Tell us something about your life as
an undergraduate and the memorable
experiences you had. Were there any
difficulties you faced as an
undergraduate?
“
Any engineer should be a good
human being.
”
Sir, can you give us a self-introduction
and tell us about your life before
entering university ?
I studied at Sarasavi Uyana college up to grade
5 and then at St. Sylvester’s college up to A/Ls.
At Sarasavi Uyana, I did scouting and at Sylvester’s,
I played chess. I was the captain and
the President of the school chess club.
I was the youngest of four children in my
family.
Why did you want to be an Engineer?
When I started my life at Moratuwa, one of the
main problems I had to face was the climate. It
was a harsh environment; very warm and dry,
full of mosquitos and limited water supply.
Out of 230 students in my batch, there were
only two or three students from Kandy. The
rest were mainly from Colombo and the suburbs.
At the beginning, I felt that I was an alien
to this new environment. During the weekend,
only a few of us were left alone in our private
boarding places and it gave us a very lonely
feeling.
The University of Moratuwa is a small place
compared to Peradeniya, we were confined to
a few buildings in the university. We had limited
options to spend time, so I devoted my
time to education. Gradually I overcame all
initial difficulties and started to enjoy my life.
During leisure time, we used to move away
from the university. Galle face was one of our
favourite destinations. When looking back
now, I can recall many happy memories of my
life at Moratuwa.
What were your reasons
for choosing
Chemical Engineering?
At the time when we were starting our A/L
studies, our dream was either to become a
doctor or an engineer.
I remember sitting in the biology class for a
couple of days, before moving to the physical
science section.
In other words, there was no real reason for
me to claim why I’ve selected the physical science
stream.
Page 30
University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine