A typical Harris Premaratne day starts at 5.30 a.m.
While still in bed, he finds it productive to contemplate and reflect the day’s proceedings. “This is for about half an hour and it is the time that I actually get good ideas and mull over certain things which helps me to go about the day’s business,” the soft spoken Harris says settling in for a long chat with the Business Times at his office.
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| Harris Premaratne |
His next stop is at the study where he sits down to jot the ideas and plans for the day at his office at Sampath.
Tea time
“I recommend this, as planning at this time in the morning has made it easier for me to handle things,” he says. By 7 a.m. he saunters to the kitchen for breakfast, but not before making two cups of tea - one himself and the other for his wife.
“This has been my practice for a long time. And I make a good cuppa,” he smiles. He goes on to say that the Premaratne household doesn’t believe in domestics or maids. “When the children (he has three) were very young, we had one or two maids, but later on we decided that we can manage on our own,” he says, adding that his wife not being employed had made things easier.
Breakfast for Harris is mostly brown bread, fruits and yogurt during weekdays and he enjoys it more because of the chats he has with the wife. “All my children reside abroad and it’s only the two of us now and we make the best of it,” he says, adding that breakfast takes up about 45 minutes. He also adds that during the weekends string hoppers and Mung, etc are what the couple relishes.
“And then you get ready for work?" I ask. “No,” he smiles at my disbelief. “After that both of us tend our garden.”
Green thumb
Harris is blessed to own an expansive garden – more than 100 perches bordering the Diyawanna Lake at Ethul Kotte. "This is my wife's ancestral land which we built on,” he adds. While it’s his task to mow the lawn, his wife attends to the plants. "Attending to the garden destresses me,” he explains, adding that this steers him away from all the early morning paperwork and gives him a fresh perspective.
The days which he hasn’t got to do the lawn mowing, he jogs around the garden. “This is the only exercise besides gardening,” he adds, but on certain days he also swims at the swimming pool at a corner of his compound.
It is about 10 am when he finally drives to work. He doesn’t use a driver as his times are different, he says. At times he has to be in office by 8.30. With his unusual times he prefers to come to office by himself.
Proud papa
All his children are married and he has three grandchildren. “All of them did well and I always tell them that it was their mother’s sacrifices which have paid dividends,” he says, fondly. He says that both his girls won scholarships to Delhi, while his son went to Japan for higher studies. Later, the elder daughter worked at DFCC and migrated to US when she got married and the younger followed her sister.
The son had completed his MBA at University of Birmingham after he finished his first degree in Osaka, Japan. “Then he returned to University of Osaka as a lecturer and he’s married and resides in Japan for the last 18 years,” he says.
Nice feeling
Harris says that it is indeed a nice feeling when he sees that his three kids have done well. He says that the children were bought up with strong middle class values. "My wife was very particular about the way they behaved," he says, adding that she is quite bent on Buddhism. When he reiterates that all the success in the children is thanks to his wife’s hard work, it is obvious how devoted Harris is to his wife. Then I can't help asking how they met.
“We met while both were still in school.”We are from the same area," he says, with a smile.
At work he is particular about delegating certain tasks. During the past three years that I have known him at Sampath one thing that is conspicuous about his office is that his table is squeaky clean. “All papers are dealt with fast and I attend to all e-mails the same way. Any call I return,” the veteran banker tells me with a smile.
He also says that for the past three years, Sampath hasn’t granted any bad loan. “It’s a clean record,” he adds.
Life is full
At home the couple has dinner and after a ‘chit-chat’ watches television, before turning in for the night. He says that unless he has to he doesn’t do the cocktail rounds much. This is because he prefers to come home by 7-7.30 p.m.
The weekends, Harris tells me is entirely devoted to his wife. “We rarely go out,” he says, adding that this is his way appreciating what his wife has done for him and sacrificed in their 45-year relationship. |
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