala, Dr. Shamintha Amaratunge, on Tuesday  (27) performed 50 cataract surgeries free of charge.

This project, Sight at 50, was initiated by the Rotary Club of Colombo West, who teamed up with the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to help those in the low-income group who faced cataract problems.

President of the Rotary Club of Colombo West, Pradeep Amirthanayagam, told The Sunday Leader that Sight at 50 was one of the projects the Club was carrying out in celebration of their Golden Jubilee Year.

“A lot of our projects have taken place outside the city, so this time we planned to focus on Colombo,” said Amirthanayagam.

“We have had several meetings with the CMC since May, to ensure that the right people – people who really lived below the poverty line – were selected. The CMC has access to these groups, and we also wanted to make sure we helped out people from all three communities.”

Amirthanayagam also explained that this was somewhat of a long-term undertaking, where the patients would be monitored for weeks after the surgery, and provided with the necessary lenses and other medical supplies.

Doctors Sunethra Jayawardane, Preethie Aluthge and Uthika Vignesvararajah from the CMC oversaw the proceedings.

Cataract is common among the ageing population, the nurse in charge, Sister Kamala Perera, said, adding that 60 per cent or so of the ageing population is affected by this.

By Maryam Azwer and Gazala Anver

Elderly patient after surgery

Welikada prison

• July 27 to 29 At The National Art Gallery

The Second Annual All Island Prisoners’ Art and Craft Exhibition is to be held from July 27th to 29th at the National Art Gallery, Green Path, Colombo 7. The event which is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo North.  Exhibiting his support towards rehabilitating prisoners, the event will be declared open by the Minister of Rehabilitation and Prisons Reform, D.E.W. Gunasekera.

The exhibition brings together the fruits of labour of those prisoners who have been keenly following the daily career guidance and skills development programmes in carpentry, masonry, beauty culture and therapy, hair cutting, computer applications and IT development, handlooms, embroidery, sewing, dance and drama, cookery and English literacy. The  exhibits will include a diverse range of art works, handicrafts, handlooms, embroidery, wooden items and linen produced by prisoners within the workshops located in the prison, to raise funds for their further improvement.

According to the Commissioner General of Prisons, Major General V.R. de Silva, “Prisoners are human beings too and deserve to be treated as such.  It is an obligation and a moral duty of society to ensure that these prisoners are supported and guided to make better people of themselves and not feel shunned or unwanted. It is imperative therefore that society, the community, corporate captains and civil society leaders give of their fullest support to create an empowering and enabling environment for these prisoners, who are making a great effort to rehabilitate themselves and become people who can interact and contribute to society positively.” For more information please contact Shewantha Rodrigo on 0773850350 or shewa@srodrigo.com

My friend, who is a happily married ‘incurable romantic’ told me a few days ago: “It is odd how the universe works, incompetent dumbos get jobs and witchy airheads get husbands.”
I don’t think she meant this as a general statement but one has to admit that of late, many of the interesting, knowledgeable, educated and cool human beings I know are walking around this country unemployed and single with their degrees turning grey and musty! Let’s first take the job issue.

The average human being works towards a goal. I like to know that my job is having some kind of result with, even better, a positive impact on people or some cause. But with a lot of employees turning into bizarre psychopathic human beings who would make Norman Bates look like a puppy dog, it is getting harder every second to satisfy one’s professional aspirations. My personal experiences have been both unpleasant and extremely revealing but every time my skin grows thicker and my ability to bounce back gets faster.

I have had employers look at my face and even before I have sat down, they had told me that I would not fit the profile. That happened in a well reputed ad agency. The man spoke to me, squeezing his toes while his shoes and socks lay around his office floor. Needless to say, I did not shake his hand when I stepped out of his office!
In my latest employment mishap, the head of the organisation who had agreed to give me a three month contract (probation period) suddenly retracted her offer on the day that I was supposed to have collected the letter. Reasons given: I don’t trust her, why do I want to bind her with a contract?, this is one big family blah blah and for a brief moment, I was speechless and hurt to be thought of as a silly, naïve, inexperienced human being who does not know that nobody works without some proof of employment! The last time I did that was when I was 18 years old and doing some baby-sitting!

And I can go on with the anecdotes. My words of wisdom to whoever is embarking on their careers; please think twice before starting a job anywhere. Your employers will take, but don’t expect to get anything back. Ironically it is my worst paying job which provides me with the most amount of satisfaction. So if you are given the opportunity or if you are lucky enough to have enough backing either from your spouse or your family to do something you love even if it does not pay well, do it. Life is short, as long as the passion is there, the rest does not matter.

As for the marriage issue. I really draw a blank on that point. I don’t think all those who are married are “witchy airheads”, because that would make the person who made this statement one of them. Maybe it is karma or bad timing but I know of a bunch of wonderful women, me inclusive of course who are single and probably doomed to never become mothers. Our romantic streak cannot accept the concept of an arranged match and our desire to nurture sometimes becomes unbearable. A good friend of mine tells me how occasionally, she falls into deep depression at the idea of living her life alone and taking care of her aging family whom she deeply loves.

No job and not even a mountain of cash will ever replace the love of a human being, even though employment and money do provide temporary satisfaction. If you want your life to be bearable, my guess would be to not think about what you do not have, simply because it will not make the missing links appear. Always focus on your own happiness and the rest will follow.

Life’s unfair, no doubt; but then again there are those lovely, simple moments like the one I had yesterday with one of my oldest friends in her house full of dogs, babies and warmth. We fell on her bed and just talked while sipping home made coffee. The dog licked my toes and her adorable little nephew butted into the conversation. That afternoon was perfect and I wish there were more of them.

And there will be. As a fellow incurable romantic, hope will never leave me!

St. Joseph's College and Josephian Under 13 and Under 15 captain Dinal (with bat) on the cricketing field, published in another newspaper

It was a carnival spirit that reigned on Sunday, July 18. God fearing parents, the Fonsekas, held their eight children close as they basked in the happiness around them.
Turning a Nelsonian eye to the liquor stall,  this past pupil, whose son Dinal is a fourth generation Josephian, felt joyous in the celebrations of their alma mater. Fonseka’s mother in law, who accompanied them, enjoyed the mini carnival which took place after the walk which was held that afternoon.

The Fonsekas had much to celebrate in their personal lives for their eldest son had brought home 20 sports medals and approximately 60 certificates. A national junior athlete, Dinal had been the captain of the U-13 and U-15 cricket teams at school. Dinal Fonseka had broken the school record after 35 years, by winning the Junior  National Championship for high jump.

But life is strange and it does not take a minute for  dreams to become nightmares and for laughter to break away and make way for tears.

Carnivals are not places where blood is usually let. But on this day in July, they watched the blood splatter off the face of their oldest child Dinal (17) who was their greatest hope – the apple of their eye.

“It was the most horrible happening in our lives,” said the parents, whose five sons attended St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10. “It was about 9.45 p.m. and we were about to leave, when a person who was following my eldest son for quite some time began to assault him. At first it looked like he was hitting my son on the face, but later we saw that he had a stone clasped in his hand and that my son was being hit on the side of his face with this stone,” said these parents in tears.

“Our son is strong spirited and he did not want to fall down and give into agony. Though we heard him shouting in pain, we were surprised to see  him run behind his assailant, overtake him and catch him. The original fight began at the entrance to the basket ball court and there was a large crowd in these well lit areas,” they said.

Though young Dinal had expected to catch his assailant and question him about the reason for the assault, his intentions were soon put to rest. “It was a shocking string of events that occurred. My son who caught his assailant, was held by two other students of St. Joseph’s College – his hands and upper part of the body held tight while the assailant had a field day in continuing his assault on our son. I wanted to do something but we were transfixed,” said the parents who went on to allege that one of the boys who held Dinal was the son of a teacher. “And all this while the security personnel hardly moved. The Father Rector was nowhere to be seen or found and I wanted him contacted. But a priest who had joined the college a few months ago dialed Father Gihan,” they said.

In a letter written to a high ecclesiastic, Dinal Fonseka’s father says, “Father Gihan to whose notice the incident was brought, dismissed it by saying in Sinhala ‘This chap has not cut his hair and must be an old Josephian’. When my mother in law protested, he simply said in Sinhala ‘Bambuwa cricket, kata wahagannawa’.”The letter alleges that a person in civil clothes, believed to be a highly placed police officer, had consoled the school authority. “Don’t worry father, let these people go to any cop station, I will shape it up”. Despite the threat of a ‘shaping it up’ hanging in the air, Dinal Fonseka, with the guidance and approval of his parents, lodged police entries citing the assault (214/303 –CIB 11 of 18/7/2010; 379/280 – CIB 1 of 19/7/2010; 258/342 – CIB 11 of 20/7/2010).

The parents of Dinal Fonseka have tolerated much. In December 2007, Dinal Fonseka was  reportedly called to the Women and Children’s Bureau  for an inquiry on a complaint made by another concerned party. At this inquiry, traumatic facts that Dinal Fonseka had chosen to keep to himself came to light of how he had been blindfolded with a wet towel, stripped etc. and  assaulted with cricket boots and bed poles and fists for resisting the demands of a gang of students which bordered on sadism.

“All this was tolerated in silence by our son. He kept it all to himself because of the passionate love he had for the game and the desire to represent the College. This incident occured at the upstairs of the Premadasa Pavillion in broad daylight while the coach was present downstairs,” the parents allege.

But the love for cricket can make a young man endure many an agony. A report from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology (MLEF No. 186/10) dated July 18 states  “…He is now having difficulty in opening mouth. Fracture.” “I did so much for my school. I not only played to the best of my ability,but showed the ways to others in the team,” says Dinal. “It was all for my school, my life was about my school,” he said.

Injured and traumatised there still remains a shade of that sporting spirit in young Dinal. His eyes red-rimmed, his heart broken and his throat choking, Dinal’s nagging question is “Why?”

raneemoham@hotmail.com

An isolated incident — Rector/Principal

This is an isolated incident which cannot be identified with the school, said  Rector/Principal of St. Joseph’s College Rev. Father Sylvester Ranasinghe when The Sunday Leader contacted the school to get their side of the story.

“This incident occured after the carnival, at about 10.30 in the night. It was an unknown person who was involved. This has nothing to do with the school. We always maintain strict discipline at St. Joseph’s College and have a strict Catholic environment where education takes place,” said Rev. Father Sylvester Ranasinghe.

“This incident has nothing to do with the discipline of the college.This kind of thing happens among boys. It is a minor incident,” said the Rector.

When we contacted Father Gihan for his side of the story he said that  there was an incident and that they could not find the person who was involved in it.

“There are several accusations. It is only natural that parents stand up for their children. We have to seek the truth and ensure that justice is meted out to all,” said Father Gihan who went on to say that the school authorities have always worked towards safeguarding its good name.

________________________________________________________

“Dinal was surprised” – Onlooker

An onlooker when contacted by The Sunday Leader  said that young Dinal was looking at his younger brother who was talking to another child when a strange young man came and asked “Ko Dinal?” (Where is Dinal?) When someone had pointed Dinal out to him he had immediately lunged at the surprised Dinal and begun to attack him. “Dinal began to stagger behind the assailant and his parents ran behind him. He was assaulted again and then someone who was supposed to be a ‘committee member’ shouted “Open the Gate” and out went the assailant. The gate was shut, never to be opened again. “This is horrifying. I see a breakdown in discipline. About six or seven months ago a student brought some thugs to assault some school prefects. One prefect was in the ICU. The student who allegedly initiated it did not suffer consequences as serious.

A few years ago, he was in Malaysia, Penang and Singapore decorating the walls of Theravada temples with paintings of scenes from the life of the Buddha. Nevertheless, Semage is not only a ‘Buddhist’ artist. From the day that he held a solo exhibition as a schoolboy over fifty years ago, he ‘grew’ as an artist on his own, having had none to teach him now, or a ‘school’ to show his affiliations. He advanced as a ‘loner’ developing himself.

For his latest paintings, he has mastered the styles of eminent international painters as Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo. Without copying their styles, Semage has grasped the salient features that can enrich local art.

Students in costumed finery

Once Upon a Time, an enthralling performance written and directed by Nuzrath Mowlana will be presented by the  students of the Foundation and Primary School of Gateway College, Colombo 4 on July 31. An outstanding feature of this performance is the participation of the teachers.
An array of characters from fairyland including Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Princess Aurora and the Fairy Godmother together with Cinderella and The Little Mermaid will celebrate the second anniversary of Gateway’s newest branch which is fast gaining popularity among international schools. At the helm of this school is veteran educationist Noreen Welikala, who, with over five decades of experience in the educational sector, remains a beacon of light.

With training from the teachers and guidance from Noreen Welikala, the students are expected to bring out their best. The younger pupils from Foundation School will bring the age old Cinderella to life in the adaptation of Cinderella’s Dream Come True, while pupils  of Year One and Year Two will take the audience through the mysteries of the ocean and the excitement of life underwater in The Little Mermaid.

Bhanuka and Kumar

Catch the action with reigning ‘School Boy Cricketer of the Year’ and current Royal College Cricket Captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa as he is interviewed on Prime TV Roundtable’s Celeb Chat on Monday 26 July at 9.30 pm.
Listen to him recalling his early days as a three year old batsman in his playpen with great-grandmother Pear Singaravel bowling him out. The Royalist all-rounder likens a cricketer to a model where food and fitness, rigorous diets and hard exercise play a key role in success.
Bhanuka shares with you his passion for chocolates, his love for ghosts and particularity ‘clean feet’. How would he react if he got up tomorrow morning and suddenly found himself a 36 year old, exactly double his age? What would he do if he were at the crease with the ball mid air and the handle of his bat gave way?
Celeb Chat is a weekly one hour roller-coaster as the host and guests throw caution to the winds and indulge in pointed questions and evasive answers, quick repartees and inaudible asides, non-committal nods and embarrassed grins.  All this and lots more as host Kumar de Silva brings out the best of all-rounder Bhanuka Rajapaksa on PRIME TV. (UHF 24 and Channel 75 on Dialog TV)

Golden Jubilee Celebration Of Glow Mayas - Batch 1980 was held recently. These photos capture the happy reunion of the past pupils of Mahamaya College, Kandy. There certainly was much glow and happiness around.

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