Healer with a taste for art

Nimal Wijayatunga, Eheliyagoda special corr.

DAMMULLA: W. K. Jinadasa, 72, a traditional Ayurvedic physician, multi-artist and a social worker of Dammulla in Eheliyagoda DS area has adopted a rare hobby of collecting and preserving precious paper cuttings for nearly 60 years.

Since 1950 Jinadasa has been collecting news reports, feature articles, photos, cartoons, poems and stories from leading Sinhala newspapers in Sri Lanka.

He is an ayurvedic physician, painter and a sculptor. He has mastered the art of carving and moulding in 1955 at "Ratmalana Kalayathanaya".

Majority of his newspaper cuttings are suitable for schoolchildren.

He has been honoured twice with "Kala Keerthi Sri Waidyasekara" and "Kalashoori Prasadinie" titles.