A Caring Human Being Full of Humor- by Dr. Mahinda D. Jayasinghe
Source:Island
Dr. Mahinda D. Jayasinghe, MD was a pediatric cardiologist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He practiced there for more than 20 years specialising in Pediatric Cardiology treating heart disease in children. His loving wife, Indra, practiced Pediatrics also in Baton Rouge practiced for over 20 years. Their only child, Saman, followed in his parent’s footsteps and qualified as a Preventive Medicine Specialist practicing nearby.
Mahinda Aiya’s father was Maulise De Silva Jayasinghe (Staff Officer, Ceylon Wharfage Co. Ltd.) who married to Aggresha Amarawathie Jayasinghe De Silva. His siblings were Indra Irangani Jayasinghe (deceased), Manel De Silva Jayasinghe, Nihal Ranjith Jayasinghe (in Toronto), and Vinitha Manohari Jayasinghe (deceased). Mahinda Aiya was very proud to say that his father migrated from a village called Wauwa in Devinuvara (God’s Town) a seaport town at the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka. His paternal ancestors were from Wauwa and his maternal ancestors were from Park Avenue, next to Campbell Park, Colombo. His father married and settled in Park Avenue.
Mahinda Aiya captained the Ananda College cricket team in 1956 and was fortunate to lead his college at the 27th annual Ananda and Nalanda Battle of the Maroons. Nalanda was captained by Nihal Withana with the match ending in a draw at the Colombo Oval. He played as the skipper and wicketkeeper of the side. A hard-hitting right-hand opening batsman with an eye for quick runs, he was followed by his brother Nihal who played for Nalanda in 1960.
Although he devoted his time to school cricket and captained the team, he qualified in 1963 to enter the Colombo Medical College (now Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo) established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School which is the second oldest medical school in South Asia.
With the Buddhist Renaissance, Ananda College was established (1886) to produce well-disciplined citizens with national values and Mahinda Aiya was one of them. His Ananda College and family background made him a practicing Buddhist with diverse interest including music, art and reading on various subjects, mainly on history. A caring human being, he emailed me to read Dhamma books such as Thus Have I Heard (Pali: Evam me Suttam) by Maurice Walshe and Discourse of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
I can remember dhamma discussions with him on different topics over the telephone. When I was trying to arrange a visit to Ven. Buddhangala Ananda Thera to Canada in August 2018, Mahinda Aiya actively supported me with his brother Nihal in Toronto. However, the monk fell ill and his visit had to be postponed.
Chandani and I once paid him and his wife a visit in Louisiana. We landed at the Baton Rouge airport on July 15, 201 and they came to pick us. When I got into the car, I heard Pandith Amaradeva’s Me Ape Mathru Bumiyay on the car radio welcoming us to his city. The well planned visit began with a Jambalaya lunch, a Louisiana Creole speciality influenced by Spanish and French cuisine. At their home, he talked about Western classical music of Mozart and Beethoven.
He focused on two main activities in his backyard, a swim before lunch and feeding the fish in the pond beside the pool. He explained the annual maintenance process of the in-ground swimming pool (12’x24’) and garden pond also dug into the ground. His home library was most interesting and he gifted me three books written by Ceylonese authors R. L. Spittel, George Davison Winius, and R. L. Brohier inscribing the volumes “To Senaka and Chandani, For a Memorable Visit, Mahinda and Indra, Baton Rouge, LA, July 22, 2015”.
Besides the city tour of Baton Rouge, they drove us to the port of New Orleans located along the Mississippi. From there we drove by the side of Lake Pontchartrain to Bay St. Louis to visit their friend, Dr. Leonard J. Cheramie who, like Mahinda Aiya, had a special interest in collecting antiques. Dr. Cheramie’s home was almost an antique museum.
Mahinda Aiya collected Sri Lankan temple paintings published by the New York Graphic Society, New Jersey, USA and he shared two-color line-paintings (18″ x 13″) Pahala Viharaya, Mukirigala and a scene from the Telapatta Jataka – the king of Taxila riding his elephant with a Yaksini in human form. Both were drawn in the 19th century. As an art lover, he collected black and white pencil painting photos (16″ x 12″) displaying different locations in Sri Lanka. All done in the early 19th century, each photo was of historical value. The collection included the Colombo harbour then and Kandy and its lake.
Whenever I asked him for medical advice, he always advised me to start with home remedies. All of us got home remedies from him serving not only our own household but that of my brother-in-law Deepal in Medicine Hat, Alberta Province who also called him for medical advice. He was our telephone doctor. As a caring human being, he always helped his relations in Sri Lanka. I have lost a faithful friend and a good relation.
May Mahinda Aiya attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana!
Senaka A. Samarasinghe,
Winnipeg, Canada
