A note from Randi, Nanda Malini's granddaughter

Randhi Gamage, the daughter of Varuni, the eldest daughter of the late Visharada Nanda Malini, has posted a heartfelt note on her Facebook account for her grandmother. Nanda Malini was Randhi's maternal grandmother, while her paternal grandfather was the late veteran artist Dharmasiri Gamage.

Randhi's note is as follows.

"I have never highlighted that Visharada Nanda Malini is my grandmother. Only a handful of people I know were aware that I am her eldest granddaughter. On the day she passed away, many people I knew were unaware that she was my grandmother, and I still haven't opened many of the loving messages sent to me. I am humbly proud of my grandmother, not as a woman who died having earned a great deal of money, but as a simple woman who departed surrounded by immense human love and respect. 

I don't have many memories of a grandmother who fed me, gave me drinks, told me stories, and put me to sleep when I was little. But more than that, simple, genuine people I meet on the street have come up to me thousands of times and said, "Your grandmother is truly a blessed person. We love her very much. She is the kind of person who should live taking our lifespan too. It must be a great pride for you, son, to have such a grandmother." I was secretly happy and proud that the "Nanda Malini" in those people's hearts was my grandmother. Almost all of my grandmother's songs are ones I like. But the song "Ammavaru Ne" has always been difficult for me to listen to, then, now, and always. When my grandmother sings it, I often get up and try not to listen. On occasions when I absolutely cannot get up and leave, I listen to it while sobbing. Grandmother loved my father more than my mother. Because my father's father was Dharmasiri Gamage, grandmother was very close to my grandfather. Anyone who knows my grandfather knows about his noble qualities.

 We have rarely seen grandmother cry easily. But at my grandfather's death, she sobbed. Although not to the same extent as grandfather, my father is also a calm character. That's why grandmother loved him very much. All these are very sweet memories. Grandmother's life was simple. There were many things lost. There were also many things gained. She must have experienced almost all insults, praises, evaluations, and slanders. But no one will be born again to equal her. People came from all over Sri Lanka to pay their respects to grandmother's remains. They stood in queues for kilometers in the sun without any complaints. There were no age gaps, no class gaps. 


I thank all the enlightened, famous, and respected artistic figures who came to bid farewell to grandmother during those few hours. But I bow my head and pay my respects to the innocent person who walked in the queue, wrote "I love you" in trembling handwriting on a small piece of paper folded into three or four, pressed it into the hands of my mother and aunt, and left crying without saying anything; to the person who came and said, "Miss, I am a broom seller, if Madam passes by my house, she will definitely buy a broom from me," bowed to the remains, and left without showing his face to the camera; to the person who came without two legs, using his hands for support, to bid his final farewell; and to the ordinary fan who brought a hand-drawn picture, a handmade garland, and a single rose to lovingly bid farewell to grandmother. I respect them. 
I offer merits. I wholeheartedly respect "Visharada Nanda Malini" who sang "Udagu Liyan Gotha Badina" before the world. But when I visited her house, I naturally loved the "Grandmother" who asked, "How is your puppy now, son, is it still mischievous?" and when shown pictures, looked at them happily and offered tea and biscuits.

 So, dear Grandmother, may you attain the bliss of Nirvana! 
 Your loving eldest granddaughter Randhi"