The Serendipity of the Long Distance Cyclist

Dr Pillai's bicycling trip was to celebrate his 80th birthday which was a few days ago. But he is no stranger to the island having been brought up in Colombo for most of his early life. An old boy of Royal College and a MBBS from the Colombo Medical College, he migrated to Australia in 1978 and ran a flourish- ing practice as a General Practitioner there in Melbourne until a few years ago.

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Dr Pillai's bicycling trip was to celebrate his 80th birthday which was a few days ago. But he is no stranger to the island having been brought up in Colombo for most of his early life. An old boy of Royal College and a MBBS from the Colombo Medical College, he migrated to Australia in 1978 and ran a flourishing practice as a General Practitioner there in Melbourne until a few years ago. He took a leading role in sports both at Royal College representing the College in hockey and the University captaining both the University hockey team and its rowing team and being elected President of the (University) Amalgamated Club which oversees University sports.

It was in his very young boyhood that the love of cycling began. This evolved into a dream for further adventure on two wheels when he entered his teenage years. Throughout his college and University days and even thereafter he was interested in cycling and motor cycling using first a gearless bicycle, a BSA Bantam and later a Yamaha 125cc which were the kind of affordable two wheelers in Sri Lanka at that time.

After graduating, he interned at Kurunegala and worked at Kuliyapitiya, Ingiriya and on secondment as University Medical Officer. He married Madhuri from Kerala, India and they decided to emigrate in 1978 worried about the race riots of 1977 which later became a feature of Sri Lanka for the next few years. He obtained his first two medical appointments in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territories. He moved to Melbourne in 1990 to better facilitate the education of his children, Mini and Mayu, by buying a practice from a retiring Sri Lankan doctor, continuing as a General Practitioner (GP) in Melbourne for 35 years.