VITAMIN C and Brain Size of Adults

This is to highlight an article published in NEJM on the 10th of July, 2026 by mainly Japanese authors.

There is a definite relationship with brain size and probably low incidence of dementia on non alcoholic individuals.

Others include 

Potentiates Memory and Attention

Prevention of Macular degeneration in eyes.

Possible lower incidemce of heart attacks due to antioxidant activity.

No relationship with flue or the duration of the flu.

Dose of VITAMIN C

50mg assuming the contribution from food (banana, lime, lemon mandarin and oranges) one gets the required 75mg a day.

Body does not priduc Vit C.

My bone or contention is one cannot be sure how much one gets from a fruit. There is no label on the fruit and the size of the fruit that gives 75mg.

Quantity in Vit C tablet is known.

So taking the tablet makes life simple.

No complicatuons.

It is the ripe banana that has Vit C and all Hexose and Penrose sugars.

There is a caveat here.

Tablets available are 500mg.

Simply, just divide it to 4 pieces.

If one take the 1000mg (2 tablets) the excess is passed in the urine causing light burning sensation.

Only very high doses cause oxalic acid stones in the urine.

1. NEJM is my number 1 journal for over 50+ years.

I am not a fan of BMJ especially because of its language style. Whereas, NEJM has a crisp and direct language style and there are no Shakespearian twist in expresdion.

2. I was very much involved in childhood nutrition and milk formulae from SMA, Cow and Gate, Anchor and Vitamil. 

I am not a fan of Indian Amul milk.

Equally fan of milk toffee made of Nestlé Milkmaid condensed milk.

I am not familiar with Danish Arla and Australian mulk Devondale and Woolworth 

3. My interest was VITAMIN fortified milk not the standard milk.

In that sense SMA and Cow and Gate were my favourites.

4. Even though Expressed Breast Milk was an option for babies maintaining a Milk Bank except for Neonates was not feasible.

5. One has to look at the label on the milk cartoon or tin to see the composition. Little bit of iron and trace elements like zink, copper and selenium are invariable in some formulae.

The Chief Guy who covered up Stealing in the University

 

 A Weak Leader Brings Disaster to Ceylon 

Anura Dissanayske is that weak Leader.

Ranil Wichramasinghe is a wesk leader and a stooge of India. 

He has allowed Anura Dissanayske to sign all the agreements which India needs to subjugate CEYLON and put the onus on Anura and later undermine him and come to power using a subtle "Economic Coup".

Ranil Wickrasinghe is no economic wizard. 

What he did was to postpone the install payments and we have to pay the installments with added interest, later.

He fooled the masse with Pseudo RECOVERY. 

Sutra Puncha at his Worst.

We must never let him come to power.

I have a Personal Grouse with him.

His aim is to destroy FREE University Education and introduce FEE paying system.

 

Destroy Kannaggara Wisdom is his moto.

He unceremoniously sacked my BOSS, University Grant Commission Chairman, Professor B. Ranjth N. Mendis.

I acted as the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Dental Science for 3 months  and fulfilled all His Intended Targets. 

I begged him to release me from Work on Administration, since I was interested in Research Work which I finished in double quick time and the rest of the time I spent on my Linux Development Plan and having a Network dedicated to the Faculty of Dental Sciences independent of the University Server.

Yes, he released me for academic work but gave me another project with Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA).

I really enjoyed working with Dr. Handa and Hagiwara and Professor Kimiko was my Room Buddy. 

He was involved in training our Technical Staff on Special (enzyme technology) Staining Technology.

Unfortunately, minus 20 decree Fridge Freezer I ordered for my Research Work was hijacked by our seniors technician Mr. Bandara who died of Mercury Poisoning. 

He was a very nice guy and this piece is dedicated to him.

Of course, I was interested in Safety within the Laboratory from my Private Sector Training in Quality Control and Safety.

This was to highlight the lady who died at about the same time in Colombo (forget her name) who was doing gene splitting in CEYLON. I think this case was hushed up and covered up by the Private Sector guys, fearing litigation by the family and the possibility of undermining their recruitment schemes which violated the Fundamental Rights and the Safety of the individuals in laboratory work.

I left private Sector never to join again but always highlighted this case in my introductory lectures to students and visiting trainees.

I was trained by WHO Program in Gene Splitting and part of that training included Safety. I went to Science Faculty for training and one of my classmates in Biochemistry died related to chemical poisoning after retirement. Another of my classmates who entered university much later in Biochemistry did his Masters in  

Laboratory Chemical Poisoning in America. 

 

He asked me to suggest a  Research Project.

All my other academic friends who entered the University from my class except the above mentioned above are dead.

I have noted these incidents without their names in a single chapter in one of my many books at Amazon's.

 

You have to read those books at Amazon to become wiser.

My first project proposal to a Third Year Medical student was very simple.

Study the relationship of grey hair to Thyroid Hormones, T4 and T3.

He ended up in Biochemistry which I hated in later years. He did go to UK and USA and never returned to Mother Lanka to pay back his loans and the bond which was Rs. 30,000/=. 

We immediately raised the bond to 3 times and more,  (Rs.100,000/=). 

 

The girls who joined Pathology (they were Tamils) did not pay back their legal bonds. I personally conveyed a message from my Professor R. G. Tennakoon, to one of my batch mates,  that she cannot join any University in CEYLON, if she decides to come home one day.

Coming back to the Biochemistry Guy, he organized a Guest Lecture in our Faculty. 

I attended it in good time and it so happened that I was the only guy to listen to him on that day. He was devastated and told him nobody likes him and Do Not ever come back here, to Show Off.

He was a Hela Urumaya Type guy in his days in CEYLON and he was from Ananda College. He also did not return any of the books he borrowed from me. 

He was a very stingy guy and he never offered me a cup of tea which I really love.

One of batch his mates had already warned me that he would never offer a cup of tea and BEWARE.

He of course broke my childhood camera and he did not tell me how. Of course, by that time I had a better camera which I never gave on loan to  anybody.

Incidentally, one of my relatives ransacked all my  spare cameras and vandalized my very expensive Medical Projector for the lens. 

He became paralyzed just before I left CEYLON and I did not pay him a visit but send him the medical gear that he needed through my wife. 

This is a guy I wish not see in any of my next lives and that includes that Biochemistry Guy.

I wish I meet our dog Zimba in one of my next lives. I am convinced that he is currently in heaven but I have no intention of visiting heaven to cancel my good merits achieved in this life.

Still I need to talk about another guy who tried to steal my intellectual property. He was an anesthetic. He had no training in pediatrics but was interested in studying TOR or Toxic Oxygen Radical. By that time I was into TOR as the base starting point in Inflammation and Interleukin. I got one my senior female technician to do the TOR work and her senior technician was a ladies man whom I did like and refused to associate with. I did a close watch on his extracurricular acts and not on his bench work. He was a good bench worker but did use shortcuts in his staining work which was not accepted in Research. So, he was never tasked with Research Work. He used to undercut Sujatha Ramadasa the next in line of command. She unfortunately lacked Research component for her promotion in the Medical Faculty. I wormed in the Dental Faculty. I bumped into her one day and asked her how she was doing. She broke and started crying. She came from Ratnapura and she did not have any friends in Kandy. I told her to give me her resume and I would collaborate in a Research work and I would buy all the chemicals, particularly the  Suoeroxide Dismutase (SOD) for the project. I got her to do some pilot work since to my knowledge nobody had done any work in Ceylon on SOD. When I was satisfied I gave her my protocol which that Doctor guy tried to steal from me. He was initially one of my supervisors. I sacked him from the supervisor. This was an unprecedented event and I threatened to put my preemptive research work on placenta on to the dustbin, if he was not removed legally in a formal meeting with the Faculty of Medicine.  Fortunately, Professor Mendis had the foresight of a breakdown in communication and apportioned 3 supervisors to my project. That saved the day for me. 

Miss Sujatha Ramadasa of course got promoted as the Chief Technician when that ladies guy retired. That was on the the strength of the SOD Work with me. I gave a strong recommendation. That ladies guy after retirement used to avoid me in public and he had to retire early on medical grounds. He developed herpes related ophthalmitis which affected his vision and bench work. 

 

That brings me to the third guy with whom I had no academic connection. 

 

He used to cover up many deficiencies in the technical and minor staff of the Department. 

I had to uncover the pilfering of absolute alcohol from the Department store. 

 

I managed to sack 3 in the Department.

1. One stealing petty cash.

2. One stealing Microscope lens

3. One stealing absolute alcohol 

 

The Chief Guy used to cover up these acts.

Then I had a good COMBO.

Mr. Nimal Ranjith Seneviratna who was National Senior athlete and a good opening batman in cricket for Kegalle and Kandy. 

He never told me he was a cricketer but he taught me how to use the Typewriter which I coined "Ko Ko System" of Typing which is not related to Touch Typing.

 

When I did a book on all these guys, I discovered the finer points of their lives.

I did not forget to give a long calls to all of them before my departure from CEYLON.

There is no way, I would return to CEYLON even for a holiday.

I did my parts to "Mother Lanka" in "My Way" and there are no arrears.

My only loss is 2 one terabyte SSD disks with all my DATA of Yesteryear and a few hard copies of my books at Amazon's.

Reflection on J.V.P. and L.T.T.E and Photography

 Reflection on J.V.P. and L.T.T.E and Photography

Joe Theodore De Livera in Conversation

I could not find a reliable Electronic Balance in Titus Stores but could find one in the open market of the Pettah Street, of course smuggled, under Rs.5000/= which I used for my Research Work on Placenta. 

Also read underneath what L.T.T.E. and J.V.P. done to our local industry.

I am a photographic addict but went in to colour photography in UK. I bought a Peterson Colour Kit but without a good dark room I could not progress. 

We have chatted about this and that for over three hours on a Monday morning in his beautiful home set amidst a large garden in Colombo. Was it too long or too short for a colourful personality that is this octogenarian?

Initially, we sit on the lush lawn surrounded by large trees and hedges and then move into the hall bordering a meda-midula with a pond and more trees, to be served with delicious slices of home-made cake and steaming cups of tea. Finally, we tread upstairs to the large book-lined study, after spending a little time on the balcony, taking in the exercise equipment that he uses and also the view of the surrounding landscape.
Were three hours adequate, we wonder as we leave, to encapsulate the multi-faceted life of this person who has dabbled in many things, very successfully, with trust in God and the murmured whisper of “Thy will be done”.

Where do we begin – this is the question we grapple with. May be it would be best to begin with the well-known facets of his life, moving from the known to the unknown.

We have concluded this long interview while also taking photographs of none other than 85-year-old Joe Theodore De Livera in his home down Ananda Rajakaruna Mawatha, Maradana, with an “exquisite” view, in his own words, of Campbell Park.

This is the man, having taken over the ‘legend’ of Main Street in bustling Pettah, ‘Titus Stores’ set up by his father back in 1924, to import and sell the first incandescent lamps, from which the name of the store came about lifted it out of the dumps and also successfully steered it through turbulent times generated by mushrooming modern stores.

Having to weave in many strands to showcase the rich tapestry of Mr. De Livera’s life, we begin at the beginning. 

Joseph Michael De Livera, a teacher, had strong views on how to bring up his one-and-only son (there is one daughter too), while mild Mary Theodora never opposed his will.
So it was to the boarding of Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, that Joe was packed off to from their home in Negombo at the tender age of five. In his father’s mind it was the “best” he could visualize for his son. At 85, his childhood may be a dim memory, but to this day, there is a tinge of sadness as Joe says “it was a terrible thing for a child” for it cut-off his closeness to his parents. He found comfort in singing and Mother Gonzaga recognized his “lovely voice” and got him heavily involved in choral activity.

Next it was a few years at Maris Stella College, where his father had been a teacher, followed by the family moving to a rented home on Gregory’s Road, while young Joe was bundled off to boarding school once again, this time at         St. Joseph’s College, Maradana. Silently the tears would flow, as he longed to be in his own home.
With World War II breaking out, the family once again went back to their Negombo home, with another stint at Maris Stella College for Joe, followed by more years at St. Joseph’s College, Maradana. 

The Race Course was an airstrip, there were Royal Air Force personnel at      St. Joseph’s and once the war had stabilized, the Josephians were at their lessons in pol-athu classrooms put up in the premises of Aquinas College. Incidentally, the De Livera family’s Negombo home in Thammita is now St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged with 135 elderly.

While the routine at college was daily mass and communion and lessons, he also came under the powerful influence of Fr. Ignatius Perera (who would later set up the Radio & Electronics Laboratory, the first of its kind in Asia) whom he “revered”. Although erudite Fr. Ignatius, a scholar in Latin and Greek with a flair for music and singing, did not teach impressionable Joe, he opened up a way of life for the boy, making him the first chorister of the Catholic Choral Society for he had “absolute pitch”. His profound influence made Joe’s love of music blossom.

Singing and music were not Joe’s only passion as a boy of about eight but also photography, starting with an unwieldy box camera – a Kodak Brownie which was “a real black pettiya”.

When asked how that interest developed, there is wry humour as he points out that “maybe it is a matter of the mind” as his parents were both “amusical and aphotographic”. 

Although he was NOT a graduate in science, law or engineering, he says that he has a very broad mind.
There is a pause in our conversation as he pulls out his I-Phone from his shirt pocket and says “this is of course far better” for taking photographs and also waves goodbye to wife, Hermie, about whom he speaks with much pride. “She is a science graduate,” he says, adding that she is a good wife and mother and fantastic cook, going on to explain how she hosted a Soroptimists’ meeting just a few days before, proof of her efficiency.
Both of them have green fingers, he laughs, while his wife has her very own bonsai garden and he also turned architect to come up with the “bold concept and design” of their home which had been admired by renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa.

As he himself says he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a big businessman he may be as head of Titus Stores, the running of which he took over in 1965, but his track record is impressive. He had managed the family’s dairy farm with 2,500 Milch cows on 685-acres in Chilaw as a young man, with a bowser of milk being supplied from there each day to the Milk Board. 

 

This was until the government took over their land in 1972, ending the dairy business.

A strange mix it would seem, for Mr. De Livera had also ventured out to sea, being the pioneering entrepreneur to introduce the first trawler in Sri Lankan waters, initially in Pesalai, Talaimannar, and later in Kalpitiya.

He makes a point to mention that in those days he spearheaded resistance to Indian fishermen entering Sri Lankan waters, referring to the crisis between the two countries in recent times.

His Ceylon Seafood Company boats were trawling around two tons of fish including thoru, moru, thalapath, koppara, loads of small fry and about 50 kilos of prawns per day. However, with the activity of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam mounting around Wilpattu and one of his boatmen being killed by them and also threats from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna increasing around his factory in Negombo, Mr. De Livera had handed over the entire project to the navy, shifting his focus to Kokkadicholai in the East.

It was another landmark achievement for his new company, Serendib Seafood, for it was the first to freeze and export shrimp. “I started Sri Lanka’s first aquaculture project,” says Mr. De Livera, going back to the 1980s when he would be shuttling between the shrimp hatchery at Pitipana, Negombo, and Manmunai, near Kokkadicholai.

As the post-larvae mortality rate was high when transported by road, he used the Cessna 177 which he had bought for quicker transport between Katunayake and Batticaloa.

This project too had fallen victim to the bloody conflict raging in that area, with 27 of his workers being shot.

These tragedies were the “biggest shock of my life”, he says sadly.

The rest is history.

But the different corners of his study with an attached ‘dark room’ where lies old cameras, meanwhile, provide ample proof of Mr. De Livera’s wide and varied interests.

Self-taught, sans degrees he may be, but the microcosms represented in the study indicate the rounded personality that he is…………avid reader with more than 5,000 books on the shelves, businessman, photographer, dabbler in homeopathy and adoring grandfather. 

For amidst the line-up of accessories he needs for his daily work and relaxation, pride of place is being shared by lots of toys to keep his little five-year-old granddaughter entertained whenever she drops by.
 

From hobby to veteran

Work apart it is with a lot of passion that Mr. De Livera reverts to his pet subject – photography and the Photography Society of Sri Lanka.
He is the senior-most member of this 109-year-old society founded in 1906 to promote photography as a hobby, art and craft and now guides its destinies as its Patron.

His journey behind the lens and the society’s history seem to be inextricably-linked. We learn that the society had been set up as the Amateur Photographic Association of Ceylon by Henry Lorenz Wendt, father of the famous Sri Lankan photographer, artist and musician Lionel Wendt. Later it had been renamed and revamped in 1934 by Lionel Wendt with like-minded people. Those whose contributions that have made the society what it is today include P.J.C. Durrant, B.G. Thornley, Joe De Livera, B.P. Weerawardena and D.C.L. Amarasinghe who would meet at Wendt’s home to pore over and discuss at length the images captured by them.

Mr. De Livera launches into technical details of the cameras cradled by him over the years, starting with the Kodak Brownie Box, then a Kodak Folding Camera which was an improvement on the Brownie as it had a lens with a variable aperture and shutter and later a Rolleiflex. Next it was the Leica which he purchased in Zurich, Switzerland, while on a trip to Europe with his father after he had seen Thornley sporting one and he had read about “this revolution” in photography which could produce the 35-mm film format.

Harefield Hall Slipper Orchid, “It was BG (Thornley), as he was known, who introduced the Leica to me although it was Lionel Wendt who first introduced 35-mm photography and the Leica to Ceylon some time before World War II,” says Mr. De Livera in a piece written by R.H. Samarakone, himself a member of the society in ‘Legends’, a series in the society’s newsletters featuring senior members.

“It was after BG brought his Leica II to Ceylon that photographers like me realized the potential of this incredible camera and the 35mm format which later caught on like wild fire,” he adds.

Among the very important persons who purchased a Leica was Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake who joined Mr. De Livera on sojourns around the country clicking snapshots in the 1950s which the latter would develop and print in his darkroom, as he had begun film-processing in a 35mm developing tank brought back from England in 1947.

Experimenting with the Leica, he had also found that it could be used for ‘Macro Photography’, samples of which he shows us in his study.
Realizing that 35-mm cameras were not available in the country, Mr. De Livera had imported and distributed through Titus Stores the Balda camera from Germany in 1955 which was “relatively cheaper” than the Leica, with one of his first customers being visionary science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Technicalities flow forth on how Mr. De Livera, much later in the 1990s switched to Digital Photography with an Olympus 1.4 Mega Pixel Camera and more recently a Canon SX 20 IS.

A fitting tribute is paid to Mr. De Livera by Mr. Samarakone when he states: “Keeping abreast with the development of camera technology and having used many of the top of the range equipment of each era, he is one of the very few of the senior photographers who took up digital photography at an early stage of its introduction in 1995. Having experimented with various types and styles of photography, he is considered as one who excelled in macro photography in the early days.”

Next he touches on the nomadic lifestyle of the Photographic Society until it found a home at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre, having traveled the full circle.

The early meetings of the society were held on the first Monday of the month at Lionel Wendt’s house on Guilford Crescent, says Mr. De Livera, who had joined the society, on the invitation of Quintus Fernando, a university lecturer, a few months after the death of Wendt in 1944. The meetings continued there even after the death of Wendt until the old house was demolished to make way for the Art Centre.

It was then that the society moved from place to place, gathering in a small room behind the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (the current premises of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel) on Galle Road, moving out when the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation took over this premises; homeless for awhile; then the Young Men’s Christian Association in Fort; thereafter Mr. De Livera’s Dad’s residence, ‘Rendlesham’ down Stafford Place (now known as Sri Vipulasena Mawatha), Colombo 10; and finally a permanent home in the newly-built Lionel Wendt Art Centre.

Giving his input during the construction phase, it had been Mr. De Livera who suggested a solution to the lack of ventilation in the society’s meeting hall, a line of windows at the top around 15 feet from the ground which could be opened and closed by fixing a thick string. “These are still there,” he adds.

 

Placenta

 Placenta

It is a fascinating story how placenta came into existence from an unprotected egg to marsupian duck bill platipus to the nursing mother.

I won't go into evolution but write a few lines about the placenta for posterity.

The placenta is a big parasite.

It evades maternal immune rejection and we have not yet worked out its mysterious ways.

It is discarded with only a cursory look,  at the time of birth, since the baby is the center of attraction.

After 1970s only a few have done any in depth studies.

I am not going to land with list of questions but take a little pause and write few lines.

I have done some basic investigations which are published for perusal but never bothered to write a few line of its mastery in evasion of hostility in evolution.

Placental HLA or human leukocyte antigens are different from maternal antigens.

It is intimately associated with maternal blood and maternal antibodies and lymphocytes.

Its HLA antigens arise early in embryonic development and it projects a potent barrier while invading the maternal uterus.

It has two layers one foetal and one maternal.

Amnion and Chorion (from which the placenta develops) are foetal.

It has only two layers of cells, the cellar cytotrophoblast layer and the multicellular syncytiotrophoblast layer.
Only the multicellular counterpart is seen when the placenta becomes mature.

It does not become old but gradually  disintegrates after 40 weeks.

It resembles the symbiotic cell at the beginning of evolution, all mucoprotein but no nuclear material and a few fragments of nuclear material arranged as syncytial knots.

How does a large syncytium works in a all pervasive cellular world?

That is the only question of mine in this piece.

Basalis is the maternal mesoderm that gets vascularized gradually and extensively.

Basalis is maternal where spiral arteries empty its contents and filter all foetal blood to maternal venous sinuses.

It grows up to 40 weeks of gestation and wither off by 42 weeks.

It provides all the foetal hormones and control the maternal pituitary gland.

That's all about it.

HCG or Human Choriogonadotrophic Hormone is foetal and no counterparts in adults except its oestrogenic and progesterone actions.

My only contribution here is the large and mysterious Fibrinonection, mucopolysaccharide and protein molecule that are seen in the placenta especially up to 36 weeks of gestation which provide a ground base of nutrition and virtual mop up molecule  or barrier for maternal antibodies present and in evolution, over the course of pregnancy..

This is almost same to the Fibrinonectin that exudes at the site of injury before granulation tissue of healing invades it.

Almost the same Fibrinonectin that provides a scaffolding for the cancer cells to form an angiogenic front.

So in my view, Fibrinonectin which I call the molecular glue does all the work by itself without a nucleus.

So it may be the grand old evolutionary molecule equal in potential to heat shock protein that started the life on this planet.

Nobody has done any worthwhile work on Heat Shock Protein (HSP) that are present in prokaryocytes and eukaryocytes. 

AI generated "Subbe Saththa Ummattica" Principle

This peace is going to be in my book "Story of 3 Dogs".

I believe in AI in analysis in

1. Linux and its potential

2. Creative activity such as blogging and serious writing.

I do not believe that AI that has no emotions coult assess, even the psychology of a happy dog.

Stress

Anxiety 

Depression were the 3 components studied on undergraduates.

In which field of study the undergraduates were in was not mentioned or apparently not randomized.

I have a very important information that psychologists and psychiatrists commit suicide more often than a bare bone patholigists, who I was in my active life.

Radiologists also are happy people and do not commit suicide.

So, I believe AI is more helpful in Radiology and Pathology than in psychology even without a prospective study.

Radioligist study an evolving situation and pathologist retrospectively at the dead end with no consequences except in the case of muder ot accidentsl death.

I always look at all the Xrays before taking the scalple but I won't expose even a dead body to radioactive elements.

I tend to believe the bacteria that thrive on dead or decomposing substances may mutate without going through an objective evolutionary cycle with purpose.

I do not put suicide in the accidental category but in the "proactive" category.

I believe suicide can be prevented according to qualitative study (not quantitative study) by my friend Tudor De Silva who is also probably is in his retirement mode from active service.

This study was in NEJM which was my number 1 journel during my active service.

They still send me a preview of the journal just published.

Thank You.

I have stopped subscribing to LINUX Magazine and they have stopped sending me previews now, including Linux Voice.

I do not need any more information on LINUX aince my book on "LINUX Essentials" is almost finished.

රිලොර්ඩ් කාර්දිනල් කම්මුතුයි

රිලොර්ඩ් කාදිනල් කප්ගහන එක නියතයි.

පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයේ මහ මොලකරුට ලෝගුවේ යට රිංගන්න බැහැ.

ලෝගුව ගලවලා බලන්නත් බැහැ.

හතර බිහිරි කතාව කියන්නේ මේ වගේ ඔලමොට්ටල වැඩ වලටයි. 

Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

 Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences

I got an inkling that I was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Dental Sciences.. 

I waited for the postman but the letter was not in the mail. 

I had two other letters but they were not official. 

I walked into the Department of Pathology and Miss Mantree Ugugama hand delivered the letter. 

I refused to accept it saying it violate the protocol.

 

Then I walked into the V.C.'s office to see that he did not have a minute for me. 

 

He was attending to a private affair of a child of another academic member. 

 

I withhold both of their names.

But, I told him that I am sick and I cannot accept the post by hand delivery of a letter. 

 

It has to come through proper channels.

 

Then I had a casual look at the old office of the Dean and realized it was converted into a makeshift store with cupboards and books hanging around.

 

Then I peeped through the new Dean's office.

 

It was a rat infested derelict dungeon.

I went back to the Senate to report sick officially. 

 

Then there was a plot to kill me by pushing to a dark hole in the Art's Faculty Students Auditorium. 

I survived hanging on to a ridge but sustained paella break. 

I walked into the V.C. Office limping and told Vice Chancellor that I broke my patella and there was an attempt to kill me.

 

He said that it (Patella injury) is a disqualification. 

I told him we had a Dean with a limp.

 

He did  not want to entertain my disability.

I woke up but nevertheless made an ENTRY at the Peradeniya Police Station, that there was an attempt on my life knowing very well they do not take action on Campus Disputes.

JVP poisoning me at Undugoda Hospital

There were two reasons, I joined Nawaloka Hospital Administration.

 

Before that I would have a slant on School Cricket of Yesteryear, JVP and Police.

Police First

 

Our Police Force was good before N. M. Perera and Sirimavo Bandaranayike regime.

 

DIG. C. C. Dissanayake, Sarem and Zoyza were convicted in 1962 of a coup to overthrow the government. I believe Catholic Church was behind this SAGA but things were hushed up.

By the time P. B. Herath became the DIG under Senior Premadasa, police was degraded to a very bad state.

Cricket Second 

T. B. Kelegamuva, G. S. Ratnanayake and S.U. Mendis (joined Air Force) were former cricketers who made Police Serviceman worth remembering.

JVP poisoning me at Undugoda Hospital

 

At Undugods we had a police officer (O.I.C) demoted for assaulting a  sitting MP. 

I think his name is N. P. Navarastne of ?Minipe.

 

He had another case pinned on him murdering a local thug in Kegalle with the help of the School Inspector, Grama Niladhari and a few others. 

This place was not under my jurisdiction and I was given summons which I could not refuse since others who were senior refused on flimsy grounds.

 

My first mission was another murder where army officer committing suicide after killing his wife and children. 

I reported sick on this occasion.

 

Well, I said OK but after I finish my clinical work and only after 4.30PM.

 

Well he is dead he can wait was my attitude.

 

The ploy was to send my PM assistant to the site and do the preliminary spy investigation. 

He told me it is blue murder.

 

Police wanted it to be Accidental but I made it to be an Open Verdict by my presentation in the Magistrate Court.

This officer came to meet me in the University to change my stance.

I told him if you see me again on this issue I am going to make a formal complaint to the DIG. 

I never saw him again.

This preamble is to show how fed up, I was with the Department of Health.

I was finding a way to scoot off from Health.

The Undugoda Hospital was one which was occupied by the JVP for their injured carder.

It was secured by police after a fierce fight. 

 

The Chief  Medical Officer a Tamil doctor left for his wedding and he never returned.

The hospital had 100 beds and there were nearly 200 working staff. One per each bed and considering two shifts day and night.

The best ratio of the Entire World.

99% of the staff were JVP carder.

 

Their ploy was to bring fear into me and chase me out of the hospital.

1. Chief Clerk was a rogue and a money lender from Hospital cash.

I caught him first.

2. The Marketing Department Supply officer was another crook.

3. Dispenser cashed one rupee for every prescription.

4. Only the young pharmacist who was a Tamil I could trust and kept a proper record.

5. Two Assistants

One Tamil RMP senior enough to call my father.

6. One AMP a Muslim guy.

Both had a rollicking Private Practice.

It was corrupt to the CORE.

 

My first appointment.

My mission was to leave this place soon before I was murdered.

 

1. First they put a rotten rat in to the overhead water tank. 

I got them to clean them until 3AM. 

 

2. Threatened me with a Chris knife.

I had enough witnesses.

He was sent off.

I made sure he did not do that again until he knel  down to me and apologize.

 

3. (a) Then they put poison in my food.

I survived with one month medical leave. 

This is after I had leave for Chickenpox infection.

I had hardly any time for clinical work.

I got  my own cook and a guard.

One and the same guy.

I got the a Police Squad to visit me on false pretext.

The guy who allegedly assaulted sitting MP Navaratne Banda of Minipe was transferred to a higher position when when UNP came into power.

 A guy who was in a Private Police Guard for Sirimavo Bandaranayake was sent as acting O. I. C. 

It was a demotion.

I got some advice from Daniel in Ratnapura Hospital, Chief attendant where I did my Internship.

I was poisoned three times.

 

3. (b) Second one I detected after the first mouthful and investigated and made sure that she did not stay in my neighborhood. 

 

3. (c) Third time was in a private nursing home 

Nursing officer was caught and sacked. 

 

Do not trust these good looking nurses.

Read Murder in the N.H.S. where one of my senior friends in UK was falsely accused.

 

I was not poisoned at Navaloka Hospital. 

I did not have anything except a cup of tea at the director's executive lounge.

I did not eat there.

Continue on Undugo Hospital, I had a another strateg.

This was the time Jaffna was rampant with Cholera epidemic.I got a Guy who visited Jaffna admitted with diarrhoea. 

I confirm it as Cholera.

Hospital was quarantined with only hospital staff and diarrhoea patients were admitted. 

It was an opportunity for me to teach the entire staff according to the WHO protocol.

I was a headache for the S. H. S.

I used to visit him after court attendance. He said you have many complaints.

Are there any documented complaints.

So put those "JVP  කැලා පත්තර" to the dustbin and release me to the University on Seconded Service.

By this time, I secured a post in the University.

Not one but several. 

The DHS then did not release me on flimsy grounds. Nobody wanted to take my place.

By this time I had few informants from COLOMBO office.

I used to get who is on Acting Duty and specially the acting secretary. 

He was a slimy guy.

I went to him and said please do not send me to Department of Pathology. 

I have to do filthy postmortems. 

Beside the professor is a nasty guy. 

He said come in 2 weeks. 

He got the letter signed by the DHS. 

I said thank You, Sir.

He wanted the doctors say big %Thank You Sir", in loud voice, in front of his subordinates.

Then my leave after 6 years of service in the University on NO PAY Leave was du.

This was deliberately delayed.

I said I am already released and if you do not appoint me to Colombo General Hospital, I am buying a ticket to UK and leaving for good.

While this delberate delay was going on I made an appointment with the Permanent Secretary of the Health. 

He was a smart guy. 

One Dr. P. D. Silva (I am not sure).

He called the DHS and ordered him to appoint me to Colombo, General by 3PM.

This DHS named Jesudasan had many other complaints.

I guess he was sacked subsequently.

I would continue this later.

I got to test Steam OS now.

Steam OS stinks. 

It cannot be installed on a PC. 

The Valve guys are getting scared.

Lot of Linux Game OSes are coming to the forefront.

Navaloka Hospital 

When, I joined as an administrator cum a duty officer of the laboratory, it was a stingy mess.

I got Navaloka Hospital to appoint, 3 resident doctors since Visiting Consultants including his Son In Law were rougues making flase claims.

Medicne Vajira Ratnayake.

Surgery Maiya Gunasekara

Third I cannot remeber but an Obstetrician to be avalable during working hours so that the Visiting Consultants cannot plunder innocent patients unless they specifically want a particular consultant to see their ailments.

I threatened to Black List a few of them with written complaints in my hand.

Suffice is to say that the Services improved tremendously.

Earlier I said I had two reasons. 

1. One to see how a private nursing home works

2. Two to institute a Quality Control Procedure.

Navoloka, is the first hospital to get the National Quality Award.

Somehow, Chandrika Kumaranatunge got whiff of me and sent a note to me through a guy from Nittambuwa. 

To built and operation a COOP Hospital. 

I said 9 months only and accomplish that and immediately after joined the University on Permanent basis. 

All these time I was doing Temporary or Seconded services. 

I also said until the salary scale is above the private sector I would not join. 

I quietly put a word to Chandrika but she wouldn't budge.

 

Of course, we had to organize a work to rule under Mahinda Rajapaksa and he acceded.

Undugoda Hospital

 

Since politics is not interesting, I would insinuate this true story.

This story I have not stated here before.

I have agrophobia or fear of snakes which is long standing. 

I have even killed a tiny cobra under my bed with a ruler. 

I was only 3 years of age.

 

That would have been the reason for ongoing fear of snakes.

My first job as an Acting District Medical Officer was in Kegalle Province. 

It was called Undugoda Hospital and was occupied by JVP during 1973 insurrection.

The quarters was not occupied by a Resident Officer for a long time and was infested with lot of rats.

 

Low be hold!

A King Cobras did decide to reside on the roof of the quarters. 

It was not high roof but low. 

I could touch the rafter standing on my bed.

I could not locate its residential area after a week of inspection.

This Cobra was very crafty and it did know where to hide. In the meantime, all the hospital staff said that this snake was nasty. 

Their plan was for me to commute daily from Kandy and without a car it was not a reasonable ploy.

I decided to stay put and bought a powerful torch.

My bed was a high hospital bed. 

There was no problem at day time and this Cobra appears only after night, around 7PM.

I do a roof survey before alighting from the bed several times but never could locate the Cobra. 

The moment I step out of the bed I hear the noise of the Cobra alighting from the roof.

 

Now I know cobras do not hear but have a powerful proprioception up to 18 to 20 feet and they keep this distance by default and away from humans.

This is not true of young cobras and they are as poisonous as adults.

In the first few days I used to step across it's belly in the verandah.

I used to delay my exit from the verandah and then I see it crossing in front of me in the open yard.

This Cobra counted every step of me but never intended to harm me.

The Cobra was always ahead of me and never after. After two weeks I settled down and hospital staff knew I was not going to leave.

 

The hospital staff tried several other intimidatory tactics but all failed and a few of them got transferred out the hospital. 

 

That was the only way, the Superintendent of Health Service could keep me in the station.

It lasted only 7 months and I used to see this Cobra daily but never a hint of harm but cohabitation in real style with rat problem solved without rat poison.

I left the hospital, telling the staff never to harm this King Cobra.

 

During the latter stages of my life I have had several Cobra Episodes.

Now with the election campaign fully on we would see real Human Cobras in action twisting and turning lies after lies. 

Swallow them with care.

I was lucky to be seconded to the University from where I did not migrate except to Colombo General Hospital.

Then abroad.

Then Private Sector.

Then University again until retirement.

 

CATS, DOGS and SQUIRRELS

CATS, DOGS and SQUIRRELS 

TRINGO

Family Crisis, TRIN-GO the Trigger Mechanism of the Crisis.

Because of our industrial action, I have decided not to share publicly, except privately, any humour, anecdotes and many amusing stories that crop up when we do not Care for Work, like politicians, take a real vacation even though, it was premature by 6 months and enjoy the life as if there is only a few days to live in a year when the World is predicted to end as predicted by an Oracle.

But the focus was only on the Strike in spite of many obstacles.

Telling all my near and dear do not get depressed but try creativity which politicians lack and teach them a lesson, even it is not the time and the midterm of a aimless regime except glorifying and consolidation of the power base.

I was of the opinion that midterm was the best time to take industrial action since one can get a sleeping, lethargic and partisan administration to change its ways and be responsible and responsive. There was no pressure for those in power politically in midterm and extract what ever it may be desirable.

Equally, one can “Test The Mentality” of those in power and their corrupt officials giving them wrong and ill advice strategically.

I also warned them that it will take a political trend which I am technically or strategically against but not morally though, since there are many who will piggyback on US and take political mileage.

In a democracy if we remain silent and passive partners, the the cradle of democracy will crumble.       It crumbled since Tamils were silent when atrocities were enacted on them from both sides of the divide..     It is going to crumble if Muslim and Sinhala communities remain passive participants. Thank god Muslim community has realised it even very late.

They are been globally and systematically suppressed by American and British engineered propaganda which France is cohesively and covertly participating.

All due to OIL but nothing but OIL, the energy crisis looming.

I also told when politics not policies takes precedence, the final outcome is dicey and it will be a long drawn out and painful “Industrial Action” for both sides of the divide.

There is no Win-Win outcome.

The longer it gets into the deep end of the rotten and muddy pool of politics, the worse the outcome is.

Slowly and surely the bureaucrats have muddied the pool. All my predictions have come true except a viable solution.

This long preamble is to explain the newly coined name of our newly adopted grandson who is a squirrel who even had not opened its eyes. Again the full story will come after the strike is over and one has to wait.

We have kept a diary of him and that will come out when we are back at work, academically.

I need some diversions from the main stream to wear my creative hat when in full gear.

After I have attended to the emergency need half with my wife’s help, I was out in the town enjoying the new found Freedom.

I let the tiny one relax and go to sleep since my wife had frightened it so much, only sedative I could assure was dark room conducive for sleeping. I went to sleep myself and when I got up, the next thing was to name it.

GO was vital and I had decided that it had to GO when he is ready.

I won´t get attached to it.

TRI is that it had to survive the from CATS, and my DOG and Ants.

It also has stripes not three but many on its back.

I made a note on a little notebook for my daughter to attend and again went back to town to find a suitable pen.

Quite by accident the name rings on me the way we handle Reconciliation.

We are like CATS, DOGS and SQUIRRELS,

They cannot live in one house or in a restricted pen. We are so deeply divided, this country will never prosper.

TRIN-GO reminds me, the election results of the TRINCO, too.

Without any amendments the new name was endorsed by the adopted family and the poor  squirrel family has to be satisfied one minus but soon the juvenile will be roaming on rooftops and trees.

The question is why cannot we enjoy our new found Freedom?

Why it is only for One Dominant Party?

Why there is no reconciliation but only power politics?

Political power when absolute takes away prudence and cohabitation.

We are worse than CATS, DOGS and SQIRRELS.

In spite of the oddity in nature they somehow survive near human habitation. Only rarely one has to intervene.

When one is young, blind or injured we have to help.

Soon he has to be released to the mother nature.

That was my resolve and no attachment.

One should not get attached to Power, too.

Even our Buddhist monks are deeply entrenched in this Power Game. That is the sad part and we do not have philosophers to take their place.

Even the philosophy of live and let live is hijacked by the modern Buddhists. and their political leaders.

Why?

I do not know.

The Story of the Squirrel

It is fitting to finish this book with this story.

In fact this story hastened me to write before other books that I was planning for sometime.

Fortunately, if happened during the prolong industrial action and I could record the story briefly for posterity with the help of my wife and my daughter.

Family Crisis, TRIN-GO the Trigger Mechanism of the Crisis

TRIN-GO was the newly coined name of our adopted grandson who was a very tiny squirrel who even had not opened its eyes.

We  kept a diary of its progress not with any intention of including it in this book but the unexpected events that unfolded had made me to do so, and in fact hastened writing this book.

After, I had attended to the emergency need (half of the rescue work by my wife) I let the tiny one relax and go to sleep since my wife had frightened it very much, the only sedative I could assure was a dark room conducive for sleeping.

I went to sleep myself and when I got up, the next thing was to name it.

GO was vital and I had decided that it had to GO when he is ready.

I won´t get attached to it.

TRI is that it had to survive from the CATS, and my DOG and the fiery Ants.

It also has stripes not three but many on its back.

I left a little notebook for my daughter to keep the records and again went back to town to find a suitable PEN.

Quite by accident the name rings on me the way we handle RECONCILIATION.

We are like CATS, DOGS and SQUIRRELS,

They cannot live in one house or a PEN.

Without any amendments the new name was endorsed by the adopted family and the poor  squirrel family has to be satisfied one minus but soon the juvenile would be roaming on rooftops and tree as bird.

We are worse than CATS, DOGS and SQUIRRELS.

In spite of the oddity in nature they somehow survive near human habitation.

Only rarely one has to intervene, when one is young, blind or injured.

Then, we have to extend some help.

Soon he has to be released to the mother nature.

That was my resolve and no attachment.

Diary of the Young Squirrel

Few pages of the diary are here with very little editing.

Day 0ne-1

Friday the 21st of September 2012.

TRINGO is a bundle of energy.

He climbs up to the rooftop of the hurriedly made and fabricated playpen.

He takes only 3 drops per feed.

Last feed was at 11.50 A.M make and some fresh milk needs to be prepared at at4.30 P.M.

He has not passed water / urine and appeared very dry.

His stools are dry like squashed, parboiled dry rice.

Day Five-5-Tuesday 25thSeptember

Opened its eyes and may be about five weeks old.

Day 9 -Saturday, 29th September

Weighed 20 grams.

Day 11

Barely able lick milk on the anatomical snuffbox of the dorsal aspect of my hand.

Day 12

Able to reverse backwards,

Day 13

I made a mess while feeding and his under belly and tail was soaked with milk which I attributed wrongly to his urine.

Tiny drop of urine on my hand but very concentrated.

Gives a signal before voiding bowel which were soft and yellow.

Still weighs 20 grams but 21 grams after a feed.

I had to spend over two hours since he was very active and won’t settle down in the pen.

First jump when left on the bed on its own.

Tears down my dog’s eyes

Why?

I was playing with the new guy.

Yes, for three days he had tears in its eyes.

Are you neglecting me because of this new guy?

That was the message my dog planted in my eyes.

Able to nibble at soft banana but not able to swallow but takes the juicy part and still not ready for solids.

Needs coxing and guiding.

Unable to find food on its own except milk.

Loves fruit yogurt.

Very active won’t go to sleep.

Climb up and down and wonder away and not able to define its sphere of activity and returning to the base.

All together  two and a half hours play time and no winder my dog felt sad for himself.

Very well settled down. Grooms and talk to self and listen to external sound attentively.

Day 14-4th October

Becoming independent.

Able to find food on a tray but goes into panic mode when feeding is discounted.

Grooms on its own but not not the tail.

Self assured and no wondering in the pen aimlessly.

Tail still not straight or fully formed.

Alert to the presence of me or my daughter.

Has not gained weight probably due probably to its hyperactivity.

Teeth growing but unable gnaw guava which was hard for its teeth.

Loves ripe banana.

Day 15

Sleeps well when he has had a good meal.

Feeds more in two sittings.

Loves fruit yoghurt.

Day 16

Very talkative.

Say no and able to refuse food.

Loves to wonder around aimlessly.

Day 17-7th October 2012

Teeth visible.

Feeds OK.

Voiding OK.

You will see the rest of the story in the book both in print form and digitally.