Book Review

Title – MY DIPLOMAT (Second Edition)
Author – Sivanandini Duraiswamy
Publisher – Jam Fruit Tree Publications
Reviewed by Lynn Ockersz

The right-thinking of Sri Lanka and the world over continue to recoil with horror on recollecting the vandalizing and burning of the Jaffna Public Library in the lead-up to the District Development Council (DDC) election in Northern Sri Lanka in mid-1981. The outrage was an acid test of the integrity of the J.R. Jayewardene regime of the time as well that of the country’s law-enforcers and public officials.

The regime concerned and sections of those entrusted with keeping the law emerged from the veritable hell fires which were the torching of the Library, utterly disgraced. But this was not the case with, Yogendra Duraiswamy (YD), the senior public servant and Returning Officer in charge of conducting the relevant poll.

YD was verbally urged strongly by the central authorities to replace some of the officials under him who were charged with overseeing the poll with some others who were hand-picked stooges of the powers-that-were. But his answer was a firm ‘No’. That is, YD listened only to the voice of his conscience and was undeterred from carrying out his duty.

However, on receiving written orders from the ‘top’, Duraiswamy, as a public servant who was bound to carry out written instructions from the state, was compelled to enable those officials who were recommended by the state to oversee the election. The regime could have been described as ‘having won the day’ by virtue of exercising its might, but YD came out of the crisis with his personal integrity firmly intact. He once again proved that his honesty was unimpeachable.

Meanwhile, some policemen who were on duty in the polling booth area were gunned-down in cold blood by separatist militants. This triggered mind-numbing violence on the part of the rest of the policemen at the location, who torched the venerated library in a maniacal frenzy. Thus came to pass a drastic degeneration of the law and order situation in the country.

The torching of the Library contributed in no small measure towards plunging Sri Lanka into chronic and continuous lawlessness. This incident, among other divisive developments, set the stage for the 30-year war and the dramatic disruption of racial harmony in Sri Lanka.

Thanks to ‘MY DIPLOMAT’ (Second Edition), a highly readable and engaging biography of the well-known Sri Lankan and international civil servant Yogendra Duraiswamy by his widow, Sivanandini Duraiswamy, the world is in a position today to not only gain some penetrating insights into the politics of Sri Lanka but to also have a veritable panoramic view of the world and its affairs of the decades past.

The fact that YD was in Sri Lanka’s Foreign Service for long years and was much traveled before he returned to Sri Lanka and took up some important positions in the local administrative service, enabled his wife and lifelong companion, Sivanandini, to provide the reader of the biography with a record of the world in all its entrancing aspects and excitement, since she was by his side and experienced places and times at first hand.

The biographer transports the reader into geographical spaces that are not only exhilarating for their rare beauty and aesthetic appeal but also for their historic importance and their centrality in the evolution of the modern world. Just some of these countries and places are: the UN in New York, Italy, Peking, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran and Jordan. All these places and more are made to come alive for us by Sivanandini’s fecund and flowing pen.

During his Jaffna years in particular, YD endured many a storm in the public sphere with serenity and dignity. Unbowed by power he did not hesitate to point out to those in authority in politics and the law enforcement machinery the error of their ways. Thereby he helped considerably in promoting ethnic and religious peace. A marked strength of ‘My Diplomat’ is that it contains a multiplicity of public pronouncements YD made in respect of the ethnic conflict and its resolution. In the latter respect as well the biography is a treasury of wisdom.

The biography cantains most of the statements YD made in relation to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict and its resolution and if the reader is seeking expert knowledge on how the conflict should be resolved peacefully and in fairness to the communities concerned this biography would prove immensely handy. Until the very end, YD was a promoter of ethnic peace and ‘My Diplomat’ proves this conclusively.

Besides, his intellectuality and wisdom, YD was a rare and exemplary human and this biography by his doting widow says it all very eloquently and simply. In the chapter titled, ‘Yogendra’ Sivanandini writes thus: ‘Armed with faith and discipline he went ahead in life, taking Naresh (their son) and me along with him. Our life together was grand and beautiful because we lived it honestly, with dignity and decorum. Troubles came our way many times, but Yoga was always there facing them with equanimity and steering us through difficulties.’

YD’s life then, was one that was well lived. He was a role model, whose public and personal life revolved around the foremost ethical values and principles. Among the conscientious of the world, his beneficial influence will endure over time.