‘Dear Mahesh’ A grieving mother finds comfort with book on lost son

• A seasoned entrepreneur, who developed his business through perseverance and determination, Mahesh was well-known for his generosity and lion heart

A mother’s abundant love for her first-born son, who met with an untimely death, is expressed as a work of literature and in book form with the title ‘Dear Mahesh’. The book, penned by Neetha Nalinee Nanayakkara, was launched recently. 

This tribute of love by Neetha, who dedicated her life to teaching and educating several generations of young men and women in Sri Lanka, was penned following the sudden death of her eldest son Mahesh Uduwella. 

Neetha, a retired Deputy Principal and a trained English teacher, who was shocked by Mahesh’s death, needed a way to release her grief.  It was then that she started writing about the memories of her eldest child.  

A seasoned entrepreneur, who developed his business through perseverance and determination, Mahesh was well-known for his generosity and lion heart. He owned ‘Uduwella Pharmacy’- the largest and most popular pharmacy at IDH junction in Angoda (situated at the Sampath Bank building). He had never charged money from members of the Buddhist clergy when they came to purchase medicine. 

“Often he used to give medicine free to many underprivileged patients who patronised the pharmacy,” Jaliya Uduwella (Mahesh’s younger brother) said. Jaliya is a Superintendent Physiotherapist at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital. 

“He was also helping many in the area and doing lot of social work,” he added. 

Graduating as an Accountant, Mahesh started the pharmaceutical business and was extremely successful. 

However four months ago, Mahesh passed away suddenly due to a brain aneurysm burst. Even though he was rushed to the hospital it was too late. Mahesh’s death was a shock, not only to immediate family members, but almost everyone who knew him. 

The grief was unbearable for the 87-year-old mother, who nurtured the minds of many children while going around the country. She has memories of taking Mahesh and the other two sons to every school she was transferred to. “We used to get transferred to a school whenever our mother got her transferred,” Jaliya, the second son told Daily Mirror. For Neetha, there was no difference between her three children- Mahesh, Jaliya and the youngest Prasanna, who is a draughtsman and a Quantity surveyor, and any other child in her class. 

However a grief-stricken mother had no other way to relieve herself but to write the biography of her eldest child who died. “This was a great console for her,” said Jaliya who encouraged her to publish her memories as a book.

The book was a great support to reduce her grief. Neetha made arrangements to distribute the book free of charge.