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| Lalith Athulathmudali |
Eighteen years is too short a period in human history; but not so short for human memory. It fails. To mark an indelible imprint in the minds of the great mass, withstanding the ravages of time, he should belong to the rare few who adorned history with distinct contributions. Such was he: Lalith Athulathmudali
Having enjoyed the distinction of being the first from the remote Pasdunkorale to enter the hallowed profession of law as a Barrister, D.D. Athulathmudali intended Lalith, his eldest son, to follow him. Young Lalith was sent to Royal College where he excelled in both studies and in sports.
He obtained B.A.(Jurisprudence) from Oxford and enrolled as a Barrister of Gray's Inn. After a short stint as a lecturer in law at the Singapore University, University of Alahabad and the Hebrew University, he entered the prestigious Harvard University, where he obtained his LL.M. His performance at Harvard was so brilliant that his thesis was accepted to the permanent collection of the university.At Oxford he secured the rare honour of being elected the Treasurer, the Librarian, the Secretary and to cap it all, the President of the Oxford Union. This is ample testimony to his oratorical prowess, debating skill and to his leadership potential, which he displayed and put to abundant use in later life. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the great liberal democrat and intellectual watched the dazzling star that enter into the ken and honoured his talents by bestowing a scholarship, which, perhaps, was the innovating factor that prompted him to establish the Mahapola Scholarship Scheme, to award thousands of scholarships to university students, in his later life.
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