Comments on: Remembering Father B –Bhasura the Lion of Hikkaduwa

By: Jaffna

Jaffna — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:46:19 +0000

Chulie

Very well written. Its a lovely photograph of your father. Thank you for sharing.

By: P.O.Pet

P.O.Pet — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:18:39 +0000

My recollections of Bennie Seeya are few but very vivid. As a little girl, I would always look forward to his visits, mainly due to the gifts he would bring for me, which were priceless treasures … ‘imported’ chocolates, chewing gum, and for a long time my most treasured possession, a twelve pack of felt tipped pens from some far off land, which he had obtained from one of his foreign visitors. He coupled this with fascinating tales of the people from whom he received them. Always the storyteller and positive spirit; he never spoke ill of anyone. May he Rest in Peace.

By: Nirmal Kirtisinghe

Nirmal Kirtisinghe — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:06:47 +0000

Now I know where my radical ideas (as in the idea for the funeral) come from. They are embedded in the Kirtisinghe genes. I just wish I could have as much fun as they did back in the day. Have you noticed that nowadays you spend so much time on making a living that you hardly have the time to live a life? The people in the generations above us had less technology to worry about, but were still several orders of magnitude happier than us.

By: Suresh

Suresh — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:25:29 +0000

Thank you for a yet another, wonderfully written piece.

By: indi

indi — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:03:43 +0000

interesting writing

By: Austin Fernando

Austin Fernando — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:36:14 +0000

Chulie,

As a person who had known your father, your write up took me to the days I used to meet him on and off at Hikkaduwa. Events such as his driving his car and sometimes riding his bicycle reflect in my mind. His formal dress as well as the casual pair of shorts was the Benny style I am reminded.I remember my father who had known him (being of almost same age) speaking of their youth. Hence your writing also took me a generation backwards.

As suggested by Dilshani you may start writing a book because you are a person who could vividly put across your ideas with great memories.

All the best for a new endeavour.

My Buddhist wishes for him and brother Prasanna to attain Nibbana.

Austin Fernando

By: Dilshani

Dilshani — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:08:49 +0000

Chulie

Reading you blog feels like stepping back in time.

I am very impressed by the fact that you have hit the correct ‘tone’ of nostalgia.

You seriously need to think of writing a book – you already have most of the data on your blog. So it’s a matter of collating it in a suitable way.

You also seem to have dug up pictures (something most of us don’t have )

By: somasiri

somasiri — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:41:48 +0000

The reference to “in Amma’s birawa almirah (Which had earlier belonged to Hikkaduwa Achchi) this note with instructions for Thatha’s funeral was found” brings to mind three “almirahs” in my life.
The first is my mother’s. The inner side of the middle door – with the mirror – was papered over with old newspapers; one carried the announcement of the sinking of the “Titanic”.
The next is a similar three-piece one, from Galle. The middle door (with mirror) was heavy, the hinges came loose, and the door came crashing down, breaking the mirror. We found that that between the mirror and the wooden backing, the space was padded with newspapers, very white yet. I still have them – they give reports of the progress of the Boer war and names of persons killed, and carry advertisements for Australian wine etc. I found that one winery yet exists. The dates are of 1901.
The third one is also from Galle, which had belonged to my wife’s grandmother whom she never knew(she had died about 1914)but whose name she caries as a middle name. This one has secret drawers!
So these old family almirahs carry a lot of history in them – in one of ours is pasted our consent to donate our eyes after death.
The tradition continues!