I reverentially stood by the bier, and beheld in the coffin the remains of a stately and noble figure, I couldn’t keep back many a tear, ‘Cos it was the remains of my Guru and Friend, so dear. Having had a ride, on planet earth, 92 pulse times round the Sun, the first Ceylonese Postmaster General Gate Mudliyar A.G. Tillekeratne’s eldest son, completed the seven stages of man, according to the Creator’s plan.
For a score plus years past the biblical age, he strode with aplomb on the world’s stage, surpassing his peers in every field of human endeavour, with distinction and great honour. For his primary and secondary Education, he went to a leading Catholic Institution, that was dedicated to the Church’s first Pope, to enable his latent talents, to develop greater scope.
After graduation with distinction in the field of Chemistry, and as a graduate teacher of Royal College he sought admission to the Ceylon Police as an ASP, but was guided by destiny to join the Inland Revenue as an Asst. Assessor, and end as a Harvard University trained Eminent Commissioner.
After the 1971 Insurgency, he joined the Ceylon Police as a Reserve ASP, and thus a boyhood dream, he was able to realise, of serving the country as a Reserve Superintendent of Police. Though deprived of the post of Commissioner General, due to the manipulation of an envious rival, this great injustice was partially rectified by JR’s Administration, by his elevation as Chairman and Director of the Hotel’s and Distilleries Corporations.
A decade after he retired, his services were commissioned, to formulate the G.S.T Act, and set up the machinery to implement it instead of VAT. Though born, bred and nurtured in a feudal mould, he had a heart of gold, that responded to those marginalized by society, with sympathy and empathy.
To prevent the left hand from knowing what the right hand did, with Charitable Trusts he made a bid, The beneficiaries covering Research students at Universities to Assessors who excelled in Departmental Exams to those with disabilities, the corpus of each Trust funded by the sale of his inherited properties.
He also gave his patronage and support, for the development of sports, as president of the Government Services Cricket Association and of the Hockey Federation. In his retirement years, he brought sunshine and cheer, to many persons physically and intellectually disabled, as a member of the National Council for the Disabled and as President of the Ceylon Association for the Mentally Retarded. Friends and relations please note, the following quote, by which he did abide, during his long earthly ride.
“I shall pass through this world but once Any good thing therefore I can do, or any kindness I can show, to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again” (Stephen Grellet) Good bye dear Guru and Friend, though your mortal life has come to an end, Anthony and a host of your relations and friends will miss you, while your immortal soul enjoys heavenly bliss.
A Pulle
Dehiwala