Features
BUSY, WORK AND PLAY – Part 35
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
The First Hello
One mid-morning, I was working in my office busy with menu planning and writing the store’s requisitions for the next day. I was interrupted by an unexpected visitor. She was the Hotel Ceysands General Manager, Captain D. A. Wickramasinghe’s (Wicks) teenage daughter. I had met her twice before when she visited Coral Gardens Hotel with her parents a year ago, in 1976. The three of them also came to visit me when I was in the hospital in January, 1977 recovering from a near-fatal injury. However, we had never spoken with each other before.
“Hello, how are you? Are you enjoying your work at the Ceysands?” she asked, smiling beautifully. With the sea breeze flowing through the open corridors of the hotel, her long, silky hair moved gently covering her beautiful face. While adjusting her hair she giggled and told me, “My mother and I accompanied my father from Colombo this morning. We will be staying at Ceysands for a week this time.” She was a playful 17-year-old, six years younger than me. I decided to be formal with my boss’s only child. I rose up from my seat and said, “Miss Wickramasinghe, do you require anything from the kitchen?” She pulled a chair and sat, uninvited. “Forget about these formalities. Please call me Shani”, she said flirtatiously and giggled again.
After a short pause, she asked “What do people call you?”, I said, “Chandana or Chef.” Then she asked me, “Don’t you have any shorter nicknames?” I replied, “Not really… occasionally a few people have called me CJ or Chandi.” She laughed and said, “Doesn’t Chandi mean naughty? That name suits you!” “No! In Sinhala Chandiya means tough man or thug, but I am not one of those”, I said in an annoyed voice. “I like Chandi. I will always call you Chandi” she said and left my office. That day in early November 1977, I was re-branded as “Chandi” and that name stuck for the rest of my life……..
Guest Activities and Entertainment
Having decided to make Ceysands the most active hotel in the south coast of Sri Lanka, the General Manager – Captain Wicks, Hotel Manager – Alan Silva and I focused on that goal immediately. With the help of six Swedish tour leaders who lived at the hotel, we organized many sport activities for the guests. This included early morning cycle tours and brisk walks in the neighbourhood personally led by Captain Wicks. We also had tennis, beach volleyball, water skiing, surfing, sailing and numerous indoor games. One tour leader was the Resident Manager for their entire tour group operation in Sri Lanka and another tour leader specialized in water sports. Captain Wicks was an excellent tennis player and he usually found a guest for a match every afternoon. We worked very hard and in between played hard. Mixing work with fun is a good formula in hospitality.
We also played beach rugby occasionally, especially when some of the corporate executives from John Keells and Walkers Tours visited us. Some of these colleagues were outstanding rugby players like Jagath Fernando. Jagath was a brilliant fly half for Royal College, the CR & FC and the Sri Lankan national rugby team. He started his career at John Keells as a tea taster but climbed the corporate ladder rapidly (eventually becoming the Deputy Chairman or number two of the whole group). Jagath was also a friend of mine, who spent a couple of days with me when his family visited Jamaica when I was the General Manager of Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, 20 years later.
To enhance the seven dinner buffets each week, we arranged for a variety of bands to perform. In addition to the dinner music, we had lunch time calypso music. After dinner entertainment included bingo games, magic shows, special dance acts, fire limbo and oriental orchestras. A very popular weekly event was the evening serenades on the river.
Evening Serenades on the Pontoon
Once a week, after dinner we took 60 guests on a two-hour river cruise on the pontoon owned and operated by Hotel Ceysands. We arranged a band, a dance floor and a small bar on the pontoon. We floated from the hotel to the Bentota Bridge and then up to the river mouth before returning to the hotel. We decorated the pontoon with twinkling lights which made it very festive and romantic.
I created a special cocktail every week to serve each guest on boarding the pontoon. This one cocktail was included in their ticket price, however, we charged extra for additional cocktails and other beverages. Guests often had several rounds of the cocktails. My bar team had to increase advance preparations to a greater extent, to meet the overwhelming demand.
Every week I gave the week’s special cocktail a romantic name. One night my name for the special cocktail was “Rum Passion Sweetie”. Captain Wicks asked me, “What are the ingredients in your cocktail today?” I said, “dark rum, white rum, passion fruit juice, sugar syrup, orange zest.” He then asked me, “Who is Sweetie?” I simply could not tell him the truth, but when he insisted on knowing, I said, “Well, that’s my girlfriend’s nickname. She likes to remain a secret for the time being.” Only two people on board the pontoon knew the truth.
Flaming Baked Alaska for 128 guests
From the food sales analysis report, I discovered that one item in the à la carte menu – Baked Alaska was the most popular dessert among our guests. I decided to serve it to the guests on the weekly seafood nights. That posed a challenge as most of the newly recruited servers were somewhat nervous about flaming the Baked Alaska in front of the diners. I spoke with one of the Restaurant Supervisors – Nilanthi Perera and said that I would help her with the flaming of the Baked Alaska if she agreed to serve the entire restaurant. She was up to the challenge and on the first night, both of us served flaming Baked Alaska to 128 guests.
After that many of the young, new servers volunteered to be trained in serving Baked Alaska. Nilanthi and I trained those who expressed an interest in doing so. A month later, everybody in the restaurant became experts in flaming Baked Alaska.
Topless Beach
One day, the Resident Manager of the Swedish tour operator came to see Captain Wicks and said, “A few of our guests would like a separate area on the beach for nude sunbathing.” We refused citing that it was against the culture of the country. As a majority of the guests at the hotel were from his group, Walkers Tour gave him a lot of prominence and he was powerful. Eventually, we agreed to reserve a small area within the hotel premises well covered with mangrove trees as a private, topless beach, on a trial basis. We told him that if we received any complaints from the locals, we would close it.
I always felt that it was not a good idea. In my view any initiative to satisfy guest needs should blend well with the local culture. In my role, I was asked to coordinate the food and beverage service to the private, topless beach. I arranged for the service to be from the nearby pool bar. Very soon many male servers requested transfers to the pool bar!
88 on Speedboats
I was impressed with Ceysands’ boatmen who trained guests to drive the speed boats. “Chef, would you like to try driving a speedboat?” When one of them asked me that, I jumped into the boat without batting an eyelid. He trained me in the basics and I acquired the skills quickly. The next day, I learnt to drive faster while moving the boat in the figure of an eight. Eventually, I was able to do a perfect 88 on the river.
At one point I even thought of buying a second-hand speedboat at the price of Rs. 35,000 thus using all of my savings since I was a trainee waiter. Captain Wicks totally discouraged me as he thought that it was an unwise investment. He said, “Chandana, as long as you don’t overdo it, you may use a hotel speedboat for your new hobby when the guests are not renting.”
The Chief Accountant of the hotel felt that it was an unnecessary, additional expense to the hotel. Captain Wicks considered factors such as my doing long shifts seven days a week, increasing food and beverage sales and managing food cost efficiently, to justify his decision in giving me this additional job benefit. Captain Wick told the Chief Accountant, “This is the final decision, your direct superior, Priya Edrisinghe (Finance Director of Walkers Tours) agrees with me.”
Another Near Death Experience
I was amazed one day to see how quickly some tourists were able to master water skiing. When a boatman and skiing instructor asked me, “Chef, do you want to learn to water ski?” I hesitated, as I wasn’t a good swimmer. “Don’t worry Chef! With the life jacket, you will be fine in case you fall” he encouraged me.
My first attempt to water ski was a disaster. After managing for a few feet, I lost my balance and fell. The only thing I could think of was that the depth in the middle of the river was 30 feet. As I panicked the life jacket was not much of a help. I sank but came up slowly. Fearfully, I couldn’t see the speedboat any more. I sank again and as I came up for the second time, I vaguely remembered someone holding one of my arms.
That was not only my first attempt to water ski, but also the last in my whole life. I never got into a river again. Years later our house in Oakville, Canada had a large backyard underground swimming pool. My wife and children always laughed when I refused to join them in the deep end, traumatized by my fear of the depth of water…
With reports emerging that India has attacked some ‘sites’ in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the question could be posed whether the stage has just been set for yet another costly India-Pakistan military conflict. Sensible opinion in South Asia could only hope that wise counsel would sooner rather than later come to prevail on both sides of the divide and that they would draw back from the brink of full-scale war.
The states concerned ought to know fully well the possible wide-ranging weighty consequences of another regional conflict. It should be plain to see that it would benefit none in the two theatres of confrontation, most particularly the relevant publics or the ‘Silent Majority’.
In fact, in connection with the mentioned initial military attacks, the Pakistani side has gone on record that some civilian lives have been lost. Such losses could burgeon in the event of full scale hostilities. These costs could of course be staggering and unimaginable in the event the nuclear option is resorted to by the sides, going forward.
Accordingly, the hope of the peace-loving world-wide is likely to be that India and Pakistan would give negotiations a chance and resolve their differences peacefully. It would be in the best interests of the world for the champions of peace to join their voices to that of UN chief Antonio Guterres and call on the sides to negotiate an end to their differences.
The utter helplessness and misery of the people of the Gaza ought to drive home afresh the horrors of war. Currently the news is that the Gazans are literally starving to death. Food and other essentials provided by UN agencies are reportedly being prevented by Israel from getting to the hapless people of Gaza. So dire is their situation that concerned quarters are calling on the compassionate worldwide to provide the Gazans with food, water and other essentials voluntarily. This SOS would need to be heeded forthwith.
Accordingly, it could be inferred that most formal arrangements, including those that are generally under the purview of the UN, geared to providing emergency humanitarian assistance to the needy, have, for all intents and purposes, been rendered ineffective in the Gaza. The UN cannot be faulted for this state of things; rather, Israel should be held accountable in the main for it.
The matter of accountability is central to the dramatic slide into lawlessness the world has been experiencing over the past few decades. As could be seen, International Law is no longer fully applicable in the conflict and war zones of the world because it is not being adhered to by many state and non-state aggressors. That the UN is hapless in the face of such lawlessness is plain to see.
We have of course the Middle East wherein International Law has fallen silent for quite a while. How could it be otherwise, when Israeli aggressions are being winked at by the US, for which the policy of backing Israel is almost sacrosanct?
Moreover, under President Donald Trump, it is difficult to see the US changing policy course on the Middle East. Trump made vague promises of bringing peace to the region in the run-up to his reelection but has done nothing concrete by way of peace-making. Consequently, complete lawlessness prevails in the Middle East. US policy towards Israel counts as another example of how the self- interest of US central administrations blinds them to their international obligations, in this case Middle East peace.
However, the commentator could be criticized as being biased if he holds only Israel responsible for what has befallen the Middle East. It has been the position of this columnist that Israel’s security needs should be taken cognizance of by its state and non-state adversaries in the Middle East and acted upon if the basis is to be laid for a durable Middle East peace. Inasmuch as Palestinian statehood must be guaranteed, the same should be seen as applicable to Israel. The latter too enjoys the right to live in a secure state of its own, unopposed by its neighbours.
The Ukraine of today is also sad testimony to the ill consequences of powerful, aggressor states wantonly disregarding International Law and its obligations. Nothing could justify Russia in invading Ukraine and subjecting it to a condition of Longsuffering. Clearly, Ukraine’s sovereignty has been violated and such excesses go to the heart of the current state of ‘International Disorder’. Of course the same stricture applies to the US in relation to its military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, to name just two such modern examples.
There is no ducking the fact, then, that civilian publics in the mentioned theatres of war and outside, are being subjected to the worst suffering as a consequence of the big powers’ self-aggrandizement schemes and military misadventures. Longsuffering becomes the tragic lot of the people who have nothing to do with such unbridled power ambitions.
One would not be exaggerating the case if he states that civilian publics count for almost nothing in the present ‘International Disorder’. Increasingly it is becoming evident that from the viewpoint of the big powers and authoritarian governments the people are of little or no importance. Considering that self-aggrandizement is of the paramount interest for the former the public interest is coming to be seen as inconsequential.
Consequently, not much of a case could be made currently for the once almost reverentially spoken of ‘Social Contract’. For, the public interest does not count for much in the scrambles for power among the major powers who are seen at the popular level as the principal history-makers.
It is in view of the above that much is expected of India. Today the latter is a ‘Swing State’ of the first importance. Besides being a major democracy, it is one of the world’s principal economic and military powers. It possesses abundant potential to help to put things right in international politics. If there is one state in Asia that could help in restoring respect for International Law, it is India.
Considering the above, India, one believes, is obliged to bear the responsibility of keeping South Asia free of any more long-running, wasting wars that could aggravate the material hardships and socio-economic blights of the region. Thus, India would need to consider it imperative to negotiating peace with Pakistan.
Under the Global-Ise Australia Advanced Sports Development Programme, a delegation of 15 swimmers from Lyceum International School, Wattala, had the remarkable opportunity to train and experience high-performance sports development in Melbourne, Australia.
The 10-day programme was carefully curated to offer intensive training, educational exposure, and cultural experiences for the young athletes.
The swimmers underwent specialised training through Swimming Victoria’s elite programme, held at some of Melbourne’s premier aquatic facilities.
Visit to Victorian Parliament
Each day began as early as 5:00 a.m. and continued until 7:00 p.m., ensuring a rigorous and enriching schedule that mirrored the standards of international competitive swimming.
Beyond training, the programme offered a wide array of experiences to broaden the students’ horizons.
Morning training
The tour group explored iconic landmarks such as the Victorian Parliament and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and enjoyed shopping at Chadstone – The Fashion Capital. They also experienced the natural beauty of Victoria with visits to Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery, and Cardinia Reservoir Park, where they observed kangaroos in their natural habitat.
An academic highlight of the tour was the group’s exclusive visits to three of Australia’s leading universities: the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Deakin University. These visits aimed to inspire students and showcase the vast educational opportunities available in Australia.
Checking out the scene at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery
As part of the cultural immersion, Global-Ise hosted a traditional Australian BBQ at the Tim Neville Arboretum in Ferntree Gully. The students also enjoyed a variety of diverse culinary experiences each evening, further enriching their understanding of local and international food cultures.
The tour concluded with a celebratory dinner at the Spicy Wicket Restaurant, where each participant received a presentation in recognition of their involvement.
Enjoying an Aussie BBQ for lunch
The evening was made especially memorable by the presence of Pradeepa Saram, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Victoria.
Global-Ise Management—Ken Jacobs, Johann Jayasinha, and Dr Luckmika Perera (Consultant from the University of Melbourne)—did a magnificent job in planning and the execution of the advanced sports programme.
Coaches from Sri Lanka presenting a plaque to Global-Ise Management team
Ken Jacobs (centre), Johann Jayasinha, and Dr Luckmika Perera (on the right
Hi! How’s the beauty scene keeping with you?
Phew, this heat is awful but there is nothing that we can do about it.
However, there are ways and means to take care of your skin and I will do my best to help you in every way I can.
Well, this week, let’s go for a Bright, Smooth Skin.
Gram flour (also known as besan) is a traditional skincare ingredient known for its:
* Natural exfoliating properties.
* Ability to absorb excess oil.
* Gentle brightening and tan-removal effects.
* Suitability for all skin types, especially oily and acne-prone skin.
You will need 01–02 tablespoons gram flour (besan) and rose water, or raw milk, to make a paste.
You could add the following two as optional add-ins: A pinch of turmeric (for extra glow), and a few drops of lemon juice (for oily skin and pigmentation)
Add the gram flour to a small bowl and mix in the rose water (for oily/sensitive skin) or raw milk (for dry skin) slowly.
Stir well to make a smooth, spreadable paste—not too thick, not too runny.
Now apply this mixture, evenly, to your damp face and neck, and let it sit for 5–10 minutes (don’t let it dry completely if you have dry skin).
Gently massage in circular motions using wet fingers—this helps exfoliate.
Rinse off with lukewarm water, and then pat your skin dry.
Use it 02–03 times a week for best results.
Skin Benefits:
* Removes dirt, sweat, and oil without stripping natural moisture.
* Gently exfoliates dead skin cells, revealing smoother skin.
* Brightens the complexion and fades mild tanning.
* Helps clear clogged pores and reduce pimples.
* Leaves skin fresh and glowing—perfect for humid climates.
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