My Seeya, the walking encyclopaedia

If kindness, empathy and mutual respect combined, had a face, it would my Seeya. He had a big impact on my life. Others who met him would say no different.

Prassana Kumar Wickramarachi was born in Gampaha in 1935 to Charles and Irene Wickramarachi, the second of eight children. His siblings fondly remember him as the fun older brother who would bring them treats and take them out for movies.

He schooled at Ananda College and then later joined the Posts and Telecommunications Department as a Telecommunications Engineer. The driving force in his life was his passion for telecommunications – how advancements in information technology had a significant impact on enhancing the way people communicated. He had this childlike curiosity and amazement in the way modern developments in technology transformed the quality of life for people. He never lost this passion for all things related to engineering and technology till the very end.

With training in Germany and England, he made his way up to become the first Managing Director of Sri Lanka Telecom in 1991.

Seeya also worked with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), the Asia Pacific regional telecommunication organisation based in Thailand, initially as its Project Engineer and subsequently as Chairman of the Management Committee. This gave him wide exposure to telecommunication development issues including funding and reforms in the Asia Pacific region. Subsequently, as Telecom Consultant with PERC he played a key coordinating role in the conversion of SLT to a strategic alliance and privatised company. He compiled all his career experiences into a book called ‘My Recollections’ in 2015 with the help of my father, Rohan.

One quality that I admired the most about Seeya was his ability to show compassion to others. It came naturally to him; he would treat people from all walks of life equally. He had this quality of making people around him feel comfortable and never inferior. That enabled him to bond with people irrespective of their race, culture or background.

This led to him and my grandmother Chandrani – who was always the gracious hostess supporting my grandfather in all his ventures till the last day - having a large circle of friends and relations who adored them. My grandparents were lucky to have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2017 amidst a gathering of family and friends close to their hearts.

Seeya was a walking encyclopaedia. The ample knowledge he carried about various topics was always so fascinating. Mealtimes at my grandparents’ were occasions that we always looked forward to. My brother Kivindu and I being his only grandchildren learnt a lot just through the conversations at the dinner table. It could be about world history, a sport, music, or even the progress of technology, Seeya was able to deliver so much information, incorporating personal experiences, giving us an insight into how life was back then.

He was an avid reader and he would almost throw a tantrum if he was not able to get his hands on the daily newspaper each morning. Even his failing eye sight towards the end did not stop him from reading.

Photography was another of his hobbies passed down to us - my uncle Sanjeewa, my brother and I. My mother Damayanthi has acquired his love for music – not just one, but a variety of genres!

In his 84 years of life, he achieved so much, travelled the world, shared his wisdom, helped so many individuals in various ways and made us all better people. It has been two years without him and we miss him dearly. He is fondly remembered with unending love by immediate family – Chandrani, Damayanthi, Sanjeewa, Rohan, Heather, Kivindu, Kavya and friends and relations.