Down Memory Lane

Sri Lanka UK Society Birthday Banquet – Her Majesty the Queen: Oak Room of Cinnamon Grand. June 17, 2012.

Speech by Guest of Honour, S. Skandakumar.

Your Excellency, John Rankin, High Commissioner for Britain in Sri Lanka, Eminent Excellencies of the International Diplomatic Corps, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, When Carlo your President invited me on behalf of his committee to this evening’s function, I said to him, “Carlo I am four years into retirement, I have spent it all in relative hibernation in Haputale and many feel that soon I will be ready  for the Archives “…to which his response was ‘Ah That’s just the profile we are looking for !!”

So here I am Ladies and Gentlemen, and a very Good Evening to all of you. It is not only a great pleasure to be here but also a special privilege to have been invited to address such an awesome audience, and I wish to thank Carlo and his committee for the opportunity.I will not attempt to pay her Majesty a tribute as I know it will be a futile exercise but what I would like to observe is that her reign has indeed been the finest example of a selfless rule

and an exceptional blessing to the civilised world. Perhaps Prince Charles’ tribute summed it all up when he said ‘ You made us all Proud to be British ‘. There could not be a higher tribute to a Country’s leader than that.

Given the nature of today’s event I would like to reflect briefly on the British influence in my life. I joined the firm of George Steuarts in the early seventies,  in its 140th year, by when it was down to its last expatriate Chairman , Trevor Moy,  a remarkable gentleman amongst gentlemen . I was fortunate to have him as my mentor in my early years as I saw in him the virtues of humility and integrity in the infancy of my career. Trevor was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to British interests in Sri Lanka and retired in the late eighties  to live in Eastbourne in Sussex where he passed away with the dawn of the new millenium.

In keeping with his wishes, we flew out his widow Kathy with his ashes and buried them in a quaint little church in Dickoya name Warleigh where his grave remains preserved to date. I am sharing this with you merely to give you an idea of the deep affection expatriates of that time had for both our country and its people.

My other interaction with British influence, if I may call it that, came in 1991 in a different capacity. I had been re-elected Honorary Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka along with the President, Ian Pieris, a Cambridge educated cricketing blue.

We were preparing to attend the annual general meeting of the International Cricket Council, which is normally held in the middle of each year in the main pavilion of the Lords Cricket Grounds when we received intimation that at the end of the first day’s sessions, all delegates had been invited to a reception at number 10 Downing Street  hosted by the Prime Minister of Britain, Rt Hon John Major.

It was an anxious time for diplomatic relations between our two countries as David Gladstone the UK High Commissioner had been declared persona non grata for his over enthusiastic interests in the political affairs of Sri Lanka and Britain retaliated by downgrading Colombo’s envoy to London temporarily to Deputy High Commissioner.  So I said to myself that I could not possibly go into No 10 empty handed and picked up a sterling silver tray and had a suitable message engraved on it.

As we queued up outside the main gate at No 10, I noticed that I was the only one who was carrying anything in his hand and looked quizzically at Ian whose response was typical….’It was your bloody idea so you take it in”.

I waited to be announced in, shook the Prime Minister’s hand and handed the gift to him.  “You mean you brought this for me all the way from Sri Lanka?’’  he said. ‘Yes, Prime Minister,’ I replied and went into the reception hall and thought no more about it.

After all the delegates had been ushered in I felt a tap on the back of my shoulder and a voice said “The Prime Minister would like to have a word with you, Sir “. So  I went back to the  meeting area and he said “You know that was a very thoughtful gesture on your part; shall we do a picture together? ” Cameras clicked and he escorted me back into the reception area.

The next morning, while we were at sessions at Lords, there was a knock on the door…’ A letter for Mr Skandakumar of Sri Lanka from the Prime Minister’s office ‘ !! was the announcement. I wish mobile technology had been in vogue then because I would have loved to have captured the expressions of the delegates round the table including that of the Chairman, Sir Colin Cowdrey.!

They all assumed that in those two hours at the reception I had established a hot line to No 10!! It was just the picture autographed by him with a thank you note but knowing the virtues of snob values, I made no effort to convince anyone to the contrary!