The story that I never thought of writing

By Ananda S. Wijesuriya

Most of the time I used to walk along the highway on evenings as a part of my keep fit programme. Certain parts of one side of the road was an undeveloped area, where some tall grass and shrubs have grown. One day, I noticed a young woman standing by the side of the road. At the speed I was walking and as this happens to be a fairly long straight stretch, I could observe her for some time. She appeared to be in mid twenties, not possessing any outstanding features and naturally, I was curious, although it is none of my business.

Now, I see her regularly and after few days of 'careful monitoring', it dawned upon me that she certainly was not standing there to admire the scenery, but was offering 'a service'. I was astounded more when observed that her 'suite of amour' was just behind those tall grass bushes. I must confess I was not bold enough to venture into this area to find out the exact nature of 'facilities' available. However, as a student of economics, I soon realised that what is happening here is that there is a demand for a 'service' and she is providing it, albeit in a very 'entrepreneurial' arrangement. Having seen that these 'service providers' in the characters portrayed by 'Shirley Mclaine' in one early film, or Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman', I could not fathom how this person waiting by the grass bushes could be successful in her 'venture'. I was soon proved to be wrong, since some weeks later I noticed that another now joins her. I surmised that the business is booming or as they say 'supply creates its own demand' and probably the first party could possibly not cope up with.

Two three hundred meters away there was a statue of Jesus, where I am accustomed to many passers by stopping for a short prayer. One evening when I was on my walk as usual, I saw the second partner of my story hurrying along the road, probably late reporting for duty. Then I realised that she stopped at the statue, went up to it and was saying a short prayer, made herself the sign of the cross and resumed her journey.

This act made me to ponder, 'what did she pray for?' Long years ago, I learnt that if one want to be a successful writer, often one should be able to weave a story around a true incident. I realised that this is a golden opportunity and would form a good story, provided I can know what did she pray for? I soon realised that it has far reaching social and economic ramifications and thought this could be a good subject for research that would give me enough material to write a good story. Since I did not have access to any international funded NGO that would normally like to get involved in such a project, I thought I will do the survey myself and confine it to a questionnaire to be answered by ten different people of the society. On top of the list should be a female, since the subject of survey has a feminine character, going down to a priest and I thought finally if I can summon enough courage maybe this person herself.

Later on one day, I was driving my wife to the church passing this statue I remembered that I have not made any start on this all-important socio-economic survey.

At the same time I thought why not I ask my wife first, considering the controversial nature of the subject, and in the event it becomes too hot topic to handle with outsiders, I will get an early warning. I told her the background explanation and posed the question, 'what do you think she prayed for?'

My sixteen year old daughter too was in the back seat and since as usual she was immersed in reading a book, I did not give much attention to her. I must confess, although I expected some reaction, I did not gauge the gale force with which it will be unleashed.

First question my wife asked was 'How do you know she is a 'call girl'? (Mind you, even in the language used, my wife refused to use the more direct label).

From the most unexpected quarter came the retort "thaththi, how bad of you to label somebody in that manner, just because she is standing by the road... What proof have you got....?"

'Besides, they do not carry on such activities in the broad day light, and by the highway, near a marshy patch?! (My wife too has seen those popular films)

"Thaththi, you have to be careful...." Talk about feminine movement, etc. I realised that it is a powerful force. The sum total of it all is that, I could not get the response I wanted from the very first party I questioned on my survey and on top of that I had to spend lots of my energy and yet failed to prove that I did not make a mistake that this 'person' is carrying on the trade of world's oldest profession and that she actually prayed. Therefore, I did not get my reply to, "What could have she prayed for?"

Some time later this area was cleaned and a building came up and my 'subjects of the survey', moved away. That means I will not get the chance to pose the question to this 'person' whom started it all.

I am still looking for an answer.

Dear Reader, 'What do you think she prayed for?'

Ashanathi Bandaranayake and her troupe of thirty danced their way to the bank after their company made a return on investment of 13500 per cent..

Ashanthi was adjudged the most outstanding entrepreneur-girl, at the recently concluded Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards ceremony of Young Entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka. (YESL) YESL which is a member of Junior Achievement International conducted a business education programme to provide students experience in the free enterprise system.

Students formed, operated and liquidated their own companies.

Thirty dancing shareholders of Swarnamali BMV, Kandy formed the Swarna Ranga Dance Company with a capital of Rs 1500 in April last year. Seventeen months later, they boasted an income of Rs 450,000 and a profit of Rs 203,000. "DFCC Bank's performance pales in comparison, perhaps I'm in the wrong business," Chief Executive Officer, DFCC Bank, Moksevi Prelis quipped at the awards ceremony DFCC sponsored.

"We performed in several shows in hotels in Kandy and at the BMICH," Ashanthi said. "I would like to form my own company someday," she added gleefully.

The most outstanding young entrepreneur was Nuwan Sameera Bethmage of Lumbini Maha Vidyalaya. Sameera formed the Little World Company and embarked on a voyage with 25 employees, 64 shareholders and a capital of RS 16,800. "There is no market for chalk," Master Bethmage told The Sunday Times Business, having learnt from bitter experience. "But book marks are a profitable business and I have discovered my hidden entrepreneurial skills," he added with an entrepreneurial glint in his eyes.

And YESL has achieved its mission- creating a ready workforce.

GDP growth on target, says ADB

Bt Mel Gunasekera

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts that Sri Lanka's annual targetted GDP growth of about five percent in 1999 appears achievable, provided fiscal discipline and the pace of economic liberalisation are maintained.

The ADB said in an update to its annual outlook that: "public investment in 1999 is expected to reach 7.4 per cent of GDP, from 6.7 per cent in 1998. The annual average inflation rate for 1999 is expected to be around nine percent."

Overall, exports are projected to rise by five per cent in view of rising oil prices and the purchases of new aircraft under SriLankan Airlines re-fleeting programme.

Although tourism receipts expanded by about 17 per cent in the first half of 1999, the external current account is expected to worsen in 1999.

However, foreign long term private and official capital inflows will continue to increase, which is expected to lead to an overall balance of payment surplus of US$ 90 mn.

Gross official reserves are expected to remain around US$ 2 bn in 1999, equivalent to around four months of imports.

The debt service ratio is projected to be around 13.7 per cent and external debt to GDP ratio around 58 per cent, a slight increase compared to 1998.

The Bank said the effects of Sri Lanka's private and public sector initiatives are likely to be realised in the second half 1999, which will catalyse the country's economy in the year 2000.

The bank estimates GDP growth of 6.2 percent in 2000, but a slowdown in growth for 1999.

The ADB said revenue performance during the first half of 1999 showed signs of improvement particularly from income tax, national security levy, and excise tax collections.

Revenue is expected to recover to around 17.7 percent of GDP in 1999 from 17.3 percent in 1998, it added.

The ADB said monitoring and control of defence spending has also been strengthened, while private sector investments in infrastructure projects are expected to expand in 1999, contributing to a high level of overall investment.

"Inflation, which was on a downward trend during the last half of 1998, rose from 3.6 percent in January to 7.7 percent in April 1999 due to wage increases and monetisation of the fiscal deficit," the ADB said, adding that it declined to 5.9 percent in June due to improved food supplies.

The bank added the government has made concrete efforts for developing the local debt market by introducing longer-term marketable instruments including a five-year bond issue in March and six-year bonds to be issued in September.

Siddhalepa to open resort

By Dinali Goonewardena

The Hettigoda Group has set up the Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort in Wadduwa. "The resort will start operations on the 10th of November," Chairman, Hettigoda Group, Dr. Victor Hettigoda told The Sunday Times Business.

Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort Pvt Ltd, a hundred per cent subsidiary of the Hettigoda Group was formed and a Rs. 150 million investment has been made in the resort. A loan of Rs 60 million from Commercial Bank and ploughed back profits from the Hettigoda Group have financed the venture.

"The resort will cater to an up-market niche that seeks a cultural experience when holidaying," Managing Director, Hettigoda Group, Asoka Hettigoda said. The hotel offers Ayurveda therapy, meditation sessions and yoga. "The market for ayurveda is experiencing phenomenal growth and the only key players in this market are India and Sri Lanka," Asoka Hettigoda said. Competitors in Sri Lanka include coastal resorts such as Lanka Princess and Barberyn Reef whose primary service is ayurvedic. "We have been offering ayurvedic services since 1934 and will provide a more educative service and Sri Lanka is better geared to the hospitality industry than India," Mr Hettigoda said.

"Our biggest market is expected to be Germans, Swiss, Austrians and tourists from Scandinavian countries," he said. "But we also hope to attract Indians who are very familiar with the concept of ayurveda," he added. He said the resort would be marketed to companies who will pay for employees to rejuvenate themselves at the resort.

. "Each room tells its own story with a unique design and colour scheme depicting a period in history five hundred years ago," Asoka Hettigoda said. The resort has medicinal wood flooring in many suites. Six suites built out of mud, two out of clay and two caves opening out to the sea are among the novel sleeping arrangements. Gum secreted from trees serve as a dust control mechanism. The hotel also includes a swimming pool, gymnasium, restaurant, bar and landscaped river.

US advisory says medicals poor here

A recent US State Department travel advisory has said that medical facilities in Sri Lanka are limited.

The report reads: Medical facilities are limited. Doctors and hospitals often require immediate cash payment for health servicesl"

Worried officials say the statement looks bad on Sri Lanka and might be a deterrent to the growth of the industry. They added that most private hospitals in the island were capable of handling any medical emergencies.

Officials in the medical profession second this statement and also said the hospitals were equipped to handle any and almost all situations. A Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) spokesperson told The Sunday Times Business that they had all the facilities and in fact Sri Lanka had some of the best health statistics in the region.

However, they said people with a serious health condition would not travel in any case unless they had a personal reason or for medical reasons. They said that the advisory needed to be more specific or should not include statements of this nature.

Travel industry officials said many tourists took travel advisories very seriously and therefore any information given should be specific and detailed or not have such information at all. Officials also said the Japanese travel trade closely followed US advisories and hence this market too might be affected.

A brick for tea!

By Mel Gunasekera and Shafraz Farook

• The man behind the bricks
• The story of the brick
• How brick tea is made
• Would you drink it?

It was warm, green and fiberous: No offence meant but frankly, it looked like elephant dung.

First impressions when Dr. Dmitri Afonine put a ball of freshly grounded green leaf in our hands. This also brought up the question of if we ever had to have elephant dung in our hands - but that's another story.....

Amongst the gold and the silver tips, pekoes, fannings and the all too common dust we knew, we had never heard or come across brick, — brick tea that is. Even authorities in the industry knew little or nothing on the subject.

Strangely however brick tea is said to boast an ancient history, as ancient as the black and the green teas we know.

And when the news of a Russian making brick tea in a small factory up in Matale spread to the Sunday Times Business, curiosity aroused, we tracked down Dr. Dmitri with a little help from the industry.

Yes! It is finally here, but wait, it is only for export, But hey, no fuss, because probably you may want to stick to what you already drink.

Hapugolle Estate, 600 metres above sea level is a rather unpretentious factory.

But world famous for its teas, Sri Lanka does not really need another orthodox tea producer. We have plenty to go around.

So, in a sense Dr. Dmitri was just what we needed, a non-traditional tea producer.

A young, qualified Russian who had worked in Sri Lanka before and most of all willing to put his two cents worth in a new project.

Local officials keen to give this new tea a taste gave the go ahead for the project.

Dr. Dmitri has designed and holds patents to most of the machinery installed in the factory.

"It is working well, it is quite successful and now it is a question of developing it to increase production volumes," the Doc said.

The Hapugolle Estate is the first factory in Sri Lanka to produce any form of non-traditional teas.

The project began in 1992/93 with the initiative of the Agriculture Ministry of the Russian Federation to ensure a continuous supply of tea to the Russian federation during the early 90's when there was a shortage of tea supply to the federation. Production started in 1996 and the first consignment was shipped in the same year. In 1993 the Interagrocomplex Lanka J.V. (Pvt.) Ltd. was formed as a Board of Investment (BOI) company by the Russian government. The Russian Ministry for the Management of State Property owns and supervises this project.

A lot of research later the project to produce non-traditional teas was approved by the Tea Board, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Plantation Industries and the BOI.

"At the moment it is only green brick tea, and we are conducting a lot of research on producing other varieties of non-traditional teas but it is a little too early to the give details about them. However it will follow the concept of compressed teas."

We understand there is a lot of potential for compressed teas in Siberia - Russia and the company hopes to market compressed tea to the millions of people in Siberia who are more than willing to drink green brick tea.

The project faced some delays during the initial stages due to the Russian crisis.

However the project took off and since it seems to be doing well, Russian authorities are planning to set up two more factories to produce non-traditional teas. Great Valley and Kandekettiya estates have been chosen for the project and will commence operations shortly.

They will be on long term lease from the J.E.D.B and the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation (SLSPC).

These two estates like Hapugolle will produce black orthodox and green brick tea initially.

The factories will be leased out with investment from the Moscow Regional Administration (MRA). Dr. Dmitri our brick tea guy is the representative of the MRA in Colombo.

The Vice Governor and Minister for Foreign Economic Relations of the MRA Nikolay Svistunow is in charge of the two new projects.

The Mongolian government was also keen in developing brick tea in Sri Lanka, but due to financial restraints kept away.

The man behind the bricks

"Anyone want to produce green brick tea, please come! We will do it together, I will show how it is done."

The 39-year old Russian citizen married with two kids, Graduate of Agricultural Academy, Moscow; Graduate of Language University Moscow; Post-graduate Moscow Diplomatic Academy and Ph.D. in International Economics.

The Doc first came to Sri Lanka in 1989 representing the Soviet Regime to organise youth relationships between Sri Lanka and the former Soviet Union. He was responsible for the establishment and development of connections between youth organisations during that time.

In 1993 he was invited to develop the brick tea project here in Sri Lanka.

From then he has permanently resided here "now I'm half Sri Lankan I can understand languages but cannot speak fluently of course."

"With my qualifications and experience in overseas work they asked me if I would like to take up this project. I said well, I know agriculture, but tea is a little bit different from what I knew.

So I studied a lot about what tea was and how it grew and what should be manufactured."

The Doc is confident that after so many years in Sri Lanka he cauld easily be the only man in the Russian federation who knows Sri Lanka teas as well as he does. "This is because there is no other Russian tea planter, tea maker or tea researcher."

The story of the brick

Centuries ago the inventive Chinese pressed dust from tea into 'bricks' to use as 'tea money' for trading with the far-flung tribes of Mongolia and Tibet.

The tea bricks were even scored so they could be broken for change. They were made into approximately nine-inch tall bricks.

Asian travellers also used it as a convenient way of carrying the tea they need. The history of brick tea is as old as the history of tea itself. It evolved alongside traditional teas and played a major role in trading.

In more recent times, soldiers at war used brick tea, especially in cold weather. They would use their helmets as a pot and snow as water to prepare an invigorating and hot brew that gave them the energy to go on.

More appropriately and as an industry officials put it, just imagine in the the days of genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. These two ancient worriors would have gone to war against the Chinese in an effort to breakthrough the Great Wall of China with their swards, bows and arrows and their brick tea.

Anyway, with the Georgian technology the manufacture of brick teas took 30 days because of the long process of drying.

Georgia used to produce around 11 million kilos before the civil war.

In the early days Georgia was the main supplier of tea to the Soviet Union. It was considered the tea republic until after the civil war when it became a separate state. They produced a record crop of 110 million kilos per year, but now they produce only around 10 million kilos annually.

Russia itself produced some tea, a very small quantity of black tea in a place called the Dargomous in Russia.

They produced around two to three million kilos a year.

However they didn't have enough raw materials so they decided to develop production overseas. Sri Lanka is one such project where the raw materials are just perishing.

Mongolia is one of the few countries who wholly consume brick tea. We understand Green Brick tea is absolutely Mongolian traditional tea.

How brick tea is made

The production of green brick tea requires coarse green leaf unlike traditionally where two leaves and a bud are plucked for the production of Orthodox and CTC teas.

Otherwise coarse green leaf is thrown away or left on the hills as a fertiliser when the bushes are pruned once in three to four years.

The raw material, which otherwise is of no use, is providing additional revenue, labour opportunities and new technology

Then the coarse leaf is put into the rotary panner to de-ferment the green leaf at a temperature of 2008 c to 2508 c.

Then the de-fermented leaves go into the rotary where it is crushed into smaller particles.

After this the crushed leaves go into chests for a process called thermal treatment (additional temperature).The leaves would be fired and dried before it would be compressed.

The whole process takes three days compared to the Georgian green brick tea production, which takes around 30 days because of the rather long drying process.

This is mainly thanks to advanced technologies used here which accelerate the process.

Would you drink it?

Here's how you could enjoy an invigorating, nutritious warm cup of brick tea.

To make green black tea you will need

- 3 litres of water
- A handful of crushed brick tea
- 2 Cups of milk
- Salt
- Spices (desired spices)
- Dried meat (if necessary)
- Nuts (if necessary)

Pour all the water into a bowl with the tea and boil for 10 minutes.

After it comes to the boil add the milk and boil for another 2 minutes.

Strain and add salt and spices to taste.

Dried meat and nuts could be added as required and if required to add flavour.

Serves up to four people.

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