Lakshman Mendis

<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">He was born on 19 May 1955 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His father Reggie Mendis was a former member of the Central Committee of the&nbsp;<span style="background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Lanka Sama Samaja Party</span>&nbsp;(LSSP).<span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[3]</span><span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate;">&nbsp;Born in Moratuwa, Reggie was a church clerk as a child. Reggie was the Secretary of the Board of Education of the ancient Lanka Sama Samaja Party in the past and considered the crucial role of educating his party members to be trained and experienced in Marxism today. In the early 1940s he joined the Bolshevik Leninist Party. Meanwhile, The British government had issued an order to shoot Reggie at the scene. His leadership in Pettah Place during the 1952 nationwide Hartal War was prominent. As the LSSP leaders descend from City Hall in 1955 rally, one of the robed men, detonated a bombed. Reggie's hand was broken near his wrist when he was hit by an oncoming bomb to protect&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Colvin R. de Silva</span><span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate;">. Reggie died in December 2014.</span><span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[4]</span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">Lakshman completed education at&nbsp;<span style="background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Royal College, Colombo</span>. In the early days, he worked as a clerk in the Embilipitiya paper mill. But he was expelled for political reasons.<span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[5]</span><span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate;">&nbsp;</span>Then under the guidance of his father's friend, Mendis studied gemology and ran the gem business for 11 years. He later became a successful gem merchant in Kahawatta.<span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;">He is married to Geetha Shyamali of Balangoda. The couple has one son and one daughter. His son is studying gemology at the University of Moratuwa and is involved in the gem business. The daughter is studying psychology at the University of Cambridge, England.<span style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</span></p>