Charles Manabharana Herat Gunaratne.
From what I've been told by many in my family, he was a giant among men; and a giant in every way possible.
He stood 6feet 2inches tall. He was dark and handsome. He was thought of as being the brightest in his family of bright people, and he was also probably the kindest.
But what sticks the most with me are all the amusing anecdotes that I have been told of him.
He was a lover of dogs. His wife (and also, my grandmother) wasn't. She had put her foot down and said "Either children or dogs. Not both". He had gone off and got himself 2 Pekingese Dogs.
My grandparents were the wonderful parents of 5 amazing children. My grandfather supposedly bathed the 3 youngest children one after the other, and finished his chore by bathing the two dogs as well.
He was an Anaesthetist by profession. Having access to the gasses, he had one day given Nitrous Oxide to the dogs. They had indeed been in stitches.
On another occassion, on a day of great joy in the family where they had plenty of bubbly flowing freely in celebration, he had got the dogs to share in the festivities by giving them a taste of champagne as well.
They were in era where air travel was not very common. En route to UK to follow his postgraduate studies, my grandparents were aboard a cruise ship where one night there was a fancy dress ball. He won the competition for best costume for having shown up as the Queen of Tonga.
A daughter of one of his elder brothers was to be married off to someone who she really did not want to spend the rest of her life with. Seeing that no amount of direct conversation would convince her father to change his mind, it turns out that my grandfather and his younger brother had sent this elder brother anonymous letters bad mouthing the proposed suitor.
It worked. She instead married a wonderful man and lived happily ever after. And to this day, she remains grateful for the anonymous letters that they sent her father.
Then there were the episodes of the good doctor being a patient and being warded at the General hospital. According to my grandmother, she had one day gone to answer the doorbell to find "this man standing in front of me saying he wants the food that I cook. I got the shock of my life!"
On yet another occassion, he had attempted a daring escape along with his aforementioned younger brother (himself a consultant no less!). Upon seeing his physician approaching, the duo had quickly hidden themselves in the lift!
Subsequently, he had given up on his plans of escaping, and had instead decided to get his eldest son to fetch him hoppers and katta sambol from the nearby Bake House. Such was the need to avoid consuming hospital fare.
And the tales go on. But I'm sure this should suffice in illustrating the interesting character that he was. I am certainly lucky to be able to call him my own grandpa. I am equally unlucky to have never met him.
But the greatest people die young. Probably too good for this earth.
