Identity crisis of an Aussie Lankan – finding the Right Balance

Source:Dæhæna – Monthly e-Newsletter January 2021

In 2007, as a young grade 10 school boy I wrote an article in the youth corner section of this very same publication about my favourite poem ‘The road less travelled’ by
Robert Frost. It’s very interesting (albeit a bit cringey) to read this article now, but I can see how my perspective was formed from those initial thoughts and beliefs.
I was right in having found a passion for travel (having now been to 54 countries since then), loving cricket and being a huge Nandos fan (which I still am to this day)!
I am now 28 and in the midst of busy surgical training in Urology, having worked in multiple different hospitals in Queensland Health. With chaotic nature of work, exams and general life, I have a little time for reflection (unfortunately).But I do remember the carefree days when my siblings (Chanaka and Yehanka) and I used to go to Sinhala school at Yungaba every 2nd Friday night. As a young Australian with Sri Lankan heri tage, it was at times difficult to completely understand where you fit in and how you identify yourself (it still can be). In day-today school, you were considered Sri Lankan, but then when you went to Sri Lanka on holidays you were considered an Australian. Meeting others going through the same conundrum was helpful. The Sinhala school days definitely reinforced the importance of being proud in our Sri Lankan heritage, something I still am today. I think the olderyou get, the more you realise that you can take the best qualities and values from being Australian and Sri Lankan, becoming an amalgamation of both. I think that’s the best advice I have for young “Aussie Lankans’ going through the same experience. In 2022 I sit my final fellowship exam in Urology, before becoming a fully qualified surgeon.

Despite this, I know the thing I will be most proud of is the work I would have done in Sri Lanka. Recently my fiancée Anouk Dharmawardane and I raised funds from our engagement party and helped built a school in the Central Province area with the assistance of an amazing foundation called Kind Hearted Lankans (which I advise people to search and contribute to). I am hoping we can do more to help people less privileged than us in Sri Lanka who don’t have the opportunities we do. I am so glad Ammi and Thathi took us to Sinhala School (even if we whinged about going on Fridays nights) as those experiences has shaped me immensely to be the proud Aussie Lankan I am today.