Bluster, fire and fury with my ‘Boss’
In around July 1956, I was transferred out of the Exchange Control Department in the Central Bank (CB) after six months, and became Assistant Secretary under the interesting personage (P.M. Jayarajan) described as having a ‘gruff exterior but a warm and fuzzy heart’. I remember he had generated that kind of reputation those days at the CB, and I too approached him with diffidence, when colleagues said he was a “terror” to work for! In that suspicious frame of mind, I was ordered by him to study the Tottenham filing system, which was being thrown at me in my very first days, as if it were the solution to all the complex problems of the then world, which of course was much less complicated than now. I, being also a lawyer like him, got on fairly well with Mr. Jayarajan, who exuded the appearance of an aggressive bull in a china shop. In fact, colleagues had sympathized with me when I got transferred to the Secretariat at the tender age of 23!
| Early years’ series at CB attracts attention The series on the early years of the Central Bank has interested many readers including retired central bankers with one of them sharing his own experiences at the bank. | |
But I had no obvious problems until Incident No 1! At the time, I was studying also for the CCS exam, being my last shot at joining this so-called, then “exclusive” club, and when the exam approached, I requested one week’s leave in writing from Mr. Jayarajan (PMJ), which was promptly rejected on unspecified grounds, true to the “bulldog” posture I just described. What to do now? By acting off and on for the Private Secretary to the Governor during this time, I had got to know the great men who ran the CB at the time quite well, who were all on one floor. One day while taking some papers to him, I mentioned this rejection of leave to William Tennekoon, the Deputy Governor (DG), who outranked PMJ. The DG promptly asked me to apply for three weeks leave, so the request would have to come to him for consideration, and he immediately approved it!
Study leave, so approved, led to Incident No 2, because it somehow came to pass that I was selected for the CCS in 1957. In some quarters this was considered a better job (but with a lower salary at Rs. 430 per month vs Rs. 490 at the CB)! I therefore announced to my boss PMJ that I wished to resign from the CB. All hell broke loose when he heard my news, and started ranting and raving at me for this uncalled for decision. The Monetary Board had just approved study leave for me at Cambridge University to study economics, of which I knew next to nothing then, having studied law. What an ungrateful guy I was and there was ‘nothing wrong with the CB job, etc, etc” went PMJ’s diatribe against me.
He then held me by the hand, practically dragged me to the next office, violating the swing doors, to meet Sarath Rajapathirana, Senior Deputy Governor then, whose son had been my school classmate. Unfortunately, PMJ did not receive the supportive posture he expected from the No 2 man in the CB, who said I should be left to take my own decision, right or wrong!Thereafter he decided to drag me, kicking and screaming, to the very top; barging in unannounced into the inner sanctum of Sir Arthur Ranasinha himself, undisputed Governor of all he ruled, forgetting that this no-nonsense, serious looking personage, had himself risen to the top at CB, because he had got into the CCS in the first place!
This very hasty step was a very, very bad error of PMJ’s judgment, because when he heard PMJ’s complaint against me, articulated with all the sound and fury at his command, a very cynical smile appeared immediately on Sir Arthur’s lips, which told me the whole story of how much he really loved and respected PMJ. To PMJ’s utter dismay, Sir Arthur responded in his gruff and guttural baritone: “Why don’t you let him go – the CCS will be good for him”.The epic battle PMJ fought against me ended with me resigning from the CB after 15 months, and entering the CCS.
Now to Incident No 3: I had left the CCS in 1967 and was miraculously recruited by World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C much to the great surprise of my then peers.
Around 1970-71, I was trying very hard to get a former CB colleague and very good friend, the now late Dr. Carl Jayarajah, who taught me the ropes at Exchange Control, a job at the World Bank after he got his PhD and when he was working for ESCAP in Bangkok.Carl J. was interviewed by my then Manager, a U.S. national with a PhD in Economics, who was part of the World Bank’s elite, in Bangkok itself where Carl J. worked. Since his interview report was very complimentary to Carl J., during the recruitment review process, I called (Personnel ) at the World Bank, and asked for Carl’s file to be sent to my Manager for review. Lo and behold, what did I find to my utter surprise!! The World Bank Personnel mistakenly sent us the file of PMJ given the similarity in names!
PMJ, who was so very loyal to the CB so much so that he did not want me to resign after 15 months there, had when he was Alternate Governor to the IMF in Washington D.C. representing the CB and Sri Lanka, himself applied to the World Bank for a professional job. Very sad to say, no one thought him quite suitable enough to be recruited to the World Bank, because the file was mainly empty! I got Carl’s file reviewed widely, he was recruited, and enjoyed a distinguished career as an Economist at the World Bank, until he retired. That’s my recollections of the Central Bank and my saga of a most undistinguished and short career there, which ended in bluster, fire and fury with my then boss!
(The writer who is now living inretirement in Colombo could be reached at crdesilva@hotmail.com)