Thursday, August 31, 2017

My Tribute to Podihamy

By Nihal D. Amerasekera

In 1955 I was a boarder at Wesley College. During those years of incarceration there was an epidemic of “jaundice” (hepatitis) in the boarding. In that confined environment, communicable diseases had the propensity to spread like wild fire. Like dozens of my friends I too contracted the infection.  The matron asked my parents to take me home. Although the circumstaces weren’t ideal it was lovely to return to my parents. We then lived in Gampaha. When I stepped into the house there was a new face. She was our new maid from Pannala near Negombo. She was  around 4 feet 6 inches tall and in her forties but had no teeth and her hair was all grey. I well remember her kindly face and the pleasant smile.

Due to hepatitis I had lost my appetite. I was confined to bed and the maid stayed with me a lot of the time. She told me her name was Podihamy and had 2 grown up children and a young son just 9 years old. Memories were still raw and she wiped a tear as she spoke of her children and her life back at home. It was poverty that drove her to seek employment away from her children, an unimaginable tragedy for any mother. My mother realised her plight and treated her with much kindness and courtesy. She taught her to cook the way we did and that was to be her main occupation. When my parents were away she was by my side. She had a huge repertoire of old stories of Kings and Queens and ghosts and goblins. She had the tremendous ability to create the right ambience and give life to those characters. These she related in such graphic detail until I fell asleep.

As the years passed I became very close to her. She was part of our family. My mother paid her more than her wage and bought clothes for her and her children. I was struck by her kindness, honesty and loyalty. She possessed an exceptional capacity for tolerance and forgiveness. Podihamy was a typical simple pious villager who went to the Buddhist Temple on Full Moon days and practiced the religion at all times. She wore white and took with her flowers from our garden.  Podihamy impressed us with her fine cooking and keeping the kitchen spotless. She moved house with us to Katunayake then to Kolonnawa, Weligama and finally to Wattala. It was there she retired to return to her home town.

She returned to her home just once every year during Sinhala New Year when she was away for 2 weeks which she extended occasionally to a few more days to attend functions. On her return she brought me lots of sweets. It always took a her a couple of weeks to settle back to her routine as she was overwhelmed by memories of her children.

I developed a close attachment to her as she saw me grow up from a pimple faced teenager to a raucous medical student and a busy doctor. I was working my internship in Kurunegala when she left us after 12 long years of loyal service. By now she had collected enough money to live in the village with her elder son who was now in employment. On my visits home it was strange and sad not to see her kindly face.

Once when I was away working for the Blood Transfusion Service I wrote a letter to her giving the date when I will be in Pannala. She came to see me with a parcel of cashew nuts. From a distance I recognised her toothless smile. Age has taken its toll but her face remained calm and serene. It was such a great pleasure to see her. We reminisced and spoke and laughed for a long time. I saw her eyes well up with tears as those memories came flooding back. Then she bade goodbye. I recall giving her some money. As she left and disappeared into the street my mind was crowded with memories of those happy years at home. I never saw her again.

I still think of her often. She lead a virtuous life according to the principles of Buddhism. I cannot think of a more honest and kind person. Her extraordinary compassion extended well beyond the human race to the many birds and animals that visited our garden. She brought up a cat at home and showered it with much love and affection. It was treated like one of her own. Despite her lowly upbringing and poverty, she was never envious and inspired so much love, joy and warm-heartedness. She had the inner strength and happiness that we all search for today. Podihamy was literate and an intelligent woman. We often give too much credence to education as a prerequisite to lead a noble and useful life.

As I look back now she was closer to the ultimate bliss of Nirvana than anyone else I know. We have had all the opportunities to better our lives. For Podihamy life was an ordeal to endure. Her life seemed doomed right from the start. She made the best use of a bad bargain. Life is so unfair to so many. We live in such an iniquitous world.


May she attain the Ultimate Bliss of Nirvana

Sunday, August 27, 2017

World Scrabble Championship

I received this e-mail from Sanath Lamabadusuriya. You will all agree that this is no mean achievement.

Pram and Rohini Ana have already sent congratulatory messages personally. So have I. But on behalf of our entire batch, I am sending our heartiest congratulations to Harshan. Sanath can certainly be proud of his son's achievement.


Professor Sanath P. Lamabadusuriya

22:57 (9 hours ago)

Dear friends,

I am happy to inform you all that our second son Harshan who is a Paediatrician in England, became the runner-up in the World Scrabble Championship which was concluded in England few hours ago,

Kind regards,

Sanath

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Latest CoMSAA Newsletter

Current CoMSAA newsletter carries ND's article (already published on the blog) on the Central Blood Bank.

CoMSAA 2011 comsaa2011@gmail.com

20 Jul
to bcc: me
Dear CoMSAA members,

A reminder of the 

Colombo Medical School Alumni Association Annual Academic Sessions and Reunion
2nd and 3rd September 2017
@ Jetwing Blue and Jetwing Beach

Please do join in to celebrate the good times.



Any articles or verses or anecdotes of your fond memories of the days at the faculty would be greatly valued, to be published in the souvenir and newsletters.

Hoping to see you at the reunion,



Dr Mrs Aruni Wariyapola
Co Secretary CoMSAA


Colombo Medical School Alumni Association
Faculty of Medicine
University of Colombo
Sri Lanka

www.comsaa.org

Prize-giving Speech July 2017, St. Benedict's College Colombo

A few days ago, I announced that Cyril Ernest was to be the Chief Guest at the Annual Prize Giving at his old school St. Benedict's College, Kotahena. I am now pleased to post his Prize Day Speech as a new post.

Prize-giving Speech July 2017, St. Benedict's College Colombo

Never, never, never give up! - so urged Sir Winston Churchill to his fellow Englishmen to fight the Germans during WWII.

Relating my own experience with this saying:

My fascination with martial arts began in 1968 and I never gave up my quest to gain my black belt, which I finally attained in 2008 at age 68. I achieved my black belt in Tae Kwon Do after three grueling years of hard training, with numerous hours of sparring, weapons training, speedwork, fitness training, breaking boards, and sharpening kicking and punching skills. I have been actively involved in Tae Kwon Do until a couple of months ago sans sparring. I am 76 today.

I love dancing! And, I have taken lessons in ballroom dancing. I find that my coordination and grace are much to be desired. I do have two left feet - to the embarrassment of my wife. So, do I give up dancing? No Way! No, never, never, never!

I love to sing, especially Karaoke. My singing might be nauseating to the listening audience, but do I quit? No, never, never, never! I sing regardless and enjoy myself.


Rev. Bro. Director, Distinguished guests, the Student body of St. Benedict’s College, the teaching staff, Ladies and Gentlemen:

 It is indeed a very profoundly humbling experience for me to have been invited to be the chief guest at the Prize-giving of 2017. It is a great day for all of you students, who are being honored today in recognition of your efforts over the past year, 2016, academically and in sports. I am told that the recognition for the sports achievements will be at the Colors Night event. 56 years ago, in 1961 I was at the prize-giving, awaiting to get my awards - how time goes by.

Before I go any further I would like to relate to you a short story – about a little boy named Johnny. Little Johnny was a very incorrigible and pesky fellow who caused enough headaches for his parents and everybody else that he came into contact with. He was doing very poorly in math. His parents tried everything - tutors, flash cards, special learning centers etc.-in fact everything they could think of. Finally in a last ditch effort they took Johnny down and enrolled him in a Catholic school.

After the first day, Little Johnny came home with a very serious look on his face, going directly to his room, and immersed himself in his studies. His mother was amazed. To his mother's surprise, after dinner, Johnny again went straight back to his room.  This went on for some time.  Finally Little Johnny brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books again. With great trepidation his mother looked at his report card. To her surprise Little Johnny had got an A+ in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said “Son what was it? Was it the nuns? Little Johnny looked at her shook his head no. Well then she asked was it the books? Are they better? Was it the discipline? The structure, the uniforms – what was it? Little Johnny looked at her and said,” Well on the first day when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t fooling around. They meant business.

It is the same with the Christian Brothers – your teachers at St. Benedict’s College. Learn you will under their influence and tutelage or depart. They have dedicated their entire lives in imparting knowledge and discipline like no others. They mean business as Little Johnny remarked.

I came under the influence of the Christian brothers in 1958, when Rev. Bro. Alban accepted me as a student at St. Benedict’s. I was a boarder and this gave me enough time to participate in sports and studies. I did excel in both. I represented College in Cricket, Hockey, Track and Field and Tennis. I also represented the school in Spelling Bee and Do You Know in interschool competition. I entered the University in 1961 at my first attempt and subsequently Medical School in 1962.In those days St. Benedict’s College were the National Champs in Hockey, Basketball, Soccer and not too far behind in Cricket. I am really elated to see the success of the College Track and Field teams in recent times at a National level.
At a momentous occasion like today, I am expected to instill in your minds inspirational ideas and tid-bits that will help you forge ahead in life. I have taken some words of wisdom imparted by 5-Star General Colin Powell former secretary of State and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Services:

"Always do your best; someone is watching you.
Always do your best, no matter how difficult the job or how much you dislike it or your bosses, your work environment or your fellow workers. If you take the pay –earn it. Do your very best!
Kindness works – always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever realize. Kindness is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of confidence.
As the old saying goes – to the World you may be one person, but to that one person you are the world.
Never walk past a mistake- make on the spot corrections.
Correcting a mistake shows attention to detail and reinforces standards within an organization. It teaches the aspiring leaders to have the moral courage to speak out when standards are not being met".

Over the years, I have admired and envied the exploits and performances of the following whom I hailed as my heroes (you may or may not be familiar with some of the names):

Sir Donald Bradman, captain of the Australian cricket team, the greatest batsman the world has known. His batting records will never be broken.

Sir Garfield Sobers, captain of the West Indies, world's greatest all-round cricketer - the likes of whom will probably be never seen again.

Muhammed Ali, brash and arrogant - humility was not one of his virtues. He proclaimed himself as being the greatest, and he did prove himself to being the greatest boxer. He was stripped of all his titles because of him being a draft-dodger, and in fact he was jailed. However, he did come back to regain his title as world champion in heavyweight boxing three times, and he never gave up!

Mother Theresa, recently canonized, dedicated her entire life to the service of caring for the sick and infirmed in the slums of Calcutta.

However, my greatest personal hero is a person named John Wooden – the greatest coach in any realm of sport that I am aware of. He was the Basketball coach at UCLA, with a record that will perhaps never be equaled or bettered. He was not just the most successful coach ever in College circles, he was a teacher who taught the students the great virtues of how to lead a successful life. He defined success as “Peace of mind which is a direct result of the self-satisfaction of knowing that you made the effort to become the best you are capable of.” This is all one can ask of you. Do the very best that you are capable of, and then having achieved this, raise your goal a notch higher and strive to reach that level. Coach Wooden focused on the positive aspects of everybody's talents. Don't let what you cannot do well get in the way of what you can!

I am a member of two Toast Masters clubs in California, and in the course of our meetings I did give a talk on taking responsibility. The audience liked it and they urged me to include this in my speech. So, here it goes:

Take Responsibility

“It’s not my fault” – how often have you heard or said this? Everyone wants to blame their problems on someone or something else:
         Their parents
         Their socioeconomic status
         Their schooling
         Their boss
         Their friends
         Special interest groups
         Self-serving politicians
This isn’t a modern trend. People have been trying to wriggle out of responsibility since God asked Adam a direct question – “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.

Over the millennia we have elevated avoiding responsibility to an art form by excusing, covering, evading, shirking and rationalizing. Your life is your responsibility, accept that fact! Someone who goes through life focusing on what other people aren’t doing for him, what they owe him, or the raw deal that life gave him never grows up. In some form he forfeits responsibility for his life. The man who thinks that society owes him a comfortable living thinks like a child. The person who grouses about how unfair the world is, and how riches and privileges are just a matter of luck or corruption still thinks like a child. The woman whose failures are always someone else’s fault is stuck in childish thinking. The individual who is content to live off his parents’ largesse or a government handout still understands as a child.

 Maturity means you move from deflecting blame to accepting responsibility. You move from being a passive observer to an initiator. You move from expecting things to providing them.

Maturity means seizing your God-given power to direct your own life, to welcome challenge, to surmount obstacles, to achieve victories.

Blaming other people for your problems is a trap. The person who is responsible for you is you.

Quoting from the book of Proverbs from the Bible: "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap". If you don’t like what you are reaping, take a hard look at what you are sowing – and make some changes.

It is with sadness and trepidation that I chose to include my take on the tragedy of the civil war that divided our wonderful land. It is now time for reconciliation and not retribution. I realize the suffering and uncertainties of life that our people endured during this harsh period in our history – for almost 30 long years. One has to learn from this experience and not commit the same mistakes, lest there be similar turmoil in the future. One has to realize the prime reason for this turn of events – the unfair treatment of minorities whether of ethnic or religious origin. Our heritage and our genes are predetermined. We have no control over this. It is by a queer quirk of fate that one is born a Tamil or a Sinhalese; a Catholic or a Buddhist; a Hindu or a Muslim. One’s views will be entirely different if one was born into an ethnic or religious group opposite that of the majority.

In the adjudication of any conflict, you have to consider three sides to any story - your side, my side, and the correct version.

You are the future leaders of Sri Lanka. Please nurture it; ensure that all religious and ethnic groups are treated equally well. Then, there shall be no strife or tragedies like the one we have endured in recent times.

The teachings and guidance by the Christian Brothers is exemplary in this regard. We are so fortunate to have come under such great influence in guiding our lives. I am ever so grateful that I was able to come under their influence. Discipline, justice, and fair play are what we learned. These precepts were hammered into our heads day-in and day-out. Enjoy and learn from the fruits of their wisdom.

What great teachers. What great influence. They deserve a round of applause.

In the course of my duties as a Cardiologist, I do try to advise my patients on the various risk factors that may affect the heart. In this regard, I talk to them about smoking and urge my patients to quit smoking. Some patients take the advise kindly, and others get annoyed. At these times I am reminded of the advise given by my surgical professor in medical school who told us: "Never try to teach a pig to sing - for two reasons, 1. It is a waste of time, and 2. you annoy the pig".

I would like to share a poem written by Michale Josephson that I cherish, the title, "What Will Matter":

What Will Matter?
By Michael Josephson

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
It won’t matter if you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

I will just take one more minute of your time. When you graduate, you are an alumnus of the college. In my opinion, a Benedictine is recognized by his honesty! By his integrity! By his uprightness! By his demeanor as a well-disciplined man! By his loyalty! Lead a life that you will be recognized as a Benedictine from the very outset, not needing any prompting from anybody for that recognition.

The greater danger for most of us, is not that our aim is too high and we miss it; but that it is too low and we reach it. As the college anthem proclaims - High be your aim in life's onward view. Aim to excel in what ever you do. Always move forward. If you do not excel, you will stagnate or degenerate. There are two alternatives to forward motion - backward motion or idleness. Moving backwards is degeneration. Not moving at all is stagnation. The direction of your actions is your choice.

My sincere wishes to all of you to achieve the goals that you have set for yourselves. I leave you with these parting words from Sir Winston Churchill - Never, never, never,  ever (added for greater emphasis) give up your quest for your goals!

I would like to conclude with a joke. A drunkard (fully inebriated) was staggering out of a bar. He bumped into two priests walking along the sidewalk. He stopped them, "your holinesses" he proclaimed, "I am Jesus Christ!" The older of the two priests, looked at the man and told him, "Son, you are not Jesus Christ". The man then urged the two priests to go back with him to the bar to prove to them that he was Jesus Christ. As he entered the bar, the bartender was at the door and said, "Jesus Christ, you again?", at which the drunk turned to the priests and said "I told you so"!

You have been a great audience. Thank you very much for your kind attention.




Monday, August 21, 2017

Fight against cancer:

Featured here is Indra and Rani Anandasabapathy's daughter Niroshana. I am pleased to publish this on our Blog. "Cell" and "Nature" are two of the most prestigious journals in the Basic Sciences.

New insights into why the immune system fails to see cancer


cancer
Killer T cells surround a cancer cell. Credit: NIH
Journal reference: Cell search and more info website
Provided by: Brigham and Women's Hospital search and more info 






Cancer hides in plain sight of the immune system. The body's natural tumor surveillance programs should be able to detect and attack rogue cancer cells when they arise, and yet when cancer thrives, it does so because these defense systems have failed. A team of investigators led by Niroshana Anandasabapathy, MD, PhD, at Brigham and Women's Hospital have uncovered a critical strategy that some cancers may be using to cloak themselves - they find evidence of this genetic program across 30 human cancers of the peripheral tissue, including melanoma skin cancer. Their r"Our study reveals a new immunotherapy target and provides an evolutionary basis for why the immune system may fail to detect cancers arising in tissues," said corresponding author Anandasabapathy, of BWH's Department of Dermatology. "The  we report on helps the immune system balance itself. Parts of this program prevent the immune system from destroying healthy organs or tissues, but might also leave a  for detecting and fighting cancer."
The authors studied immune mononuclear phagocytes - a group of disparate cells that act as the "Pac man" of the immune system. When these cells detect foreign invaders and dying normal tissues, they devour or engulf their components. These cells then present these components on their surface teach T  to maintain tolerance to healthy tissues, or to fight infections and pathogens. Despite differences in function, all immune mononuclear phagocytes found in the skin- (a peripheral tissue like lung and gut) share a common set of genetic programming, which is further enhanced when they enter the tissue. This program is conserved in fetal and adult development, and across species. And, the research team reports, is co-opted by multiple human cancers of tissue.esults are published June 29 in Cell.
The team finds that this program is prompted by an "instructive cue" from interferon gamma - a molecule that plays a critical role in regulating immunity. The authors find IFN-gamma for mononuclear phagocytes in development but that IFN-gamma and tissue immune signatures are much higher in skin cancer than in healthy skin. Having an  measured by IFN-gamma and tissue signatures correlated with improved metastatic melanoma survival outcomes, making these signatures potential biomarkers for cancer survival.
The authors reasoned such a program might contain key molecules that help the immune system reduce inflammation, but that might also leave a blind spot to cancer detection. One of the key genes the researchers detected is suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2). When this gene was turned off in a mouse model, the immune system was able to robustly detect and reject cancer in models of melanoma and thymoma ( of the thymus). They also observed improved vaccination responses, and heightened auto-inflammation suggesting this gene normally dampens auto-infla
"Our research suggests that these cancers are co-opting -specific immune development to escape detection, but we see that turning off SOCS2 unmasks them," said Anandasabapathy. "This sheds new light on our understanding of how the immune system is programed to see cancers and also points the way toward new therapeutic targets for treating cancers that have these signatures."
More information: Nirschl CJ et al. "IFN-gamma-dependent tissue immune homeostasis is co-opted in the tumor microenvironment" Cell DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.01mmatory responses and contracts protective immunity.

Please also read the write up in yesterday's Sunday Times. 



Sunday Times 2

Fight against cancer: Doctor with Lankan roots leads team in research breakthrough

View(s): 253

NEW YORK – A team of investigators, led by Dr Niroshana Anandasabapathy, a physician of Sri Lankan parentage and an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Harvard Medical School, has discovered new insights into why the immune system fails to see cancer—even though “it hides in plain sight of the immune system”.
The body’s natural tumour surveillance programmes should be able to detect and attack rogue cancer cells when they arise, and yet when cancer thrives, it does so because these defence systems have failed, according to the study.
Described as a new frontier for cancer, and called immunotherapy, the investigators have uncovered a critical strategy that some cancers may be using to cloak themselves as they have found evidence of this genetic programme across 30 human cancers of the peripheral tissue, including melanoma skin cancer. Their results have been published in Cell, a medical research journal.
“Our study reveals a new immunotherapy target and provides an evolutionary basis for why the immune system may fail to detect cancers arising in tissues,” said Anandasabapathy. “The genetic programme we report on helps the immune system balance itself. Parts of this programme prevent the immune system from destroying healthy organs or tissues, but might also leave a blind spot for detecting and fighting cancer.”
Dr Anandasabapathy, the lead author, is an MD, Phd from the Stanford University Medical School, held a Dermatology Fellowship at the New York University Medical Center, researched in Immunology at the Rockefeller Institute and worked with the late Ralph Steinman – (who was awarded the Nobel prize for his work on the role of DENDRITIC cells in immunology).

Currently at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Dr Anandasabapathy is the daughter of Rani and Dr Indra Anandasabapathy, an anesthesiologist in Staten Island, New York, and who graduated from the Medical School in Colombo in 1967.











Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Creative Spot by Srianee (Bunter) Fernando

The inspiration for this painting came from a scene I witnessed some years ago in Sri Lanka outside a Buddhist temple, where there were several stalls where flower sellers were selling mainly lotuses to the worshippers entering the temple.  It was quite a colorful and rather peaceful scene.  I took a photograph to get me started, but my painting is not exactly like the photograph.  The tree above the makeshift stall had huge leaves, which I have tried to replicate in the painting.  I have no idea what kind of a tree it is.  Maybe someone will know…

Srianee


Monday, August 14, 2017

Acknowledgement from Ramani Collure

Don Collure

11:58 (5 hours ago)
 to Lakshmanme
Dear Lucky,

I would appreciate it, if you could insert the note below into the group blog on my behalf.

Thanks.  Ramani Collure.


Thank you to all  Mahendra Collures  batch mates, for the kind messages and sympathy shared during  our time of loss.  We were deeply touched by your words of condolence.


In appreciation.

Ramani Collure, Nishani and family

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Rudra Rasaratnam FRCS

He did a few lectures for us in the early sixties when he was Resident Surgeon GHC. I met and spoke to him at Mrs. Padma Uragoda’s (wife of Dr. Chris Uragoda) funeral last year. Mr. Rasaratnam (as he wanted to be called) and Chris worked together in the Surgical Professorial Unit under Professor Milroy Paul (Rudra’s uncle) in the early sixties when Rudra had just returned from the UK. Rudra used to speak with a heavy English accent and I was surprised that he still had it when I spoke to him last year. Chris and Rudra were close friends and shared a common interest in wildlife.

RASARATNAM - RUDRA (Retired Consultnat Cardiothoracic Surgeon) - Son of late Mr & Mrs V. Rasaratnam,​ beloved brother of Drupathy,​ late Sundari,​ Solochana and late Anandan,​ passed away peacefully on 7th August at his residence. Remains lie at A.F. Raymond Funeral Parlour,​ Borella on Wednesday,​ 9th August from 9.00 a.m. to be followed by a cremation at the General Cemetery,​ Kanatte at 4.30 p.m.097659

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Creative Spot by Mahendra (Speedy) Gonsalkorale


"Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh"

This is an instrumental version dominated by the saxophone (and piano) played by myself on the Yamaha Tyros 5 Keyboard work station.

This song is from the movie Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (My Heart is Mine But My Love Someone Else's) which is a 1960 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced by S. A. Bagar. The film tells the story of a surgeon who is obligated to marry the daughter of a family friend, while he is in love with a colleague nurse, played by Meena Kumari. It is one of the noted acting performances of lead actress Meena Kumari's career  The film's music is by the famous  Shankar Jaikishan, and features hit song, the Hawaiin-themed "Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh" sung by Lata Mangeshkar. At the 1961 Filmfare Awards, it created an upset by beating popular musical epic, Mughal-e-Azam of Naushad for the Best Music Director category.




This is a translation of the song (sent by Speedy)

Ajeeba dastan Hai

Main verse
What a strange story
Where does it begin
What are the stages of it
Neither he nor I understand.

First
Why does the wispy smoke
Arise from the lamp
I am having a dream
I have awoken from the dream

Second
My congratulations to you
You are now someone else’s light
You are close to someone now
So you avoid others

Third
You have someone’s love
You will begin a new life
When the evening comes
I shall remember you.