Appreciations
View(s):His youthful fragrance will remain in our memory
Adhil Bakeer Markar
According to astrology, a child whose zodiac sign and planetary positions align perfectly is said to bring immense fame and glory to all those related to him. His reputation, virtuousness are a distinction to his forefathers and an honour to the future generation.
Adhil, who would have turned 27 today, was the epitome of the highly principled, humane and well-respected Bakeer Markar generation. He was blessed with multiple talents, his knowledge demonstrating a maturity far beyond his young age. He served as the head of the International Division of the National Youth Council and together with his brother made a significant contribution to the Youth Parliament of the United Nations.
Adhil was awarded a prestigious Chevening scholarship given to young people with the potential of becoming future leaders. Well versed in English, Sinhala and Tamil languages, Adhil like his father was an eloquent speaker with excellent communication skills. Every word spoken by Adhil was filled with love, care and compassion. Adhil never lost his temper. Anger and hatred were emotions unknown to him; he only knew how to love people. Conversations with him were such a pleasant experience because of the soothing effect his words had on others. He always used a friendly term such as aiya, malli, akka, nangi to address those around him.
I can vividly remember how resplendently smart he looked in the traditional Kandyan ‘Nilame’ attire when he was the best man at the wedding of the Chairman of the National Youth Council, attorney-at-law Eranda Weliange. Everyone who congratulated the newly married couple also congratulated Adhil rather teasingly on his good looks.
His knowledge on domestic as well as global politics was comprehensive. Among his peers were children of contemporary world political leaders. But he saw no difference between them and ordinary village youth. He was willing to listen to all and ensured that no one was left unheard. Even at the busiest of times, Adhil, like his father, had at least a few minutes for everyone. It is no secret that Bakeer Markar Snr endeared himself to anyone who met him for the first time within a few minutes and it is no exaggeration to say that Adhil needed just a few seconds.
Adhil was well aware that his father’s promising political career was cut short because of his unquestionable integrity and unshakable principles. Rather than be in the shadow of his more illustrious father and grandfather, Adhil was willing to accept the challenge of carving a niche for himself. Many are the lessons to be learnt from Adhil by the progeny of seasoned politicians intoxicated with power.
When the shocking news of his demise was conveyed to us, we were in Shanghai, China having our breakfast. It was the sombre looking Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, a close associate of the Markar family who broke the tragic news. I personally knew of his deep attachment to Adil. Minister Gayantha Karunathilake who was seated next to us seemed shell shocked and took more than a few minutes to regain his composure. After a long silence he managed to say, “Minister Imthiyaz is such a sensitive person. If this is so shattering for us, how is he going to take this? I just can’t imagine.” We felt utterly helpless and saddened for not being able to be closer to the grieving Bakeer Markar family. We found some comfort recalling the boundless humility and humanity of Adhil and his father.
The following Sunday at the burial grounds of Jawatta Mosque, Adhil who touched the lives of everyone he met, left us forever. Adhil means honesty, the word that symbolizes the Bakeer Markar family.
At the Jawatta burial grounds, I was in the company of Navaratne Gamage, Saman Wagaarachchi, Lal Hemantha Mawalage and several others and as we were talking about the promising career of Adhil so tragically cut short, a question posed by emotionally charged Lal aiya rendered me speechless. “Malli, when people want to pick flowers they choose the most beautiful, why does God also pick the most beautiful flower?” Adhil no doubt was the most beautiful flower of the Bakeer Markar family. An enchantingly beautiful flower that was to bloom in the field of politics with the love of young men and women, Muslim society and people of all walks of life of the Kalutara district. The fragrance of that flower will remain with us until we depart from this world.
Dear Adhil, with that glint in your eyes and radiant smile you will live in our memory forever.
Chaminda Gamage
Good friend and discoverer
A.Denis N.Fernando
It is now three months since my friend A.Denis N.Fernando passed away, having lived life to the Biblical age of four score and four more. A simple man despite all his many accomplishments, his last wish was to have a modest funeral. In a leaf of paper he had instructed his family to bury him within 24 hours and to use, in his own words ‘a cheap coffin’.
This was no man of small means or little achievement. This was Denis Fernando, Director of Planning, Mahaweli and Discoverer of Sri Lanka’s oldest city of Vijithapura; the man who resolved some of the country’s oldest historical problems such as the location of Nagadiba and the fall of the Rajarata civilisation.
I got to know Denis when he was well past 60 years. He was then President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka and I was probably its youngest member in my late 20s. Yet, he never showed any pretence of superiority based on his greater age or qualifications, in short, he was more like a brother to me, loyal and steadfast to the last. I still recall the time he stood by me when I was accused of abusing my membership of the society by calling for tome upon tome of old volumes of books housed in its large library while I was doing my anthropological research. He stood by me and asked the honourable members, what the books were meant for, if not to be used.
Many were the times he regaled us younger members with his interesting theories, some of which I found quite far-fetched like his theory that the Yakkhas of ancient Lanka were Persians. However, some of it was pretty convincing, like this theory that the Avukana Buddha statue was based on a prototype in Afghanistan, a view I was able to corroborate when I found out that the old name of the Afghans was Aughan and that in its passage to Sinhala it could have well become Avukana.
However it was in his younger days in the Mahaweli Ministry where he served as both Secretary and Director of Planning, that Denis made the most astounding discoveries, findings that would change the course of historical research in Sri Lanka. In the course of his duties in the Mahaweli Ministry in 1965, using newly introduced aerial surveying techniques, he was able to locate the dried-up old course of the Mahaweli River whose copious waters once fed the ancient Sinhalese hydraulic civilization of the Rajarata in the North Central Province. What was so interesting was the large number of Buddhist temples including Somavati Chaitya that lay beside the old course of the river while there were none beside the present river, showing that these religious edifices were built near the banks of the river, which then followed a course quite different from the present one. He held that following some remote geological cataclysm, probably an earthquake, the river changed course to its present state. By this means, he discredited the old theory that the downfall of the Rajarata civilization was brought about by Dravidian invasions whereas in reality it was a natural disaster that diverted the course of the river that had for long fed this great civilization, resulting in Sinhalese settlements drifting southwards.
It was also Denis who stumbled upon the ruins of the ancient city of Vijithapura, the first city of the Sinhalese at a time when Anuradhapura was a mere village called Anuradhagama. That was in 1979. He was aerially surveying the area around the ancient capital of Polonnaruwa when his eye caught the dried-up vestiges of three moats surrounding a large square area, which fitted with the description of the city in the ancient chronicles of the Sinhalese.
Another trailblazing area was his study of ancient maps of Sri Lanka, which led him to redraw Claudius Ptolemy’s map of Taprobane of 150 AD based on the co-ordinates given by him to show where settlements in the island existed in ancient times. Nagadipa hitherto believed to have been Jaffna was shown by him to be in the Eastern Province between the Mahaweli Ganga and Gal Oya.
Such discoveries place him in the league of other great discoverers who contributed so much to understanding our long and illustrious history better. So let him be remembered for all the good he did, to his friends and to his country. Though he has passed on to the Mercy of God, may he live long in our hearts –that Great Man, that Great Discoverer!
Asiff Hussein