Daily Lankadeepa E-Paper

Plantation stalwart and my role model

Dilshan Rodrigo

My father, the youngest of three brothers, had virtually no recollection of his father who passed away when he was just two years old. His mother had to take over the responsibility of managing the huge ancestral estate in Eheliyagoda comprising over 1000 acres of rubber which was reduced to no more than 200 acres with nationalization in the 1970s.

My father joined his brothers at Wesley College and had fond memories of boarding school life of which he used to relate many funny and interesting tales to my kids. It was just a week before his demise that he asked my daughter to read his school leaving certificate which he had proudly laminated and retained on the mantelpiece at home;

“. …… There was no activity in the school or hostel in which Clinton was not in. He represented us in more or less all the spheres of activity - in games Athletics, Cricket, Tennis, Hockey, Volley Ball and Table Tennis, he excelled; in the latter games he was both school and hostel captain. His record of activities can rarely be equalled. He has held the post of secretary in the following clubs and unions: Hostel Literary Union, Indoor games club and house sports club. As an amateur actor he is a class by himself and in all school and hostel dramas, Clinton had a main part to play….” The certificate ended with the comment “with the greatest confidence I recommend him as one of our very best products.”

He went into the prestigious profession of planting at the time after completing a degree in agriculture from the University of Peradeniya, joining the Finlays agency house and built a strong network among the upcountry plantation fraternity over the years. As a child I remember moving from sprawling plantation bungalows in Nuwara Eliya to Hatton and Kandy and finally to the Head office in Colombo as he steadily rose to ultimately become Chairman and Board Director of the JEDB and a member of the Tea Board. He went through many setbacks, from a molten cocktail thrown into the master bedroom in the middle of the night at Watagoda which miraculously didn’t explode (I was apparently just a year old) to prematurely having to retire at the prime of his career due to political reasons. In his early ’50s he commenced his own plantation management consultancy practice whilst taking an active interest in managing our properties in Eheliyagoda.

He took great pride in the fact that the plantations under his purview were consistently top of the league in performance rankings and retained all his records in a separate cabinet diligently filed and indexed. He represented the country in many international tea forums and presented many papers on agriculture. He was a regular contributor to newspapers sharing his technical knowledge well into his retirement.

When a group of senior planters invited him to dinner soon after his 80th birthday and presented him with a plaque recognizing his contribution to their careers, how much he was overcome with emotion! His crowning moment, however was when he was awarded a special plaque for his outstanding contribution to the tea industry by the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka at the international tea conference in 2017.

Being a Government servant almost all his life, with meagre savings he was able to somehow ensure my sister and I got the very best of education locally and overseas. In the latter years his devotion to family extended to his grandchildren, cousins, relations and his neighbours to whom he was a constant source of encouragement and advice.

Although a Methodist by birth he was a devotee of Mother Mary. My mother was a Roman Catholic and when he was asked by a close friend to assist Gonapinawala convent in Hikkaduwa - a school for mentally challenged children, well into his retirement, he took on the project to cultivate cinnamon in their lands which ensured their financial independence for years to come.

His greatest disappointment by far was losing my mother eight years back. She was the wind beneath his wings. It was sad to see how the lion lost his roar after her demise and he would often say he would trade all he had if he could bring her back.

My father was a unique personality, a visionary, who rose from the ranks to reach the top of his profession through integrity, hard work, discipline and a genuine commitment to people. Whilst there were numerous challenges and setbacks that he overcame, he was blessed with a loving family, travelled widely, enjoyed the best of food and drink, a massive network of relatives and friends, and lived a good and productive life. His mind was active until the very end and I was privileged to be by his side when he died peacefully at his home in Colombo 5, at the ripe old age of 87.

Thank you Thathi for being a wonderful role model. You may be gone from my sight but you are never gone from my heart.

LETTERS/APPRECIATIONS

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2021-09-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailylankadeepa.pressreader.com/article/282321093127332

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