Blessed in creating opportunities in tourism
View(s):Living a life of prayer and worship, so central to his very being, veteran hotelier Hiran Cooray exudes positivity and simplicity that is present even in his warm smile. As we walk into his office – a very simple space on Navam Mawatha – his room is adorned with statues of Jesus and Mary and even Pope Francis on his table and a few more on a side cupboard and the Holy Cross and pictures of his family as well surround the place and a few pictures of places on the wall. It all tells a tale of this personality behind the Jetwing brand.Talking about life, he looked back on it and noted that it’s a balanced one. “I would like to think it’s 50/50 but if I have to choose it is the family. A happy home – a united home is important that gives me satisfaction and joy with my wife (Darshini) and children (Dmitri, Hashan and Harin) and sister (Shiromal) and the larger family.” 
In balancing business and family he finds God to be on the top of his list of priorities in life. After being endowed spiritually his parents take centre stage next. “I’m most grateful to God and my father and I’m still respectful to him.”
A businessman, yet he finds time to be with God, as he had already attended morning mass on Ash Wednesday before setting out to work. “I believe all what I have is through Him (God). For what I have and have not I still thank God. I learnt to pray from my mother and to work from my father.” Beautiful words of life from someone who had achieved much in life as a leading personality in the travel and tourism industry.
Other priorities would be family and business and watching cricket and rugby and of course travel, which is a crucial part of his work.
Early years
Mr. Cooray spoke of fond memories of his parents, Herbert and Mary Josephine Cooray who influenced the way he would turn out to be later in life.
“My father never forced me to study. But he got me to do two things: one is to wake up early and secondly to always read.”
This habit has today made him an avid reader so much that he could read about four books at the same time. “So I always have to read today. I have to pray daily and read daily,” he said.
“My dad was great – he allowed us to decide on our own – gave us freedom like in school I was more into sports than studies,” he noted adding that “nor did he compare me and my sister (who always won prizes in school and excelled in her studies).”
As children they were treated for what they were capable of and in fact, his father was not one to shower praises – on the contrary he believed that more negative reinforcements would challenge them to move forward.
Mr. Hiran Cooray
“Mom on the other hand is the one who praised us, cared for us and punished us as well.”
Childhood was a wonderful time, as Mr. Cooray reminisced, “We had our fun – we did things with what was available at that time. TV was still coming into Sri Lanka and that was a huge thrill to see things moving inside a box.”
And back then, kids had more time to play, the hotelier explained adding, “I feel sorry today that kids don’t get to be out on a push-bike (bicycle). The freedom for children and even adults to cycle is gone.”
But with walkways established around the city, he hopes life would improve with the possibility of setting up opportunities for push-bikes. “That is something that I miss today,” recalled Mr. Cooray going back to a time when life was better.
Schoolboy days
Mr. Cooray started out his schooling career at St. Benedict’s College which he attended for two years and later joined St. Joseph’s. “So I consider myself a hardcore Josephian.”
He remembers the time he spent in school having passed examinations and was ever grateful to his Economics teacher, the late Mr. Joe Perera and the one who pushed him the most was Mrs. Nimala Perera.
“The one I consider who taught me most was Mrs. Olga Jayamanne. She had a profound influence in my life,” he said recalling her words of advice “Whenever an adult comes to stand up; to look after trees; not to waste food; not to throw food but to share with another child.”
Youngsters of today lack respect for their elders and sadly he said these strong values those teachers taught us seems to have gone away.
He also prays daily for his two cricket coaches – Mr. James Perera and Mr. Fairlie Dalpethado who taught them back then how to respect people and behave when you win and lose; accept challenges, face pressure. “Fairlie always says if you learn this game well it will help you later in life. And I still make decisions based on what I learnt on the cricket field,” he recalled.
Resorting to his favourite past time - reading. Pix by Amila Gamage.
Mr. Cooray never forgot to mention his good friends since his schoolboy days some of whom he grew up with since Grade 2 like Dr. Vijith Kannangara, Pradeep Amirthanayagam, Ashley De Silva – the current CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket who was Captain of the Josephian cricket team when Hiran was Vice Captain, Hiran Cabraal, Terrence Fernando, Sanka Marcelline, Nirmalal Perera, his cousin Jehan Thevarapperuma and Chula Ranasinghe. “They are my closest friends. We did everything together and even played truant from school and went for movies; smoked cigarettes got caught and got punished together,” he happily related.
A good life
Looking back Mr. Cooray said he had no regrets but when asked if he had achieved everything he wanted to he said, “I could do more.” The late Fr. Glen Fernando, well-known priest from Surol, had told him once, “God gives different people different talents,” so he believes his family has been endowed with the possibility to build and create opportunities and also look after the environment. “For me there is no greed, but is there an opportunity,” he would seek it out, he explained.
Like the opportunity he found in Jaffna to establish one of the first hotels in the North by Jetwing and a brand name from the south. In 2011 Mr. Cooray had visited Jaffna and had noticed the effects of the war were still present – two years after the war ended. “Nothing moves after 6pm – it took 4-5 years for people to come out of their shell.”
People were also suspicious of the motives of new investments entering the North as some social services persons had indicated to him that any investments coming in were those wanting to take their (residents’) money through banks and financial institutions.
But having established their Karainagar Jetwing Youth Development Programme they trained about 68 youth who have now joined their hotel. Most of the youth hail from underprivileged families and now even young females are employed in housekeeping, front office and kitchen departments as well. “They are very committed.”
Having done his bit for the people of his beloved country, Mr. Cooray has an open personality. “I love talking to strangers. I love being with people. It’s a blessing in a way.”
That is one of the reasons he wants any new entrant to the industry to also possess a natural smile.
Beyond here
Having achieved much, now Mr. Cooray hopes that in future he could travel to some parts of the world that he had not done till now. “I haven’t travelled to South Africa, Ethiopia, Botswana, Namibia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Egypt.”
After a few more years, the veteran hotelier would want to work less and allow the younger people to grow, he said and may be take time out to continue his favourite pastimes like watching cricket and rugby, reading and bird watching.
