Rigours of life paved the way for his success
Karunadasa Rubasinghe was deprived of an early education in life due to family commitments as he had to struggle hard to help his mother put food on the table to feed a family of nine .
Mr. Karunadasa Rubasinghe with his family.
It was a gargantuan task and a hard struggle for the young boy to wake up early in the morning to help his mother attend to family chores. Buckling under the weight of family commitments, he ungrudgingly fulfilled his duties. (Many years later he turned out to become a successful businessman) .
Young Karunadasa had a different passion instead. He yearned a lot to attend the village school like his two sisters and brothers carrying a whole heap of school books with them. The Rubasinghe family hailed from the Karathota village bordering the Matara – Hambantota districts, adjacent to a forest reservation alongside a paddy field strip. The lush landscape was a reservoir of bio diversity where trees gleam in the sun and birds streak over streams.
It was the Getamanna village that came under the jurisdiction of the Hambantota district. But the forest reservation belonged to the Matara district. Rubasinghe’s house was on a two acre plot surrounded by 200 rubber trees planted in an irregular manner. Several papaw, orange, lime and cinnamon trees and vegetable plots adorned the garden. Rubasinghe’s house had a thatched roof like all other houses in that area. His father was known as Rubasinghe Sidhi Appuhamy and his mother as Dingihamay . Karunadasa Rubasinghe was their fifth child born on May 1, 1948 according to his biography.
He was a sick child at birth but later overcame his sickness and grew up to be a sturdy village lad. His life story was chronicled by Ananda P. Wijesinghe, a close buddy from his native village at Karathota where the young boys grew up.
The book on Karunadasa Rubasinghe was launched at a gala ceremony held at the Havelock Town Sports Club at Colombo 5, surrounded by his family members and well-wishers. The event coincided with Rubasinghe’s 70th birthday. The guest speaker on the occasion was the author of the book, Ananda P. Wijesinghe, a well-known writer who eloquently narrated the life story of Rubasinghe to the audience. Accordingly Rubasinghe’s struggle that began way back in 1948 still continues with his indomitable spirit that he vows never to give up. The book vividly illustrates the hardships and struggles that he underwent in his early life to his crowning success of a businessman later in life. Ananda.P Wijesinghe’s association with Karunadasa Rubasinghe began at the Getamanna village when they were seven year old kids leading a carefree life in those good old days. However by a strange coincidence when both kids reached the ages of 15 their association stopped for awhile. It was because Wijesinghe’s parents sent Ananda to a relative’s home at Ratnapura where he attended a better school than the one at the rustic school at Karathota.
According to Ananda’s recollection Karunadasa was a meticulous boy who showed a keen interest in Arithmetic. Although he entered the Peradeniya University, he could not complete his degree programme due to family commitments at home at Karathota. He went back to his native village once again to help his mother. Later on he found a job in the Railway Department where he worked for a short period. But he lost his job having got involved with an islandwide general strike for better or worse. It was a strange coincidence when Ananda P. Wijesinghe met Karunadasa after a lapse of nearly two and a half decades at his home at Indibedda Moratuwa. It was a reunion when tears of joy ran down their faces. They recalled their early days at Karathota. Karunadasa Rubasinghe’s life prospered after his marriage to Sunanda, a gracious woman from Moratuwa. His hardship in early life energised him to prosper. He is blessed with three children. Karunadasa is the brother of the former Director of Information Ariya Rubasinghe.