Appreciations

Fortitude was his virtue

I came to know Ajantha through his wife Bernie, who was with us at the DFCC. He had his education at St. Joseph's College, Colombo at a time when education was not a cacophony. 

The virtue that Ajantha displayed early in life was not courage but fortitude. 

Hilaire Belloc once wrote of fortitude that it is the converse to and the opposite of aggressive flamboyant courage. It is the greater of the two because it is nourished from within. It is fortitude that helped Ajantha to graduate in Law and proceed to become an attorney. 

Leonardo da Vinci wrote that in sculpture the figures come into being by chiselling away the distortions introduced by the material. In painting the painter adds his own genius to the canvas. Ajantha was essentially a painter who added his own genius to his profession, taking him to the pinnacle. 

In his book 'The Denial of Death', Ernest Becker writing on the idea of death, said the fear of it haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - activity largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man. 

Ajantha did not fear death. He was 52. The best are condemned to live and die young, in the most evil of times. 

To Bernie and their teenage son and daughter I offer my condolences, with a memory of good times.

Ephrem Fernando

Man of many interests and achievements

To write an appreciation of a person of the calibre of Dr. Balakrishna Sivaram, popularly known as "Siv" to his wide circle of friends, is no easy task. His interests were varied and diverse. Volumes could be written on his scholastic achievements, which extend from economics to business studies and law. After having obtained his Master's Degree in Economics at the Delhi University, he proceeded to London to further his studies in Business Studies. He obtained his Higher National Diploma in this field at the North-Western Polytechnic, London in 1965. In the same year, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, London.

His professional recog–nitions are many. He was a Fellow of the British Institute of Management (FBIM) and a member of the International Association of Agricultural Economics. He attained excellence in this field and the state recognised his talents, when he was nominated for a national award by the International Friendship Society of India, for accomplishing eminence in the plantation sector. 

He excelled in this field, and committed himself to labour welfare and rural development. As Secretary General and Chief Executive of the United Planters' Association of South India, he was responsible for transforming the association of plantation companies, proprietary planters and smallholders into one of Asia's most dynamic institutions. It became the nucleus of the entire plantation community focusing attention on all commodity issues, scientific and industrial research, and training and smallholder support. He was the architect of several development projects of national and international significance. 

He served as Chairman of the 9th Session of the ILO Committee on work on plantations. He has authored several international publications, and was the editor of the "Planters' Chronicle" that is the oldest industrial journal in India. He was the correspondent of the "World Coffee and Tea", a regular contributor to "Tea International" and "Tea and Coffee" trade journal.

Sri Lanka was extremely privileged to have had his services when he was still serving as a Consultant Economist to the Asian Development Bank. He arrived in Sri Lanka in 1994 to serve in the same capacity to two leading tea institutions in the country, the Tea Research Institute and the Tea Smallholder Development Authority.

His main task in this instance was to propose measures and draw up action plans for these two institutions to meet the needs of the 21st century. Through his commitment to labour welfare and rural development, he developed very effective performance indicators and suggested accesses for increasing productivity in all spheres of the tea industry.

Having completed this project to the satisfaction of all concerned, he moved on to another ADB funded project, namely the Plantation Reform Project. This was a more challenging job for him. He assisted the privatised plantation companies in manpower planning and developing training programmes, which today have caught on well on all plantations. 

Whilst being a full-time consultant to the National Institute of Plantation Management, he restructured the organisation to meet the changed situation. His knowledge permeated to all segments of the NIPM and transformed it to what it is today, and geared it to meet the needs of the 21st century. His vast array of publications issued during his stay from 1994 to 1999 is today regarded the catechism for all plantation needs. 

He was a consultant to the Planters' Association and the Employers' Federation and assisted the privatised plantation companies, in negotiating a new wage settlement for plantation workers.

In July last year he became the International Consultant for Socio-Economic Studies and Research ETC International, Netherlands, and in that capacity served the Programme Support Group in Sri Lanka. The PSG assisted the Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust in the implementation of social development projects in the plantation sector. He had a boundless knowledge of socio-economic problems in the estate sector, and the many recommendations made by him for the establishment of a more cordial social environment at estate level are now used as guidelines by the privatised companies. 

It was only at this late stage that I came into close contact with him. He had been requested by the Director of the TRI Dr. Wester Modder to edit some of my articles submitted to him for inclusion in one of their publications. My first encounter with him was very friendly and sincere, and all what he said was that there was nothing to edit in my articles, he had only to convert feet to metres and acres to hectares. 

Though small in stature, he had a galvanising personality, and the short time I spent with him in the first instance, was most invigorating. Then only did I realise that I was talking to a person loaded with knowledge on all plantation matters. What was unique was his eagerness to dole out his knowledge to those who needed it, and his overpowering sense of humour made this operation a pleasant task. 

This was the start of an enjoyable association, which directed me to indulge in more serious writings on the plantations, our favourite subject. Our meetings became more regular, and we used to engage in a lively exchange of views on matters concerning the plantation sector. His approach to such matters was solid and untainted. 

Our friendship grew further when he requested me to review one of his publications namely "Economic and Social Impact of Privatised Plantations'. This analysis was well accepted and received wide publicity. At that stage we decided to publish a book involving all aspects of the tea industry. 

At the time of his demise, I had already drawn up the format for the publication. In fact he took with him to India the manuscript of my latest book that he promised to review. All these projects will have to be postponed. It is most unfortunate that the lethal hand of death touched him when travelling by train to Cochin to attend to some official work for the PSG. It was indeed a tragic death. Siv is no more, but his name will remain in the minds of those who were close to him. 

India has lost a patriot, the tea industry both in India and Sri Lanka, an eminent personality, and to those who were near and dear to him, a great friend. 

May the good Lord bless his soul.

Maxwell Fernando

He was the farmers' scientist

It is six years since this great scientist and human being passed away and it is worth recounting his life and work. In over 50 years of public life, I would consider Dr. Ernest Abeyratne one of the most outstanding personalities, I had the pleasure and privilege of knowing. He was the Director of the Dry Zone Research Station, Maha Illuppallama where I was a research officer. I had the opportunity to get to know him very closely, to be able to admire his admirable grasp of his subject, his simplicity, total devotion to his work, the land and the people.

The Research Station was established on a 100-acre farm in Maha Illuppallama with Colombo Plan aid from New Zealand, as the land was very fertile and conducive for research on rain-fed crops as well as irrigated paddy. Dr. Abeyratne was sent there to develop the station and what a marvellous job he did in making it a world famous institution for dry crop research. With a team of research officers, technical and other ancillary staff and a labour force of over a thousand, most of them resident on the farm, it was a sprawling complex with all modern facilities. The only drawback was that it was 25 miles from the nearest town.

Dr. Abeyratne was not only the head of the station but was everything to everybody. He knew all the staff personally including the labour force and their families. He loved his work, breathed his work and lived his work.

Dry cultivation is an art, the reason why such farmers are the backbone of any society. Planting crops at the right time is critical and they live or perish by the decisions they make. If you plant too soon, the birds will carry away the seeds. If you wait for the rains, the land may be so inundated that the seeds may rot. You have to plant it just a day or two before the rains.

Dr. Abeyratne knew by experience and intuition when to plant. In a farm where maize, sorghum, cotton, dhal, groundnut and many other crops were studied, he knew which area would suit which crop. There were times when he would walk into my bungalow as late as 10 p.m. and tell me, "I think you better plant your cotton tomorrow. There may be rain in a couple of days." How he knew, we never asked. We all followed his advice and more often than not he was right.

For a Trinitian, whose parents lived in an exclusive area in Colombo to have spent 18 years, the best part of his working life in the jungles, speaks volumes of the man and his dedication. With his qualification and expertise, he could have commanded the most prized positions at the Peradeniya headquarters and could have sent his children to schools in Kandy from their home rather than sending them to hostels as soon as they were ready for school.

He sacrificed all the perks and luxuries for the sake of his work and the poor dry zone farmer. Mrs. Ranee Abeyratne went along with his missionary zeal and was always by his side. Not only did she support him but in the absence of a pre-school (or any other school in the area) she took on our pre-school kids along with her own, to teach them, as a labour of love.

Dr. Abeyratne, although a simple and private man, was an outstanding scientist. Many have heard of lesser scientists because they seek the limelight. He had no time for such things, as he was totally engrossed in his work. He knew every inch of the sprawling, thousand acre farm, as he walked around in his khaki shorts and bare feet, which became the standard uniform for all staff. This was ideally suited for this work, became if one got into the paddy field with shoes on, one came out minus them. 

After university education in Colombo, he joined the Department of Agriculture and was sent for training at the Coimbatore Agricultural College in India. He returned to Maha Illuppallama and from there was sent on a Colombo Plan scholarship to Oxford where he obtained his Ph.D. Unlike many others, he came back to Maha Illuppallama in 1959 and spent another 12 years there, before taking up the post of Director of Agriculture. On retirement, he joined the UN/FAO as a consultant and served in Indonesia. At Maha Illuppallama there was no posh, carpeted air-conditioned office and he would whisk foreign visitors from one plot to another explaining each crop and each research project.

During the 1958 riots, the Research Station also erupted and many said that nothing would have happened if Ernest had been there - he was in England at that time. Soon after the riots, it was a deserted place. He returned and brought the officers one by one and re-built it to greater heights.

His father, the late, Dr. L.O. Abeyratne, the famous paediatrician and his late mother Dr. Augusta Abeyratne, a prominent gynaecologist, would spend their annual holiday at Maha Illuppallama with their son. But they did not relax.

From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. they would hold a clinic, and every man, woman and child there- more than thousand- were examined, advised, prescribed and treated where necessary.

Many will not know that Dr. Abeyratne, was a water diviner. Being in the dry zone, the two wells at Maha Illuppallama would dry up, but Ernest located two wells on the farm with his water divining technique and neither well ever went dry. I used his expertise to site a well on a hill in Trincomalee and at Buono Vista in Galle.

He told me that he acquired this skill while he was boarded with the Chief of Police in Coimbatore. The Chief was in great demand in the area and young Ernest followed him one day and saw an oleander branch dance up and down in the Police Chief's hands. Ernest was allowed to try and it worked. He was also an amateur anthropologist. 

For an outstanding scientist, Dr. Abeyratne was a very shy private individual. The limelight and the big time, was not for him. Famous biologist J.B.S. Haldane was so impressed that he compared Dr. Abeyratne with the best in the world, and Haldane should know. 

We have lost a brilliant scientist whose contribution, in my opinion, has benefited this country and the people more than any other Sri Lankan scientist I know. For him, applied science had relevance only as far as it benefited the people in improving their quality of life. Chillie that had to be imported from India, is now produced in the dry zone, mainly due to the research at Maha Illuppallama, where the "curl" resistant variety was developed. Similarly, many other crops like onions, maize, dhal, unheard of in the dry zone, are being cultivated.

He died as he lived. He wanted a private funeral, as otherwise thousands would have flocked to pay their last respects. His wishes were honoured. He wanted his ashes to be thrown into the Kala Wewa, in the land and water that were closest to his heart.

He was a great scientist, outstanding personality, true human and very loving person. I salute him as a colleague, dear friend and someone who made a great impression on my life.

Dr. E.S. Thevasagayam