Professor C. C. De Silva: A man like no other

Professor C. C. De Silva will be remembered as a caring, kind, patient and vibrant human being

Professor C. C. De Silva served as the personification of the immortal words of the first non-European Nobel laureate for literature, Rabindranath Tagore: “tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection”

This article is an addendum to the excellent piece written about Professor C. C. De Silva by my friend and colleague, Professor Thushara Kudagammana of the University of Peradeniya, published in the Daily Mirror on 25th February 2025.This account goes back in time to 1969 when, as a 4th-year Medical Student, I attended a Guest Lecture on an esoteric topic delivered by an erudite foreign scholar. At the end of the lecture, a grey-haired elderly gentleman in the front row of the seats got up and asked some questions from the lecturer.

To my uninitiated mind, the questions were totally irrelevant and were at best, rather stupid. Later, I made some inquiries and was told that the person who asked those questions was Professor C. C. De Silva, who had retired as the Professor of Paediatrics. I thought to myself, “Good riddance, I am spared being taught by such a fossil”. To my chaotic mind, he was a spent old force, now out of the active academic scene. When I later looked back on the setting, I realised that he had asked some intelligent questions which were so very relevant to our motherland. The questions were well over my imprudent head and hence the gravely mistaken opinion of that raw medical student. Then I forgot all about the Professor.
Fast forward to mid-1971, during the second six months of my internship, I had the audacity to write my very first scientific paper, at the insistence of Dr M. C. J. Hunt, Consultant Paediatrician in Ward 4 of The Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, under whom I was working. We had two cases of the very rare Christ-Siemens Syndrome, also known as Anhydrotic Ectodermal dysplasia, presenting within a couple of months of each other. Up to that time, only about 250 cases had been reported in the whole world. Dr. Hunt insisted that I write up the cases for the Ceylon Journal of Child Health. An exhaustive literature search in several libraries ensued and I wrote up what I thought was a brilliant piece of work. It was submitted to the journal and its editor, Dr. Stella De Silva sent me off, with the manuscript, to no less a person than Emeritus Professor C. C. De Silva for assessment, review and to attend to any necessary corrections of the article. 
I thought that this was a piece of cake and jauntily presented myself with my masterpiece manuscript at his residence. He most graciously sat me down on a beautiful antique couch in his sitting room and then proceeded to painstakingly take my handiwork completely apart. Lo and behold, he cut and chopped the whole paper to such an extent that at the end, it was a blurry mass of red lines and crosses; barely a sentence of the original script survived his sharp mind. I was stunned and horrified beyond belief. In the end, perhaps to soften the blow, he and his gracious wife treated me to a delicious high tea and sent me on my way with the parting words, “My boy, you do have a lot to learn”.
I corrected and painfully retyped the paper again and went back to him a week later, only to have it chopped up again. To cut a long story short, this happened no less than seven times, over and over again. Of course, each time it was accompanied by the high tea. Finally, at the eighth attempt, I simply refused to go to him and begged for mercy from Dr Stella De Silva. She took pity on me and published it. It went into print under the title of “Christ-Siemens Syndrome”, my very first scientific publication. By then, Professor C. C. De Silva had done his work so well that it was quite presentable. This little episode was, in the finest sense of the phrase, a ‘baptism by fire’. 
From that time onwards and over the years, I have had the opportunity and good fortune to present and publish many a scientific paper. These have incorporated the basic principles of scientific writing that I originally learned at the feet of the master, the great writer of confirmed fame, Professor C. C. De Silva. His razor-sharp mind, unbending insistence on every minor detail, obsessive craving for perfection and wonderful command of Her Majesty’s English, inspired me no end. Professor C. C. De Silva served as the personification of the immortal words of the first non-European Nobel laureate for literature, Rabindranath Tagore: “tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection”. Professor C.C. De Silva was a colossus among the medical giants of his era. He was undoubtedly the father of modern scientific paediatrics in this country. His tremendous academic achievements are legion and very well-known. It is not my intention to chronicle them here.
As time went on, I completely changed my original opinion of him as a spent old force. He became my deeply valued mentor in scientific writing and academic presentations and his deeply constructive comments were more than welcome. It facilitated my rise to the sort of heights later on, which would not have been possible or even imaginable before. Over the years, I have been able to reach through the mists of time, into the very heart of the kindly soul that was Professor C. C. De Silva and draw out the sort of encouragement that has sustained my well-known obsessive demand for perfection in almost everything I did.
With time, I developed a genuine affection and unbridled regard for Professor C. C. De Silva, which I am delighted to say, was amply reciprocated. He was my tutor and very definitely a father figure. He made it a point to attend most of my presentations. He always had some highly constructive criticisms, which were by this time, most welcome. What went on between the two of us was of intense personal significance to me and I was always the richer for it. 
Years later, in April 1987, the good Professor suddenly asked me to send him my Curriculum Vitae. I did not know why, but I complied. He acknowledged receipt of it by return of post and indicated that he wanted to send it to the Royal College of Physicians of London, nominating me for the coveted Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Alas…, before he could get it off in the mail, he was stricken with that final terminal illness and was taken away from us forever. 
I, for one, will always remember Professor C. C. De Silva as a caring, kind, patient and vibrant human being, and very definitely not as someone who has left his mortal remains to be returned to Mother Earth forever. He was indeed a man like no other and those of us who came into contact with him and had the priceless experience of a close rapport with the great man, were indeed singularly and seminally fortunate.
The Writer is a Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow at the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.