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Life and times of Victor Lloyd Wirasinha

(Eulogy delivered by Rajiv Goonetilleke on March 26 at St. Luke's Church, Colombo. Today marks three months since Mr. Wirasinha’s death)

I have visited this church as a child with my grandparents Victor and Lilian Wirasinha. As an adult I have come here to pick my grandfather up on many a Sunday after service. Four short years ago I stood in this very same place to remember my mother, and now I find myself paying tribute to my grandfather, when he has moved on beyond sight and sound and touch forever. A gentle reminder that time waits for no man, that life is temporal and that God gives us but a few years in which to make our lives as meaningful as my grandfather did. For after all, we are judged and remembered for the content of our character.

It heartens me to see that he is remembered by so many of you today, when most, if not all, his contemporaries have also passed on. Your presence today serves to remind us that we are united not only in our desire to pay our respects to a wonderful man but also of our need to do so. For such was the extraordinary life of Victor Lloyd Wirasinha, brilliant intellectual and classicist, upright, efficient and outspoken civil servant, concerned and dutiful citizen, a committed Christian, a simple and gentle man.

Born in 1913, he was named Victor Lloyd by his father, after, Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy and Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England. Though he did not straddle the international stage like those two gentlemen, he nevertheless, in his own way, made a significant impact with his life, through his work, service to community and contribution to political and social thinking.

He was a man who not only searched for the truth, but also lived the truth having fully realized that the truth is a glorious but hard mistress, that never, consults, bargains or compromises. An anecdote which he constantly retold us was that when he was a student at Richmond College, Galle, the class he was in was given an essay on the topic "Honesty is the best policy", and that the boy who got full marks wrote just one line: "No. Honesty is the only policy". That incident obviously had a lasting impact on his life. For he was a man that would stand by what he thought was right, whatever the consequences. He was a man who was never afraid to speak the truth and served without fear or favour. He was a man indeed who, as in Kipling’s poem, kept his head when all about him were losing theirs and sometimes blaming it on him.

The beginning

Life in Ceylon in 1913 would have been very different to the way we find it today. There was no electricity, radio or other entertainment, which we lose ourselves in. Books and musical instruments were the pursuits of that time. So Victor Wirasinha, developed his love for classical literature and classical music.

Having excelled at Richmond College - he (and his brother Shelton who went on to become principal of Richmond) carried away the Darrel Medal, the highest honour a student at Richmond could get. By the age of 17 he had completed his Cambridge senior examination and having studied the western classics at university, found himself a civil servant at the tender age of 22. Those of you who have read his memoirs would know of the spunk he had as a 22-year-old at the civil service interview taking on the Chief Secretary of Ceylon and his assistants in a no-nonsense manner.

It is both amusing and amazing. A foretaste of what was to become the hallmark of his career as a civil servant. I will indulge in one anecdote to illustrate the strength of his character. At the age of 38, he was the Commissioner of Parliamentary Elections. When J. R. Jayewardene as Minister of Home Affairs called him my dear man, he retorted that he was nobody's dear man except his wife's and that if JR persisted in calling him that he would report him to the Public Service Commission for trying to influence the Commissioner of Elections. His major contribution in that office was suggesting after the 1952 election that the Commissioner needs to be independent and that elections need to be held on a single day -conditions that have now been met.

All the posts held by him are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that as Commissioner of National Housing, Director of Commerce, Secretary, Home Affairs, Secretary, Industries, Chairman of the NIBM and Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, he made a substantial contribution and set a standard of excellence, working independent of political influence and patronage, doing his duty without fear or favour, malice or ill-will to the best of his ability till the setting down of his duty. This standard of independence set by him made such an impact that it earned him a reputation as the bete noir of the politicians and was talked about then and is even talked of today, two generations after his time in office.

After his retirement, and till very recently, he would often write to the newspapers on some national or international issues, or criticize the action or attitude of some person in office. The last article he wrote was about a year ago, titled what we have witnessed on April fools' day this time - it criticized US President George Bush's decision to invade Iraq without a United Nations resolution.

At one time in the early 90s, V.L. Wirasinha was almost a household name, as his opinions on the issues of the day were published regularly. We who were close to him would often wonder why he did such things and wasted his time when with his vast knowledge and literary skills he could have written a good book on the classics or even popular literature like his colleague Colin De Silva did.

In hindsight it is clear that he first regarded himself as citizen, and, like the citizens of the Greek city-states, was duty bound to be concerned and contribute to the issues of the day. He held firm to the belief that all it took for evil to flourish was the silence of the good men. Therefore in this public-spirited manner, he contributed to public opinion and political thought. He did something about the public issues he cared for, which is more than what most of us can say for ourselves.

Books constantly surrounded my grandfather. An image that I have of him is that he would more often than not fall asleep with an open book on his chest. He was very well read and could engage in conversation on any topic ranging from astrophysics to xenophobia.

He would tell me that some had asked him if there were any gaps in his reading to which he would reply yes, I haven't read Hamlet. And they would say, "what! Mr. Wirasinha you mean to say you have not read Hamlet" - and he would answer, "yes, I haven't read Hamlet for the 54th time”. Such were his reading habits that he would not be satisfied if he had not read all the great works of literature at least once a year, belying the Latin phrase ars longa vita brevis - the art so long, the life so short.

He made short work of the long list of literature. He possessed a prodigious memory and could quote reams of Shakespeare at any given time. He also had a thorough knowledge of five languages; Sinhala, English, Tamil, Latin and Greek and could read Spanish. It was for this reason that even though he was not an academic or a Doctor of Letters, the universities of Ceylon sometimes turned to him to correct their postgraduate theses of the western classics.

His favourite Greek play was the "Antigone" which he felt had been inadequately translated from Greek to English even by the expert translators. Just two years ago at the age of 88 he decided that he would translate it to English from Greek. A few copies of his translation were printed though not published. He then decided to go one better and translate the Greek into Sinhala, sadly he was unable to complete this endeavour.

King Lear

His favourite Shakespeare play was King Lear, the reason perhaps, my guess, is that like Lear all his children were daughters. Even in King Lear, he was fascinated and fond of the truth I alluded to a short while ago. There is a passage in Lear, where the king divests his kingdom in parts to his daughters, and each is called upon to profess their love for their father. The youngest, Cordelia hearing her sisters speak of love with flippant adjectives, thinks aloud, ‘what shall Cordelia speak, better to love and be silent’. So when it comes to her turn, she says nothing and Lear says ‘come now nothing will come of nothing’. Then Cordelia says ‘I shall not love you all but that when I am wed half my love would go to my husband’. To which Lear in surprise and anger says ‘so young and so untender’, and Cordelia makes reply, ‘So young my Lord and true!’

He was very fond of that passage 'so young my Lord and true' because it reflected in my opinion a mirror of his own attitude, speak the truth whatever the consequences.

Lear then goes onto disown his youngest daughter and divide his estate among the others. Kent tells him to check his rashness. But Lear banishes him. Kent says ‘what would'st thou do old man’. My grandfather would often say that line 'What would'st thou do old man', in a poignant tone, reflecting on the sad but inevitable plight of old age, which we too would one day have to face.

He was a man who believed in the phrase Mens sana copore in sanu - a healthy mind in a healthy body. He was certainly not a lazy man, and was not only intellectually agile but physically active, driving till he was in his mid eighties and till very near his last days refusing assistance of any kind. Like the rest of us being human he too was fearful of old age and infirmity and wanted to be as active as possible. He had great determination and grit. So it deeply saddened me when he wrote a paper on the classics, maybe two years ago, I cannot remember the topic, and ended it with ... "from a once aging now aged classicist". This was a realization that he had grown too old to be even young at heart.

During the last few years, he bore his weakening physical strength with patient acceptance. On his 89th birthday he thanked us for being with him saying God gives us life and we must accept it in the spirit He gives it to us. When we said that we would be celebrating his 90th birthday the following year, he joked that he would try to be around till then.

Another similarity with King Lear and my grandfather was that he too in the words of the Bard set his rest in the kind nursery of his youngest daughter; My aunt Rohini (Jayamanne). I know not from where she found this poem but she gave it to the rest of us after his death stating that she would often read it to realize and overcome the impatience that we all experience some time with those that have grown old. It is very poignant, and brought a tear to my eye reading it so soon after his death, realizing that in this busy world, we can become impatient. The poem is worth reading. It reads thus:

Blessed are they who understand

My faltering step and palsied hand

Blessed are they who know that my ears, today,

Must strain to catch the things they say

Blessed are they who seem to know

That my eyes are dim and my wits slow

Blessed are they, with a cheery smile,

Who stop to chat for a little while.

Blesses are they who never say

"you've told that story twice today"

Blessed are they who know the ways

To bring back memories of yesterdays

Blessed are they who make it known

That I'm loved, respected, and not alone

Blessed are they who ease the days

On my journey Home, in loving ways.

I cannot but fondly recall the early childhood memories I have of my grandfather - of him teaching me to play chess, at which he was very good and at which I could not beat him even in advanced age, of the various conundrums and puzzles he would put to me to stimulate my thought process and of puzzles which he himself would never let go till he solved, the music that he played and enjoyed listening to.

In whatever he did he was exacting and difficult to please on an intellectual level. As a human being he was very simple, humble and gentle. Despite his intellectual brilliance he had no airs about him. In private life his affection was unconditional. He was a loving husband and devoted father and grandfather. He so loved my grandmother that at her passing he wrote, "My Lilian now and forever, more now than ever", and he would drop letters of love into her casket while it was about the house.

Pet cat

This man who was strong and unbending in public life was a very sensitive man in private. I still remember as a six year old I brought him to tears when I inadvertently broke the news to him on his return from overseas, that his pet cat was lost and gone forever.

His was a life that was colourful, a life that enriched those around him, a life that was meaningful.

His was a life that is too large for me to describe in full, a life that began in the year the First World War broke out, a life that saw colonial Ceylon grow to be Sri Lanka with all its vagaries and vicissitudes, a life of which I can only give a brief outline.

We are thankful for the blessing of his long and full life, the good health he enjoyed and his peaceful passing away. We are thankful to you who remember him.

Now that he is gone beyond sight and beyond sound and beyond touch forever, we truly appreciate what we have lost.

No more the stories of old, no more the anecdotes, jokes, and chuckles of laughter, no more the opportunity to tap that vast storehouse of knowledge or clarify some literary point or Latin phrase which we could always do with him and took for granted, no more the thought provoking contribution to public opinion by V. L. Wirasinha, no more the pleasure of his company, no more the gift of his leadership and benefit of his wisdom.

We are now only left with memories and the inspiration of the exemplary life of Victor Lloyd Wirasinha, a man who lived up to his name of Victor- victorious in his battles of principle, a Wira Sinha, a Brave Lion when facing up to adversity. He was a man who believed that there is no real excellence in this world which can be separated from right living. If I may use the words of Shakespeare;

The elements were so mixed in him

That nature might stand up and say

To all the world 'This was a man!'

When come such another.

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