Features

The Magnificent Men Of the 43 Group Of Royal College

Published

3 years ago

2023/04/23

by Hugh Karunanayake

I state without any fear of contradiction that the Group of one hundred 10 and 11-year olds who entered the portals of Royal College in 1943, will go down in history as the most outstanding and influential batch of students to enter Royal or for that matter, any school in Sri Lanka during the nation’s long and proud history.

These 10/11-year olds entered Royal during the middle of World War ll and attended classes in buildings temporarily made available for the school in Turret Road, Kollupitiya. The Principal was EL Bradby who the students remember with awe and admiration and to whose worthy guidance and that of the other teachers, they attribute their success in later life.

The list of names of the 43 Group is a virtual roll call of the Creme de la creme of the country’s professional, social and sportsmen of the post World War ll era. One extraordinary feature of this group is that among distinguished intellectuals, scientists, politicians, sportsmen and professionals, it produced three Heads of Sri Lanka’s three armed forces, viz the Army, Navy and the Air Force.

There are of course instances where Royal had produced boys who became Heads of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. We have had General Sepala Attygalle, Tissa Weeratunga, Russel Heyn among other Old Royalists who headed the Army. We have had Naval Commanders Kadirgamar, Basil Gunasekera heading the Navy, and Harry Goonetilleke leading the Air Force, but they were all in school at different times and certainly not from the same class.

The three 43 Group products, Lt General Nalin Seneviratne, Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Vice Admiral Asoka de Silva, Commander Of the Sri Lankan Navy, and Air Vice Marshall Harry Goonetilleke Commander Of the Sri Lankan Air Force were all old Royalists who entered school in 1943. That record is unlikely to be surpassed by any school.

Sportsmen in the 43 Group, include cricketing cousins Channa and Valentine Gunasekera both of whom captained the College First Eleven in different years. Channa who became the school’s Head Prefect went on to represent and Captain the SSC , and also represented the All Ceylon team. Valentine went overseas for his tertiary studies and became a well known Architect.

Other cricketers in this batch were Sendi Wignarajah (who took five wickets for 35 runs on debut in the 1950 Royal Thomian Match), SPF Senaratne, Saliya Atapattu, Trevor Anghie and Hilton C Perera. Seven members of the 43 Group have played in the Royal Thomian match of different years and that constitutes a record for any class from the school.

In Rugby football Ashroff Cader created a record by leading 14 freshers to snatch the Bradby Shield from Trinity in 1948. Other well known rugger players from the group are Trevor Anghie, Derek Bartholomeusz, and Roger Modder. In athletics Channa Gunasekera broke the Public School record in the 120 yard hurdles event, Others like Saliya Atapattu,Trevor Anghie, JA de Silva, FSN Perera, Chris Pinto, Lanka Silva and RID (Ralph) Wijesinghe also were outstanding athletes with several Public School Records to their credit.

Dick Schoorman was national table tennis champion for a record 6 consecutive years.In politics there are two outstanding names from the 43 group viz Mangala Moonesinghe and BD Munidasa. One might justly ask who Munidasa is? Relatively unknown, as he was, Munidasa was lost in the prime of life, killed in his late twenties. He was the elder brother of BD Ratnasiri, better known as Ratnasiri Wickremenayake, Minister and subsequently Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

Munidasa was the eldest son in a well known land owning family from Horana. He attended Royal having being admitted in 1943, and then Peradeniya University from which he obtained an Arts Degree with Honours. After leaving University Munidasa did not seek employment but immersed himself in social activism in Horana. He was left inclined in his political views and being a popular and personable young man would have easily won the Horana seat in the 1960 elections, Fate decreed otherwise, however.

The family owned elephants used for haulage etc and each elephant had a paid keeper. One of the keepers under the influence of liquor had been insolent to Munidasa who was quick to remonstrate. The keeper pulled out a knife from his waist and dealt Munidasa a blow which killed him instantly. People in the homestead rushed to save Munidasa but it was too late. The keeper was dashed to the ground crippling him for life, and was later dealt with under the law. Sri Lanka lost a promising leader with the death of BD Munidasa. His comparatively short life was enough however to inspire his younger brother Ratnasiri on whom his mantle fell.

The other politician from the group, Mangala Moonesinghe became a barrister and later represented the Bulathsinghala Electorate in Parliament first for the LSSP and later for the SLFP.

The 43 Group was well represented in the Corporate world of yesteryear. Notable among them were Roger Modder and Reggie Poulier Directors of Carson Cumberbatch and Co, Saliya Atapattu Director of Mackwoods and Commissioner of the Tea Promotion Bureau in Sydney and A Thavendran also a director of several companies.

Many members of the 43 Group became eminent academics, doctors, lawyers, engineers, administrators and accountants, with some holding top positions in International organisations. There were 18 in the medical profession, 15 lawyers, five University Professors, four engineers, and four acountants.

Some names that come to mind are: Prof CF Amerasinghe who served held a senior position in the World Bank, and judge of of the UN Administrative Tribunal specialising in Public international Law. Prof Laksiri Jayasuriya, professor of Social Work at the University of Western Australia, Christopher Pinto who served in the World Bank, and was Secretary General of the Iran/US Claims Tribunal.Ranjit Abeysuriya, Kenneth Seneviratne and S Sivarasa were Directors of Public Prosecution in Ceylon. Inthiran Chelvathurai was a former Commissioner of Inland Revenue and Fiscal Adviser to the Ministry of Finance in Sri Lanka, and later served in the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for many years, including 12 years as Head of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators.

Among the 18 medical doctors in the 43 Group was Dr SJM (Saman) Fernando, Professor of Mental Health and Psychiatry at the London Metropolitan University, Dr HL Eaton, Dr Rudi Rasaratnam, and Dr R Ravindran all eminent surgeons, Dr R Mahendran, Dr EP Fernando and Dr NPS Guneratne well known specialists. Also, paediatrician Dr RK de Silva who besides his eminence as a medical practitioner reached dizzy heights as a world renowned author and researcher on matters of antiquarian interest relating to Ceylon. His works including Early Prints of Ceylon, Views of Dutch Ceylon, Newspaper Engravings on Ceylon, and others have become standard reference sources for researchers.

DLO Mendis was one of the leading engineers specialising in water and soil conservation systems and set up the Sri Lanka Pugwash Group. In the banking sector George Dias held several senior positions and assisted in the formation of the National Savings Bank. P Hettihewa has done yeoman service for the 43rd group as its convenor for several years.

Any school in Sri Lanka would be proud to have such a galaxy of names as those mentioned above, as past students in an entire history of a school ! Here however all of these eminent persons from one batch of students, studied together, played together, and aspired to leading roles in the community. All of them remained close friends to the end regardless of ethnicity, class or other social markers.

Of the original 100 boys only 17 are alive today as nonagenarians. Long may they live, and continue to inspire the spirit of the 43 Group of Royal College to others as an example for every school to follow!

(WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO INTHIRAN CHELVATHURAI A STALWART OF THE 43 GROUP)

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Features

The hard challenge of clinching a political settlement in the Middle East

Published

22 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Bruised hearts: Displaced Palestinian civilians in the Gaza.(Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Despite some sections of the Trump administration persisting with the view that the possibility could not be entirely ruled out of there being a diplomatic solution to the current US-Iran hostilities in West Asia, the skeptic could not be blamed for thinking otherwise. The intensity, scale and frequency of the tit-for-tat strikes by the antagonists over the past few days against selected military targets and civilian infrastructure in particular in West Asia make the adoption of this stance excusable.

The continuing hostilities render the mentioning of the MOU signed between the warring parties in mid-June a laughable matter. While it could very well be that the foes are wishing privately for a cessation of hostilities before long, what seems to be uppermost on their minds right now is to negotiate with each other from a position of strength. This strategy compels them to incapacitate each other militarily to the extent possible, lest they have to concede too much to each other during negotiations. Hence the stepped-up hostilities.

However, even on the question of there being a negotiated political settlement in the West Asian theatre in the longer term, the skeptic could come to be seen as scoring over the optimist. Developments on the ground account for this.

At the time of writing Israel’s Netanyahu government is going ahead in fairly care-free fashion with the establishment of more Jewish settlements in the Gaza and the West Bank, and it’s all happening under the apparently complacent gaze of the US. In fact, some quarters estimate that Israel is in control of some 65% of the Gaza Strip. Ethnic cleansing, that is, is being drastically stepped-up.

Accordingly, in terms of the power relations of West Asia, the world is almost back to the status quo of the late forties of the last century when the state of Israel was established and the Palestinians were reduced to a microscopic minority in the land they came to inhabit. Therefore, even the impartial observer would be compelled to ask: ‘Will a negotiated peace be ever possible in the Middle East?’

The humanist in the observer would prefer to answer this question in the affirmative and it is indeed the ideal stance to adopt considering the staggering human and material costs of the conflict. But the way ahead to peace could be expected to be highly hazardous and arduous. Among other odds, it would also prove an uphill endeavour to win minds and hearts.

The US’ Trump administration would need to be counted out in this pursuit. This is on account of the fact that it has been far too wayward in its management of West Asian affairs in particular over the past couple of years. Given its unpredictable character it is a matter for conjecture whether it could be counted on to live up to its commitments.

Moreover, Israel could be expected to ‘go it alone’ in the Middle East regardless of whether US help is coming or otherwise. It has indicated as much in recent times and Israel could be doubted on this score only at the doubter’s peril. Because time and again Israel has demonstrated that it could steadfastly defend its interests even single-handedly in the Middle East. History bears this out.

However, a durable alliance with the US would stand Israel in good stead. On the matter of military and intelligence assistance, for example, the US’s help proved invaluable for Israel in the past and going forward this is bound to be so as well. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Trump administration would give up on Israel, considering that a strong Israel is crucial for the furtherance of the US’ strategic and economic interests in West Asia.

But whether the above factors would have a considerable bearing on the question of working out a durable solution to the West Asian tangle is an entirely different matter. Israel, as in the case of the Palestinian enclaves, is acutely security conscious and would need to satisfy itself fully that it could live in a security environment that would guarantee its complete safety, going forward.

The Middle East is badly in need of another peace effort on the lines of the Oslo Accords of the mid-nineties that brought the key actors together and helped hammer out a solution that addressed some of their notable concerns. To be sure, that process did not prove to be the ideal answer to the tangle, but it yielded some respite to the region and drove home that one-time sworn foes could indeed negotiate with a degree of success. The West Bank authority, although falling short of fulfilling some key Palestinian aspirations, is testimony that a degree of success is possible if the intent is right.

Given the current realities of West Asia, peace-making is bound to be an uphill challenge. The violence faced in recent times by the Palestinian community, in particular, has been nothing less than mind-numbing. Merciless has been the violence visited on them by the Israeli side. In such circumstances, durable peace in the region could smack of an idealist’s dream.

Nevertheless, there needs to be urgently, a meeting of minds over the divides. The US would need to be counted out as an honest broker in bringing the sides together but the rest of the West would do well to step up to the challenge.

In this exercise the onus would be on the world’s democracies to take the initiative and doggedly stay the course. An acceptable combination would be the EU and the UN. Given their credentials, the main sides in West Asia ought to find them the least controversial.

Even if the relevant institutional and political arrangements could be shored up to take a reconciliation process forward, winning hearts and minds for the peace drive would prove a grueling challenge. Over the past few years in particular tens of thousands of hearts and minds on both sides of the divide have been bruised badly in the runaway murderous violence that has come to define the Middle East.

These badly scarred personalities would need to experience healing without much delay. It is therefore a multi-faceted challenge that is at hand. Since wide-ranging expertise would be needed in the healing process, people’s participation in peace-making, ranging over the divides, would need to be made a durable reality. It will be a time for enthroning humanity and ensuring the rejection of all forms of violence and coercion.

Features

Amazing Thailand …right here in Colombo

Published

22 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

For many Sri Lankans, Thailand is the go-to holiday — beaches, temples, food, and that famous warm hospitality.

In fact, I’ve been to Amazing Thailand 24 times myself, and was honoured with the Friends of Thailand International Media Award by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for promoting Thai tourism.

The good news I have for you today is that you don’t even need a passport to get a taste of Amazing Thailand.

The Royal Thai Embassy, in Colombo, is bringing a vibrant slice of Thailand, to the city of Colombo, with Thai Festival 2026 — a cultural experience like never before.

Whether you are an avid enthusiast of Thai culture, a total novice, or simply just interested in exploring foreign cultures, Thai Festival 2026 is going to be the perfect opportunity for you to get more than just a glimpse into one of the most celebrated cultural heritages in South East Asia. And ENTRANCE IS FREE.

The festival will be held on the 1st and 2nd of August, 2026, at Siam Nivasa, 43, C.W.W. Kannangara Mawatha, Colombo 7, and the East Parking Area, of the Colombo Municipal Council, from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

Both days will be full of live entertainment, and dispersed throughout with Thai cultural displays, including exhilarating traditional dance performances and breathtaking Muay Thai demonstrations.

Exploring art and craft specific to Thailand, tasting irresistible authentic Thai cuisine, and playing arcade games, are just a few more fun-filled events available for visitors at the festival premises.

An array of Thai products will also be available for purchase.

While at the festival, you will find Sri Lankan Alumni from Thai universities sharing their experiences with you and willing to answer any questions you might have, related to studying abroad in Thailand.

You can also register for the Muay Thai workshop that will be happening on the 7th and 8th of August, 2026, in Colombo.

Irresistible authentic Thai cuisine

Visitors can also stand a chance to win traditional Thai souvenirs, get exclusive photo opportunities, and, the big one — to enter the raffle draw, at the end of each day, for the grand prize of an all-inclusive round trip to Thailand.

Be sure to avail yourself of this exceptional opportunity and add a cultural spin to your weekend.

To keep up with the latest updates on Thai Festival 2026, head over to the Thai Festival official social media pages.

The Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo official webpage:

https://colombo.thaiembassy.org

Official social media:

Facebook: @RTEColombo

Instagram: @thaiembassysrilanka

Thai Festival official social media:

Facebook: Thai Festival in Colombo

Instagram: @thaifestival_colombo

TikTok: @thaifestival.incolombo

Features

Thicker, stronger hair …

Published

22 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hair fall, in this heat, can be so frustrating, and noticing a thin patch is even more worrying. The good news is … yes, with a little care and kitchen ingredients, you can nourish your scalp and support healthy regrowth.

Try these four easy home remedies … even our grandmothers trusted:

* Coconut Oil and Curry Leaves Tonic:

Warm 04 tablespoons of coconut oil, with a handful of curry leaves, till the leaves turn black. Cool, strain, and massage into scalp 02-03 times a week. Leave for 01 hour, or overnight.

Why:

Coconut oil deeply nourishes, while curry leaves help strengthen roots and add shine.

* Onion Juice for Spot Treatment:

With cotton, dab the juice of 01 small onion, directly on the thin/bald patches. Leave for 20-30 minutes, and then wash with a mild shampoo. Use twice a week.

Why:

Rich in sulfur, onion juice helps boost blood circulation to the scalp.

* Aloe Vera and Castor Oil Mask:

Mix 02 tablespoons of fresh aloe vera gel and 01 tablespoon castor oil and apply to the scalp, focusing on thinning areas. Leave for 45 minutes, and then rinse with cool water.

Why:

Aloe vera soothes the scalp, while castor oil coats hair to make it look thicker.

* Fenugreek and Curd Strengthening Pack:

You will need 02 tablespoons fenugreek seeds, soaked overnight, and 02 tablespoons plain curd.

Grind to a paste, apply to scalp for 30 minutes, and then wash.

Why:

Fenugreek strengthens strands and reduces breakage.

Extra Tips for Healthy Hair:

Avoid tight hairstyles that pull on the scalp.

Eat iron and protein rich foods: greens, dhal, eggs, fish.

Use lukewarm water, not hot.

Be gentle when brushing and drying.