Dad died #OTD in 2019.

He came to Britain by ocean liner in 1959, his passage paid by a whip round amongst friends.

In a familiar pattern, he arrived with an ardour for things British cultivated by the long-distance nationalism of expats, including the founders of his school. https://twitter.com/ShivajiShivaLaw/status/1211357452056309760
Dad found himself a bedsit in Clanricarde Gardens, a side road between Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate tube stations, and set about finding work. He later moved a couple of miles north to Donaldson Road in Kilburn.
Ten years on, working as a design draftsman for GEC, dad returned to Sri Lanka to marry my mother.
Ten years on, working as a design draftsman for GEC, dad returned to Sri Lanka to marry my mother.
Ten years on, working as a design draftsman for GEC, dad returned to Sri Lanka to marry my mother.
Ten years on, working as a design draftsman for GEC, dad returned to Sri Lanka to marry my mother.
My mother, I am told repeatedly, was not one to wait around, and within the four short years they had together, she had organised the purchase of a home in North West London, had one stillborn son – and then had me.
My mother, I am told repeatedly, was not one to wait around, and within the four short years they had together, she had organised the purchase of a home in North West London, had one stillborn son – and then had me.
My mother, I am told repeatedly, was not one to wait around, and within the four short years they had together, she had organised the purchase of a home in North West London, had one stillborn son – and then had me.
My mother, I am told repeatedly, was not one to wait around, and within the four short years they had together, she had organised the purchase of a home in North West London, had one stillborn son – and then had me.
My mother, I am told repeatedly, was not one to wait around, and within the four short years they had together, she had organised the purchase of a home in North West London, had one stillborn son – and then had me.
By all accounts, not least his own, my father was devoted to my mother. After her death of complications following my birth he never remarried, and for all the years I grew up he was both my father and my mother, receiving the cards I made on mother’s day.
This is not to say dad did not have help. My uncle Sam and aunt Ananthy (mama and mami) moved from South London in part to help with me. And over the years we had a succession of friends and relatives to stay - providing some of the drive and dynamism we'd lost with my mother.
This is not to say dad did not have help. My uncle Sam and aunt Ananthy (mama and mami) moved from South London in part to help with me. And over the years we had a succession of friends and relatives to stay - providing some of the drive and dynamism we'd lost with my mother.
This is not to say dad did not have help. My uncle Sam and aunt Ananthy (mama and mami) moved from South London in part to help with me. And over the years we had a succession of friends and relatives to stay - providing some of the drive and dynamism we'd lost with my mother.
The 80s and Thatcher’s Britain took their toll on my dad – he was made redundant twice and he felt the pressure as a single parent. So it's remarkable that he managed to pay off his mortgage – in fact, looking at his rather muddled records, it appears he may have paid it twice.
The 80s and Thatcher’s Britain took their toll on my dad – he was made redundant twice and he felt the pressure as a single parent. So it's remarkable that he managed to pay off his mortgage – in fact, looking at his rather muddled records, it appears he may have paid it twice.
The 80s and Thatcher’s Britain took their toll on my dad – he was made redundant twice and he felt the pressure as a single parent. So it's remarkable that he managed to pay off his mortgage – in fact, looking at his rather muddled records, it appears he may have paid it twice.
Despite the strains of this time, I was never left in any doubt of my centrality in dad's life.

He even let me choose that wallpaper ...
And despite the pressures of work and family dad found time to help London's fast-growing Tamil community find accommodation. In fact his last job, working for an estate agent served as an unlikely means for combining personal and professional satisfaction in this way.
Good night.
You can follow @ShivajiShivaLaw.
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