COLOMBO : We came together as five year olds in Ms Cronings 1C Class at Royal Primary School in 1953. A new era had just begun for 33 young lads, clad in white shirts and blue shorts, not having a clue of where the long and winding road of life would lead us to. Many of the guys Dad’s had also been Royalists before, and that was something to be proud of.
Mazher and I hit it off from the very beginning as we had similar sounding names. He was also a Bamba boy like me. Our parents were also close friends.
Moments of collective fun we enjoyed together during our early primary school days are the Maypole Ride, Mat Slide, See Saw, and Cricket, Alerics Ice Cream Cones, Kadalay, Veralu Achcharu, and also the scrappy schoolboy brawls we got into, time after time.
After completing College in the late 60s, Mazher went on to manage Captain House, a printing press that was owned by his family. Many are the social service organizations he has jumped into in helping people and institutions develop and move ahead.
The Lions Club, Toastmasters, and support for several orphanages and needy schools were all a part of his daily activity. The Class of ’53 members now resident in Australia funded several soup kitchen and medical needs, which were all professionally coordinated by Mazher, together with the boys in Colombo, during the height of the Covid pandemic and economic fallout.
Mazher was an active member of the Royal College ’59 Alumni Group and took up several roles as Committee Member, Secretary and President. I had the privilege of being the Secretary when he was President in 2019. We had a great year where we delivered many valuable projects for the old school.
In recent times many were the moments we met on a weekday afternoon at the Capri Club for lunch where he has been the Secretary for several terms.
Those of us who knew him closely will always remember his compassion and kindness to lend a hand to anyone whenever it was needed. The daily banter we have enjoyed with him on WhatsApp will be missed dearly. May he walk freely in gardens of green and skies of blue. “From Him do we come and unto Him we return!”
Fazli Sameer / Royal Primary School Class of ‘53
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