"Sothy Bappa’s Memorial" - Dr. Queenie Veerasingam

 

    I am very privileged to write a eulogy for my Uncle, Mr Daniel Gnanasothy Veerasingam, who passed away a couple of months back. Thus we are missing a very prestigious member from our 'Veerasingam' family. 'Sothy Bappa' is the name we used to call him from our younger days. It is within this context I shall write from and share of his associations with us.

    Sothy Bappa was my father's younger brother from their very big family tree of ten children.

    He was one of my very closely associated uncles as well. I have known him since I was a child of four years, and associated him for the last fifty years in my life.

    My sister Shiranie and I loved his company from our childhood days. He used to visit us often at Kandy during the early '70 when we were kids. He was teaching mathematics for the GCE Advanced Level students in Kandy. Therefore he often visited my father's surgeons resident quarters which was situated in the Kandy 'Hantana' mountain.  

    He narrated us all his jovial stories. But what I remember most about him was his ability to make me and my little sister scared of an owl hooting in a nearby tree in the night. This was to stop the two of us from doing mischief, and obviously, he enjoyed the whole scenario with some fun. Therefore most of our childhood memories with him are tinged with traces of humour and laughter. He loved to have fun and we adored him.

    When we were young he joined us in many of our family outings. One of them was a trip made to Sigiriya. In the early 70s there weren't any luxury hotels around Sigiriya.  Therefore, the day prior to the climb we had to spend the night in a camp close to the wildlife at Sigiriya. We had to sleep in tents and in tree-tops, with a bonfire in front of the tent in hope of evading the wild elephants! Sothy Bappa would thrill us with his hilarious scary stories and we as kids would go to sleep dreaming of them!

 

    We had a nice trip to Trincomalee and Sigiriya during the early 70s. Above is a picture taken by my father with my grandfather, my mother, myself, my sister and Sothy Bappa at the Koneshwaram Kovil. At Sigiriya after climbing the rock up to the 'Lion Entrance', Sothy Bappa refused to climb further up stating that it was too dangerous a climb and all of us listened to him and had to be satisfied with the halfway ascend to Sigiriya! In fact, during that time one had to virtually crawl up to the top of the Sigiriya rock beyond the Lion Entrance holding an iron bar as there were no steps being constructed as nowadays.

    He was a good singer and also played the guitar. We used to like his singing a lot. In the photograph below which was taken by my father at our house at Avissawella, I remember him singing ' Gone are the days when my heart was and gay.............Gone from this world to a better land I know.....I hear the angels' voices calling Old Black Joe!'

    Sothy Bappa was an entertainer and all of us in our family enjoyed his hilarious stories. He narrated to us a lot of incidences that took part in the eastern area of the country which we were not aware of. I remember how he used to tell us funny incidences about his childhood and schooldays. He even used to act and narrate the adventurous things he did with his fellow campus students during his science faculty days. To be honest, all of us in our family eagerly awaited his arrival at our place to listen to all those thrilling stories. Perhaps as a teacher, he definitely had mastered the technique of talking to attract everyone else around him.

    At times, I used to think that Sothy Bappa had an extraordinary childhood as well as some unusual life events. But now I realize that it was not the events in his life that were extraordinary, but the way he faced them. He faced life with intelligence, courage and wit. 

    When we shifted to Batticaloa with my father getting a transfer, Sothy Bappa was a graduated A/L maths teacher at Sammanthurai Vidyalayam. We visited him several times at his school where he showed us around. I remember the place having a lot of paddy fields and happily playing village children. He taught me science and how to use a mercury thermometer when I was in the sixth grade at school in Batticaloa.

    With time he got married to my Aunt Ms. Magaret Atputhamalar Seneveretnam or 'Malar Punchiamma' as we call her. She as a nurse and later a Sister Tutor was a very suitable wife for him, who loved and cherished him during his lifetime. Afterward, his son and my cousin Breman joined our big family, with all his father’s traits.

 

    We had many a happy moment visiting Sothy Bappa, Punchiamma and Breman, and they too had very memorable stays and events with us.

    When I grew older I came to realise and appreciate the simple and genuine personality of my uncle. He was well versed in all three languages in the country and had a vast knowledge about the society he lived in. He knew a lot about the people and their ways perhaps due to his teaching and his association with all classes of people. He liked his teaching and was pleased with his students' progress and achievements. Eventually, he too got through the teachers' administration exams and became principal of several schools to be appreciated and honoured by his fellow teachers and students.

(Photo: Sothy Bappa, Malar Punchiamma and Breman, with Kapilan (Breman’s cousin), when they visited us in Avissawella)

    I have found Sothy Bappa to be a very religious person as well, just like my father's mother. He was an ardent believer in Christ, having faith in His good ways. Sothy Bappa was well versed in prayers and thanksgiving.

    At the age of seventy-eight, during an unexpected time, due to an unavoidable event in life, he had to leave all of us and join God. The loss for us is a favourite uncle, a great teacher, a good friend, and a genuine human being whom we loved and looked upon for many years.

(Photo: Sothy Bappa with five of his nine siblings.)

    Sothy Bappa will be ever remembered with great respect and love by me, my parents, Dr.Philip Veerasingam and Mrs. Ramya Veerasingam my sister Dr.Shirani Veerasingam and her husband Dr.Charaka Wicramasinghe, my husband Dr. Ajith Alagiyawanna and our children Seniru and Senuja.......for being a wonderful person, for what he was and for his simple ways of life.

May he find eternal happiness!

Life is but a stopping place,

A pause in what's to be,

A resting place along the road,

To sweet eternity 

We all have different journeys,

Different paths along the way,

We all were meant to learn more things,

But never meant to stay,

Our destination is a place,

Far greater than we know,

So don't repent my dear comrade,

We'll all meet at yonder shore.

I would like to extend my gratitude to my beloved cousin Breman for giving me this opportunity to write about my uncle.

Thank you.

Dr. Queenie Veerasingam