APPRECIATIONS
Miss Chandra de Zoysa
Miss Chandra de Zoysa, a name synonymous with Visakha Vidyalaya is no more. She passed away on the 11 February 2008 after a brief illness. She was the longest serving Deputy Principal of Visakha, having held that post for 32 of the 35 years she served on our staff.
Miss Zoysa strode the corridors of Visakha like a Colossus, instilling discipline, decorum and decent values both by example and by precept. Always impeccably dressed, her rich sonorous voice commanded immediate attention. Her duties as Deputy Principal were multifarious. To all her efforts, she put in her whole heart, and therein lay her success. She stood 'shoulder to shoulder' with Mrs. Pulimood, our indomitable Principal, to fashion the 'Golden Epoch' of Visakha Vidyalaya.
During this tenure Visakha brought forth a deluge of bright students who later became top professionals and artists. Those of them who were present at her funeral, literally and metaphorically went down on their knees to worship her as she lay in the casket, in a spontaneous gesture of gratitude.
She was totally behind Mrs Pulimood in organizing all the fantastic 'Visakha Jayantis', and with her two best buddies Mrs Dilsiri de Silva and Miss Daisy Karawita dubbed by us as the 'Maha thun denaa', she spearheaded the many extracurricular activities, be it operas like the 'Visakha Geetha Natakaya' or Shakespearean theatre like 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Under her tutelage we won for several years many an Inter School competition. She also helped Visakha hold many a fashion show and pageant and even gave her unstinted support to the first ever 'Beat Show' held in a school in Sri Lanka.
Being a devout Buddhist, Miss Zoysa played a lead role in organizing all the religious activities of Visakha. The 'pirith ' ceremonies on the school's birthdays were meticulously planned. The twinkling lights of a myriad oil lamps illuminating the school grounds, making it a veritable heavenly abode, was a dream come true for Miss Zoysa.
Miss Zoysa had a lighter side to her nature, which we glimpsed most during school excursions. She was game enough to plunge into the Gal Oya for a bath, or take a jeep ride for a night safari. Yet she never forfeited her responsibilities, as she unfailingly took head counts each time the bus loaded or unloaded its precious cargo.
She was at best a humanist, sharing our sorrows and disappointments, and exulting in our achievements. She tolerated with a seemingly straight face our pranks and practical jokes. Her gracious generosity towards Visakha and 'her girls' as she called us was legendary. She would pile us in to her car and take us to 'Himani Gardens' or 'Fountain Cafe' for a Sundae whenever we excelled at an Inter School event. Miss Zoysa was a traditionalist, standing steadfast to time tested values, yet had her mind open to the changing world. She was never averse to accept and appreciate modern trends as expressed in her fashionable clothes and accessories!
Geography was her forte. Her lessons were meticulously planned and perfectly executed.
Miss Zoysa had unflinching faith in Visakhians, and believed we were the 'cream of society'. She made us believe in ourselves and drew forth the best in us. May we all live up to her ideals and expectations!
by a Past Student
An article published in the Newslanka (London) - July 28th, 2005
First Among Equals
Susan George Pulimood of Visakha
by
Kumari Wickramasuriya
Try as I might, I cannot separate Susan George Pulimood from Visakha Vidiyalaya. Many remember her as co-author of A Textbook of Botany, for many years a text book in Ceylon schools. To others, she was Principal Visakha Vidiyalaya. To those of us who knew her, she was teacher, Principal, adviser and friend. A simple Asian woman from a Syrian Christian family in Kerala, South India, widowed early in life, she was to make Visakha Vidiyalaya her life's work. Mrs. Pulimood came to Visakha at a difficult time. That other illustrious lady Mrs. Clara Motwani had just left us, the Second World War had changed the face of the world, and it was time for Visakha too to change to meet the needs of a developing Ceylonese society.
I shall always remember Mrs. Pulimood in her customary attire, a crisp white cotton sari with a coloured edge typically woven in Kerala, embellished only by a pair of gold ear studs and a fine gold chain around her neck. A pale green Morris Minor, her regular means of transport was never far away.
She was an excellent teacher and chose to continue teaching examinations classes even after being appointed Principal. As young students we would frequently accost her in corridors carrying bits of foliage or some strange blossom, hoping to trip her up. She always identified the wretched specimens almost before we reached her!
Visakha's longest serving Principal, Mrs. Pulimood's vision for her school was infinite. It is fortunate that she implemented much of her development plan during her tenure. It was her foresight that culminated in the purchase of the large tract of land adjacent to the original premises. Today many of the newer buildings stand on it, accommodating the hugely increased student population. Quietly supporting her efforts and making things happen behind the scene was our Manager Mr. N. E. Weerasooria Q.C.
The Science Department for which Visakha was to become famous was Mrs. Pulimood's brainchild. She co-opted Science Graduates from India to get it started. Determination and courage on her part enabled those first aspiring science and medical students to trek to Royal College for practical lessons. Visakha had no laboratories. Fledgling labs were born, first in two and then two more classrooms. The arrivals of microscopes, prisms, Bunsen burners and a fume cupboard were cause for celebration. By the time it was my turn to use them the labs were adequate.
The ever-strong English department, Oriental Languages and Humanities flourished, and an excellent Home Economics department came into being.
But why do I speak only of academic development, and specifically at secondary level? Mrs. Pulimood emphasised the benefits of a holistic education from the start. Primary school children were encouraged to participate in sport, drama, music and dance. Houses - Dias, Dawes and Jayatilake were established from primary level and a healthy rivalry developed amongst us. We took our responsibilities as Prefects and House Captain very seriously even aged ten! The school was a warm, welcoming place and parents confidently left their children in Mrs. Pulimood's care. Even three sons of prominent families stayed on until the age of ten!
Mrs. Pulimood had the knack of picking the right person for each job. Unafraid to delegate, she earned the respect and loyalty of her staff. She was there to guide and ensure implementation. She was no push over. We toed the line. Many of those who taught at Visakha were past pupils. They came, they stayed, they worked their hind legs off. They produced excellent results.
Team building was Mrs. Pulimood forte. Misses Chandra de Zoysa and Daisy Karawita and Mrs. Dilsiri de Silva ably assisted her in administrative tasks and her hand-picked Department Heads kept the school ticking over.
Oriental dancing and music became an important part of the curriculum, as did athletics, gymnastics, tennis, netball and hockey. Swimming warrants special mention, as Visakha was perhaps the first Buddhist Girls School to provide the students with regular lessons. We had and still have no pool. Bus trips to St. Thomas College Mount Lavinia each Saturday afternoon accompanied by our Australian coach Miss Molly Andre were both enjoyable and I venture to say daring!
The 11th Colombo Girl Guide Company had been dormant for years. It was reawaken by three past pupils - Mrs. Sita Rajasooriya, Mrs. Swarna Fernando and Miss Rupa Gomes. Four Visakhians were amongst the six-member contingent which attended an International Jamboree in Narabeen Australia. We were young fifth formers.
Drama and Debating Societies in Sinhala and English meant frequent forays into Radio Ceylon (before the television era). Elocution was incorporated into the general curriculum and senior girls experimented with stage make up, sets and stagecraft.
All this became possible because Mrs. Pulimood employed a host of expert and talented part time staff to foster numerous extra curricular activities. Many years later, I found myself viewing the recording of a Rupavahini Documentary of four past Principals of Visakha. I was by then a grandmother living and teaching in London. Listening to the Principals speak took me back to my school days when we used to snigger and poke fun while listening to Mrs. Pulimood. She put me to shame. I found myself listening to a committed educationist. Of quality with the courage of her convictions, explaining her philosophy with utmost clarity. More importantly her views are as currently relevant as they were many years ago at Visakha. The video ended with the young girl interviewer saying proudly "`85. and I like to say that everyone here is a Visakhian"
There are those who felt that Visakha should have remained a private school, I have heard it said that under a different Head it would have. However, I am of the opinion that the School Founder, Selestina Rodrigo (Mrs. Jeremias Dias), would have wished to provide education for all. Having herself been educated only at primary level her intension was that education should be made available to all Buddhist girls; just as mission schools had made it available to girls of other faiths.
It is remarkable that Mrs. Pulimood was able to nurture and retain Buddhist principles at Visakha. Many Visakhians owe their life long involvement with Buddhist Philosophy to the values imbibed at that institution and to the example set by Mrs. Pulimood herself.
But then Mrs. Pulimood was "more Buddhist than most of us"
The 23rd of July 2005 was the 98th anniversary of her birth.
Visakhians everywhere remember her with pride, respect and most importantly with affection.
(The writer is a past pupil who also taught at Visakha)
An article published in the Sunday Times - February 17, 2002
Manthri Samaranayake Ramasamy
An Outstanding Visakhian
She entered Visakha Vidyalaya as a little girl in plaits, in 1954 and, with us became part of a school that shaped her personality. With some of us she joined the extra curricular activities of the school, the pack of Brownies which was not yet called Little Friends, the elocution class that enhanced her skills in acting and oratory, joining all of us in the fun of growing up in a girls' school - making friends, forming cliques, turning her chin up to retort in an argument and making up again with a wide smile that lit up her face.
We started the morning with 'devotions' under the na tree and ended the school day with gatha. In between we studied and played and competed with each other at games and tests. When term tests ended, we pushed all our desks together to make a stage, tried our hands at tumbler-talk, and palm reading, and put up plays for the other classes. At bana all the classes in one grade gathered in the old school hall and listened to Rev. Piyadassi from Vajiraramaya. When the school went on a day's outing, we went to the zoo, or walked in twos to the Majestic cinema to watch a film. When it rained and the lower school grounds flooded, and the school declared a rain holiday, she took off her shoes and waded in the knee-high rain water with us, sharing things that little children do that bond their friendship. The four squads of Visakhians who took part in the CESPA rally marched with her to win a trophy and remember her driving a toy car, dressed in her mother's sari, with sun glasses too big to balance on her child's nose in the play that the school presented.
In her final year at Visakha, her co-students elected her the president of the Science Association, the English Literary and Debating Society and the Buddhist Society. She also held office in other school societies. Her teachers recognised in her, qualities of leadership that they promoted, and elected her the head prefect of the school. Manthri conducted herself in office with a strong sense of responsibility, but never forgot to have fun with her friends; once as a close friend recalled, even taking turns at pushing a friend on Mrs. Pulimood's revolving chair, while waiting with the other prefects for a meeting with the principal.
The Brownie grown into a Girl Guide, she persevered and became a Ranger, getting together with the others in Visakha's 11th Co. to go on hikes, sing round campfires, spend days out camping and sell flags for the CNAPT. In 1964, she received the Juliette Low friendship award to spend six weeks at the Girl Scout Senior International Round-up in America. We met at the Ratmalana airport to wish her a good journey, and gathered round her father who couldn't contain the tears of pride that rolled down his face, and her mother who stoically held her head high, to watch Manthri walk towards the airplane. She came back with a little gift for each of her friends, full of stories of her trip across the seas, and wrote about it in the school magazine of 1965. "Each time I think of it, 'Round-up is fellowship, service and cheer, Round up the aims we hold so dear'... it brings back memories of six joyous weeks and an unforgettable experience I shared with thousands of girls."
When the inter-house competitions took place Manthri, a Jayatilleke was in the thick of it, playing net-ball, organising the science quiz, leading the English debating team, acting in plays by Shakespeare and Shaw with an equally brilliant sister - Anula. Some of these activities took Manthri beyond the school, to compete in debating, in oratory and the 'Light of Asia' contest. When she left the school, she won the Junius Jayewardene memorial prize for best prefect, the Helena Wijewardene memorial prize for leadership, the OGA prize for the Best Visakhian and the Adrian De Abrew Rajapakse Shield for the best all-round student .
Passing examinations came easily to Manthri who always combined her exceptional intelligence with hard work. She went into the science stream with some of us and sat for her (GCE) A. Levels - the selective examination to enter university. She qualified to enter the science faculty, of the University of Colombo, and graduated with first class honours in Zoology '70. As she recalled in the 70th anniversary publication of the school " it almost seemed as if being Visakhians, we had an unfair advantage - for often those who topped the batch always came from the same school!" displaying a humility that didn't mention that she was one of them.
Throughout her undergraduate career and when she was retained as an assistant lecturer in zoology, in the campus, she came to Visakha to meet old friends and new. When Visakhians celebrated 'Founder's day' with an all-night pirith ceremony and alms giving, she was there to partake of it, to chat with old friends and new, and catch up on news of those who weren't there. Usually it was she, who gave news of old friends who were spread out across the world, as she kept in touch with most of them, and when they returned to Sri Lanka, drew them in to meet the others.
Manthri left Sri Lanka on a Commonwealth scholarship to specialise in entomology, at Churchill College in the University of Cambridge, where she became the first woman to receive a PhD. Soon after she received a post doctoral research award at the StrangeWay Research Laboratory in Cambridge. It wasn't only studies that occupied her interests there. Romance took over when Manthri met a fellow doctoral student from Sri Lanka, Ranjan Ramasamy. Their marriage was a partnership of two human beings who worked together professionally, setting high standards in their work as researchers, contributors to professional journals and reviewers for publications and participants in seminars nationally as well as internationally, in their respective fields.
There followed several years where she worked, with Ranjan, as a scientist in King Faisal University, in Damman, Saudi Arabia, when their daughter Maheshi was born, then onto the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), in Nairobi, Kenya, after which they became senior lecturers in the University of Jaffna for a year. In '84 they left again, and Manthri worked as a research associate at the University of San Diego, USA, and went onto the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane Australia, as a staff scientist and senior lecturer.
Returning to Sri Lanka, enriched by the experience gained in many universities across continents, they took up posts as senior Research Associates at the Institute of Fundamental Studies, Peradeniya, under the direction of Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma. They based themselves in Colombo where Maheshi schooled, and commuted weekly to the IFS. Manthri sought out the Medarata branch of her OGA which she joined and worked with, and combined a busy schedule as researcher, reviewer, organiser of symposia, seminars and public lectures for the Institute, and also the Sri Lankan Association for the Advancement of Science, of which she became the General Secretary in 1999. Very few of us knew then, that she was fighting an illness which she laughed off as if it were a common cold, till the very end when it restricted her to one place and she called her family and friends around her.
When she gave the Pulimood Memorial Lecture at Visakha in 1995, from the class of '66, Manthri Samaranayake Ramasamy had become a recognised scientist in the field of entomology and parasitology, the mother of a teenage daughter, who would emulate her parents' academic excellence.
By then she had also become an Associate Professor at the Institute of Fundamental Studies, simultaneously lecturing at the Post Graduate Institute of Science of the University of Peradeniya. She was still the outspoken friend we had known, speaking with authority on a field in which she had achieved international recognition, but keeping in touch with a school which had moulded her being.
We wished that she would have lived longer among us, and been spared the pain of her last year. She had no regrets in a life she had lived to the full. As we live on, the echo of our late Principal Mrs. Pulimood's words ring on "Let the girls of Visakha realise.. that the work and standard of their Alma Mater are judged by the lives they lead. Let them take up the challenge to serve their time and generation". Manthri, you fulfilled this wish, and will be missed sorely as we carry your memory with us.
Class friends from Visakha Vidyalaya
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