Life style
Polished to Perfection
Girdling the globe with his exquisite jewellery dating back to the turn of the last century was N.D.H Abdul Caffoor. Making his country proud at several international exhibitions, Abdul Caffoor’s gems and jewellery have even decorated the crowned heads of England, Belgium, Spain and Rumania. His establishment has braved many business challenges for over 130 years. We travelled back in time to delve into the character of this trendsetting Lankan whose 150th birth anniversary falls this year.
BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE
‘Except on Friday- when he goes to the mosque and locks his business, Abdul Caffoor, wearing his fez, stands at the door to welcome customers himself. He invites you in, offers you a seat and spreads out before you not one at a time nor by the meager twos or threes, but by the handful, such jewels as you have read of in the Arabian Nights Entertainments…’ writes Frances Kayes in her article Coral Strands published in Good Housekeeping (1926) giving a tourist’s eye-view of a visit to the establishment of Abdul Caffoor as cited by Asiff Hussein in the book- The Great Days of Colombo (pg 255).
Endorsing his late grandfather Abdul Caffoor’s principles which he never compromised, his grandson Hussein Caffoor, Director- N.D.H Abdul Caffoor (Pvt) Ltd. shares with us today an anecdote: “One day a customer had walked into grandfather’s store to purchase some goods of immense value. However, it had been very close to the mosque time on Friday and he urged one of my uncles who was assisting him in the store to quickly close the doors despite the customer hinting that he was to do a huge transaction. As my uncle would recollect, grandfather had said that if he wished to do so, he had to wait until his return from the mosque and to my uncle’s surprise he found the customer waiting for them for nearly two hours!”
One of the custodians of the N.D.H Abdul Caffoor (Pvt) Ltd today, Hussein Caffoor describes his late grandfather as a “head strong man of integrity and character.” Although not privileged to have ever met his grandfather at the time of his death on November 1, 1948, Hussein relives his ancestor through the stories of his father Rafi (the youngest son of Abdul Caffoor), his uncles and the enduring legacy he had left behind. Having joined the business in 1979, Hussein is joined by his two cousins Iqbal and Zubair Caffoor in keeping their legendary grandfather’s legacy alive.
Hussein Caffoor
Building a business empire
On April 8, 1875, Noordeen Hajiar Abdul Ghaffoor (later known as Caffoor) was born to a well reputed Moor family in Grandpass, Colombo. He was affectionately called ‘NDH’. As grandson Hussein tells us today, NDH whose father was a shroff at the Colombo Municipality, often interacted with British officers including leading businessmen. “This exposed his sons to the world of business and particularly my grandfather who had a strong sense of business from a very young age. With a silver coin given by his maternal uncle, he had bought a couple of ivory fans and sold them for a profit. He would also board large passenger ships that docked at the Colombo harbour with his uncle who was a successful gem merchant at that time.” NDH first learnt the ropes of the gem business, having apprenticed under his uncle. At 19-years of age, he went on to set up his own jewellery shop at the Bristol Hotel Building on York Street.
The Colombo harbour was the nucleus of all NDH’s business dealings. He was one of the few merchants who received exclusive permission to board ships in to sell gems and jewellery. He set up his own offices right across the harbour adjoining the St. Peter’s Church, (bordering the Grand Oriental Hotel) and moving there from the Bristol Building. “My grandfather had a cordial relationship with the church, so much so the church authorities agreed to sell their properties adjoining the church to him. He couldn’t have got a better place for business than No 40 Church Street where those disembarking could directly see his gems and jewels,” says Hussein.
NDH didn’t stop at that point. He went onto expand his business empire by building the iconic Ghaffoor Building which was completed by 1915. The four-storey wedged-shaped building with a striking dome, located on the corner of the present Sir Baron Jayathilaka Mawatha and Leyden Bastian Street in Colombo Fort not only changed the skyline of Colombo but also became a game-changer in business in the island’s commercial capital.
N.D.H Abdul Caffoor
Ghaffoor Building
Hussein, sharing the tale behind the uphill task of erecting the edifice by his grandfather says: “the entire block where the Ghaffoor Building stands today had been part of the Beira Lake then. Under the Lake Development Scheme reclamation work was done (Reclamation Rd nearby holds testimony to this) and as part of development, buildings were put up. I’m told by my father and uncles that due to water seeping in, no contractor came forward to erect the Ghaffoor Building until Walker Sons and Company took up the challenge.”
Describing it as ‘one of the largest and finest structures in Colombo’, Allister Macmillan in his Seaports of India and Ceylon (1928) goes onto note that NDHs’ ‘splendid jewellery emporium is located there.’ Macmillan further documents that, ‘Ceylon is famous for its precious stones and these are displayed in Mr. Gaffoor’s premises in great variety ranging from raw uncut jewels as they are found in the earth to polished gems worth a king’s ransom.’ Gazetted as a protected monument in 2000, the historical Ghaffoor Building which housed many eminent local and international business establishments from time to time is now a property of the Urban Development Authority.
International reputation
By the age of 26, NDH’s growing romance with gems and jewellery had reached dizzying heights locally and in other continents. In 1901 he was was invited to display his finest pearls, rubies, sapphires and other jewellery art to the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Kandy Pavilion during their Royal visit. Just two years later in 1903, he exhibited at the St Louis Exhibition, USA. Then again, he had a stall at the All Ceylon Exhibition in 1912, and the British Empire Exhibition in 1924. In 1925 he was present at the Wembley Exhibition where Her Majesty Queen Mary visited his stall and took a keen personal interest in the exquisite gems and jewellery he displayed. His final exhibition was at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926, where he was awarded the Grand Prize for the biggest collection of gems ever displayed in the USA. His precious articles were sought by some of world’s richest men who specialized in antiquity including Harry Winston who was dubbed as ‘King of Diamonds’.
Interestingly, Abdul Ghaffoor or NDH eventually came to be known as Abdul Caffoor as the British found ‘Ghaffoor’ hard to articulate. “Subsequently, all his businesses were registered under the name Abdul Caffoor and today the business goes as N.D.H Abdul Caffoor (Pvt) Ltd,” explains grandson Hussein. A great enthusiast of the British architectural tradition, NDH got down British engineers and architects to design not only his offices but also his private bungalows. The Gem Museum he established at his Church Steet offices in 1929 was designed by the well known British architectural firm Edwards Reid and Begg. Several of his personal properties which are now occupied by his descendants around Green Path (present Anagarika Dharmapala Mw) and Ananda Coomaraswamy Mw mirror the British tradition. What he chose as his Kollupitiya residence- ‘Icicle Hall’ was no exception. Originally believed to have been a residence of Chief Justice Sir Alfred George Lascelles before NDH occupied it, this grand property was subsequently sold and became Siri Kotha or the headquarters of the UNP during Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala’s time.
The York Building on Chatham Street which houses N.D.H Abdul Caffoor Jewellers today is another impressive building built by its founder. The present offices of the jewellery store had originally been a textile shop known as Ghaffoor’s says Hussein.
An ardent horse rider, Abdul Caffoor taught all his sons to ride. “I’m told that he had his stables on present Dharmapala Mawatha. His eldest son Falil was a great polo player and he used to ride on Galle Face green with Prime Minister D.S Senanayake. Apparently on the fateful day the Premier fell off his horse, it had been Uncle Falil who had been the first informant of the tragedy,” recollects Hussein.
A great philanthropist
Abdul Caffoor married Ummu Nafeesa and together they had five sons and three daughters. As much as he was known for his achievements in the business world, he was also known for his piety and philanthropy. He was a great benefactor of numerous religious and educational institutions including the Deaf and Blind School (then known as the Deaf and Dumb School) in Ratmalana, Zahira College Colombo, Child Protection Society and many notable mosques. “His commitment to religious and other institutions transcending religious and ethnic divisions was remarkable. My grandfather was such a visionary who believed in the Sri Lankan identity. This was reflected in all his international dealings including coveted exhibitions at which he kept the Lankan flag flying high. He was also an unassuming man who did not want his left hand to know what his right did,” says his grandson.
Visionary Lankan
Ceylon Daily News
of November 2, 1948 reported on his death: ‘Mr. N.D.H Abdul Caffoor, the well-known gem merchant of Ceylon died at his residence ‘Icicle Hall’ Kollupitiya yesterday. The funeral will take place at the Maradana Mosque this morning. Mr. Caffoor started his business in 1894 and it was sheer merit that brought him success. At his own expense he took part in a series of world exhibitions which, while increasing his own reputation, brought publicity to the island.’
In 1993, the government honoured this trendsetting Lankan with a stamp belonging to the National Heroes series, having previously named a street in Kollupitiya ‘Abdul Ghaffoor Mawatha’.
Sir Henry Moore, Governor General in his tribute to this visionary published in the Ceylon Muslim League Senate, November 1, 1953 wrote: ‘Wherever he travelled, he maintained the highest traditions of business and promoted the best interests of Ceylon; but despite his great business acumen and the wealth he acquired by its exercise, he personally eschewed the luxuries of life and lived simply according the devout Muslim tradition.’
(Pic credit: Sujatha Jayaratne, Abdul Caffoor family archives)
Founded by the late Dr. Hudson Silva, the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS) which is nearing 65 years is the first of its kind in the world to provide corneas completely free of charge to locals as well as foreigners through its International Eye Bank. Among the donors of eyes are several Presidents and Prime Ministers of the country. The other affiliated bodies of SLEDS are the Dr. Hudson Silva Memorial Eye Hospital and the Human Tissue Bank which provide a yeoman service to the public.
BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE
At age 18, Eranga Madushan’s future looked bleak with keratoconus (a disorder of the eye that results in progressive thinning of the cornea) claiming both his eyes. Thanks to his physician’s recommendation for a corneal transplant, Eranga was fortunate to have received suitable corneas from the Eye Bank of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society which were successfully transplanted at the Kandy National Hospital.
Now 22-years old, this young man from Minipe has successfully finished his education and is employed. “I even passed the vision test and got my driving license – all made possible thanks to the noble service of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society,” says Eranga.
His is one of thousands of such success stories. These exemplify the thought-provoking discourse of Sivi Jathaka story delivered by the Buddha when, in one of his Bodhisathva’s births, he gave away his eyes to a blind beggar. There cannot be a better living testimony to this concept of dana than the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS), now approaching 65 years.
Separating the cornea from whole globe
Giving life to a dead eye
In 1958 Hudson Silva, a medical student started a campaign under the banner, ‘Give life to a dead eye,’ to popularize the donation of eyes after death to obtain corneas for the Colombo Eye Hospital which had long waiting lists for eye replacements but without sufficient donors. Eyes at this point were obtained only from those who died without custodians in hospitals and homes for the elders and executed prisoners.
With the help of newspaper articles and public meetings, Hudson Silva’s campaign continued. By 1961, he had qualified and appointed a resident surgeon at the Colombo Eye Hospital. SLEDS got underway officially in a very small scale on June 11, 1961 at Dr. Silva’s Ward Place home in Colombo. Among the 40 founding members of the Society was Dr. Silva’s mother who pledged her eyes to be donated after death. When she died shortly thereafter, he himself grafted her corneas on the eyes of a poor farmer and thereby restored his sight. In 1965, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake presiding at the official opening of the International Eye Bank, pledged his eyes after death. After his demise in 1973, his wishes were fulfilled.
With the objective of extending this service to foreigners awaiting eye replacements, Dr. Silva started connecting with senior eye surgeons from various parts of the world. In 1964 he dispatched his first eyes overseas – flying three set of donor eyes packed in dry ice to Singapore’s Government General Hospital. Thus commenced the country’s international eye donations on a Vesak Poya Day when five Singaporeans regained their sight.
Following the wide media coverage this attracted the world over, SLEDS was able to open its doors to the entire world. In the late 70s, on government-donated land on Vidya Mawatha in Colombo 7, SLEDS’ headquarters along with its Eye Bank were relocated and the present building was built with the help of Japanese funds. It was opened by the then Prime Minister R. Premadasa in 1984.
President William Gopallawa at the event of donating the the land at Vidya Mawatha, Colombo to set up SLEDS
Global demand
Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, according to the WHO statistics. In at least one billion of these, vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness at a global level are refractive errors and cataracts.Vision impairment, according to the WHO, poses an enormous global financial burden, with the annual global cost of productivity losses estimated to be US$ 411 billion.
The demand for corneal transplants (keratoplasty) is on the rise with increasing prevalence of eye diseases and the rising elderly population. “Global statistics indicate that over 12.5 million people worldwide are waiting for corneal transplants. We are committed to bridge this gap every year by donating corneas and to date our International Eye Bank had donated 95,151 corneas to foreigners from 57 countries. In addition, nearly 60,000 locals including many soldiers injured in combat, have received corneas,” says the Senior Manager of the SLEDS’ International Eye Bank, J.S. Matara Arachchi.
Donor registration
Having ‘grown’ with the institution since he was recruited in 1979 by the founder himself, Matara Arachchi says that the Eye Bank has decentralized its operations today with 150 branches island-wide enabling more people to become potential donors. The online consent registration facility is also available now on the SLEDS website. “We see an overwhelming interest among youth registering themselves with us to donate their eyes which is very encouraging,” says the official noting that many Sri Lanka Presidents and Prime Ministers have donated their eyes. “A cornea taken from President J.R. Jayewardene was split in two and grafted on to two Japanese patients and his other cornea was grafted onto a local patient,” he says.
Dr Hudson Silva
Potential donors need to be excluded from certain diseases for them to be eligible donors. Apart from registered donors, corneas from the dead are also donated by surviving family members. The youngest such donor was a four-year-old whose parents offered to donate their deceased child’s eyes to help another regain vision.
Harvesting of the eye needs to be done within four hours of a person’s death and the cornea itself has to be used on a patient within 14 days explains Matara Arachchi. “We hardly have any corneas left beyond the shelf life given the big demand for them. In case any are not grafted, they are often used to practice surgery and research purposes.” Donation of eyes does not cause any disfiguration to a body of a deceased, says the official who reiterates that the process enables the donor to look natural.
Preserving a single cornea cost about USD 300- 450 says the official. Corneas are donated to patients operated in both the state and private hospitals without discrimination. The institution, he says, is run on donations made by individuals and organizations. “Although we do not charge foreign recipients, many of them come forward to assist the institutions as means of expessing goodwill and appreciation.”
Eranga Madushan who regained sight thanks to the International Eye Bank
Free eye care
The eye hospital founded by Dr. Hudson Silva in 1992 at the Vidya Mawatha premises, was named in his honour after his death. It is committed to make eye care available to local patients at an affordable price aligned with the vision of its founder. The hospital is equipped with a fully-fledged operating theatre and an OPD with state-of-the-art equipment. Dr. M.H.S Cassim, a former consultant at the National Eye Hospital serves as the Medical Director of the SLEDS and Dr. Shamintha Amaratunge serves as consultant surgeon. “The hospital performs nearly 1,200 cataract surgeries per year and the patients are provided with lenses completely free of charge. In addition, we also provide spectacles to needy people,” says the Eye Hospital’s Manager, H.D.A.J Abhayawardena.
He adds that island-wide eye camps at village and school level are conducted by them to make eye care more accessible to people. The contact lenses laboratory is another ambitious initiative of the SLEDS which is planning to expand its work says Abhayawardena. “With the help of Japanese technology, we set up our own production plant to manufacture contact lenses locally- the first of its kind here at home. This venture can save a lot of money spent on imported lenses.”
Human Tissue Bank
Following the passing of the Human Tissue Transplantation Act in 1987, Dr. Hudson Silva succeeded in establishing the Human Tissue Bank of SLEDS in 1996 enabling Lankans to donate human tissue and limbs in addition to the eyes. “Only people under 70 who are free of certain diseases are eligible to donate tissue and limbs after death and we need to obtain the tissue within 12 hours of a person’s death,” says the Manager of the Tissue Bank, T.B Prabath.
Many orthopedic, plastic, cardiac, neuro, eye and maxillo-facial surgeons have successfully grafted these tissues. During the time of the war, many in armed forces have benefited from the Tissue Bank, says Prabath. “There is an overwhelming demand for tissues for patients involved in motor traffic accidents and those who have sustained burn injuries,” says Prabath urging more people to come forward to pledge their support.
By Zanita Careem
CHARINI is a well-known brand renowned for its bold yet elegant statement designs and unique concepts. This season,popular designer CHARINI will be presenting a collection that gives Sri Lankan traditional art a contemporary twist, bringing the mythical creatures of Sri Lankan history to life, beautified with floral elements from ancient paintings.
Each element has been meticulously hand-drawn with intricate details, staying true to the rich heritage of Sri Lankan artistry. These hand-drawn illustrations have then been carefully transformed into artworks, which are printed onto fabric to seamlessly blend tradition with modern design. This fusion of craftsmanship and innovation brings a unique depth to each piece in the collection. This is… the Mythical Ceylon Collection by CHARINI.’’
This Holy Month, Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort invites guests to gather in the spirit of Ramadan and indulge in a sumptuous Iftar dinner buffet at S Kitchen, during this month of Ramazan said a press release.
The release said to begin the evening, guests can break their fast with a thoughtfully curated selection, including dates, kanji or soup, dry fruits, and a choice of four refreshing beverages. Light hot appetizers such as samosas, spring rolls, fish rolls, fish buns, mini pizzas, cutlets, mini hot dogs, and satays, along with fresh salads and assorted sandwiches, ensure a nourishing start to the meal.
Following the breaking of fast, guests can then indulge in a lavish Iftar dinner buffet, featuring a rich international spread crafted by our culinary team. From Middle Eastern delights to Sri Lankan specialties and a variety of global flavors.
The Iftar dinner buffet also offers a special promotion, where when you ‘Reserve For Five, One Dines Free’, making it the perfect way to celebrate together with family and friends.
At Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort one can enjoy a truly heartwarming Iftar experience, blending tradition, community, and world-class cuisine in an elegant setting said the release.
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