Sunday Times 2
Lanka’s Jim ‘Ranjit’ Reeves: We won’t forget you
View(s):Former journalist, singer, entertainer and worldwide showman Ranjit Vethakan passed away in Melbourne recently after a fifty-year career that carried him to the highest levels of his professions on the world stage.
Ranjit Vethakan
More than anything else, Ranjit Vethakan was known, loved and admired as the Jim Reeves of Sri Lanka. In the 1960s, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and its popular announcer Vijaya Corea set the stage and raised the curtain for Ranjit Vethakan’s musical career which then spanned across the globe.
As Jim Reeves would sing, we won’t forget Ranjith Vethakan for we loved and admired him so much for so long. We loved him not only because he was a great singer but also an understanding friend who was there to lend a helping hand, especially in crises.
In remembering Ranjith the words of a popular song come to mind. Precious memories, unseen angels; sent from somewhere to my soul; how they linger ever near me; and the sacred past unfolds.
Ranjit, a proud past pupil of Wesley College in Colombo, for some time put singing on the backstage and moved into frontline journalism. From the mid-1960s to 1979, he worked at the Sun and Weekend newspapers, mainly as a sports writer and sub editor. From there, Ranjit said “Adios Amigos, Adios my friends” and moved to the Bangkok Post, where he worked mainly as a sports journalist for several years before going to Australia, where he again moved full time into the music field. But now it was big time.
Ranjit Vethakan believed it was no secret what God could do. What He had done for others, He could do for Ranjit also. Believing and acting on this great promise of God, Ranjit moved into entertainment in various places and at various events in Melbourne, other parts of Australia, and overseas.
Although he sang such songs, four walls could not hold him, nor did he see the blue side of lonesome next to the Heartbreak Hotel in a tavern that’s known as Three Tear Drops. Roses were red for him as he also moved into big time showmanship while continuing his singing career. He organised tours by world famous singers and groups to various countries including Sri Lanka.
In 2010, he came back to Sri Lanka. His voice had not been heard for some time here, but he appeared as a ‘mystery guest’ at the Country Road show organised by the Sunday Times and its Business Editor cum country singer Feizal Samath. The ‘local Jim Reeves’ Ranjith Vethakan, down from Australia proved he can still wow audiences when he rolled out a string of old-time hits and Engelbert Humperdinck numbers that had the ladies singing happily along.
Ranjith brought many of the world’s chart-topping groups and solo singers to Sri Lanka. The last was the famous singing group Smokey who turned their Water’s Edge venue into a sea of entertainment with their all-time great “Alice” and other hits.
About two years ago, Ranjith fell ill and was confined to a Melbourne nursing home. Though he could not sing with a microphone and a band, from his heart would have come the immortal words:
‘When my way groweth drear, Precious Lord linger near, When my life is almost gone, Hear my cry hear my call, Hold my hand lest I fall, Take my hand precious Lord lead me home.
Lead me on let me stand, I am tired I am weak I am worn, Through the storm through the night, Lead me on to the light…..
When my work is all done, And my race here is run, Let me see by the light Thou has shone, That that city is so bright where the Lamb is the light…’
In the week before Holy Week, the ailing Ranjit may have gone through his own Gethsemane and Calvary. Yet the deep faith and hope within would have brought from his heart the quiet words, “Well, I’m tired and so weary, but I must travel on, ‘Till the Lord comes and calls me away, Where the morning’s so bright and the Lamb is the light, And the night is as bright as the day…
Where, the bear will be gentle and the wolves will be tame, And the lion shall lay down by the lamb, And the beasts from the wild shall be led by a little child, And I’ll be changed, changed from this creature that I am.
Good bye Ranjit, God be with you. “God be with you till we meet again; By his counsels guide, uphold you; With his sheep securely fold you. God be with you till we meet again.” -Louis