My gentle Navam mama, I have so many memories of you and a highlight of any trip back to Sri Lanka was visiting you in Beruwela. The trips to the beach, to the Bentota hotels where you were always treated as a welcome guest and with respect by the locals, of watching you hard at work in your clinic while we kids played Hospital with the empty saline bottles. The jovial 304 card games, you laughing when we sang Sakalakala Vallavan songs (quite badly I might add). You were always so kind and patient with us. You looked like my dad and as his brother you were a second father in my eyes. My heart broke seeing you so ill in 2016, when I last visited you in Sri Lanka. I felt that I had lost my uncle but also knew that he was there deep down in the fog of his illness. I feel so sad that you’re gone but also relieved that you’re no longer suffering and in pain. You’ve departed your earthly body but have now joined Appamma as an eternal light in the universe. We will see each other again, Navam mama. All my love, Myli