Career choice in the midst of a revolution

Confessions of a Global Gypsy

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil Insurgency!

The 5th of April has been a bad day for Ceylon. On that day in 1942, the Japanese bombed Colombo. Exactly 29 years later, on the same day in 1971, an armed revolt was commenced by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the Government of Ceylon. The JVP was successful in recruiting a force of around 10,000 full-time members. Most were students and unemployed youth from rural areas who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the government. The JVP believed that the local police stations were the government’s key element of power. Therefore, they hoped to remove this presence of power and see the local populace rise up in their support to bring about a revolution.

I was 17-years old at that time, and was a grade 12 student at Ananda College in Colombo 10. For months, we felt the tension building, with police looking suspiciously at youth in their late teens, particularly those with facial hair like me. In the opinion of police, such youth were expressing their solidarity with the JVP and sympathy with the late Che Guevara (killed by CIA in 1967), who was a key inspiration to the JVP. At dawn on April 5, 1971, the Wellawaya police station came under attack and five police constables were killed by the JVP. With that fatal attack a bloody war commenced. All schools were closed indefinitely, curfews were in force, and a state of emergency was declared. That day my life changed, forever…

Army?

Throughout my 13 years from Kindergarten to grade 12, I was a very bad student at Ananda College. I declined to read any assigned texts, and devoutly ignored homework assignments. Therefore, my teachers were surprised when I passed the grade 10 Ordinary Level government examinations on my first attempt. I was good at sports and showed some leadership qualities. I practiced Judo at the central YMCA, and represented the school in Rugby Football. I was average in track and field events, but was elected by my peers as one of the four Athletic House Captains.

More importantly, I was a cadet and held the rank of Corporal. During my annual cadeting trips to army camps in Diyatalawa, I decided that I would join the Army as an officer cadet for a two-year training program when I turned 18. My career ambition was to then get promoted as a Second Lieutenant at age 20, with a long-term goal of eventually becoming a General in my early-40s. That was my dream, but it was shattered when my parents had a serious meeting with me during the height of the JVP insurgency. They told me that: “a career in the Army is now far too dangerous and we do not want our only son to die at war!”. That was the end of that discussion.

Choices

I was forced to choose another career. As my parents had doubts that I would be successful at grade 12 Advance Level government examinations to enter a university, they gave me three choices and wanted me to pick one. My father provided some pros and cons for all three choices:

Visual Arts – Just like my parents, I was good in drawing, painting, and sculpture. Therefore, one option for me was to do a three-year Diploma at Heywood Art School and build a career in visual arts. My father said: “No doubt that you will enjoy it, but we are not sure if you could make a comfortable living from art in a poor country!”

Trainee in a Company – My father had some good contacts with large companies, and said that: “I can find a junior trainee job for you where you will have to start at the bottom.”

Hospitality and Tourism – My father then said that: “Once the war ends, Tourism has the potential of becoming a key non-traditional industry in Ceylon, and those who earn a recognized qualification and join the industry at an early stage of this industry will have good opportunities to do well. There is a Hotel School in Colombo, run by European faculty, which offers a three-year diploma in Hotel and Catering Operations”.

At that time, I had enjoyed meeting a few foreigners and tourists by the Kinross Swimming & Life Saving Club in Wellawatte, where I used to jog and sea bathe with a few of my buddies from Bambalapitiya Flats, without our parent’s knowledge. Therefore, the opportunity to meet European faculty was interesting to me. Living in a hostel for three years and getting good and “free” food were also encouraging selling points from my father. I said: “OK, I will become a hotelier!”, without fully realizing what that notion, really entailed.

Challenges

I soon realized that I had a major challenge in joining the Ceylon Hotel School (CHS). At that time, we rarely spoke English at Ananda College. Therefore, I became very nervous when my father told me that the education at CHS would be conducted in English with French and German as mandatory subjects. Another challenge was that at 17-years, I was underage to join CHS. Once again, I thought about other options. After two weeks of fighting with JVP, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas of the island and the war ended in June of 1971. At that point, I attempted to convince my parents that my proposed Army career would be less dangerous than what they had predicted. I was unsuccessful in convincing them.

I eventually applied to CHS. As I was not sure if I would do well at my first-ever interview, my father did a series of mock interviews in English, at home. I learned English words such as “cutlery”, “crockery”, and “wine” for the first time during my interview preparation. Despite this, I did terribly at the interview. There were hundreds of applicants for 28 vacancies, and I doubted that I would be chosen. During that time in Ceylon, many things happened based on “political pull” rather than the true merits of applicants. Most of the applicants to CHS were from influential families. Therefore, I was surprised when I received a letter confirming that I had been accepted to CHS. We did not talk about it, but I was convinced that my father “did the needful” to get me chosen!

Shock!

I was still not out of the woods. I had to practice a lot and improve my English before the first day at CHS. When my father finally accompanied me to the CHS hostel in Steuart Place, Colombo 3 (where SLTDA and SLITHM are located, now) on Sunday, October 10, 1971, I was in for a rude shock. Instead of a warm welcome by the second-year and third-year students, a horrible week-long ragging (initiation ritual or hazing) was awaiting the batch of 28 new students. Soon after the parents left, the ragging began.

The freshers were told that they could not address senior students by their names unless they added the words “Lord Veteran” to their names, as a mark of respect. Similarly, freshers were strictly prohibited from mentioning their own names without adding the words “Fresher F***er”. For an example, I had to introduce myself, repeatedly throughout the first week, as: “Fresher F***er Chandana Jayawardena”.

(The writer is President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

chandij@sympatico.ca )

Some more challenges followed over my memorable and eventful three years at CHS. More, next week…