Heendeniya Vidanaralalage Punya Heendeniya was born on a July 31, and grew up in a little villa its boundaries triangular with the village temple, school and an evergreen paddy field in the beautiful village of Meerigama. The triangle nurtured her character providing her atmospheres - spiritual, educational and aesthetical. Punya is a blend of all three.
Punya was the fifth in her simple folk family which comprised three sisters and three brothers. Her small scale landed proprietor father and mother provided her a blissful and a benevolent childhood which a child could ever expect.
Her close family group consisted of her musical father, religious mother and aesthetic passionate offsprings provided her a well balanced mind which later was nourished under the guiding light of her school dancing teacher famous Panibharatha Master and Siyambalapitiye Osthad David Master (who later became a Professor and Vice Chancellor of Gwalier University, India).
Punya was selected to sing the welcome song for Prime Minister D. S. Senanayaka at the foundation laying ceremony held at Meerigama College which later developed into a National School in the area with its new name D. S. Senanayaka College, Meerigama.
Along with that memorable experience Punya, an adventurous village damsel who used to walk in the mud on the paddy paths (`Niyara’) carrying `Ambula’ (lunch) for her father and the workers during the harvest reaping time, found the first rare opportunity to appear in a dancing sequence choreographed by Panibharatha Master for `Asoka’ film, directed by Sirisena Wimalaweera in 1954-1955. Though she was still a teenage schoolgirl, the rhythm this folk lass had in her soul was being discovered.
Dr. Milroy first came to see Punya in 1967. Within a year their love blossomed, and however much `Nanda’ of `Gamperaliya’ had male fanatics, the only fan who could make her heart faster was Milroy. Once she made a strong cup of Coffee for him in order to keep him awake throughout the night until he drove from Meerigama to the DMO office, Moneragala. Though it was bitter like `Kasaaya’, Milroy had to gulp it under her supervision, thinking it was quite a mild sacrifice in comparison for their fiancees in ancient times everywhere in the world.
Milroy and Punya went to Zambia in 1978. Dr. Milroy served as the Chief Medical Officer of Zambia Consolidates Copper Mines, looking after the medical side of the workers of the institution.
