A guest lecture was organized by the Chemical Society in collaboration with E2 section of SLAAS on "Why are pharmaceutical drugs very expensive? The inside story of drug discovery, development and approval process " by Dr. Sumedha Jayasena on 3rd of June 2016 at the Maths Auditorium, University of Colombo.

 

CUFSAA is looking for your stories, anecdotes, special names and locations from your campus days to be published in the TAMASHA 2016 souvenir. Please let us know them so that we get a chance to archive them before they disappear forever in the sands of time. Here are some examples.
 
For the last so many decades, our faculty has seen many batches come and go and with every batch, a number  of stories, anecdotes and names for places would have  come in to existence (and some disappear with time while others remain). For an example, during this writer’s  final days as an undergraduate (in the mid-eighties), the little landing just above the fifth floor of the Chemistry Building was named “Paha Mara (5.5 )” and was a haven for couples who were searching for a little privacy . A rather classic name creation as it is not a sixth floor but at the same time, it is certainly not the fifth floor too.  The famous Nuga Tree which was there forever was coined by some in the mid-2000s as “the maha pala dena nuga ruka” as the legend has it (they say at least) that if a young man or woman sat under it and wished for a particular partner, that wish would surely be granted. Now this is not really new stuff as early as the mid-seventies, it was also called “Magul Gaha”. There is enough proof to show that the tree lives up to its reputation. I personally know a young girl in a mid-2000 batch, who wished that a certain young man would ask her hand (rather than the multitude of the other guys who lined up) and presto, she had her wishes come true the very next week (This happy couple currently lives in the southern part of the United States. It works!  ). There are also other names coined to explain actions and situations  “Kuppiya”, “Parabal (A partner with enough good looks to go for a walk on a road)” and “Pakshiya” (The cram that you load in to your memory  the day before an exam to be recited like a parrot, and occasionally the most horrible thing happens when the "Pakishiya Maruna") are  some examples of these. Do share those also from your campus era.
 
Do tell us about your stories and places. The open canteen, the “sal gaha”, the “nuga gaha”, the “paha mara” , the KG Hall (In the writer’s final days as a lecturer , actual lectures were conducted here, but in the late seventies and early eighties it had a reputation for hosting  activities which were rather more exciting ), the “peechama” (also called the “del gaha uta cantima”, non-existant now), the “suspension” (the two metal benches near the Radio isotope Center) are so full of stories so that if they could only talk, we will not be able to stop them.
Do let us know, all the stories, the anecdotes, the names and the places from your times. Email to info@cufsaa.org.