Appreciations
View(s):Justin Abeygoonesekera
A soft-spoken, generous, simple and unassuming gentleman
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
Born amidst the rolling silky mountains in the rustic village of Rikillagaskada, Justin lost his father even before he was born and was thereby a posthumous child. Life was tough, very tough, but his mother who stayed widowed for the rest of her life (she died at 101) courageously brought up the seven of them singlehandedly.
A die-hard Dharmarajan throughout his life, he passed out with honours from the University of Ceylon in 1952 and then taught for two years at the Government Central College, Tholangamuwa. The Ceylon Civil Service (then) attracted the cream from Ceylon’s Universities and Justin served loyally, diligently and honourably for the next 27 years. People like Justin were indeed a hindrance to politicians who could never have their own way. That’s why they finally abolished CCS with the power they wielded and created the CAS.
He began his career in the Dept of Rural Development and Cottage Industries where he remained the Deputy Director for 14 years. He went on to be the GM of the Paddy Marketing Board, GA of Hambantota, Senior Deputy Director of Customs, and finally until he retired, – Additional Sec in the Ministry of Agriculture and Research.
And there was more, much more. During the next 13 years he was on his way to his very own pinnacle. He served as the Trade Counsellor in our Embassy in Rome, then was the Senior Regional Rural Development Officer at the FAO in Bangkok and finally appointed by the President in 1993 as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman). Everyone who knew him closely would unhesitatingly endorse the fact that during his career – his integrity, diligence and discipline was flawless and,so inspiring.
One tale of his meticulous record in the use of his official car – he would give his daughter a lift only because Visakha was on his way but would drop her at the bottom of the road as he stringently followed the rule of no private use of an official vehicle.
After a typical romance that swirled around the misty paddy fields of Buwelikade, where pebbles were tossed and love notes exchanged via willing emissaries, – Justin married Kumari Talwatte, the one and only love of his life for always.They brought forth three differently talented children: Aruna, Priyamali and Kavan. A tower of strength to Justin, Kumari stood by and behind him at all times and their relationship and home was always viewed as a perfect example of truly unsophisticated simplicity.
Together they made their own dreams and those of many others come true with consistent acts of love, care, generosity and kindness. Many were the careers of his nephews launched from their home in Colombo. He would dress them up neatly, knot up their ties and dispatch them to interviews with soft words of encouragement. Their homes in Rome and Bangkok were open houses for all who passed through and everybody tasted with relish the delicious Chapathi Kumari was famous for crafting in his kitchen.
Justin was a simple,caring, selfless human being throughout his life. He singlehandedly looked after his mother with so much of love and devotion throughout her long life. He brought his destitute brother into his home and looked after him with tender loving care until his death. He would be the first to visit the sick, the infirm and disabled to give them hope,courage and empowerment and was always the preferred deliverer of eulogies at family funerals. And he loved music. His rendition of “Barabage” still reverberates through all of us, goose pimples, bumps and all.
Justin was also voracious reader of literature, history, politics, religion and the sciences and was gifted with an extraordinary command of the language. His games of scrabble with Kumari were always closely fought and his knack of racking up points with the deft use of his vocabulary both horizontally and perpendicularly was legendary. In his retirement he opted to contribute his excellent knowledge of the Dhamma and Buddhist philosophy to remain the president of the Buddhist Publications Society for many years. And of course his evening constitutional around the Kandy lake.
After Kumari passed on after 56 years of marriage his will to live wilted away. The loneliness was unbearable. It was sad to see him motionless in bed for those final 16 months – cared for dutifully, faithfully and devotedly by his loving daughter who held on to him tenaciously till the very end. All traditions were swept aside and “Barabage” was sung around his casket for that final farewell. A fitting send off to a soft-spoken, generous, simple, humble and unassuming gentleman.
Jomo Uduman
M.A. Bakeer Markar
The humble man and popular politician
I first came to know Mr. Bakeer Marker when I joined the Kalutara Bar more than half a century ago. At that time I professed a political language quite different to his thinking. I spoke to him with a certain amount of trepidation. But he soon put me at ease, chatting with me as if he had met me after an absence of several years. That is one trait in him that can be vividly explained with one Sinhala word “Nihatha manee”.
He was our senior at the Bar and did not fail to constantly advise the juniors when needed. Those days we had Courts on Saturdays and he used to come wearing a sharkskin coloured suit.
That was the time when there was utter chaos with Poya and Pre-Poya being the weekends. There was only one other Member of Parliament but he kept aloof from the crowds. But not Bakeer. He was popular with the juniors. Most of them practised in the Criminal Courts. At that time the hierarchy of the Bar Association was dominated by senior civil practitioners. Criminal practitioners and the juniors resented the establishment and decided to challenge it. Enter Bakeer. He was elected President unopposed. I was his Secretary.
In1972 a new Constitution came into force. There was a ceremony to welcome the Judges. Dr Colvin R. De Silva, Minister at that time represented the Government. Addresses were delivered by Dr. Colvin R. De Silva, the Judges and the President of the Bar, Bakeer Markar. Bakeer spoke in Sinhalese. He spoke of the wisdom and sense of Justice in Sri Lankan history and ended with the Buddhist stanza “Sabba pa passa Akaranan……” There was pindrop silence during his delivery and the audience burst into spontaneous applause as he ended. Everybody present in the Hall including the Judges were mesmerized by his speech. Later Dr Colvin came up to Bakeer and congratulated him.
But all was not well among some members of the Bar. In the course of that year, six motions of no-confidence were brought against him. We won every one of them.
The period of the long Parliament ended after seven years in 1977. Bakeer was elected with a vast majority, the majority being Sinhalese. He served every person in his electorate with equal vigour.
Soon after the elections I saw him in animated conversation with a lawyer MP who had lost very badly. The conversation lasted for nearly an hour. After that I approached Bakeer and told him that I had never seen that MP talk to Bakeer in nearly seven years. He told me “That’s true Siri but I went up to him and sympathized although he never looked at me even during the period!”
Bakeer became Deputy Speaker and later Speaker of our Parliament and thereafter a Minister. Later he became the Governor of the Southern Province .
He lived in a rented house which means he had not amassed wealth. I am happy to state that under the Ceiling on Housing Law the ownership of the house fell to him. Bakeer’s father was from Galle. He had been a practitioner of the Unani system of medicine. Bakeer had a large collection of ancient miniature booklets on cures for a myriad of diseases.
But he was not devoid of wealth. He left behind his children who are capable of standing tall as Sri Lankans in any situation.
May the turf lie lightly on him.
May he attain supreme bliss in accordance with his religious beliefs.
Siri A. Perera
Sita Seniviratne
A sad farewell
Thank you Lord, for the priceless gift of my friend Sita.
Sita, you were always so understanding and so concerned. You were always so caring and always so giving. You were always helpful too but most important of all, you were a special friend. Your smile came straight from your heart and brought out your love for others.
You were full of warmth, goodness and kindness.You laughed often and loved much; and looked for the best in others, and gave your best too. Your guiding thoughts were, ‘’I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
Farewell dear friend. May you have eternal happiness and peace in God.
Malini Naganathan
Ashley Nihal Wickrema
His lessons on life will always remain with us
Compared to my father’s eight siblings, I may have known him far less than the years I walked on this earth, since my earliest memories commenced from the age of three. However, Thatha was the one constant that anchored me through my childhood and well into my chosen career.
Thaththa lost his dad at the age of ten. He fondly remembered how he had asked his dad for a cricket bat, and his dad had made a journey to Colombo in order to fulfil this wish. Thaththa would constantly remind us about the pivotal role his eldest brother and eldest sister played in stabilizing and guiding the rest of the siblings.
Thaththa never forced me or any of my elder siblings to focus on grades alone. We were often asked to show initiative, read books, and take part in sports. Whenever I showed him my grades, he would ask, without looking at the grades, “did you do your best?” That was enough for him.
Since Thaththa came from a large family, grocery supplies had to be more specifically spelt out since he would still buy (through habit) for a family of 10 or 15. I remember once mentioning to him I loved a liquid yoghurt from a nearby farm. I ended up drinking two dozen bottles over a summer.
Thaththa completed his engineering degree in 1961 (University of Ceylon), and remained close with his batchmates attending annual get-togethers. He worked in several civil engineering projects in several countries and last worked as a Director at Hovael Pvt Ltd. He loved his work and there was always a glint in his eyes when he went to work.
Thaththa taught us many important values. On attention to detail, he would say, “keep your eyes on the ball, you can never catch the ball if you get distracted, concentrate on the job until it’s finished, then relax”. On life, “family first, work second.”
By his actions, he showed us the power of prayer. He would always say a prayer hung up next to the door before he went to work. Thaththa was also quite interested in us reading the Bible at home and discussing it.
Thaththa was good in sports, boxing and had many educational achievements, we gathered from his elder siblings, as he never talked about them. This made us realize how important humility was. If there was one anecdote he would never tire of though, it was his post-graduate experiences in his twenties when he studied in Italy
The week before he passed away, I set up the scrabble board, not knowing it was for the final time. I had uploaded several new apps and anagram generators to help me beat Thaththa. I was supremely confident that I would finally beat him, but I never did.
My fiancé and I will miss him along with my mother, my siblings, brother-in-law, Thatha’s siblings and his extended family, friends, and close work colleagues.
Rev Sr Cynthia gave us a prayer card that embodied my final sentiments, “Because someone we love is in heaven, there’s a little bit of heaven in our home.”
Gerard Wickrema
RAJA KURUPPU
His life was a good blend of Buddhism, public service, family, school and more
Raja came to Royal Prep School from ‘Glendale,’ Bandarawela which was a branch of Royal Prep during the world war years. Having entered Royal Prep as a matter of course he joined the main College in 1947. From then onwards he was a member of the Royal College 47 Group. The 47 Group celebrated its 70th anniversary recently being 70 years since its members left Royal College, in the years of either 1955 or 1956.
In the Prep School we had a dedicated group of teachers and when we left to join the main College our Head Master was the late H.D. Sugathapala. At that time respect for teachers and good discipline among students was taken for granted and there was no breach in those values. The College calendar was divided into three phases. The first term was devoted to study in our new class and the Royal-Thomian Cricket match. The next term had the Royal-Trinity Rugger match and the main event in the last phase, which was the examination term was the College Prize Giving.
Raja was a good student and had an interest in being an economist. In sports he had a passion for swimming but he could not participate in swimming as the College at that time did not have a swimming pool of its own. The only swimming pool was at S. Thomas, Mt Lavinia, which was not accessible to us students. He played a role in the Debating Society of the College in both the Sinhala and English languages and he won the Best Speaker’s Prize for Sinhala.
Raja did not play cricket but he was always busy organizing the fun and frolic associated with the Royal-Thomian Cricket match. One year he got the bright idea of getting an old crock for us for the Royal-Thomian cricket match. Raja had the initiative to interview the late Richard Pieris and succeeded in obtaining an old crock for us to go to the match. The car was decorated with blue and gold flags and we travelled to the match in it from Royal College. At that time there was no cycle parade. As the big match fever subsided and the new term arrived we began preparing for the Royal-Trinity Rugger match. The focus was on the match at Kandy. We travelled to Kandy by train but had no accommodation in Kandy. Our normal practice was to appeal to the police to give us a place to sleep for the night. The team stayed at Trinity College. That year Trinity had a strong team and Royal was badly defeated. The Bradby shield remained in Kandy and we had to travel back from Kandy shouting ‘What’s the matter-minor matter’.
The third was the term that we had to face the examinations. Though we were not brilliant students we passed the examinations without a problem. We entered the Peradeniya University and our Hall of Residence was Jayathileke Hall. Raja occupied a room adjoining my room. I had to face a viva to gain entrance to the University. Raja advised me to name Palmistry as my hobby in my application form, as he said that the interview would be easy as he was sure the Professors would like to get their palms read as a part of the interview. He produced details about the palms of the professors which he had gathered from others who had faced the viva with palmistry as their hobby. As he predicted I spent much time reading the palms of the interviewers at the interview.
Our University days were spent in study and the fun associated with University life. The ‘rag’ was PT in the morning at the quadrangle in our hall of residence and singing songs to entertain the seniors at night. There was no sordid ragging of freshers at that time. During our University days a sad event took place when a student in our Hall was drowned in the Mahaweli. His funeral was in Batticaloa, and some of us went to see the last rites performed. The exams were near and we were preparing for them. In each room they were discussions as to the examination questions that could be expected. We came upon the bright idea that the best way to get the questions would be by ‘tumbler-talking.’ The dead student’s room had been unoccupied for quite some time. Raja and a few of us entered this room at night and commenced ‘tumbler-talking.’ To our surprise the tumbler moved and gave us some questions, but those questions to our dismay were not in the examination paper! We then abandoned ‘tumbler-talking.’
Post University, both Raja and I belonged to the Jayathillake Hall group that met regularly every year in Colombo. At the last Get-together Raja gave a talk from the Head Table on ‘The Life of Sir D.B. Jayatillake’, in whose honour the hall of residence was named.
Raja joined the Public Service and his first appointment was at the Port Cargo Corporation. Later he moved to various other positions in the Public service and occupied a prestigious position in the General Treasury prior to retirement. Raja belonged to that band of dedicated public servants who executed policy decisions with integrity.
The Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA) attracted Raja’s attention. He became an active member and finally became a Vice President. The various organizations of the YMBA such as the Gamini Matha Home for Elders’ for instance, had his support and assistance. He was the moderator at many of the Buddhist Panel Discussions held at the YMBA. He was a frequent panelist on Buddhist discussions in English involving the Dhamma both on television and the radio. His knowledge of the Buddha Dhamma was very deep and he lucidly communicated the Dhamma to people of all faiths. A regular visitor to ‘Metharamaya’ he contributed much to the Buddhist programmes at ‘The Maithri Hall’ to disseminate the Dhamma.
The Royal College Union was another organization that he served with devotion. He was its Secretary for many years. Finally he was a Vice President of the Union and at his funeral the Union paid him a just tribute.
Though born to a politician’s family, Raja did not indulge in the hurly burly of electoral politics. He had a good knowledge of political affairs which he displayed when a few of us met at the regular luncheon meetings organized by Raja every two months at his favourite Chinese Cafe, the ‘Moon River.’ Perhaps a shrewd politician for his political survival must be able to ‘truthfully invent falsehoods.’ Raja would never do that.
Raja’s life was well spent. It was a good mix of religion, dedication to his alma mater, servant of the public in many important capacities and last but not least his love and affection for his family. On one occasion Lord Buddha mentioned that three types of persons are born into this world. The first type is very selfish and thinks only of themselves. The second does everything for others and neglects himself. The third does good to others and good to himself. Raja belonged to the third category, which the Buddha said was the best of the three.
As the curtain fell on his octogenarian life our condolences go to his brother Upali, his wife Sakunthala and his family. There is no doubt that he shortened his journey in Sansara during his life spent in this world.
May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana.
S.S. Sahabandu PC