Vale Dr Arasa Kumar Savundra 12 SEPTEMBER 1928 – 22 DECEMBER 2021
Dr Andrew Savundra pays tribute to his much-loved father, orthodontist Dr Arasa Kumar Savundra.
Dr Arasa Kumar Savundra was born in Colombo Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on September 12, 1928, to Albert Williams Savundranayagam and Eunice Parimalan. He was the youngest in a family of three children with his older brother Rasa and older sister Ranee. He was educated at Royal College Colombo and entered university to study dentistry at the University of Peradeniya.
Kumar then retuned as the Lecturer in Orthodontics at the University of Peradeniya and was one of the first specialist orthodontists to be trained overseas in Sri Lanka. It was in Kandy that their second child James was born. The young couple had two children and a house in Kandy, but Kumar felt that the future in Sri Lanka was uncertain.
It was in the dental clinic as a student that a young Burgher girl turned up for a dental appointment, and Kumar thought she was very nice. This was Carmen, and their long relationship started, although it was kept quiet for many years. The couple met up in England when Kumar was studying for his dental fellowship and then returned to Sri Lanka to work. They were married in Kandy on December 27, 1961. Kumar was accepted into the Orthodontic program at Eastman Dental Hospital, and the couple went back to England for his post graduate studies. He qualified as an orthodontist and their eldest son Andrew was born in London during their second stint in the UK.
Kumar made the brave decision to leave his position in Sri Lanka and applied for permanent residency in Australia, emigrating in December 1970. He was 42 and in the prime of his career. He was unable to obtain registration in Victoria, where Carmen’s family were all based, but was able to register as an orthodontist in New South Wales only.
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EDITION 2 | 2022 WESTERN ARTICULATOR
Jobs were difficult to find, and Kumar was offered a position in Darwin at the dental hospital, which he took as there were limited opportunities as a new arrival to Australia. Carmen, James and Andrew stayed in Melbourne with Carmen’s family, as she was expecting their youngest brother Chris, who was born in April
