In loving memory of our dearest friend
It’s three months since Indra passed away.
An unforgettable person especially to the ‘P Group’ of the 1970 batch from the Colombo Medical Faculty, she was a great friend to all of us and many others. In fact lndra was the personification of the word ‘friend’. She was the ‘friend in need’ to family, colleagues, close acquaintances and even chance acquaintances.
Indra’s presence was always desired at whatever gathering. She was someone you were comfortable with. Almost always cheerful, always positive and helpful, never flustered and her advice sincere and solid. Indra never shirked her responsibilities. Sometimes one wondered how stressed she must be, but shouldering responsibility appeared to be second nature to Indra. She dealt with problems calmly and with a clear head.
One can imagine what a hugely popular person Indra was and this naturally included her junior colleagues. In those early days in England when Indra only had a small secondhand car, juniors (the boys) actually seemed to enjoy putting the car back on the road whenever it broke down. Indra who had a good sense of humour would say it must be in the House Officers’ job description to repair the Registrar’s car!
Later as a Consultant Neonatologist in Rochdale, Lancashire, she must have saved the lives of so many little babies and earned the respect of parents, colleagues and juniors. She was also a popular doctor at Kurunegala where she did her Internship, then Matara, Castle Street and Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital.
Indra was also admired for her simplicity, honesty, cheerfulness and last but not least that typical Sri Lankan type of beauty and her beautiful smile. Her first love and marriage was to Ariyawansa, an equally good man whose sad demise when their child was only two years old was almost an unbearable sorrow to Indra. Everyone who knew the couple were sad, but Indra took up the challenge of being both father and mother to Kusal who is now married with kids and doing well in life. The kids were a great source of joy to Indra who was a devoted grandparent. She preferred to stay single after Ariyawansa’s death (not for lack of admirers), but long years later she met Sarath who had also lost his first wife, a lovely lady doctor.
Indra must have seen something special in Sarath and vice versa, because they decided to get married and they enjoyed a very happy life together for about 20 years till the unexpected happened.
Indra who had gone through many great stresses in her life, took up this stress too in the accustomed way and remained positive till even after her six- hour operation. She realised her days were numbered only when she heard about the outcome of the operation. This was such a shock and source of profound sadness to all of us, her family, and all those close to her, who wondered why such a thing should happen to a person like Indra.
However, Indra was not fearful of death. Being a true Buddhist she would have had the comfort of knowing that the great merit that she had acquired in this life would stand her in good stead in any future lives. The only thing Indra didn’t want was to suffer.
Thankfully her demise came fast. Though we wished for her to live longer, the limitations imposed by that six hour surgery would have been no life for Indra. Before she was heavily sedated to help her through the last, she even took the opportunity to say her goodbyes to all those closest to her. She thought of others even in her last stage like she always did, concerned about the comfort of her friends and family who were there to help her. Such a great person was she.
Indra loved life, but always knew her limits. She was generous but not extravagant. She enjoyed travelling and both Sarath and Indra travelled a lot together. Indra loved to get forty winks whenever possible much to our amusement, but what amused us most were her scatterbrained doings. How much we have laughed at those and being the good humored person she was, she would laugh at herself too.
To recall one such incident; a section of the ‘P Group’ went to see an unusually sandy beach on the west coast of England. Returning to the car to go home, we stopped to remove the sand from our shoes. Then we were back in the car and on our way when a pedestrian pointed at us. We ignored and drove on. Next a passerby on a bicycle kept pointing at our car. We then decided to stop and have a look to see what was wrong. Lo and behold! Indra’s handbag was sitting pretty on top of the car where she had left it before cleaning her shoes. There are many such incidents, some even funnier.
Indra dearest, you have left us with such lovely memories - not just about your scatterbrained ways, but of all the good that you did and the wonderful person you were. We hope we meet you again somewhere, someday and may you continue to do your good work wherever you are reborn. This world needs more people like you. ‘P Group’ The late Dr. Indra Ariyawansa Perera nee Pathirage Dr. S. Pathmanathan Dr. Sandra Charles-Holmes nee Peiris Dr. Vinitha Perera Dr. B.J.C Perera The late Dr. Ranjith Perera Prof Rohini Fernandopulle nee Perumal Dr. Pat Petersons Dr.Mohan Pillai Dr. Benodini Perera Dr. Marlene Abeyewardene nee Wirasinghe (much loved friend of P Group)