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Sir
John: A triumphant life He had a deep love and respect for his mother Alice Kotelawala but never had the intimate family life that his brother Justin and sister Freda had. However, his life was a triumph of discipline over bitterness dictated by a wisdom drawn from experience. Anchored in human reality, he would often say, "One needed to go hungry to appreciate a good meal, know loneliness to yearn for a mother's love - only then will one break free from shadows and get permanently riveted to substance." He had a sneaking appreciation of practical down-to-earth men such as A. E. Goonesinghe's golaya R. Premadasa. Promoting him to contest N.M. Perera, he remarked that the man knew how to handle time. Time was an obsession with Sir John. "Everyman, he said, had a credit of 8,6400 seconds every morning and if he failed to use that day's deposit, there was no going back - time waits for no one." Sir John would insist that in Sri Lanka we lived in a society that based its moral claims on the worth, dignity and talents of the individual. Sri Lankans were a very talented people. To each his own. Sinhala - Tamil - Muslim - Burgher, yet all a lovable lot, who over the years lived amicably together. Friends and politicians holding varying opinions sat at his famous breakfast table. There never was indiscriminate indictment of one race. Never. A crowded breakfast....guests were leaving. The older man on Sir John's left inquired with a frown. "Sir John, who was that man who just left?" "Why ask me - men - you know him." Not replying, the man got up, a glass of water in his hand, stepped out to the adjacent porch, gargled and spat out violently a couple of times. "What is that man's rude, crude behaviour in aid of?" "The damn fool is cleansing himself." "He is what?" Nonplussed and puzzled. A forced grimace and Sir John's half amused eyes toned down the rawness of his contempt. "The man that left was low caste, and had sat at the same table as himself, so he had to cleanse himself." It was said. It happened. Hate and distaste are quenchable, but a mind steeped and anchored in cultural bias or political rhetoric is often unquenchable. The communists were Sir John's bogeymen. "Those who forked out their pennies and pocketed your shilling" in their search for equality. "Equal division of unequal earnings." - He'd remark the very colour they used - red - had a sinister quality as though picked from a dying sunset! Kandawala, a simple but well maintained residence had feudal overtones. Families, husband, wife and children, lived on the estate in their own houses. Chattering and laughing children, gossiping adults were every where on Sunday morning, after the guests had left the breakfast table. Two hours of cleaning up - breaking cobwebs, polishing brass, dusting, sweeping the residence. He looked after them down to the children's uniforms and school books, and they had to reciprocate. There was no exploitation or violation of human rights. He had not distanced himself from everyday people. The green lawns, green trees were the green nutrients of his life. It was not his money, the background of the large feudal estate that dominated his way of life. The dictatorial power was there by force of personality, very deep knowledge of his subject, his ability to listen to another's point of view. His very humane approach to anything he said or did. He understood his supporters as well as his opponents. Breakfast table again. Jira, the foreign visitor from France was on his left. Lots of give and take repartee and laughter. Esmond was leaving. "Sir John is that not the man that worked against you in your election campaign? The newspaper magnate." "Yes, he
thinks himself a kingmaker - trouble is, he has more heart than
head." A soldier to the marrow of his bone, Sir John left his properties to the Kotelawala Defence Academy, training men in the Army. He always had an honest impulse to open up new realms of experience. This needed a great leap of faith in himself, and that, he had in good measure. Prisoners were taken out in gangs for maintenance work on public and state owned buildings. Voted budget monies were spent on materials while the labour was free. The supervision was good and pilferage minimal. Post Independence, cultural integrity and social issues surfaced and became complex. Radical labour militants and their class - conscious rhetoric changed procedures. Not being a homogenous nation, it was not easy to unite and create a good, strong, culture of work for economic progress. This gave Sir John a new sense of purpose and thought. He set up the ESLC - Essential Services Labour Co,. insisting that while the collective intelligence of a large group was average, the collective action was quite high and could benefit the country. This organized, semi-skilled disciplined labour force, proud of themselves in uniform would do the maintenance jobs. Budgetary monies were already voted. The country would be absorbing drop-outs, and turning them into useful citizens and a much needed semi-skilled workforce. The cheer squads were mothers proud of their sons in uniform, grateful for some financial assistance, and the discipline and skills training given them. Sir John believed
in discipline of a military nature. Enforcement by law and order.
As Minister of Transport, Communication and Works - the P.W.D. (Public
Works Department) - he was fully aware of pilferage and corruption.
- Chiselling he always said was part of the Asian ambience. Blasting
a PWD overseer who he valued for his efficient work, but suspected
of corruption, he was startled at the man's reply. After this walk one day, Upali, his cousin, noticing a wild buffalo standing in his path shouted "Lionel Aiya get back, wild buffalo." Sir John bolted leaving his companions to fend for themselves, amidst much laughter. On another occasion the jeeps were confronted by wild elephants leisurely feeding - cameras started clicking. Some stupid students in a van from the opposite side rushed past banging their vehicle and shouting. The elephants disturbed, stampeded. The jeeps tried desperately to reverse. Rukman in the first jeep leapt out and faced the elephants - we learnt later - with mantrams the mahouts use. The elephants turned and slowly wandered away. Sir John greatly relieved, quipped, "Thank God we have one Senanayake left who can handle elephants from going berserk." He had a taste for what was good and strong, a sharpness of vision to distinguish the true from the false. He died a veteran soldier. |
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