STARS @ CEYSANDS – Part 36

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

Feeling like Stars

Soon after the hotel re-opening, the atmosphere at Hotel Ceysands in 1977 became very pleasant and happy. I couldn’t help feeling like a star at times when I received numerous compliments for the quality of food and friendliness of the food and beverage service. As the new Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Manager, I included giving credit to my teams.

I often recognized the outstanding assistance given to me by the Senior Cook who was referred to as Kuruppu Bass, to show respect to his over 30 years of experience in hotel kitchens. He was very shy and never left the kitchen to work in the buffets in spite of my gentle encouragement for him to do so. He preferred to assist me by looking after the steady flow of freshly cooked food from the main kitchen to replenish the buffets. I also acknowledged the input of Anura de Silva, the Kitchen Supervisor, not only for his coordination work, but also for ensuring that Ceysands had no village problems. He was a tough personality from the nearby town, well respected and feared by the local community.

The Hotel General Manager, Captain D. A. Wickramasinghe’s teenage daughter – Shani, although not an employee of the hotel, added to guest relations with her cheerful and friendly personality. She was equally popular with long-staying guests and employees, who often joked that we should become a couple. To me Shani was the star. A few years later, she actually became a popular star for TV advertisements and music videos.

Hospitality Stars

Just like the restaurant employees who flambeed Baked Alaska and the barmen who mixed creative cocktails, the real stars were the cooks and trainees who worked behind the buffets. To me they were performers with specific skills in culinary arts. I deliberately chose members of the kitchen brigade who had good communication skills with the guests and had a sense of “showmanship” to perform at our variety of buffets.

Making egg hoppers skilfully, making exciting sounds while preparing koththu roti, gently steaming spring hoppers, preparing perfect Bouillabaisse in the famous Marseille style with fresh ingredients and barbecuing efficiently, all enhanced our buffet products. I often felt like the choreographer of a show production or the conductor of an orchestra. However, the music was provided by the whole team which made us a well-synchronized orchestra.

Captain Wicks arranged for one of his neighbours, who was an excellent photographer, to cover all main evening activities. Every morning our guest relations employees sold hundreds of photographs from the previous evening’s activities to hotel guests. This initiative was very popular and profitable. Guests were happy to take home photographs as souvenirs of a memorable holiday at Ceysands.

Musical Stars

Like most of the neighbouring hotels, Ceysands had calypso bands performing on some afternoons and evenings. Western bands performed on special evenings. They were more expensive compared to the calypso bands. However, a good balance of music was important to enhance the hotel’s ambiance by providing a variety of music especially in the evenings. I always treated musicians and entertainers as a part of the hotel family. I often told them that show biz and hospitality go hand in hand.

One day, Captain Wicks proposed an expensive idea. He wanted to contract the undisputed king and queen of the oriental music scene of Sri Lanka to perform at a weekly show coinciding with the oriental buffet. I was amazed to find out that he had already contacted Amaradeva and Nanda Malini who had reluctantly agreed to perform at Hotel Ceysands, if all their conditions were met.

Captain Wicks made it happen with his usual efficiency and the show was well received by the guests. He also took great pride in introducing the artists to the guest audience. No other hotel in Sri Lanka at that time had invested in including the best classical musicians in the country, in their entertainment program. We repeated this exclusive event several times. We treated this highly qualified and celebrated musical duo with a lot of respect.

We were impressed with the popularity of the Sinhala music that was performed for the guests. Captain Wicks then changed the western piped music played in the public areas of the hotel, to popular Sinhala songs sung by Amaradeva and Nanda Malini, as well as, pop singers such as Rukmani Devi and C. T. Fernando. Captain Wicks always chose his favourite songs for the lists that we gave the recording company, although I suggested playing more Scandinavian, German and English music. Whilst hoteliers promote local music it is important the blend the total selection well with music familiar to the majority of the guests. I followed the same concept in menu planning.

When Captain Wicks noticed that I enjoyed listening to some of the older Sinhala songs, he asked me, “How do you know Rukmani Devi’s songs released even before you were born?” I told him that, “I love her voice and also watched a few of her popular films. In fact, I met her in 1967 in a studio when Rukmani Devi and I acted in a Sinhala film – Abudasse kale.” “Chandana, you are full of surprises!” Captain Wicks was amazed.

In 1978 when Rukmani Devi died after a tragic car accident, like everybody in Sri Lanka, we were deeply saddened. In honour of the original queen of Sinhala cinema and the pop songs, Captain Wicks played Rukmani Devi’s songs at Hotel Ceysands non-stop for a month.

Movie Stars

One day, an excited boatman called to me from the other side of the river asking, “Chef, is the restaurant now closed?” I told him, “Yes. It is well past 3:00 pm and the lunch service has ended.” He then informed me that the matinée idol of Sinhala cinema at that time – Vijaya Kumaratunga was on the way to the hotel with his then partner and the most popular Sinhala movie actress – Malini Fonseka.

“They are both very hungry. Chef, can you make something?” he asked. “No problem, for Vijaya and Malini, I will re-open the restaurant and personally cook anything they would like to have!” I told him. I took their lunch order and we looked after them well. After lunch I had a quick chat with them. Malini then told me, “I will be at Ceysands next month. Some scenes for my new film – Bamba Ketu Heti are planned to be shot at Ceysands.” I was excited as this movie was based on a popular novel by my favourite Sinhala author at that time – Karunasena Jayalath.

During the shooting of some scenes for Bamba Ketu Heti at Hotel Ceysands, I befriended the main actor of the film – Dharmasiri Bandaranayake. He was in his late twenties and had an amazingly creative mind. He was a humble man in spite of his outstanding artistic talents. Later that year, we met a few times, watched a couple of artistic European movies at the Majestic Cinema in Colombo and chatted a lot about his plans for directing movies and stage plays.

When Dharmasiri told me about his desire to get state funding for his movie directorial debut – Hansa Vilak, I immediately took him home to introduce him to my father , R. D. K. Jayawardena, an experienced and award-winning playwright, and a stage producer. He was very pleased to converse with Dharmasiri. My father was also on the board which decided on state funding for movies particularly by new directors and Dharmasiri was successful in getting the funding. Three years later he invited our whole family to the inaugural showing of Hansa Vilak, at the Savoy cinema in Colombo. It was a remarkable creation by such a young director. I was proud to call Dharmasiri, my friend.

A Lucky Star

In late 1977, I had spent a considerable amount of time designing the longest menu I had ever planned. My adventurous buffet menu to usher in the new year of 1978 eventually ended up with 133 items (including salads and sauces). We arranged to have different carving and flambé stations. I also created a series of new butter carvings. The whole team of restaurant employees also contributed to the brainstorming for the buffet arrangements and participated in decorations. As most members of this team were young ladies, they provided a nice touch to the buffet tables with flowers and colourful decorations.

All was set for a spectacular New Year’s Eve dinner dance with a grand buffet, champagne, live bands, decorations. Everything was in place. The only aspect missing was that I did not have a dancing partner. As I expected to be busy close to midnight carving behind the buffet, I planned to join the dance just before midnight. When I told the General Manager’s daughter that I did not have a partner for the dance, Shani said, “Whether you like it or not, I am going to be your date!” I felt like a very lucky star!