Tales of Mystery and Suspense – 23

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

As I have noted with regard to the adventures of John Rebus, I am indebted to Dinali Fernando and her husband Steve for whole hosts of thrillers. The latter strongly recommended Kate Atkinson when I borrowed four books. I wondered about this, for I had not been too impressed with her debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which was amongst the entries I had to judge for the Eurasian section of the Commonwealth Writing Prize. Two decades later, I had forgotten what it had been about.

But I am glad Steve persuaded me to read her. Kate Atkinson is distinctively British, and Death at the Sign of the Rook is set in a country house and the surrounding village, and seems a modern descendant of the laidback Agatha Christies I so much enjoy.

There are, however, many differences in that we have a policeman who can go rogue, like Rebus, with again a female sidekick who has a mind of her own, again like Rebus. But Jackson Brodie has retired and set up as a private investigator, while Reggie, a young lady, is still in the police.

There is a lesbian couple living in the converted dairy of the manor house, as has occurred in Agatha Christie too, in A Murder is Announced. But they are peripheral to the story, unlike Ben, the brother of one of them who left the army after losing a leg in Afghanistan. When he turns up at the Manor House to shelter from a snowstorm, along with its chatelaine, Lady Milton, he is asked to answer the door as various characters turn up, including Jackson and Reggie, who then starts fantasising about him.

The others who turn up are two couples, one from America, who have paid for a murder weekend at the hotel. The family is impoverished, and has sold lots of pictures to survive, but most recently a Turner had been stolen, almost certainly by Lady Milton’s housekeeper Sophie, who vanished one night along with the picture. Reggie had been involved in that investigation, but there had been no trace of either picture or young lady.

Jackson Brodie suspects a connection between that theft and the one he has been called in to investigate, which has not been reported to the police. The picture hung opposite the bed of an old woman whose carer vanished after she died, along with it. Her children, adopted twins, have asked Jackson to investigate and also try to trace the carer, though he suspects something strange in that they did not go to the police.

Kate Atkinson

Brodie, in studying the stolen art, is also struck by the disappearance of a Rembrandt from a house in Scotland, along with a member of the cleaning staff. He thinks the three women might be the same one.

But Brodie’s assumption that the three women who vanished when valuable pictures did were identical would not have helped except that Beatrice, as she was also called, kept turning up, including to the funeral home where the old lady’s body was kept. And then that picture turned up, in the village church, and was found by the local vicar, Simon Cate, whose life story is also a prominent feature of the novel. He was an aspiring actor but then smitten by faith, and became a priest, but in time he lost his faith. His wife left him after the death of their son, and he is now in this backwater, where he feels he is of no use to anyone. But he has a great feel for living beings, and his most successful service has been one in which he blessed pets. And he was deeply concerned about the bees that Ben looks after for his sister and her wife.

He too staggers into the manor house in the midst of the storm, in which everyone concerned loses their way comprehensively. But amongst those Ben lets in is a man in a tracksuit with cuts and bruises, who then vanishes after he has been led to a bedroom, when Ben went in search of brandy. We soon work out that it is the escaped murderer about whom Reggie has been alerted.

Simon also turns up, through the back door, carrying the picture and also a gun, for he has found the dead body of one of his parishioners when he went to her house in search of his mobile phone. She had been shot and he had picked up the gun he found there. But he could not tell the police, for though he called he had lost his voice, and for the last few days had communicated only through writing.

This chaotic mix of characters at the manor house is further complicated by the group of players putting on the murder mystery play though some members have either cried off or died before reaching the venue. So, there is much doubling up and confusion over who is an actor and who is not.

The grand now largely empty rooms of the manor house, and its various odd passages and multiple doors, make it a splendid set for the lunacy that runs on and on. Reggie finds herself in a pantry Atkinsonwith a dead body, though this turns out to be the nanny who fell down the stairs and was put there by Lady Milton’s younger son. And there is high drama on the roof when the murderer nearly kills Ben, but he is saved by Reggie, and when he tries to kill Brody with an axe, he is shot by Beatrice, who has been the maid who served at the dinner before the murder mystery play, and explains to Brody how she has managed all her thefts.

And then in the melee, she vanishes on a motorbike, along with the daughter of the old lady’s adopted daughter, the only person who seemed to grieve at the funeral, and to whom the old lady had left her house in a codicil to her will, which her children have not known about. She leaves the picture to the carer, but it is brought to Simon Cate as he lies in hospital, recovering from a heart attack which adds confusion to the play.

Wonderfully convoluted, but all very clear, despite the headlong pace of the book and its shifts from one scene to another, from one character to another (or rather combinations of them) and from one-time span to another. A writer and a detective well worth looking out for. e more books by her on Dinali’s shelves.

by Capt. (Ret.).G.A. Fernando, MBA

There are three essential components to a commercial airline operation: safety, security and teamwork.

Aviation and teamwork at the ‘sharp’ end of a commercial aircraft, i.e. the flight deck, is unique. Unlike many other teams, it may be quite literally the first and the last time a particular combination of small teams of two, three, or four individual airmen (or women) will fly together. Sometimes even in the same airline that employs them.

Therefore, to make conditions safe and practical, while understanding and trusting tech other, they have to rely on a series of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and ‘Normal’ and ‘Emergency’ checklists for every conceivable situation. That is, to be able to do the right things, and do things right. In fact, there is a saying in aviation to the effect that ‘if you make a mistake in aviation, be original and make a new one’.

To ensure that safety standards are constantly maintained, airline pilots’ proficiency is tested every six months, in simulators, under the supervision of examiners from the civil aviation regulator. In Sri Lanka that organisaton is the Civil Aviation Authority-Sri Lanka (CAASL). Three simulator checks are conducted every 12 months in keeping with the tenet that ‘practice makes perfect’. A pithy adage not confined to the world of aviation warns that ‘prior preparation prevents piss-poor performance’.

The simulator exercises include rejected takeoffs, including in cross-wind situations, landings, engine fires and/or engine failures from a variety of causes, cabin pressurisation failure, precision and non-precision approaches, and landings in bad visibility – amongst other conditions that could be expected in actual flight.

In addition, a flight in a real airplane, on a regular passenger service under the supervision of an examiner from the airline, is undertaken to ensure that the company’s standard practices and procedures are carried out and maintained as prescribed in the airline’s manuals. These publications are in turn approved by the national regulator.

Crash axe

Finally, flight crew members must take a written test annually, on emergency equipment locations and procedures, with 90% as the pass mark.

Since the mid-1980s it has been mandatory for airline pilots to undertake a Crew Resource Management (CRM) programme once every two years. This training essentially emphasises what to do and what not to do to, in a specific emergency situation, or even during normal operations, to make the team cohesive and effective. During the course, the CRM facilitators discuss recent incidents and accidents that have occurred. Results of those events are recorded and could be retrieved, when necessary, by the official aviation bodies.

Not unexpectedly, it is demanding on a pilot to fulfill these requirements on a regular basis throughout his/her career, along with presenting for a bi-annual medical examination, all with the objective of retaining one’s licence to operate an aircraft. It may not be understood, therefore, by persons outside the aviation industry, or even some working in other aspects of an airline organisation, that it is often the passion for flight that keeps many pilots doing what they do to earn a living.

Security

Another important factor is the challenge of maintaining security in all aspects of airline operations, not least in the cockpit. The challenges are many, with new ones surfacing almost every day. It is therefore essential to be always prepared for the activities and ‘methods’ of perpetrators seeking to wreak evil on an aircraft and its occupants. As it is impossible for any airline or national security organisation to cover all aspects, systematic management of risks to effect a safe outcome becomes imperative.

Flydubai Incident

In the recent Flydubai incident of 30 September, 2026, a first officer (co-pilot) attacked the captain of the flight with a crash axe to accomplish his sinister motives, into which investigations are continuing. For the time being, it prompts the questions: should the crash axe be easily accessible to the flight crew? Or even be there at all? I believe it is a case of assessing the greater risk.

With regard to that event, and the circumstances that led to it, other deterrents could have been applied more thoroughly. For example, more thorough screening of pilots’ and other crewpersons’ backgrounds, with emphasis on their mental health, ideological affiliations and previous employment history. Separately, during a time of conflict in the Middle East, should Flydubai have even been operating between Dubai and Tel Aviv? Notwithstanding that cost-cutting and profit maximisation are key aims of any business, an airline’s apparent failure to conduct adequate psychological profiling of flight crew members, while continuing to operate ‘profitable’ routes, regardless of potential danger, can only be regarded and condemned as greed and disregard for human lives.

( Captain. Fernando, RCyAF, SLAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, Singapore Airlines (SIA), SriLankan Airlines, Former Chief Pilot, Air Lanka Boeing 737, Former Deputy Chief Pilot, Lockheed L 1011, Former Crew Resource Management (CRM) Facilitator, SIA, Former Deputy Director (Air Operations) CAASL, Former President, Aircraft Owners and Operators Association Sri Lanka (AOAOASL), President, The Colombo Flying Club, Representative for Aviation, Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA), Hony, and Member Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics.)

By Nilakshan Perera

commemorate 45 years since 26 young men embarked on a journey that would become an enduring chapter in the history of the Sri Lanka Army.

For me, the story has a particularly personal beginning. Sometime in early October, 1981, a good friend of mine, with whom I had been in the same cadet platoon, from 1978, and who was the Sergeant of the 1980 platoon, which became Island champions, needed a college blazer for his Army final interview. I borrowed one from a friend in Panadura and carried it for him. He then boarded the same bus from Katubedda, and I accompanied him for his interview. A few days later, he shared the wonderful news that he had been selected for Officer Cadet Intake 16 and would report to Diyatalawa on 16 October, 1981.

What followed became history. He emerged as the best officer Cadet, winning the coveted Sword of Honour and becoming a Cadet Under Officer. Decades later, he became the 22nd Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, establishing several remarkable milestones. He was the first Special Forces officer to command the Army, a first Para trooper, the first graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College to become Army Commander, and the first Cadet Under Officer and Sword of Honour recipient to rise to that position.

His journey was not without adversity. Following the 2010 Presidential Election, he was asked to leave the Army. Amid the uncertainty and threats surrounding him, I was one of the first to visit him at his residence. In 2015, he was reinstated and subsequently served as Military Secretary, Commander Security Forces – Jaffna, and Chief of Staff before assuming command of the Army on 4 July, 2017. The rest is history.

On 16 October, 1981, at Army Headquarters, a bus waited to take 26 young school leavers to Diyatalawa. Among them were Mahesh Senanayake (Ananda), Janaka Walgama (Nalanda), Udaya Perera (De Mazenod), Srimal Kasthuriarachchi (St Anthony’s, Katugastota), Edward Thanjaratnam (St John’s College, Jaffna), Prasanna Wickremesooriya (Nalanda), Jagath Alwis and Pradeep Jayasuriya (Ananda), Sooriya Senanayake (D. S. Senanayake), TRA Aliba (Lumbini), P Raveendran (Hindu College, Jaffna), JN Pushparaj (St Michael’s, Batticaloa), MRC de Silva (St Benedict’s, Kotahena), Uraj de Silva (Prince of Wales), Nirmal Coswatte (Dharmaraja), TM Mahindaratne (Vidyartha), Amal Karuasekera ( Nalanda) and Bimal Dias ( Royal)

The intake also included five servicemen who had already excelled in the Other Ranks, including two Olympic athletes, an Army Decathlon champion, a Sri Lanka volleyball star and a graduate. They were A Premachandra, KTN Perera, SM Piyatilake, KAS Siriwardena, HK Chandrasena.Late that night, on their arrival at the Military Academy, they were traditionally welcome by Seniors of Intake 15, (intermediates) near “PANDAMA”. Then came the reality of cadet life, running on the double, relentless discipline and demanding training. Intake 14, as the super seniors, and cadets of Short Service Course 3 were also there to ensure that the newcomers quickly understood the traditions and rigour of SLMA.

They were trained under dedicated instructors, including Course Commanders of initial months, Capt. Lucky Rajasinghe (retired as Col) and Capt. Wasantha Pamunuwa (retired as Col) Course Sergeant TH Thajudeen, PTI Bombardier Senerath Bandara, and Chief Instructor Late Maj. Janaka Perera (retired as Maj Gen), Major Devinda Kalupahana (retired as Maj Gen) and Maj. Lalith Gunaratne (retired as Col)

Their training tested every aspect of an aspiring officer. Exercise “God King” took them to sacred and historic sites such as Kataragama, Kirivehera and Sithulpawwa, connecting military training with the heritage of their motherland. Exercise “Frozen Trout” tested them for 10 days in the cold, mist and rain of Ambewela and Pattipola, covering conventional warfare and battle procedures. Remarkably, Intake 16 underwent this exercise three times. Exercise “Wana Bambara” took them deep into the jungles around Wellawaya for Counter-Revolutionary Warfare training, while exercise “Scorpion” tested their ability to conduct Internal Security and counter-insurgency operations around Walimada. Intake 16 also became the first Officer Cadet Intake at the Sri Lanka Military Academy to undergo the Basic Commando Course before the passing out.

After 22 months of rigorous training, the moment of truth arrived on 23 June, 1983. Of the original 26 cadets, 19 were commissioned as Second Lieutenants. It was the largest passing-out parade of its time, with around 1,000 Army recruits passed out alongside them. The parade was commanded by Major Nanda Mallawarachchi (retired as Maj Gen), while the Officer Cadet contingent was commanded by Cadet Under Officer Mahesh Senanayake, who had won the Sword of Honour for the highest marks in the Order of Merit. He also received the Current Affairs prize, while Cadet Sergeant Janaka Walgama received the Tactics prize. The Chief Guest was the Commander of the Army, Major General TI Weeratunge.

The 19 newly commissioned officers were then posted to their respective regiments and began their national duty with integrity, passion and courage. During the brutal conflict in the North and East, two of their brothers made the supreme sacrifice. Lieutenant Colonel Sooriya Senanayake, of SLLI, was killed in action at Kadduvan, Jaffna, on 30 May, 1992. Lieutenant Colonel TRA Aliba, of VIR, was killed in action, at Mullaitivu, on 18 July, 1996, while commanding the 6th Battalion, Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment, during a major LTTE assault. The intake paid tribute to the memory of Captain KAS Siriwardena, Captain MRC de Silva and Major Uraj de Silva, who passed away due to health complications and unfortune accident, respectively. Their memory remains an inseparable part of the Intake 16 story, and they are remembered with the deepest gratitude.

Only five members went on to complete nearly 35 years of military service and reach retirement at senior rank, General Mahesh Senanayake, Major General Janaka Walgama, Major General Udaya Perera, Major General Jagath Alwis and Major General Nirmal Coswatte. Others took premature retirement and pursued different paths, but the bond forged at Diyatalawa never diminished.

Forty-five years later, the memories remain vivid, the parade square, the mist of Diyatalawa, the hardships, the laughter, the friendships, the sacrifices and the pride of wearing the uniform. They entered Diyatalawa as young men and emerged as officers. Some became generals, one became Commander of the Army, some made the ultimate sacrifice, and others continued to serve the Nation in different ways. But above rank, appointment and circumstance, they remain what they became at Diyatalawa, brothers of Intake 16.

As they mark 45 years since that historic 16 October, 1981, we salute every member of Intake 16, remember with gratitude those who are no longer with us, and honour a generation that served the Nation with pride, courage and dedication.

Forty-five years of service.
Forty-five years of sacrifice.
Forty-five years of brotherhood.

Happy 45th Anniversary,
Intake 16!

16 October, 1981 – 16 October, 2026

Proudly served. Honourably remembered.