Like father, like mother, like son, like daughter?
"They all married against my wishes", says Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, taking a fond matriarchal backward glance at the lives of her children.
It is official that the mother of today's President did not want her to marry the dear departed Wijaya Kumaratunga. But mothers, like daughters, change their minds. Though the current President used both the Kumaratunga and Bandaranaike names to succeed in her quest for power, Sirimavo Bandaranaike has no misgivings about saying that Wijeya was not quite her idea of a son-in-law. As they grow older, people appreciate the power of being candid.
There are more canny quips and quotes. "I won't say who is wiser among the children,' she allows, because if I do, the others are going to get angry.' That must be a difficult guess, I suppose.
Asked what swept her into power in the election after her husband's assassination, she deadpans: "It was sympathy. I was in mourning. White saree and no jewellery. The women voted in sympathy. The men did, too.
That's the world's first woman Prime Minister. Only the Bandaranaike's can get away with being a family so united, yet so divided. Then again, only the Bandaranaike's can get away with a movie like this.
This is a spirited production in the true Bohemian tradition of the poor discredited Manik Sandrasagara, who is quite jovially ambivalent about the fact that his name did not appear in the credits. Like good wine (which was served in generous quantities to guests at the premiere) a mind acquites maturity with time. That is why Sirimavo Ratwatte Bandaranaike, fifty years into her life as a politician looks back in retrospect laughs and puts all cant, and hypocrisy to rest. She couldn't be bothered, grandmothers don't lie.............
The Bandaranaike family cannot pretend to be plebeian so it is good that there is no attempt to paper over the fact that these people came from the elite, and often like to behave like the elite. Being a people's President doesn't make one less elite, nor does being a people's Prime Minister.
From the moment Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike decided to say good-bye to the ungrateful UNP, the Bandaranaike's probably knew that they were going to live with this inappropriately named thing called power. Power? The fact is that the Bandaranaike's had domain. Though power can be judiciously acquired, domain is generally vested. The Bandaranaike's had quite a good 'dosage' as President Chandrika says in her quaint little girl parlance. This is our own sixties lipstick-sweet-luscious-lips-bouncy-cheeked-pearly-toothed-smart-in-a school-prefect type of way President. (Just joking) But, as a matter of fact, this comparison between mother and daughter is tempting. It is an integral, if not deliberate part of the documentary. The senior Bandaranaike, we all know, was always maternal in demeanor.
She was after all, on her own admission, the mourning widow. At cabinet meetings, she was a martinet, who set the pace by being stern and regal. She was as it has been said famously, the only man in the cabinet.
In contrast, well into her fifties now, the current President never seems to quite totally jettison her little girl (or at least heady youth) image. Naturally, she is a different person. She would have acquired her father's sanguine temperament, though not much of his razor-sharp power of riposte.) In a word, the daughter is considerably less mellowed than her mother was at her age, a generational sign?
What is obvious from the movie is that the Bandaranaike's could have been any comfortable well-to-do Sinhala family that led a charmed existence. It was only S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who made them all different from the rest of such families. For example neither the Prime Minister, the President, Anura nor Chandrika have any pretensions of being intellectuals. (SWRD wouldn't have cast himself as an intellectual either, but he could easily approximate to the condition.)
The whole family seems to be steeped in their sense of political destiny. Says one member of the Ratwatte clan that the young Sirimavo's horoscope was read by a soothsayer who predicted she will be 'king of this country' (whoever heard of queens?) The movie's depiction of the Prime Minister's childhood days are quite captivatingly charming. She has a good word for the nuns, who probably instilled in her the virtues of an unruffled temperament. Daughter Sunethra says her mother 'did not get emotional' almost as if it was a virtue. Yes, it must be difficult to be a member of the nation's number one political family.
As the matriarch says, again in candid camera, 'Chandrika won because she was the daughter of SWRD.' Indubitably, it is impossible to depict the life of the mother, without bringing in the rest of the family. Even by virtue of sheer happenstance, to her family, she was possibly the most influential Bandaranaike.
On the final analysis, she was a simple soul. Believing in the gods blindly she depended on the deities (vishnu and Kataragama) for deliverance. They did not always deliver. She lost the election in '70, but is hazy about an explanation, except to say she won Attanagalla despite JR's every effort to defeat her. Her husband was good to her, she did his work, followed his policies. She lived a staightforward life, despite her means, and had easy, almost simplistic explanations for everything. ( 'I talk to JR despite his previous efforts to keep me away from politics. But Premadasa was vicious. If you do bad to people bad will befall you. That is why Premadasa was assassinated early.' No explanation there for why her husband and her son-in-law were assassinated early in their life as well......?)
Simple, but strong. When it came to wielding power, she brooked no nonsense, and had her own tricks up her sleeve to boot. But you can't help noticing that she is more self effacing than a daughter who says ' we were pauperised' and adds that 'politics is a family business in which we give everything and get nothing in return.' Or says that she thinks the 'limelight is a bit of a joke'. Mrs Bandaranaike liked her jokes in private, certainly not in the limelight.
But yes, this documentary was interesting. As far as celluloid memoirs go definitely.
A daring-day light hold up and robbery which took place on Monday, when lady driver was kidnapped at gun point in the heart of Colombo has kept the police on the trail for days to track down the kidnapper and his female accomplice, who got away with cash and jewellery.
The Monday drama took place in Colombo 7, opposite Lionel Wendt Theatre, when a lady driver Mrs. Leela Goonaratne, was attacked when she was on her way to pick up her son from Royal College around 1.20 pm.
Still shaken by the incident Mrs. Gooneratne shared her frightening experience with The Sunday Times, relating her horror at being held up at gun point.
Like on any other school day, Mrs. Gooneratne had left her Nugegoda home around 12.45 pm taking her usual route through Nawala road to Jawatte. But due to traffic on the Jawatte road she proceeded along Thimbirigasyaya road. Here, for the first time she had noticed the white Toyota Corolla behind her when she neared Havelock road. The driver, a thin dark youngster accompained by a foreign girl had glanced several times at Mrs. Goonaratne, but she little suspected he was pursuing her.
"The vehicle was behind me up to Reid Avenue, and then overtook me. Since this road is closed I turned off near Cinnamon Garden Police Station. There were no vehicles on that road. But just as I was nearing the Lionel Wendt, a car came from behind at high speed and crashed into my vehicle. The force was so powerful that I was thrown forward. As I was about to get out of the vehicle, the driver of the other car, jumped out and forced open my door," she said.
The driver had asked her for her car key and Mrs Goonaratne had refused arguing for over five minutes with him. "It was then that he took out the pistol from his right pocket, and threatened to kill me if I didn't hand the keys over. He wanted me to shift to the passenger seat and as he was so threatening I moved over. I tried to open the door with my left hand and the next thing I knew he had shot at my hand, said Mrs Goonaratne.
Since she was in a state of shock she had not even felt the pain of the bullet which had caused a deep wound. "At that moment I did not feel any pain, but later I realised there was blood poring from my hand," she recalled.
Leaving the vehicle with his foreign friend in it he had come in at the side of the road and had driven away with Mrs Gooneratne. By this time she had panicked and started hitting him, but her efforts were of no vail. "I kept asking him where he was taking me and telling him that I had to pick my son from school. But he continued to drive," she said.
Circling around the same area, the man had driven past the Lionel Wendt thrice all the while explaining to Mrs. Goonaratne that he needed her jewellery and cash to save his wife who was suffering from cancer. "I told him I would give him the cash and to set me free. Since I was hitting him, he threatened me again. As he kept the pistol on the steering wheel and repeated that if I didn't stop he would shoot me directly in the head. As there was no escape, the only thing I could do was study the number plate on his car as we passed. I did this twice with the greatest difficulty trying not to let him see what my intention was."
After going three times around the Wendt he had then driven the car to a by-lane, next to Ladies College where parking the car he had demanded her money. Mrs Gooneratne who was carrying Rs. 1500 had given it to him along with her bracelet, ring, earrings, chain and a watch valued at around Rs, 45,000. Fortunately for her she had removed her wedding ring a few days earlier and put on another ring which she had been advised to wear during the 'bad' period she was currently undergoing. Even her thick gold chain had been replaced by a thin chain as she had to wear a Suraya. "He wanted the Suraya also but I insisted that I have it, she said.
After taking the jewellery, he had put the car back on to the main road. But passing Royal College she had screamed at him saying that since he had taken her money and valuables to let her free. Surprisingly he had said he would release her if she directed him to the place where he left the car. "He asked me to first direct him and then to lie down. I knew if I did this he would shoot me, so I told him how to get there and asked him to drop me off near the Orient club. Even before I could step off, the car sped away," she said.
Mrs. Gooneratne even before informing her husband had taken a call to the Police Emergency Unit and given them the number plate of her assailant's car. Later on the way to the police station, the Gooneratnes found their car abandoned at the side of the road.
Many would wonder why onlookers did not come to her help at this busy and residential part of the city. Surprisingly many had thought the altercation had been a husband and wife quarrel. "It's so strange because there were security guards, school van drivers around when the entire incident occurred but no one came to help me. Even if it was a personal problem I thought someone would have come to my aid" Mrs Gooneratne commented.
Though visibly upset, Mrs Gooneratne who has been driving for over ten years said she would not be afraid of driving alone again. When the Gooneratnes made a complaint to the Cinnomon Garden Police station they were surprised to learn that all Police Stations had been ordered to track down the assailant's car. On a call from Negombo Police station it was learnt that it was a stolen vehicle.
According to OIC crimes Selwyn Sallay the suspect who has now been arrested had called for a Cab on Sunday night and gone to hotel Empress to pick up his Russian girl friend. "We learnt that she is a call girl who has been in Sri Lanka for some time. He had picked her up and gone to Trans Asia hotel where they had asked the doorman to get them a hotel car to go to Kandalama, posing as house guests" explained OIC Sallay.
They had gone to Negombo in this car breakfasting early at Air Port Garden hotel. According to the driver the man had even asked about the driver's family and his kids. Once their return to the vehicle, the girl had got into the front seat and the man getting into the back seat had held a gun to the driver's head and threatened to kill him. Later they had dropped the driver at his house, and left towards Colombo.
The driver had made a complaint at the Negombo Police Station and all stations were subsequently alerted. But as the number plate was changed the couple had managed to escape the checkpoints.
'It was then that Mrs. Goonerantne was attacked. From what we gathered, it seems that couple had visited several casinos the previous night before going to Negombo. So it is obvious that the man would have been in debt and needed money desperately, Seeing Mrs. Gooneratne driving a posh car he would have thought he found the way to pay off his debt" explained OIC Sallay.
Whether a random crime or a carefully calculated one the robbery and shooting has sent shivers down the spines of many who are now concerned about their safety behind the wheel. If such an incident could occur at highnoom in the heart of the city, what of their safety in less populated areas where in late evening, streetlights too are non existent in the current power crisis, they ask. Will the Police guarantee their safely?
The hotel car which was high-jacked by the accused to carry out his mission was found at a by-lane close to Town Hall, on Wednesday morning. According to the police the car had been lying there from Tuesday night. Residents had no idea who had left the car there but informed the police since there was no owner.
Continue to Plus page 2 - A tale of neglect: Colombo's parks
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