24 August 2024 12:00 am Views - 192
September 1 happens to be the 81st wedding anniversary of my parents, a remarkable couple. Piyatilake and Soma were an enterprising pair born in the twentieth century and lived up to the twenty first century. They were parents to 10 children and I happen to be the seventh in the family which was quite remarkable as I belonged to three different sets of the family.
We had an interesting childhood. There was so much happening in our household. ‘Thattha’ (father) was a businessman to the core, always looking for opportunities to diversify and expand. Nothing was too big for him, his interests were multi-faceted, and whatever came his way he grabbed with both hands. He always stepped in with courage and confidence. His soul mate, my mother backed him through thick and thin.
Both my parents were born in Galle in close proximity but not connected. My father was the eldest in a family dealing with gems and jewellery in Kandy and Colombo from 1902. After his secondary education at Ananda College, he had to step into take over from his father, the late ‘WIMALASUNDERA Fronis de Silva’ – W. F. de Silva for short, the company that ran under his name. This was the time of World War II and Ceylon was under British rule, the commanding officer of the region being Lord Louie Mount Batten. He was a frequent visitor to Kandy and was very interested in crafts of Ceylon. He was quite impressed by this young man, my father, who was a master in sales. Once ‘Thattha’ realised the potential in the craft, especially the rows of elephants depicting the Kandy Esala Perahara elephants, he ventured into crafting and where else would you find better craftsmen than in his own backyard in Galle, his home town. He would hand carry all these pieces in suitcases to the railway station to be transported to Kandy and Colombo. Apparently, he had to pass my mother’s home in Wakwella road and she used to talk fondly of this handsome young guy in full suit sporting sun glasses, walking to the station carrying heavy cases. Eventually she married him following a proposal and they set up home in Galle in a beautiful house he built.
After the war ended and once we became an independent country, the business scenario changed and no longer were gems, jewellery and craft lucrative as before. Next, he ventured into importing clocks and watches where W. F. de Silva’s became a household name for Swiss watches and he was a pioneer importer of Romen watches. He had three sales vans to go round the country. We would eagerly wait for the van to return as they brought exotic fruits from different parts of the country and, we loved the ‘thal hakuru’ (sweet palm paste) and ‘kotta kelengu’ (a tough yet, mildly sweet tasting root once boiled) from Jaffna. There was a time when the villages needed lighting and he imported Petromax lamps to fulfill the need.
In 1955 he turned into a different sector, buying one of the best managed rubber estates, a 650 acre plantation in Govinna, Horana, from a British, which became the love of his life. It boasted a 2 storied rock faced bungalow with wide verandahs right round with a panoramic view that’ we could even see Sripada on a clear day. Every end of term school holiday was at the estate with tasty food prepared by the cooks under Amma’s supervision and served by Kaalimuttu , the ‘butler’ in his brass buttoned white coat.
The only issue was we could not tuck into any food at will when hungry and had to wait till served by Kaalimuttu. All food taken from Colombo including the meat and fish packed in ice was in the store and only Muttu had access to it! There were days when lunch was served late as we children had to wait till the foreign visiting agent finished his meals after doing the rounds on the plantation with ‘Thattha’. So, on such days we kids went round the estate looking for ripe fruits wading through streams and bushes which looking back now was quite exciting. There was plenty of sugar cane, guava, sapodilla, etc. We walked into the kids’ schools, crèches, Kovils and line rooms!
It was a very sad day for Thatha when the estate was taken over by the land reform commission in 1973. Never did he visit the estate thereafter. All the dreams he had, to produce a movie with Rukmani Devi, Eddie Jayamanne and the Minerva stars on the beautiful spots of the estate were dashed and the farm he was planning to start.
Through all this he never neglected his primary gem and jewellery business and also had time to take us for movies, listen to his collection of LP’S on the old radiogram at home. He also had time to help me with my English essays which I found difficult; his command of the English language was remarkable but always checked with the oxford dictionary any unfamiliar words he came across.
What I admired most about him was his ability to turn around and veer into a totally different path as and when the opportunity arose. With the loss of the estate, he opened another chapter by venturing into the hospitality sector, something quite alien to him. Seeing the vacuum in the hotel sector with the fast-approaching nonaligned summit in Colombo in Aug 1976 he turned the housing complex he was building for his family into a hotel, and that was named ‘HOTEL JANAKI’ after his youngest child. The hotel stands today as a monument to his great vision and business acumen.
What is remarkable was my father’s ability and wisdom to see into the future. Through all this my mother stood by him supporting him in all his endeavors like a rock.
MAY YOU BOTH ATTAIN SUPRIME BLISS OF NIRVANA
-Mano Gunatilake nee Wimalasundera