I sat down several times to write about my father who passed away about a year ago but I never thought it would be so difficult and painful. Finally, I made up my mind to write something about him who has been very close to my mother, my sister and to me. He was my mentor throughout my life. If he was alive he would be 91 years on September 20.
He was born on September 20 1926 at Wattappola, a remote village in Udunuwara close to Kandy to a respectable Kandyan family. His parents were Navaratne Mudiyanselage Medduma Banda Navaratne and Soma Kumari Ganhatha Navaratne. His father was the principal of Jinaraja College, Gampola and his mother, a housewife. When my father was 13 years, he lost his mother, while his father passed away in 1954. My father married Anula Tittawella. My father was the eldest, with one sister and seven brothers. After his father’s death, he had the additional responsibility to look after the family until they were employed and married, which he did willingly as the eldest brother.
My father had his early education at Jinaraja College, Gampola and thereafter, at Dharmaraja College, Kandy. He was always proud of the two schools. Thereafter, he entered the University of Ceylon in 1946 and studied Pali, Sinhala and History and graduated with a B.A degree in1950. Some of his lecturers at the University were Prof. B.E. Hettiarachchi and G. C. Mendis. He used to be proud that he was an undergraduate while Dr. Ivor Jennings was the Vice Chancellor. Some of his contemporaries at the University were Stanley Tillekaratne (Former Speaker of Parliament), Dr. W.M. Tillekaratne (former Governor of the Central Bank) and Prof K.H. Jayasinghe (Professor of Political Science at the University of Peradeniya).
After his graduation, he taught for about six months at Sivali College in the Ratnapura district and thereafter, joined the Public Service in 1950 as a Divisional Revenue Officer (D.R.O.). His first posting was to the Kurunegala Kachcheri.
He was the Deputy Director (Administration) at the Department of Agriculture until he was appointed Government Agent of the Matale District. In 1977 after the General Elections he was transferred to the Pool at the Ministry of Public Administration and he refused to accept the transfer and made a written appeal to the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration as he knew that some politician in the Matale District who came to power in 1977 was behind his transfer, with the motive to get another officer who was very much junior to him. The net result was a transfer to Colombo as Government Agent. Thereafter, he assumed duties as the GA of the Colombo District in 1978 and worked until he retired from the Public Service in 1986.
During his career in the Public Service he had handled many elections and had been the Returning Officer for the Matale and Colombo Districts. He was involved in the Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations, Rural Development activities, National Savings Movement, Dharmaduta Missions and the Victora Home for incurables at Rajagiriya. He worked under Stanley Maralande, W.H Fernando and Dr. Ernest Abeyratne. He had many friends in the public service and associated with them until his death. He was proud that by joining the Public Service he was able to help the poor while serving in remote areas of the country.
He was appointed as a Director of the Sri Lanka Aviation Authority and a Commissioner of the Mediation Boards Commission. He always enjoyed working in the Government sector and did not have any major problems with the Government in power as he was not affiliated to any political party.
He closely worked with the then President J. R. Jayewardene, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Presidents Ranasinghe Premadasa and D.B. Wijetunga and Ministers like T.B Illangaratne, Hector Kobbekaduwa, Ananda Tissa de Alwis, A.C. S Hameed, Major Montague Jayawickreme, but he never asked for any favours for him or his family.
He was appointed to many Commissions of Inquiry including the inquiry into the incident which occurred at the new Magazine Prisons in 1991 of the Remand Prisoners and the one-man Commission of Inquiry to examine and report on the Security division of the People’s Bank. During his career in the Public service he worked hard with commitment and dedication. He was able to work long hours as Amma looked after the home front.
He was a good Administrator, honest and had always been firm but kind and patient. Some who worked under him ended up as Secretaries of Ministries. He was proud of his juniors who did well in their chosen fields. He was a man with integrity, and served the country in silence.
He was a devout Buddhist. After his retirement he was fully involved in Buddhist activities in Kandy and worked for the Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) and at the Center for Buddhism, for many years. The Center for Buddhism had an alms giving in January this year, in his memory, and some others who had worked for many years at the Center. He wrote many articles to newspapers on Buddhism and had done research in this area. His knowledge of Dhamma was vast. He had collected many Buddhist books and Magazines and Akka and I will be the beneficiaries of his large collection of Buddhist books, articles and research papers which will help us to follow the path of Dhamma.
Apart from Buddhism, he was interested in History, Environment, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Terrorism, ethnic issues, religious conversions, health issues, rebirth, drug policy, education, and wrote to the newspapers on many topics.
He was concerned about the motherland and proud to be born in Sri Lanka. He always believed terrorism cannot be curtailed by peaceful negotiations but by defeating them with power. He was of the view that this should be done for the sake of the Tamil community in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces who were silently suffering due to terrorism. I used to disagree with him, but now I feel I was wrong and he was correct as terrorism was defeated by power.
He has been going for walks daily in the morning for more than 60 years, and enjoyed the environment and would meet people young and old. He always encouraged me to join him during weekends which I enjoyed as he used to speak about the scenes and the history behind them.
During his lifetime he did many meritorious activities in silence, and contributed to charitable organizations such as Helpage and the Sri Lanka Cancer Society. He used to give alms to the Buddhist Priest at the Malwatte Temple annually which he did until his death.
My father wanted me to join the Attorney General’s Department and to please him I applied and worked for almost 32 years. He was proud of my achievements and when I think back, I am happy I did what he wanted me to do and enjoyed it very much. The credit should go to him and Amma for my achievements.
He looked after my mother who is not in good health for many years with love and care which is very rare these days and that alone will give him merit to shorten the journey in sansara.
He led a simple life. He selected Kandy, his hometown to live in his retirement in the house he built. The simple funeral was testimony to the life he led.
One year has passed after his death. I really miss him. His demise has created a void in my life and in our family. The house is empty and the balcony that we used to sit and have chit chats on many topics during the weekend is only a memory.
While his memory will live in our hearts forever, our lives will not be the same. He has been a wonderful person to our family, relations, friends and others who associated with him.
Father, may your journey in Sansara be short, smooth and fruitful until you reach the ultimate goal of Nibbana according to the Buddhist teaching that you always believed in.
Anusha, youngest daughter