Mr . V. Thanabalasingham (Photograph Aug 1999) by Mahinda Jayasinghe (Ananda College 1949-1955)
Mr. Thanabalasingham joined the teaching staff of Ananda College at the age of 27 and served as one of Ananda’s most distinguished English teachers until his retirement at the age of 60. Before he joined Ananda except for a very brief period in Jaffna, he had taught English at other Buddhist Colleges like Mahinda at Galle and Sri Sumangala at Panadura.
At the University of Ceylon, according to Miss Peiris (later Mrs. Kannnangara), he was one of the best students of another unsung hero of the time, the late Professor Ludowyk. Mr. Thanabalasingham was expected to gain a first class BA (Hons) degree in English. Unfortunately before his final examinations, Mr. Thanabalasingham suffered the trauma of witnessing the death of one of his brothers in a fatal road traffic accident while they were both walking along the public highway as pedestrians. Mr. Thanabalasingham was unable to sit the examinations but was nevertheless awarded the BA (Hons) degree merely at the pass level. In other words, he had to be satisfied with a third class degree in spite of possessing a first class brain. At the time of his bereavement though, class of degree was the last thing he had on his mind.
He was supposed to have been so deeply affected by the manner of his brother’s death, that Mr Thanabalasingham never totally recovered his health. Intermittently, he suffered from bouts of depression, and there were also highly excitable, manic phases, which most Ananda boys witnessed with incomprehension and sadness, but always with deference and compassion. He was never (at least during the principalship of Mr Mettananda and Mr Wijaytilleke, the period I know about) penalised for these short periods away from his teaching duties. During his lucid periods he was a superb teacher of English. Indeed, it was said that Mr Mettananda had some orange juice always ready in his office to give Mr.T at times when he was not his usual self and would pack him off to a cooler climate somewhere near Nuwara Eliya. Mr Thanabalasingham would invariably get better and return to Ananda and resume work as if nothing had happened. How much of this is fact or legend, I have not bothered to establish. Suffice it to say that Mr Thanabalasingham’s medical condition was not identified or treated as ‘bipolar affective disorder’ at the time. Just as well, since there was the danger of his being hospitalised for longer periods and prevented in continuing his long and valuable career at Ananda College as its senior English teacher.
Mr. Thanabalasingham never married, now 75 years old he lives alone in a rented single room in a house in Mount Lavia. He had converted to Catholicism late in life and finds solace in devotional activities. His days are spent at the YMCA Fort where he has his main meal, lunch there. He takes the train back to Mount Lavinia and retires to his room at dusk. Since both his eyes are affected by cataract he can no longer patronize the British Council Library, as he used to do. He is fiercely independent and manages to live within his meager pension with dignity.
I have had to fight with him to allow us, the Association of Old Anandians in UK, to collect a small sum to serve as a contingency fund during the time of his planned future hospitalization for surgery to his eyes. The fund was initially thought of as a means of providing a break, a holiday for Mr. Thanabalasingham, but at his age and his state of mind, he prefers to remain in familiar surroundings carrying out familiar routines and we need to respect his desire for reassurance and continuity. Terence Fernando, one of our long-serving Committee Members through one of his brothers, Donald resident in Colombo, and himself one of Mr. Thanabalasingham’s former students, has undertaken to ensure that the money is delivered, and act as link in a support network to see that he is not totally forgotten in the autumn of his life. (End)
Note: Mahinda has met Mr.Thanabalasingham, when he was in Sri Lanka in October 2003. During his stay in Sri Lanka, Mahinda has given a speech on Career Guidance, his specialty to the AL students at the college. May I add that although Mr.Tanabalasingham has taken only a few of my English classes I remember him for his mastery of the language and being a witness to his public soap-box oratory skills once given in the vicinity of Maradana station and his annoyance at my consistent misspelling of the word "develop" with extra "e" at the end. Dhane also retains fond memories of Mr.Tanabalasingham, specially when he has witnessed Mr. Tanabalasingham addressing the workers from SEC when Dhane was in charge of the college building works. (JP)