Features
HOTEL SCHOOL NOSTALGIA LIVES ON… – Part 21
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 50th Anniversary of CHSGA
On October 16, 2021 I attended another annual general meeting (AGM) of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA). This week, both CHSGA and I celebrated 50 years in hospitality. As a Past President of CHSGA (1985-1986) I am proud of the work done by all my 27 predecessors and the current executive committee, which includes many of my past students of the Ceylon Hotel School (CHS). They have taken the association to 
Usually, the CHSGA AGM is a three-day event of professional, social and fellowship celebrations. Due to the pandemic, we had to settle for less via Zoom; but the show went on. Considering the humble beginnings of CHSGA in 1971 at the CHS hostel with fewer than 50 members, it is impressive that CHSGA now has over 1,200 professional members and is going from strength to strength.
Like many other hospitality institutions, CHSGA is affected by the pandemic. However, its commitment to professional development of its members through centres for excellence and support to the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) and students continues commendably. CHSHA due to previous fund-raising efforts and projects such as the Hotel Show, continues to be financially sound.
A nostalgic interview
On October 17, 2021, the 3,550-member strong (from over 100-countries) Global Hospitality Forum (GHF) hosted its first-ever online Q&A session. It was organized with the assistance from the International Tourism Volunteers Association (ITVA). I interviewed a CHS graduate of the first batch (1966-1969), who taught me hospitality 50 years ago. As a former student of Mr. Rohan De Silva Jayasundara, it was indeed nostalgic and an honour for me to do this interview. With a view of inspiring the audience, I asked of series of questions about my lecturer’s amazing career in hospitality education in seven countries. Listening to this legend in International Hospitality Education talk about his career in Sri Lanka, West Germany, Brunei, Australia, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, and Marshall Islands was a rare opportunity.
For the benefit of those who missed the webinar, the organizers will post its video clip on Facebook pages of GHF and ITVA. Encouraged with its popularity, it was decided to hold such online Q&A sessions with hospitality legends (with over 50 years’ experience in distinguished careers), every month. On November 14, the Global Hospitality Forum’s Q&A session will be with Mahinda Ratnayake who as General Manager, opened the first ever five-star resort in Sri Lanka in 1982 – Triton Hotel. These sessions are open for anyone interested, free of charge.
Interviews at Hotel Lanka Oberoi
In 1974 I did well at my first interview for a post of chef de partie at Hotel Lanka Oberoi which was getting ready to open the largest hotel in Sri Lanka. After the interview I was short listed for a kitchen practical test held at Hotel Renuka where the Executive Chef of Lanka Oberoi and his senior brigade stayed during the hotel’s pre-opening stage. The practical test was to prepare a full meal from a surprise menu given to the finalists five minutes before its commencement. I thought I did well but was not chosen. Later, I heard that the successful candidate was Das Perumpaladas, the Executive Chef of Hotel Renuka and a graduate of the CHS, three years my senior. I realized that they valued his executive chef experience in a small three-star hotel gained over three years.
A week later I was called for two more interviews – one of them at Hotel Lanka Oberoi. The other was at the head office of Whittall Boustead Ltd./Ceylon Holiday Resorts, the owners of my favourite, Bentota Beach and its sister hotel, Coral Gardens. At Hotel Lanka Oberoi I was interviewed by Mr. Joe Madawela, the charismatic Personnel Manager, who was in charge of hiring over 600 employees for the hotel opening. He told me that although I did not make it as a chef de partie, I would be a good candidate for a post such as a bar supervisor. He also told me that if I do well there, I may get an opportunity in a couple of years to be further trained at the Oberoi School of Hotel Management in India for two years. That was the key to become a hotel manager within this regional hotel chain. I agreed to think about it and get back within a week if I was interested.
Eleven years later, I met Joe for the second time. In 1985, he was managing the Queens Hotel in Kandy on a secondment from Hotel Lanka Oberoi. I was then the General Manager of the two largest hotels of John Keells Group – The Lodge and The Village, Habarana. I was also the Founding President of Rajarata Hotels Association (North Central Province). The hoteliers in Kandy were thinking of forming a similar association and sought my advice. To advise them and share our best practices from the NCP, I made a couple of trips to Kandy. I enjoyed chatting with Joe during one of those visits. He had a remarkable memory and narrated details of my interview with him 11 years earlier saying he was disappointed that I did not take his offer in 1974 as he thought that I would have done well with Oberoi. Four years later in 1989, I finally accepted an ‘expatriate contract’ offer from the Oberoi Group and became the Food and Beverage Manager of Hotel Babylon Oberoi in Baghdad, Iraq. Of the ten managers who reported to me, half were graduates of the Oberoi School of Hotel Management in India.
An offer from Bentota Beach Hotel
When I went for the interview at Whittall Boustead, I was immediately offered the post of Trainee Executive Chef (number three in the kitchen) at Bentota Beach Hotel. Mr. Gilbert Paranagama, the Director in charge of their two hotels told me that the management of the hotel was impressed with my work during my recent CHS internship. He made a good offer of a 500-rupee salary and free board and lodging at the executive quarters within the hotel. I was very pleased and accepted the offer. He also briefly introduced me to the Company Chairman, Mr. Sanmugam Cumaraswamy, a well-known Chartered Accountant and businessman.
Leaving Colombo
When I gave notice and handed over my resignation from Havelock Tourinn, the General Manager, Mr. C. Nagendra was very disappointed. He was shocked that someone would leave the position assistant manager of a city hotel to become number three chef in a resort hotel. However, having made my career plan, I was convinced that I was making the right move. Leaving Colombo was not easy. It was my birth place and I lived there for the first 20 years of my life. With my career move, and the desire to live in different parts of Sri Lanka, I knew that I would miss my family, friends, Judo club, many social events and entertainment.
I kept in touch with many of my CHS friends now scattered around the country and students from junior CHS batches who were continuing in Colombo. The friendships that commenced in 1971 at CHS, have now continued for over 50 years. Since 2011, I administered a private Facebook group I founded. It is branded as ‘CHS Lord Veterans’, where nearly 100 CHS colleagues who graduated with the original three-year diploma between 1969 and 1976, are connected around the world. The members of this exclusive group regularly share past, present and future posts. Most are retired now and sadly over a dozen have passed away in recent years. Another recent initiative is a WhatsApp group branded as, ‘Seftonites – 66-76’ exclusively for those CHS colleagues who lived in our good old hostel – Sefton, named after an original expatriate faculty member. This WhatsApp group is very active with several general posts and comments every day. The bonding we made at CHS is very special and the CHS nostalgia lives on…
A Brief Romance in Negombo
After that, I planned to spend two days at Blue Oceanic Hotel in Negombo with two friends. One of my high school mates, Ruvan Samarasinghe (now the Managing Director at Jetwing Hotels) was the Manager of this first hotel built by Mr. Herbert Cooray for his Jetwing Group. One of my batchmates, Sunil Dissanayake (now the CEO of BMICH) was the Front Office Manager. Like all Sri Lankan hoteliers, Ruvan and Dissa were very hospitable. They hosted me generously.
On my first evening at Blue Oceanic, Ruvan invited me for dinner after drinks at the bar. A few young Swedish tourists who were very friendly asked why we were laughing so much and joined our table. A 19-year-old girl, whose nickname was Blondie, asked me, “Chandi, what kind of music is played by the hotel band?” When I told her that it was Calypso from Trinidad and Tobago, she asked me, “Can you dance to this music?” “Yes, I will show you.” I was quick to grab her before my friends got ideas and took her to the dance floor to show her how it’s done. We later went for a long care-free, barefoot beach walk counting fishing boats and the stars on a beautiful moon-lit night.
I met those friendly tourists again the next morning and ended up hanging out with them on the beach the whole day. The next day I had to leave early for Bentota to begin my new job at Bentota Beach Hotel. When I said goodbye, Blondie promised “I will write to you” and did so regularly for the next three years. We became pen pals until she returned to Sri Lanka in 1977 for a three-week holiday in search of her soulmate. Blondie was my first ‘serious’ girlfriend.