Features
THE WINDS OF CHANGE – Part 32
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
End of the Hotel Union
The Manager of the Coral Gardens Hotel, Major Siri Samarakoon was convinced that the results of the general election in 1977 indicated the end of socialist unions in Sri Lanka. Leftist parties which controlled these unions had lost all their seats in the parliament. He was determined to bring the number of members in the hotel union to zero by the end of July, 1977. Sabinus Fernando, a member of the management team with the longest experience in handling tough unions, was entrusted with specific tasks to reach Major’s goal.
By early-August, 1977, when Major was checking the monthly accounts, he became angry to note that one employee was still paying union fees. He asked the secretary, “Ganeshalingam, check with the accounts department, and get me the name of the single employee still paying fees to the bloody union!” He was informed that it was Van Dort, the person in charge of the changing room, with whom Major had a confrontation on his first day at the hotel, five months earlier.
Major became angrier, and screamed. “Summon Van Dort, now!” When a nervous looking Van Dort came to our office, Major asked, “How come that you have not resigned from the union?” “Sir, I am not able to read or to write” Van Dort sheepishly confessed in a very low voice. Major immediately dictated a letter of resignation from the union and told Van Dort, “Here sign on this dotted line, you uneducated idiot!” That was the end of the Coral Gardens Hotel union.
End of the Village Problems
Soon after that Major focused on the village problems which included beach boys, touts and vendors who appeared in large numbers during each tourist season. Fisherman leaving their boats on the beach right in front of the hotel, in spite of security guards requesting them not to do so, was a year around issue. On hearing about this problem, Major said, “Chandana, get ready quickly, we are going to the Boossa Army camp to meet the commanding officer, a good friend of mine.” On our way Major explained to me that this army camp is where the 61 Infantry Division Headquarters was established in 1971, during the insurgency.
During our visit to the camp, Major told the Commander there, “Colonel Wickremanayake, Chandana will be a good candidate to become a volunteer Second Lieutenant. He held the rank of Corporal of the National Cadet Corps when he was at Ananda College. Chandana is a sportsman and was also one of the four House Captains for athletics when he was in grade 12 at Ananda”, Major boasted. The Colonel was impressed and said, “Sure, I will recommend you to the Commanding Officer of the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force.” He then introduced to me his son, Roshan, who also had studied at the same school.
After socializing at the army camp with its top brass, we returned to the hotel with two tough-looking Sergeant Majors in their army uniforms. They hardly spoke during the short drive. Major and I took them to the beach and showed where the defiant fishermen kept their boats, obstructing the beach entrance to the hotel. “Sir, leave this in our hands. We will find the culprits and solve the issue, immediately” one Sergeant Major told Major, and saluted standing at attention.
We returned to the office while two of them went to the town inquiring for the names of the owners of those boats. An hour later the two Sergeant Majors returned to our office and reported the good news. They found and warned the fisherman responsible and the boats were immediately relocated elsewhere further away from the hotel. After that incident the village problems were reduced drastically.
The only continuing occasional problem was a loud noise made within the hotel premises by a powerful local thug, whenever he was under the influence of liquor. Security Guards were scared of this individual who was armed. Soon after Major heard about this challenge, he came out of his apartment carrying a pistol and at point-blank shot one of the earlobes of this thug. Soon after that Major called the Inspector of Police for Hikkaduwa and made an official complaint that the thug threatened to kill him. The Major’s action was justified as self-defence. That was the last problem the hotel faced from the locals. Major commenced boasting to everyone he met. He described in detail how during his first five months at Coral Gardens Hotel he single handed solved the two key challenges the management of the hotel had faced over a period of ten years – the union and the village problems.
Major loved to hear various rumours were spreading about his unusual behaviour pattern, including raising a leopard cub as a pet in his apartment. As a result, room boys who cleaned our apartments were petrified in coming to Major’s apartment. Some of these rumours were not true, but he did not mind as long as people feared him. Major gave me the impression that he had been given licence for violence by the head office!
A couple of years later when I watched Francis Ford Coppola’s classic motion picture – ‘Apocalypse Now’, I could not stop thinking of Major Siri Samarakoon. Marlon Brando’s brilliant portrayal of Colonel Kurtz, once a promising military officer turned in to something else, was simply mesmerising and shocking at the same time.
More than a Pen Pal
Everything soon became calm at the Coral Gardens Hotel. Low occupancy, no union, no village problems and Major being away from the hotel frequently all contributed to a quiet summer. One day, I received a long letter from Sweden. It was from Miss Marie Blom (Blondie), a friend I met for two short days in Negombo in 1974, just after graduating from the Ceylon Hotel School. She was 19 then and one year younger to me.
After that brief romance, Blondie and I became pen pals. Soon after her holiday in Sri Lanka she joined the crew of a Scandinavian cruise liner. Around twice a month, I received a postcard from Blondie from a different port in Europe. I promptly responded to her with my news in brief on aerograms. I was surprised to receive a long letter from her for the first time.
Blondie explained in her letter that she wanted to get to know me better. Now 22, she had decided to visit Sri Lanka again after three years. Her intention was to spend three weeks with me. She wanted to do a round trip in Sri Lanka and requested me to do a nice travel itinerary. I was happy to hear that she planned to arrive in Sri Lanka from the second week of August. I was able to take my annual leave during that period as it was a low occupancy period. I called a few of my good friends working as executives at hotels in different cities and towns and made well-discounted hotel bookings for Blondie and myself. My friends were eager to meet my long-distance girlfriend.
Blondie Returns
Blondie landed in Colombo after a night flight from Malmö. It was a happy meeting after three long years of anticipation. On our way to Colombo, we chatted a lot trying to catch up. We spoke about Blondie’s travels and my eventful first three years as an executive. We laughed about our casual meeting at Blue Oceanic Hotel in Negombo, when I was visiting two of my friends managing that hotel in 1974. Blondie remembered every detail of our memorable and care-free, barefoot walk on the beach, while counting the fishing boats and the stars, on a beautiful moon-lit night.
Blondie was happy about the arrangements I had made for our round trip. After travelling around Sri Lanka, we ended up in Hikkaduwa. With a view of not mixing my leisure time with work, Blondie and I stayed in a small inn near Coral Gardens Hotel. She also met some of my friends and made everybody laugh with her jokes.
One day I took her for a walk to my work place. “Who is this interesting fellow?” Blondie asked when she saw my pet monkey, Dudumskie. She found him to be simply hilarious and entertaining. After her regular sea baths, Blondie loved to drop in at the Coral Gardens to tease Dudumskie.
Towards the end of Blondie’s holiday in Sri Lanka we had some serious chats about our future. She enjoyed Sri Lanka, but when she told me that she cannot settle down on the island, I was somewhat disappointed. “Why don’t you come to Sweden to live with me?” she asked. “What type of a job position could I get in Sweden?” I was curious to find out. When Blondie told me that I could start as a cook, I was not interested. I was very career-minded and Blondie was a free spirit. Unlike in Sri Lanka, as a well-developed nation, in Sweden not many people cared about what level of position one had.
During her departure at the Colombo airport, we had an emotional parting. We agreed to keep in touch and consider options to meet again. Blondie was my first ‘serious’ girlfriend. We continued our pen-pal connection for some time, but sadly we never met again.