First of all our deepest sympathies to Nihal's wife Antonette his children Pio, Sujit, Francica, his mother aunty .Pancratius, Niranjan and family, Shiranee/Vetha son Gerrard and Late Juliana's family. In addition to you all, many hundreds of Patricians and his other friends are moaning at the loss of our dear friend Nihal, so let us convey our condolences to each other as well. His passion for music, his fetes in musical field, the songs he wrote and the free musical performances he gave to the friends and the Patrician community had been well covered in the messages by others. So I would avoid covering those aspects again. Since early 1960s I have fond memories of Nihal. He was a few years junior to me at St Patrick's college Jaffna, but my home was in Kandy road in the neighbourhood of Press road where Nihal lived. We used to meet together in the 1960s at St.Joseph's club which was in Jaffna Bishops House premises and opened on to the Press road. So during weekends and school holidays we met together with friends like Melican Bastianpillai and others to play soft ball cricket, volley ball and attempted lifting weights at the clubs gym. We have fond memories of playing soft ball cricket matches with other teams. In the 1970s I have left SPC but my wifes Bubsy's (Regina's) family was closely in contact with Pancratius family and Bubsy remembers Nihal being nicknamed 7Cs ( phonologically same as 7 Seas cod liver oil ) for achieving 7 credits in the GCSE O/L examination. This highlights his academic abilities going hand in hand with his musical skills. The latter might have curtailed his academic achievements to some extent, but Nihal with his passion for music would not have had it in any other way.. My second phase of moving closely with Nihal was in the UK through St.Patrick's Alumni Association-UK. It was early 1991 when he started discussing with me his plans to have a St.Patrick's college Dinner/Dance nearer the St. Patrick's day. I was working in Bristol and was coming to my family in London over the weekends. I could not be of much physical help to him, except discussing this event with him, be the master of ceremony at this event and planning how to make use of it to form an effective, fully functioning Alumni Association like many other schools' AAs in the UK. At this Dinner/Dance we announced that we are having a Special General meeting on 14.4.1991 to form an elected SPC Executive Committee. As some others have said in their messages, both this SPC Dinner/Dance with Wandsworth town hall overflowing with Patricians and forming a SPC AA -UK were resounding successes and the rest is history. Nihal and I reflect on these, from time to time and mull over these nostalgic memories. At the SPC AA Dinner/Dance held in 2019, recognising his tremendous contributions to SPC AA-UK he was given an appreciation trophy. In the felicitation speech the role he played in forming the SPC AA in it's present form was mentioned. Unfortunately he was not able to personally be present to receive this award due to ill health. His son Sujit received it and I hope Nihal was well enough to know this honour was bestowed on him. We didn't know then how seriously ill he was. When I was the Chief guest at the SPC AA Dinner/Dance some years ago, in my speech and in the souvenir message, I mentioned the role played by Nihal in forming SPC AA-UK in it's present form. He was present there and when I spoke to him afterwards he was pleased about the recognition given. I am happy that I was able to do this, otherwise I will be feeling somewhat guilty now. They say life in this world is like a train journey. There are many who get in to our compartment at different stations and get out, but only some who leave a lasting memory in us. For Bubsy and me and I am sure for many Patricians and his other friends, Nihal is someone who we enjoyed travelling with in our journey of life, with his music ringing in our ears.