The way we were - an Autobiography
by Fazli Sameer, Mar 2002 (last updated - Jan
2024)
Beginnings
February 4, 1948 was an eventful day of great joy and happiness
for the people of Ceylon, the former British Colony for almost 500 long years. It
was also doubly so for my Mum, who, in the warm comfort of her
bedroom at our home in Bambalapitiya in the city of Colombo, for, amidst the
jubilation of this momentous year another joyous event was unfolding; she was
delivered of her first son on the 16th, twelve days after independence.
Together, we took our first breadth of independence.
According to Mum, who updated me
much later on in life, it was a bright and sunny Monday afternoon around 4:30
pm on the sixteenth day of February, 1948, that I first got a glimpse of how
beautiful this world we live in looks like. I wish I could remember but I
cannot. The house where I was born was located on the seaside at No 300 Galle
Road, and until the 1990’s it stood tall, over a hundred years old. It was a sprawling
patch of 65 perches of salubrious real estate with a large old house standing,
surrounded by so many fruit, vegetable, and coconut trees spread across, both,
its front and back yards. The room where I was born, was the Master Bed Room of
the house where I did have the wonderful opportunity of sleeping many a night
even when I was a grown man, until 1974 when I moved out into married life.
My maternal grandparents and their
children, two uncles and an aunt, lived with us. The house next door, No 298, a
twin, was occupied by my paternal grandparents and their many children, my
aunts and uncles, nine in number. The two houses were always filled with lots
of people and activity that made it a great place to grow up. Never was there a
moment of silence or quiet as all sorts of people, comprising relatives,
workers, vendors, friends, and extended family used to stream in and out
throughout each passing day.
The first grandson to my maternal
grandparents must have, surely, been a great moment of delight and pride in
their lives. Grandpa, Rasheed Appa, was a strong burly 6 footer involved in the
business of indenting for the import and distribution of goods from Europe. His
firm, “Kingston Agencies”, operated from No 300 where his sons, Zubair and
Faiz, assisted him with the correspondence and administration. The company
indented all varieties of barley, pulses, soft toys, and household goods on
behalf of local import companies and had very fruitful business relationships
with famous exporters in the west. Our garage at the back of the house used to
be filled with crates of “Pearl” barley and other imported assortments waiting
for delivery to customers.
Rasheed Appa hailed from a famous
Ceylon Moor family whose nickname, as it was the custom then, was “Shothian”,
meaning “handicapped”. Apparently one of the more famous senior elders of the
clan suffered from a slight deformity in one of his hands which prompted this
nomenclature. Nicknames, amongst
the Ceylon Moor community was a
very common practice and it was always accepted in a very cordial, humorous,
and open manner by everyone, even if the name didn’t sound that respectful.
Some nicknames were based on the professions, manners, habits, food
consumption, and even significant events that had taken place amidst the elders
of the respective families. There were also respectful names like “Alim”
meaning “religious scholar”, while most others were not so very patronizing.
“Poskoppa” (large rice bowl), Goradiyaal (a delicious Moorish sweet made from
cashew and sugar), Matta (coconut husk), PeeAma (tortoise), Kaksa (lavatory),
Bauthawali (stomach ache), “MuttaAppa” (egg hopper), “UppuKatty” (Salt
Crystal), were some of the other nicknames that were quite famous and accepted
in Colombo. Members of these families were referred to by their nicknames for
easy identification which served as a reference within the community. With
time, these nicknames, however derogatory they may have sounded, became a sense
of pride to the various families they belonged to and has come to stay. In
recent, of course, times they may not be known by many and even used across the
board, especially by the younger generations, as much as they were before.
Grandma Ummu Thahira and her family
owned rice farms in a town called “Bammanna” in the North Western Province
where we used to visit often in groups and enjoy the splendor of the vast green
paddy fields, food, lakes, and fishing. She too hailed from the same “Shothian”
family as Gramps and the two were first cousins. I still remember I caught my
very first cat fish from one of the lakes nearby using a “Kitul” rod and line.
It was so sad to see the creature struggling for air that we gently unhooked
him and put him in the well nearby where he lived for many long years as was
told by the villagers later on. Grandma (we called her Umma), was a lady of
absolute patience, piety and prowess. She virtually ran the whole house
managing the kitchen department and the dining according to her methodology and
needs. Grandpa used to bring in the provisions and dump them in the store and
she and mum used to take over from there to keep the rest of the family fed and
satisfied.
Two of my maternal uncles, Muhammad Zubair (JumMama) and Muhammad
Faiz (FaMama), “Mama” being the tamil word for
“uncle”, also lived with us. JumMama worked for the famous E.B. Creasy &
Company Ltd, who were the
agents for Globe Brand butter from New Zealand, while FaMama worked at the Port
Cargo Corporation located within the Colombo Harbor. An aunt, Ummu Naseeha, who
was a young lady then, also lived with us. She later married Muhammad Ibrahim
Muhammad Sahill from Matara and moved to a house at Canal lane, Wellawatte, and
then, much later, to their own home in Kiribathgoda, Kelaniya.
Mohamed Sameer, my paternal grandpa
was a tremendous influence in my life in taking a serious interest in Ceylon
Moor history and genealogy. He used to seek my assistance in typing his
documents during the latter period of his life when he was too weak to do it
himself and the material that came my way aroused much of my interest. Since
his death in the mid seventies I have subsequently taken up his hard work and
ventured to create the Sri Lanka Genealogy Website, online, on the Internet
where all hs work and also much of my additional research thereafter are
currently archived and available to the public.
My paternal grandma, Raliya Umma
Noordeen, hailed from the famous Abdul Cader Noordeen family. Dads father’s mum
hailed from a family who had their roots in a place called Konya, in
Turkey. Her father was C.M. Ahmed Ali whose ancestors were mainly
physicians who had come to the island at the invitation of the Kings of Ceylon
at that time to work for them as Royal Physicians.
Dad and Mum were married in 1943 and I already had an older
sister, born in 1945 at the same location. A younger brother was also born in
1950. Dad was a descendant of the famous Alim family in Colombo and his
paternal grandfather, Haji Ismail Effendi, had attained the great distinction
of being an Islamic Scholar (ALIM) who had traveled to the Middle East and
Turkey, by ship, seeking Islamic knowledge. Ismail was also well known for
being the first Sri Lankan Muslim to wear shoes in Sri Lanka based on an
interesting story that my grandpa always used to relate. He had purchased a
pair on one of his travels and wore them when he returned, much to the scorn of
his fellow Muslim brothers in the Island. It was the normal practice that
Muslims wore wooden sandals with a leather strap covering the upper part of the
toes or leather slippers at that time. In defiance of this western innovation
of dress the Muslims used to empty the contents of their spittoons into his
shoes whenever he visited the Mosque and left them outside. They also gave him
a nickname "SAPPATHU ALIM" meaning "Shoe Scholar". Such
were the days of the antics of our ancestors in sunny Ceylon.
Dad’s siblings had a total count of 34 children while Mum’s side had only 10 providing us with a grand 45 cousins to swing with. Two of dad’s sisters ended up living next door at 298 while the rest moved to their own homes in and around Wellawatte. Mums family also moved out after marriage and we were left with our maternal grandparents and the servants only. All of a sudden, with time, the place became so quiet and lonely. It was a tremendous metamorphosis from the busy bazaar it once used to be.
Life at ‘Bamba’
Living in Bambapalitiya (Colombo 4) was fantastic. The sea was
only a stone’s throw away where we used to spend many a splash on sand and
salt. Cricket was another favorite passion of almost all the young fella’s in
the neighborhood. The Wellawatte Canal was a great hunting ground for
ornamental fish like Guppies and Gourami’s. The Bambalapitiya Flats, just a
block away from our home, was another sea of apartment buildings filled with
people that played a very significant and important role in all our lives. The Milk Board, Coffee House,
Woolworth, Femina, both department stores, Anoma hair dressing saloon, Gemrich
Shoe Company, and the Marketing Department Store were the many businesses that
were located within its premises where we used to spend many an interesting
moment with the rest of the “flats” gang.
The town itself, affectionately
known as “Bamba” was notorious for its miscreants. St. Peter’s College, a
typical Catholic boys school, situated smack bang on the
Galle Road within its perimeter, was even more notorious for its Burgher
populated community of students and their acknowledged antics within Colombo
society. No doubt the many other girls schools in the locality had their own
share of notoriety and fame. I shall not elaborate any further.
All the
streets, starting from the Galle Road and winding down towards the Indian Ocean
on the Western Coast, were famous for their very own cricket teams that were
never weary of the fierce competition that prevailed whenever they played each
other. Starting from St. Peter’s Place at the southern end just before the
Wellawatte Bridge, and moving on to St. Peter’s Place, Ridgeway Place, Kinross
Avenue, Mary’s Road, Castle Lane, Sagara Road, Frankfort Place, Milagiriya
Avenue, Melbourne Avenue, and so on all the way up to the Bambalapitiya
Junction- Bullers Road Traffic lights.
The young boys and girls, and their wonderful families, who lived down all
these streets at Bambalapitiya, hailed from all the different communities in
Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, and were very close friends of our families. We always
treated each other with great respect, honor, and love and enjoyed visits to
each others homes without any inhibitions. All religious and cultural festivals
were celebrated by all and enjoyed to the fullest with complete participation
from every single family in the neighborhoods. Cricket was always enjoyed by
the boys, down the streets and in the backyards, while the gals came to watch
and cheer. The camaraderi that existed between all of the people is something
that I will always be proud of based on the many sad and tragic events and
incidents that have occured in the island in recent times.
The shopkeepers
in the locality also hailed from all communities and were extremely friendly
and kind. Most homes bought their groceries on a monthly payment basis where
the goods were delivered to the door. The many Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim
restaurants that pockmarked the town provided an appetizing menu for all
palettes at all times, sometimes even way into the night for those late movie
buffs, night clubbers, and danceholics. Thosai, Vaday, idli, Sambhar, Biriyani,
Kothu, Hoppers, String hoppers, Puttu, Gothamba Rotti, Pol Rotti, Buth curry,
Thala Bola, Musket, Kalu Dodol, and other delicacies were abundantly served and
relished by one and all.
Four main bookshops, KVG de Silva's, Asoka Book Depot, Dharmadasa Bookstore and
Rohana Book Shop, provided an array of school books, magazines, comic books and
novels for the voracious readers and students. Barber shops, Laundries, Grocery
Stores, Jewelry shops, Oilman goods, Watch Repairers, Department Stores,
Textile Shops, Milk Booths, The Cycle Bazaar, and other trading establishments
flourished in the town by the demand of the many middle class families who
lived within.
Government and private schools were also plentifully available for the many
children who lived therein. Of the boys schools the
most prominent and famous are St. Peter's College and Hindu College, while the
girls schools comprised Holy Family Convent, St. Pauls Milagiriya, Muslim
ladies College, & Visakha Vidyalaya. Most mornings would see a myriad of
school children, boys and girls, dressed nattily in their neatly ironed
uniforms strolling to take the bus or even ride a bike to their respective
schools. The scene was truly nostalgic, charming and beautiful whenever the
town woke up each week day.
Nursery School
As a four year old, in 1952, I
still remember my paternal grandpa, dressed in his best, colonial style, beige
jacket and tie and gold watch, taking me by the hand and walking along the
sidewalk all the way to the Wellawatte junction then taking a right turn
towards the sea down Lily Avenue in front of the market, where I attended a
nursery school run by a wonderful old lady called Mrs. Fay Poulier. She was the
spouse of a retired Railway gentleman called Mr. G. Dick. The school was housed
in her garage and we had a bright bunch of youngsters attending class there.
Mrs. Poulier was such a wonderful lady who cared so much for all of us that she
made us feel so much at home away from home at her school. Sadly enough I
cannot remember a single one of them today. Right next door to Mrs. Pouliers school at No. 45 and No 43 lived two of my
paternal aunts and their families and gramps used to go over and rest his limbs
there with his two daughters until my classes were over. After that I still
remember him walking me back home along the railway track by the beach. I also
remember asking him a thousand and one questions which he answered diligently
and truthfully. The trains, the railway station, the ocean, the Wellawatte bridge, the canal, the rocks, people,
fishing boats. Who wouldn’t want to know about the trains and the trees,
especially, at age 4?
Dad & Mum
Dad owned a crimson red Austin with
footboards and all and it used to be a shining piece of his pride parked
outside our home. He later drove many different cars and I remember the dark
green Skoda (CN 7522), and, later on, the Hillman Minx (EL 1468). I never got a
chance to drive any of them though. He worked as a Buildings Inspector at the
Colombo Municipal Council after having matriculated and passed out as the
nations youngest Surveyor at the age of 19. He was a math wizard as I later
found out with many an aching back. He also had the great gift of writing and
poetry and was a genius with his Kodak box camera which won him many an acclaim
and award.
Mum was a quiet shy homely lady who
spent most of her time indoors attending to the kids and the household chores.
She also used to spend lots of time knitting, sewing, and crocheting on a
bright new Singer sewing machine that she had bought and owned in great pride
and possession. We were not even allowed to touch her massive cutting scissors
or thimble for fear of being reprimanded severely. We had several
domestic helpers attending to the kitchen, garden, vehicles, and other
functions.
Aunty Shireen, who was an Indian
Hindu lady who reverted to Islam in the fifties used to live two blocks away
from our home. She came to Colombo to live her life in Sri Lanka to date. Being
a graduate in English Language she was a contributing factor in our ability to
grasp and learn the language to a great degree of perfection. She later spent a
large part of her life as an announcer at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting
Corporation announcing on the All Asia Service radio programs in several Indian
languages in which she was very proficient in. She also worked at the Indian
High Commission in Colombo.
Our Home
The house itself was a very old one
built sometime, circa 1900. It was located between Castle Lane and Sagara Road
on the seaside of Bambalapitiya and was named "Sukhasthan". We
referred to it as "300" being the assessment number given by the
Colombo Municipality. The adjoining house, bordering Sagara Road, a twin of
300, where two of my paternal aunts lived, was referred to as 298 for the same
reasons.
It was narrated by my maternal
grandpa that the house was built by the grandfather of my Grand Uncle Sir Razik
Fareed, who was known as Wapchi Marikar Baas (Sinhalese word for builder,
contractor, mason etc.) with the rubble and remnants of a building he had to
demolish in the Fort where he was contracted by the government to build the
General Post Office which still stands tall as one of the majestic old
buildings in the city. Most of the outer walls were made of Kabook (a large
rectangular shaped brick made of small red stones and sand). They were the
abode of many a termite colony during our stay there and we used to enjoy
watching the little white headed insects carrying on their masterly work of
building and moving particles of sand to and fro within their nests. The house
had three large bedrooms, a verandah, Hall, Study, Dining Hall, Store Room, and
two kitchens located at the far end and a pantry. There were only two toilets,
one in the center of the house and one at the far end which was used mainly by
the servants. The roof was spread with local (Sinhala) tiles and stood high
above the floor unlike many homes of modern times. A wooden ceiling shielded
the tiles and coconut rafters from the inside. Windows were all wooden with
glass panes and fan lights in the bedrooms. It is also worth mentioning
here that the very same Wapchi Marikar Baas was the contractor who built the
Galle Face Hotel and the Colombo Museum which still stand tall today. The
Governor of Ceylon at that time requested him to seek any favor during the
opening of the Colombo Museum and the humble Wapchi Marikar Baas had requested
that the place be closed on Fridays so that the members of his community would
not spend their time in there and concentrate on their weekly Friday prayers at
the Mosque. The Colombo Museum is closed on Fridays until this day.
The Garden
The garden at 300 was a place full
of joy and wonders that one has to experience to understand. I used to dream of
being buried underneath it someday after I pass away. The serenity and calm it provided
beneath its shade was something out of this world. The backyard had its
wondrous share of fruit, vegetable and nut trees. Guava and mango were the main
delicacies. It was quite a trauma keeping the bats away at night and the
urchins away during the day. Jak and Breadfruit were also mouth watering
delicacies that our garden grew. Grandma was always fond of the delicious
pomegranate fruit that she claimed had great medicinal value, especially for
expectant mothers. A sprawling umbrella like Jam Fruit tree adorned the center
of our front lawn adjacent to a tall and magnificent Sapodilla tree that was
always attacked by passers by for its fruit. Coconut and Tambili (King Coconut)
were sprinkled all across the estate, mainly in the back yard. Two monolithic
Tamarid trees stood side by side somewhere about three quarters of the way down
the backyard and I still remember the tone of the old Owl hooting from its
lofty branches. All kinds of old wives’ tales, based on devils, demons and
ghosts, were wound around these magnificent plants to keep us away from the
garden at sunset and after dark. A sprawling Kottang (Almond) tree was located
almost at the left hand corner of the end of the garden bordering the fence
that separated the yard from the neighbors. We used to go picking almonds each
morning from what the poor bats had missed out the previous night. Banana
trees, of varying flavors, were also waving their shady arms across most part
of the garden. All in all it was a beautiful shady grove for any form of
relaxation and slumber.
Both Dad and my maternal Grandpa, who lived with us with Gandma all their lives, taught us to care for and love pets and animals from our very young days.
Our home at Bamba was 65 perches
in extent with a backyard of around 40 perches of beautiful estate with all
types of fruit, vege and nut trees. The main house and front yard occupied
around 25 perches, facing Galle Road on the seaside.
We had a pair of deer, a pair of
goats named Laila & Majnun, plenty of chicken running helter skelter
everywhere, Turkey, Ducks, Muscovy Ducks (they used to fly up to the roof),
plenty of cats, An Alsation Dog named Rex, Fish Tanks and also a Fish Pond
where a lone Kingfisher used toi enjoy his breakfast each morning from the
branches of the Ambaralle Tree that stood tall by the pond. Parrots, Mynah
Birds, Koha, Bats, Squirrels, Lizards, and even Bandicoots used to roam the
garden. Two huge Taramind Trees stood side by side at the far end and enveloped
the whole estate like a canopy. A Kottang Tree was also closeby and proivided
ample shade and lots of raking for us on Sundays.
We enjoyed Sundays cleaning up
the backyard. Especially lighting up the bonfire with all the raked up dry
leaves and dancing around it like elves. Watering the plants was also another
enjoyable feat that was tiring but still so filled with fun. We used a long
hose pipe from the garage tap all the way to the back and also carried buckets
with a pole in between and held by my younger bro and me.
Those were the most glorious days
of our lives.
Gramps had a great green thumb
and knew exactly how to tend the foliage. Mango season would erupt with all 5
trees bearing fruit and Gramps collecting them diligently in baskets for
distribution to friends, neighbors and family. Breadfruit was also another
delicacy that everyone relished and the fruits used to fall to the ground when
over ripe and bats attacked them.
Ahhh! What I would give for just
a sniff of one of those Sundays?
The twin house at 298 also
stretched far back into Sagara Road to almost halfway down to the sea and
possessed almost the identical features of 300 in most ways except that it had
an extra bit of land on the side bordering Sagara Road for road expansion
purposes.
Cousins & Friends
Further away, in both directions,
on Galle Road was Suzanne & Russel Bartels from Dhammarama Road, Firoz
Nilam from Charlemont Road, The Maharoof's of Ridgeway Place, Affan's from Kinross
Avenue, Sharkers and Rizans of Kensington Gardens, Ariaratnam's of Razeendale
Gardens, Tanya Wanigasekera from Hildon Place, the Wijeratne's from Galle Road,
Aner's from Nandana Gardens, The Dickman's Road, Melbourne Avenue &
Milagiriya Avenue gangs, and the boys and girls from Wellawatte.
Alvis, the Driver
GC Alvis, who came over to work at
our home at #300 in Bamba, after being an employee of Mr. S.S. Issadeen,
Government Agent, Matara, was our driver and lived in the garage at the back of
the house. He had a great talent
for pencil drawing and the garage walls were all filled with his wonderful
works of art, call it graffiti or whatever. He also tended the garden and the
fauna. He used to drive the light grey Austin A40, CN786, that my grandpa owned and used for his
business. In later years, Alvis married Nancy, a Sinhala housemaid who
used to work for a Moor family down Dickman's Road, and the two of them
continued to occup the garage at the back of #300. They had one daughter.
Wilson
SJ Wilson lived in the garage next
door at 298. He helped out with the gardening, car wash. And other odd jobs.
Later, Uncle Ghouse, fixed him up with a job at The Chartered Bank where he
served for many years. He married and moved out to his own home.
Abu comes to Town
Sometime in 1958 my maternal
grandpa, on a visit to his cousins estate
in Rakwana, in the Ratnapura District, brought back with him young lad to say
with us. The boy was about my age and his name was Hameed. We called him Abu
for short. He was a child of one of the estate families in Rakwana. It was the
first time Abu had left his village and come to a brisk and bustling city like Colombo. He was so scared at
first but settled down slowly to live with us like one of us. I still remember
when we took him down to the beach to the sea the ocean and it overwhelmed him
so much as it was the first time in his life that he had seen such a large
volume of water in one place. We enjoyed playing and working with him in the
garden where gramps used to spend lots of time, especially on weekends,
weeding, gardening, watering, trimming and keeping the place neat and tidy. Abu
lived with us, grew up, learned some English as at that time he only spoke
Sinhala and Tamil, and went on to become an expert as an electrical technician,
skilled in house wiring, laying electric cables, and domestic and industrial
electrical maintenance. He, initially, worked as an electrical technician at a
nearby electrical maintenance shop and then later established his own electrical
business at Wellawatte which had its ups and down but provided him the means to
keep himself self sufficient and alive. Gramps arranged for him to be married
to a daughter of a lady who used to visit our home and the marriage was a
wonderful event that we all enjoyed. Abu had two daughters who are both married
and having their own kids now. Sadly, he passed away in 2001, suffering a heart
attack. His family and grandchildren are all doing very well now, thanks, to
his hard work and perseverance in establishing a good foundation fro
them.
Sometime after Abu came to live
with us gramps made another trip to Rakwana and fetched another two of his
younger brothers, Shareef and Deen, who also came to live with us and continue
their lives in a totally different environment in the big city of Colombo.
Shareef went to spend his life with my maternal aunt, who was married and
settled down now at Kiribathgoda, while Deen lived with us and to after his
older brother, Abu, in learning the electric trade and assisting him in his
work. Shareef and Deen are also married and having their own families now.
Shareef works as a chef at a tourist hotel in Anuradhapura, in the North
central Province, while Deen continues the business his brother, Abu,
established and lives in Panadura, about 10 Km. south of Colombo.
Royal Primary School
Royal Primary School, from 1953 to
1958, was a world full of joy and wonders that lingers sweetly in my memory for
all its beautiful moments and times. The boys in the class comprising mainly of
Burghers and Muslims carried on together for six wonderful years as mates
through some of the best times of my life. My first teacher was Ms Croning of
1C, followed by Ms Pereira, Ms Dissanayake, Mr Pinkamage, Mr David, and finally
Mr J E de Silva. The annual Sports Meet was another memorable occasion that everyone of us enjoyed. The school magazine was
a pride to take home and the Headmaster and teachers were people to be truly
proud of and cherish for all times. A quick game of cricket during the lunch
break or strolling around the large grounds was a daily routine for most of us
after having enjoyed an ice lolly or some gram from the vendors, Bella, Achi or
Kadalay at the gate.
An event that lingers, very much,
in my mind of that era was the picking of snails from the drains behind the
classroom and smashing their shells against the walls. Not
a very nice thing to do
but it did seem like fun as youngsters. The maypole, mat-slide and seesaw that
were located on the perimeter of the school grounds were also patronized all
the time by the class. Mr A F De Saa Bandaranaike, the then
Headmaster was a loved, and notable mentor in everyone's mind. He was strict
yet loving and caring as a Principal aught to be. Leaving Primary to enter
College was a momentous occasion as it brought in the joys of growing up and
moving into the higher echelons of Royal College where the big guys roamed.
Other
teachers of note who had a massive impact on my upbringing were Ms. Nicholas,
the Music Teacher, Mr. Piyasena aka "Vathey" whose son was also a
peer in the Sinhala section, Mr. H D Sugathapala (Sugar) who went on to succeed
Mr. De Saa Bandaranaike as Headmaster in 1958, and Mr. M D F Jayawardena. They
gave us their time, love and knowledge in the best of spirit and commitment.
May they be Blessed for all time.
Dad was an old Royalist, even
though gramps was a Thomian, and, come 1953, when I was five years young, I was
marched to my very first interview in life at Royal Primary School for entrance
to Class 1C English Medium. For my good fortune the Daily News reporter clicked
a picture of me being interviewed and there I was in the next mornings news
answering my interview diligently, shorts et al. Dad had saved that picture and
it still remains in my files somewhere deep within I am sure.
I
remember every single face and name in that class even until today. The
majority of the class comprised Muslims and Burgers on account of the medium of
instruction being English. The Muslims had the free choice of opting any of the
three languages and my dad appropriately chose English. Our teacher was Mrs.
Croning. Wow! wasn’t she a toughie? It was sad to hear that
she had passed away recently as I found out from an obituary in the local
press. She sure must have lived to a ripe old age. Some of my closest
associates were Allan Ebert, Philip Stork, Graham Koch, Brian Lieversz, Maurice
Chapman, Mazher Fazleali, Mohammed Iqbal Najmudeen, Mohammed Hassim, Premasiri
Guruswamy, Jezley Hussain, Jeremy Pereira, Nigel de Kretser, Arooz Sheriff,
Imthiaz Jaffer, William Solomons, Ramlal Gunewardena, Aubrey Willis and Rodney
Vanderwall. Other names I can still remember are Alwyn Anthinisz, Dallas
Grenier, Cedric Ernst, Michael Gray, S.T. Aziez, S.J. Bahar, Nihal Canagasabey,
Monty Cassim, Suren Chitty, Bryce Fernando, Eardley Foenander, and Anthony
Walpola. Grandpa Sameer used to take me to school by rickshaw and stay at
school in the huge cage like structure erected for waiting parents, guardians,
and maids, until it was time to go home. I still remember peeping out of the
class and calling out to him “Appa, Appa!”, the Tamil equivalent of “Grandpa,
Grandpa”, to the screeching of Mrs. Croning shouting at him to go away and not
spoil his grandchildren. They have both passed away. May God Bless them.
Although the classes were divided into the three language media the boys still
gelled together as one community since they did come together very often during
music, sports, games and breaks. The enthusiasm for sports, music and other
extra curricular activity during this era was a tremendous factor that united
the boys into one single unit of humanity. Cricket was the main sport of
interst although althletics and other events were also sought after on account
of the grand sports meet that was held at the end of each school year.
The boys at RPS from that era were as follows:-
English Medium |
Tamil Medium |
Sinhala Medium |
ANTHONISZ, Alwyn J. |
M. Balakumaran * (2019) |
Abeysena, Nihal * (2020) |
AZIEZ, Shirzard T. *
(2021) |
Suren Cooke * |
Abeysinghe, Sunil (S. K.) * |
BAHAR, Shah Jehan * |
M Devakumar * |
Bamunawala, Hema (H
B) * |
CANAGASABEY, Nihal * |
C Krishnarajan * |
Chandra Prasad, * |
CASSIM, Muhammad Monty * |
S Muthulingaswamy * |
Chandrasoma, Parakrama (P T) * |
CHAPMAN, Maurice * |
A P Ponnambalam * |
Colombage , Christopher |
CHITTY, Suren * (2017) |
P R Puvanendrarajah * |
Cooray, Thusitha * |
DE KRETSER, A. Nigel F. * |
R Rajaratnam * (1999)
* |
Dandeniya, Ranjan * |
EBERT, Fredrick Allan * |
R Rajasooriyar * |
de Silva, Gamini * (2015) |
ERNST, Cedric * |
M Ratnathicam * |
De Silva, Jayantha (S J) * |
FAZLEALI, Mazher * |
S Sambandan * |
Dharmadasa, Upali (U R M) * |
FERNANDO, Bryce * |
J Satchithanandan * |
Fernando, Sarath (M S ) * |
FOENANDER, Eardley * |
S Satchithanandan * |
Godamunne, Vipula (V B) * |
GRENIER, Dallas |
S R Sellamuttu *
(2008) |
Gooneratne, Nimal (A.N.) * |
GUNEWARDENE, R.
S. Ramlal * |
S P Sellayah * |
Gunaratne, Panini (P N) * |
GURUSWAMY, Arthur Premasiri |
S Sivasubramaniam * |
Gunaratne, Shiran (S N) * |
HASHIM, Mohamed * |
S Skandakumar * |
Gunasekare, Nihal (N P R) * |
HUSSAIN, Jezley |
S Sridharan * |
Gunawardane, Buddhapriya (B C) * |
IQBAL, M.N.M. * |
V Tiruchelvam * |
Jayasinghe, Mahinda (D
M) * |
JAFFER, Imthiaz A, Dr. * |
K Velupillai * |
Jayasinghe, Senaka (S R) * |
KOCH, Graham E Cecil * |
R Vigneswaran * |
Jayasundare, Chandrakeerthi (C.P) * |
KOCH, Wilhelm * |
N Viswalingam * |
Karunatillake, Sunil * |
LIEVERSZ, N. Brian L *. |
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Kiriella , Punyasiri
* |
MOHIDEEN, Irfan Shibly * |
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Kulasinghe, Upul (U E) * |
PERERA, Jeremy * |
|
Kulathunga, Bandula *
(2015) |
SALEEM, Mohamed |
|
Lathpandura, Lakshman (L
P) * |
SAMEER, M Fazli H. * |
|
Madanayake, Ranjan *
(2017) |
SHERIFF, Muhammad Arooz * |
|
Mallikarachchi, Ananda (D
A) * (2019) |
SOLOMONS, William Boyd * |
|
Manchanayake, Palitha (P. A.) * |
STORK, Phillip |
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Mendis, Prasanna (D P G) * |
VANDERWALL, Rodney E. |
|
Palihakkara, Nanda (N D) * |
WALPOLA, Don V. Anthony * |
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Perera, Ravi (M R) * |
WILLIS, Aubrey * |
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Perera, Ravindra (K P R) * |
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Perera, Premalal (P V ) * |
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Piyasena , Surath * |
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Rajapakse, Naveen (N D) * |
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Ratnapala, Kamal (K.G.) * |
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Ratnapala, Suri (A S) * |
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Ratwatte, Charitha (J C) * |
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Salgado, Geethapriya * |
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Samarajeewa, Rohantha * |
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Samarasekare, Harindra (H D P) * |
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Senanayake, Athula (M D
A) * (2013) |
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Senerath-Yapa, Sarath (S C) * |
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Seneviratne, Keerthi (A M R K
B ) * |
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Silva, Nihal (N K N G) * |
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Silva , Milan * |
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Soysa, Preman (H P N) * |
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Suraweera, Upali (A U C) * |
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Suriyasinghe, Sarath (K S N) * |
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Thevarapperuma, Dixon |
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Thurairatnam, Indran (I R) * |
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Warusavithana, Sarath |
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Weerasekare, Daya (D C
R ) * |
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Weerasinghe, Asoka |
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Wickramarachchi, Sisira (S G M) * |
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Wickramasinghe, Gamini (D G) * |
Deceased as of Mar 2021 |
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Wickramasinghe, Panini (P H) * |
* Moved to Royal College in 1959 |
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Wickremaratne, Daya Jasenthu * |
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Wickremasinghe, Git (R G) * |
Dad was attached to the Buildings
Department of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) as a Building Inspector since
he passed out as a Surveyor at the tender age of 19 and had excelled in this
profession until his demise in 1989. We used to visit his office in the grand
old white CMC building at Town Hall which was more or less a mini White House
like structure. Dad boasted of a vast knowledge of the city of Colombo, its
homes, streets, culverts, drainage system and geographical layout which he
acquired during his tenure at the CMC. Many real estate organizations and
householders used to visit our home during dad's retirement to seek information
about house and property in Colombo on account of this knowledge he possessed.
A large street map of Colombo always hung on the wall of his office room at
#300.
It was some time in the mid/late
fifties that I remember Dad contesting the Municipal Council seat of the Pettah
Ward. His election symbol was the wheel and I remember the posters and flags
with his pictures and symbol being displayed on walls and cars during that
campaign. Dad lost the election and then went into private practice at home
thereafter. He was quite famous and renowned for his profession as a Surveyor,
Leveller and Architect, especially amongst the elite Muslim community who owned
much land and real estate. I still remember how my brother and I used to join
his surveyor gang and visit many interesting sites where he conducted his work.
Kangani, a dark skinned Sinhalese man, sporting a bushy grey moustache and
wearing baggy khaki shorts and short sleeved safari style jacket with flaps et
al, was the supervisor of this gang. He was a strong man who knew his job well
and managed his boys effectively. We used to be mortally scared of the
man.
R-O-Y-A-L!
Moving to College in 1959 was a
tremendous change for everyone. Some of the Burgher boys were in the process of
migrating to Australia with the Sinhala only policy coming into place. Some
didn’t make it having failed the entrance test. New guys joined us from various
other schools. We had a batch of over 200 in the first year at Royal College in
1959 spread out into seven classes classified as Form 1A to Form 1F. I was in
1E and my class teacher was Mr Justin de Silva, affectionately known as
“Abraham Lincoln” for his tremendous love and respect for the former American
President whom he used as a role model in every possible way. He even sported a
beard and tried to look like old Abe in the best of his own inimitable style.
Form 1A was taken by that wonderfully dynamic teacher Capt. MKJ Cantlay
renowned for his activities and contributions with the Scout Troop and the
Cadet Corps. I also remember Mr MM Alavi taking one of the classes in Form 1.
My Form 2 class master was Mr Sivalingam, Mr JH de Saram taking Form 3, Ms
Samarasekera taking form 4 and then Mr Canegaratne also taking Form 4 as I had
to spend another year in the same form in 1963 on account of an eye injury I
suffered while playing “Elle” or Rounders (the local version of baseball) and
had to spend six difficult months warded at the Colombo Eye Hospital from June
to December 1962. The one whose bat hit me on the face was KC Fernando, now
practicing as a doctor and living in Australia, and it was the last “pitch”of
the day before the bell rang to end the lunch interval. I was rushed to the
Accident Service in an unconscious state after having been taken to the hostel
for immediate attention to the cut above my left eye that subsequently had to
have three stitches implanted to close the gaping wound.
Taking the College Bus every
morning from the Bamba Flats bus stand was the norm. Several guys used to
congregate at the stand, chatting the morning away, ogling at the girls of
Bishops, CMS Ladies, Lindsay, Visakha, and St. Bridget's Convent, waiting for
their own buses to take them to their schools. The regulars whom I remember are
Lucky Kiriella, now a Member of Parliament and representative for Kandy, Sunil
Abeysinghe now in LA, Loranjan Dias Abeygunawardena who lives in Ireland, and
Nihal Canagasabey from Frankfort Place. Of the gals there were Siromi Dias
Abeygunawardena (Visakha), sister of Loranjan, Tania Wanigasekera (Bishops),
Vasantha (Edna) and her sister Evelyn Amarasingham (CMS Ladies), The Solomon
girls from the Flats who used to walk by to St. Pauls Milagiriya which was just
a few meters away on the land side, and Susan Bartels (Lindsay). The Bamba Flats
was one hell of a hot place to live next to.
Cycling was a great pastime in
those halcyon days and I remember buying my own second hand bicycle from
Podisingho's cycle shop opposite our home for Rs 50 which I had carefully saved
up from my daily school allowance of Rs 1. Ahhh what a bike she was. A Raleigh. Old man Podisingho had cleaned her up
and given her the spit and polish and she looked beautiful in the noonday sun.
Riding along the sea side streets at Bamba was fun. Eventually I started riding
to school too with some of the other chaps in the neighborhood. How can I ever
forget my first ever vehicle?
Some of the teachers at Royal whose
names I can remember and who gave us their best were Mr. J H Rupasinghe (Ruperty),
Mr. V Arasaratnam (Arasa), Mr. E C Gunesekera (Kataya), Headmaster of the Lower
School Mr. Abeysinghe (Cowpox), Mr. JH De Bruin, Mr. Gunaseelan, Mr.
Gulasingham (Thosai), Mr. Menon (Pope), Mr Ratnayake (Ghandi), Mr. Arulanandan
(Arul), Mr. Ratnathicam (Rat), Mr. Thillainathan (Liston), Mr. Viji Weerasinghe
(Duckie), Mr. Devapriya, Mr Sherriffdeen, Mr. CE Belleth (aka Bella, and who
had taught my Dad too in his time), Mr. Rajaratnam, and Mr. Tennekoon
(Librarian).
Some of the cricketing greats whom
we all treated as hero's of Royal during my time were, EL Pereira, Brian
Pereira, Michael Dias, M Velle, SC Samarasinghe, Darrel Lieversz, Sugi
Rajaratnam, L Thalayasingham, M Sivanesarasa, CAP Fernando, S Waranakulasuriya,
Ranjan Madugalle, K Sockalingam, Brian Lieversz, Nigel de Kretser, and Eardley
Lieversz.
The Eye Hospital
The six months that I spent, on the
second floor of the Men’s Ward, at the Eye Hospital, having being diagnosed
with a Retinal Detachment in my left eye, was one of tremendous trauma and
difficulty, both for me as well as my parents and family who spared no pains to
make me happy and comfortable throughout that period. The eye surgeon who
treated me was Dr. R Pararajasegaram, one of the top eye surgeons in town at
that time, who operated on my left eye, thrice, unsuccessfully. I remember Dad
staying the night over at the hospital, seated in an arm chair, on the three
occasions I underwent surgery. He also used to feed me my meals as both my eyes
were bandaged shut throughout the six month period I spent at the hospital and
were only opened for medication and examination by the surgeon and house
officer each morning. When I was finally discharged from the hospital in
December my left eye was totally blind. Some of the people who had an
impact on my life during that traumatic era were, little PodiNilame, another
patient from Polgahawela who had suffered an accident to his eye,
Thenewwahandige Sumanasiri from Ambalangoda who was in the next bed to me in
the ward and also suffering froma Retinal Detachment like me, his father and
paternal uncle who usually kept vigil over him most of the time, Perambalam,
another patient in another ward, Adwin the erstwhile attendant, and sister Ms
Fernando, one of the nurses in the ward. Little Podinilame was about 7 or 8
years old and used to take great delight in pushing the meals cart at lunch and
dinner time down the hallways. It was a totally different world in there. There
were patients who used to keep coming back to the ward after having deliberately
hurt themselves even after having been discharged because they were so poor
they had no place to go to. There were so many intrigues and stories that were
whispered round the wards. On one occasion a young patient jumped out of the
window of one of the wards and committed suicide. Dad had my bed moved away
from the window since then. We had four beds in our ward two of which were
rarely occupied and used mostly by Sumanasiri’s Dad or uncle whenever they came
from Ambalangoda to visit and stayed over the night. Even though my eyes were
tightly shut al the time I knew exactly what was going on all around me. Sound, actually compensated for
sight.
I had to wear dark tinted glasses
for a period f time and this caused many a head to turn at me, especially at
nights, wherever I went. That was the end of my sporting career at
school.
Once back at home, again, life
slowly began returning to normal for me as I started attending school once
again in January of 1963. I had to have a blood circulation problem attended to
as lying flat on my back for six months without any physiotherapy at the
hospital had caused my circulation to go haywire, no thanks to the hospital
authorities for their inability to recognize that. My feet had to be raised, in
the form of an exercise, so that the blood would flow back up to my upper torso
and return to normal. I still feel the ill effects of this shortcoming, almost
40+ years later, in constant cramps and numbness in my legs, thatcould have easily been
avoided had the good sense of the medical people of that era prevailed. That
was the “devil may care” Ceylon in the sixties I guess?
Secondary School
Returning back to Royal in 1964 I
was able to move through my GCE (O) Levels with six credit passes and one
simple pass (Sinhalese Language) offering all three streams of Mathemtaics
(Pure, Applied & Advanced), Physics, English Language, & Islam. I
flunked Chemistry, the bane of all my academics. Never liked it. Never still do.
Having attained proficiency in all
three maths the trend was to move towards engineering sciences and Dad was very
keen that I follow in his shoes.
Moving to the upper echelons of
Royal in the Lower and Upper Sixth Class was a very prestigious era in my life.
Life was rather serious, filled with studies and extra hours in making sure I
could get over the hurdle of University entry. Appeared for the GCE (Advanced)
level examination in 1966 and came out successfully with two credit passes
(Pure and Applied Mathematics) and one ordinary pass (Physics) obtaining a
large enough aggregate mark to get entry into the University of Ceylon, Colombo
Campus, for a degree course in Physical Science.
University of Colombo
University life was a different
kettle of fish. Never expected it but had no choice but to take it by the
horns and squeeze through. My very first day at University was one filled with
student unionism and strikes. The name was to be changed to University of
Colombo and the current students union decided to protest, violently and
vehemently. We freshmen were inducted into the union and guaranteed there would
be no ragging of we supported the strike. So we did. What a way to step out
into the echelons of higher education. The commie leaders were at our doorstep
every day urging us on with rhetoric speech to carry on our student struggle
with fervor and fight. The authorities decided to close the campus. The
students union decided to sleep in to prevent the closure. It was a time to
remember. The going-on’s inside the campus by night and by day
could be put into a whole new separate novel.
Playing Bridge at the Campus
Canteen was a great pastime with all the lovely lasses standing and watching
behind us. The guys were so engrossed in the game that they even kept the
ladies waiting on occasions when dates were arranged for special outings.
Goren, Schenken, and Blackwood were the conventions used then. Later we
migrated to Precision after CC Wei won the World Championships in the 70s.
I spent about a year and a half in
campus and then decided to drop out for many reasons of my own. There didn’t
seem to be a suitable and tangible future in a Physical Science degree to me at
that time. Information Technology was my passion and I had to let go of the
present and move onwards to attain it. I was proved very right much later in
life.
Towards the end of 1968 I moved
into IT.
The Music Scene
Royal College, in the sixties,
initiated a western music band, managed by Mr Amerasinghe who had just returned
from USA, and purchased several musical instruments in order to kick off. The band, initially comprised those greats like,
Ishan Bahar, Gabo, Arooz Sheriff, William Solomons. I also played started my
musical career here by playing drums for the band.
Another interesting musical
escapade of those times was the "jing-bang" that used to take place
at the Ibrahim residence down Vihare Lane at Wellawatte. Several of us,
comprising Rizvi Kuthdoos, MHM Ghouse, Rumi Bathusha, Uncle Athas Kuthdoos,
Firoze Ibrahim, Jamshed Ariff, Fazil Rilla, and myself used to jam during the
evenings singing many of the oldies ranging from Jim Reeves to the Beatles.
Rizvi migrated to Canada and has passed away since. Rizvi's rendition of
"River of the Roses" was fantastic while Ghouse used to belt out his
famous "From a Jack to a King", Rumi his theme song "Proud
Mary" and Uncle Athas many wonderful Jim Reeves tracks. My favorite was
Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night".
Later on I joined up with the Lye
brothers from Borupana and formed a band called "Spiritual Recipe"
and we played mostly at functions of the Malay Club. The members of the band
were Ezmal Lye (Bass Guitar), Rasmar Lye (Percussions), Dylan Lye (lead
Guitar), Rumi Bathusha (Rhythm Guitar and vocals), Dr. Nalin Jayatunge (Sax),
and myself on drums. We practiced, mostly, at the
Lye residence in Ratmalana on weekends and enjoyed playing at family get
togethers and domestiuc parties most of all.
I also played for a while with the
second band at La Langousterie night club on the beach at Mount Lavinia. Later
on I extended my musical career by playing with the SAMBA Band in Saudi Arabia
and also doing some skits with a bunch of expats on weekends.
The World of Computers
It was during one of the math
lessons at University that I started taking an interest in Computers which was,
then, only a figment of science fiction dreamers. Professor Karunaratne, who
had recently returned from the USA, had written a book on Fortran Programming
and recommended it to any of the students who were interested in trying to
understand the world of computer programming. I opted for a book and also
started taking a keen interest on the subject very seriously. My main sources
of information and learning were the British Council Library at Kollupitiya and
the American Center (USIS) at Galle Face Courts. I spent lots of time at these
two magnificently equipped locations in reading about Computers and all that
went with programming, analysis, design etc. It was a wonderful world of
science that fascinated my innermost emotions. I was even writing computer code
in Fortran for kicks just to satisfy my own
desires even though none of those program were ever
compiled or put to the test. They were simply written on paper and run on
paper. They worked. That’s as far as I understood their intricacies. The desire
inside me to pursue a career in Computers was so immense but there was no means
of fulfillment within the confines of the country at that point of time.
The Ceylon Moor Youth League
The Chartered Bank
It was in 1969 that my uncle AWM
Ghouse, who was married to my Dad’s oldest sister, Sithy Rameela Sameer,
suggested to me to take up a career in banking. He was then attached to The
Chartered Bank in Colombo. I agreed after some persuasion from Dad and was
invited to the bank for an interview and test. My banking career started on Feb
16 1969 when I signed up an employment contract with the bank. This was another
ball game in my life that I will always remember.
It was here that I learnt of the
tricks of doing business by hook or by crook, to hell with all the ethics and
decency that we were taught back at school that was condidered most precious
and obligatory. Working life was a dog’s life. The style of Employer-Employee
relationship was one of master and slave, each trying his best to hoodwink the
other in every manner possible. The staff union that was very active and strong
was hell bent on attacking the organization at every single turn. At the same
time the organization had the least respect for its employees. It was a very
sad experience which I will probably remember for all my life. Discrimination,
based on ethnicity, race, religion and favoritism was the order of the day. We
Muslims, as a small minority, had very little scope of career success in such a
hostile environment. I was sure that this was not the place for me.
We were initially taught the usage
of the “in”famous NCR Class 32 Accounting machines by a burly old Burgher lady
called Ms. Swan at the NCR office down the road at York Street. My first
assignment was with the Current Accounts department under another burly old
Burgher gentleman whose name was B.N.R. Raux. Although he was a very
humorous man he was also most fearful of the management and would bend in fives
to appease them at any cost. The young guys working for him also feared him for
the simple reason that he could make or break their career and lucrative future
that they all had in their hearts and minds. Some of my colleagues within the
department at that time were Jeyaraj Fernando, a senior from whom I learned
most of my work, Stanley Fernando, the two Ronnie de Silva’s, one from Ragama
and the other from Wellawatte, N. Jayasooriya, Canicius Leonard, Thomas,
Premadasa, Stanley Fernando, Tyronne Candappa, Eddie Melder, Mervyn Alfred
(Mama), who was later drowned in the Mahaweli while returning from a trip to
Adams Peak, Nihal Fernando,, son of the Union boss, Brian Wickremasinghe,
Arambawela, Weerasooriya, Paiva, Subash Chandra, and some others whose names I
may not distinctly remember now. Of the seniors there were Steuart Kuneman,
Siddiq Ghouse (my cousin), Ronnie Henderling, Douglas Ingram, S.M. Yehiya,
Anslem Ludwig, BNR Raux, V Gulasingham, SC Dias-Abesyinghe, Rex Wijesooriya,
Gerry Carvalho, N.D. Perera, and RAD Parera (who became Accountant after
Cameron). Of the staff who were seconded for service from UK I remember the
names of Manager, PJ McNamara, SC Buchanan, MC Cameron (Accountant), and NP
Davenport. The only lady amongst the staff at that time was Ms Muttiah, who was
the secretary to the Accountant. It was totally a man’s world at The Chartered
Bank in the early seventies.
The majority of the staff belonged
to the Colombo Chetty community while there were also Burghers and Sinhalese
staff members on the payroll. Top management consisted of good white men from
Loindon as Manager, Sub Manager and Accountant as the pecking order was, in
those banking days in Ceylon. We also had
a “white” Londoner managing current accounts.
The politics that pervaded the
entire staff, top down, was most appalling, and, certainly not the best way for
me to start my life in the deep end of human behavior. Yet, that was the working culture that
prevailed across all sectors of the corporate world in Ceylon. The many clashes
between the management and the clerical union was like a war that could see no end. The
internal intrigues that went on between managemnent and their “blue eyed boys” was another
lesson that I learned the hard and uncomfortable way. Favoritism was the order
of the day. You could never get anywhere near the top unless you pleased your
bosses in whatever way they wished. Racism was inherent in the hearts and minds
of people. I just wanted to get away from it all and run away to some far off
distant land.
Working in the environs of The Colombo Fort was an interesting and
valuable experience by itself. The many businesses, companies, and offices
employed a large number of people who used to gather at various eating spots
for lunch and refreshments. The Pagoda, on Chatham Street, was one of them.
Other places of note are Nectar Café, Jaffna Hotel, Nanking Chinese Restaurant,
and Ceylinco Akasa Kadey.
IBM
About a year after I had joined the
banks service my heart and mind was still revolving around computers and
automation which I was never able to seek and fulfill within the totally manual
banking environment. IBM World Trade Corporation in Colombo, in collaboration
with the Rotary Club of Colombo West, initiated a program to teach Computer
Science to a selected group of students in Sri Lanka. I applied eagerly in
response to an advertisement they had placed in the newspapers. An aptitude
test and examination was conducted and I was most fortunate to be selected
within the 30 odd finalists amongst a bunch of over 600 who had sought a place.
The course was exciting and went on for two years. I qualified with excellence.
I must convey my thanks to Mr. Santhiran, General Manager of IBM and Mr.Sha
Razaq of the Rotary Club of Colombo West for their kindness and enthusiasm in
assisting me to embark upon this lucrative career.
The bank never automated their
operations or systems and I was truly frustrated at not being able to utilize
my Computer skills positively and learn the ropes of the IT industry.
It was during the early seventies
that both my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother passed away at their
respective homes in Bambalapitiya. The first two leave us was my maternal
grandpa, MCHM Rasheed, whom we affectionately referred to as "Rasheed
Appa". He suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital where he
passed away peacefully. My paternal grandma, Raliya Umma Noordeen (wife of
Muhammad Sameer) passed away soon after that at home and was buried at the
Dehiwela Muslim burial grounds. This was our first exposure to death within
close members of our family who had lived with us all our lives and it was very
traumatic for us to accept their departure that left a deep void in all of our
lives. My paternal grandfather, Muhammad Sameer, also expired soon after in the
mid seventies. The many examples and teachings that they shared and taught us
in life are so very valuable to us today. May their souls be blessed and may
they be granted entry to the Garden of Paradise!
The Lions Club
The Malay Club
It was after I started working at
The Chartered Bank, in 1969, that I met and made friends with a group of young
Malay youth in Colombo who became my closest friends during this era. They
comprised of people like Ezmal Lye (Australia), Shiraz Lye, Rasmar Lye, Dylan
Lye (HongKong), all brothers from Borupana, Ratmalana, Haji Rasseeddeen, Bolly
Johar & Branu Rahim (cousins from Udahamulla, Nugegoda), the late Zahir
Mohamed & Kerima Musafer, Roshan Sukhla (who married Ranjit Fernando later
on), Sherwani Rahim (who married Mani Seneviratne), Hamza Deane (who married
Mumtaz Aliph), Reza & Ameen Deane (brothers, musicians), sisters Shineer
& Gunasmin Amit (who married Ezmal Lye later on and migrated to Australia),
Mumtaz Aliph (who was married to Captain Anil Rambukwela of Air Ceylon),
Firdousi (Maiyo), Yasmin, Yolande, & Sayang Aliph (siblings of Pendennis
Avenue, Colombo 3), Shireeni, Dicko & Tito NoorAmith of Nawala, Patsy Dole
(who married Branu Rahim later on) of Moratuwa, Dani & Lilibeth Bahar (who
married Rumi Bathusha later on) of Wattala, and Lahan Samsudeen & Shirani
Musafer of Ratmalana, Parum Samahon. Another notable member of this gang of
friends was Dr Nalin Jayatunge a great sax player and medic, and his lovewly
wife Carmelita Gomez of Nugegoda. I also had the privilege and honor to have
met and known some of the elder Malay folks belonging to their families, viz;
AW Musafer and wife, TJ NoorAmith, and The Lye family parents.
The Bridge Gang at Bamba
Marriage & Kids
Metropolitan Agencies & HP
In 1979, M/S Metropolitan Agencies
Ltd, a private sector office equipment company dealing in electronics, secured
the local agency for Hewlett Packard Computers in Sri Lanka and ventured out
into establishing a Computer Department. Having been introduced to the Director
responsible for this new business, Mr. Mahendra Ambani, by a mutual friend, whose wife was a friend of Shirani, I
was given a stiff interview and interrogation and offered a lucrative position
as Systems Analyst/Programmer. I didn’t blink an eyelid but decided to quit ten
long years in banking for an IT career. My dad and the rest of the family were
furious. No one in Sri Lanka quits a banking profession after ten long years.
It was sheer madness to give up such a lucrative career with all its finery of
fringe benefits and retirement pension plans etc. My mind was made up and I
quit. Ironically, I started work at Metropolitan Agencies on the same date as I
had joined the bank, Feb 16, in the year 1979, exactly ten years after.
I was initially trained by a
Singaporean Consultant in analyzing and programming a Ledger Card Computer
called MONROE marketed by Litton Industries, USA. This was an extension to the
Class-32 Accounting machines that most banks were using at that point of time
in that it was electronically run and was also programmable using a simple
Assembly Language that was directly programmed on to EPROMS (commonly known as
micro chips in this age and time). The programmed machine was sold to many of
the banks in Sri lanka in automating many of their
functions.
Then came the first ever HP PC into
my life. It was something out of this world. It had a memory of 64KB, two high
speed cartridge tape drives and no hard disk whatsoever. The monitor was green.
The programming language was HP-Enhanced BASIC and the Operating System was an
HP Proprietary one very similar to IBM’s MSDOS which came much later on to the
IT arena. Life was beautiful. It was also hectic. Work was so exciting. I never
had it so good. The customers were, once again, banks and some interest was
also shown by some of the research organizations in the country on account of
the massive statistical power of the machine. This was the beginning of my
professional IT career. I wrote program after program, working night and day,
and delivered effectively and on time enjoying every moment of it. The company
was also very pleased and we hired two more staff to assist me in my work. One
was Faleel from the Central Bank and the other, a very young lady called
Shashikala who came on board as a trainee programmer having completed an AFS
scholarship in the USA. Faleel was a veteran office worker and took care of the
sales and other business relationships with the customers. Shashi and I did all
the technical stuff, writing programs, testing them, debugging them, and
finally delivering them to very satisfied customers. It was a learning curve
for her too as much as it was for me.
During my tenure with Metropolitan
Agencies in 1979 my maternal grandmother, Ummu Thahira Shareef (wife of MCHM
Rasheed) passed away one morning after having been admitted to the Sri Lanka
Nursing Home at High Street (WA Silva Mawtha), Wellawatte. I visited her that
morning on my way to work and had a chat with her and she looked so wonderful
and happy. Sometime, a little bit later God Chose to take her away. She was the
one person amongst the elders in the family that I was most closely attached to
having lived all her life in our home as far as I can remember. May she be
blessed with the Garden of Paradise!
It was sometime in October 1979
that I was made an offer of employment in the Middle East and the lure of the
desert and its fantasies did not let me continue the joy of analysis and
programming at Metropolitan Agencies in Colombo. The job was administrative but
had some elements of IT in that it involved the preparation of statistics and
the programming and usage of a portable computer using Assembler, Fortran and BASIC language. The company was
involved in road construction in Saudi Arabia and my point of employment was
based in the Eastern Province in the city of Dammam. I signed up and left
Colombo for Saudi Arabia on November 13, 1979. I had to transit in Karachi and
take another flight to Dhahran on November 14.
The first thing that hit me in the
face when I arrived at Dhahran Airport was the hot air and the dust all around
us. I was met by a representative of the company, M/S General Agencies
Corporation, a member of the Shobokshi Group, and driven through town to my
initial accommodation in a small town called Rakah adjoining the city of
AlKhobar. It was Wednesday and the beginning of the weekend in Saudi Arabia
which is Thursday-Friday as opposed to the Gregorian weekend of
Saturday-Sunday. Hence I had two full days to regain myself in the new
environment and get a feel for the place before commencing my first day at work
on Saturday, Nov 17, 1979. There were many other Sri Lankans also working for
the same company and they came over to greet me and give me an update on life
in Saudi Arabia. Initially, I felt really homesick, missing my wife and my 4
year old daughter very much but as time moved along things became more settled
and busy and active.
The road construction contract that
GAC were executing was the construction of the Dammam-Ras Tanura Highway under
the supervision of an Italian consulting company called T.E.C.N.I.C.S. My
residence was moved to the camp site on the highway being constructed and this
made travelling much more easier for me. I was also given the
additional task of managing the day to day accounting and cash management
functions of the work site. Some of the people I met and worked with during
this employment contract were Engineer Simeon Torralba, a burly Filipino who
was the Chief Engineer for the consulting company, Eng. Masoud Abdul Qadir,
Eng. Fakhri Ahmed Abu Gaben, Paolo, Hussain, Fazli Jiffry, Bari, Mukthar, ABM
Shafeek, Osama, Farook, Matthew all hailing from various different countries
across the globe. The experience of desert life and a multinational community
was most educative and exciting.
In addition to producing the
required statistical analysis and results for the voluminous amount of data
that used to pour in from the field engineers I was also responsible to assist
the Chief Engineer, Mr Torralba, to prepare his monthly status reports for the
government Ministry who had contracted the work. This was a very important
exercise as all payments to the contractors was based on the correctness and accuracy
of this monthly status report.
The management of both the
consulting engineers and the contractors were extremely kind and nice to me and
gave me all the possible assistance and encouragement to adapt and progress
with my work. We worked a five and half day week commencing Saturday and
closing on Thursday afternoon and Friday. The majority of the construction
workers were from Sri Lanka and we had a smattering of Indians. Pakistani's,
Filipinos, and Koreans amongst the work gangs too. All the project staff used
to live on camp, either at the site itself or at the companies accommodation at
Rakha in AlKhobar. Some of the Arab Engineers who had their families with them
chose tolive in apartments in the town of Dammam. Consulting Engineering staff
lived on site in porta-cabins (pre fab houses) with their families. A common
public bus service was provided for all staff to do their weekly shopping and
jaunts into town. A large number of the Sri Lankan work gang were from
the Central Province, mainly from the town of Akurana.
Life in a road construction work
camp was something new to me having lived all my life in a warm and cosy home
in a busy city in Asia. All the residences were equipped with the basic
utilities of electricity, water, toilets, kitchens and air conditioning. We had
to cook our own food and that's how I first started learning how to cook. You
got to start somewhere, I guess? And, necessity heeds no bounds!
It was in 1980 that my younger
brother also joined me in Saudi Arabia having signed up an employment contract
for two years with M/S Al Gosaibi Cold Stores as an Accountant. His arrival
brought in many a good cheer to my life as having family with me was a
tremendous blessing in such a lonely place as the desert. His work place, a
furniture wholesaler called REYASH managed and run by the family of Muhammad
Khalifa Al Gosaibi, was located in AlKhobar, about 20 Km away from my camp
site.
We used to exchange notes on mail
sent and received to and from home and also spent a large amount of time
browsing through book stores and reading, a valuable habit that both of us had
nurtured since our youth. Books were expensive in Saudi Arabia and we used to
pool our resources in buying what we needed most and sharing them accordingly.
The International Book Store in AlKhobar was a grand place to browse and shop
for books as they had a wide array of everything that was available in the
international book markets.
A paternal cousin of mine, Kamal
Sameer (son of my paternal uncle, Ismail Sameer), also came to work for the Electric
Company (SCECO) in the Eastern Province. He was located in Dammam, a sleepy
fishing town that lazed in between my work camp and AlKhobar. The desert family
was growing. We also met and moved along with several other Sri Lankans who
worked in many other companies and camps in the region. Amongst them were
several relatives, neighbors, and friends from home. This created a small
family community for us which was enjoyed mostly on weekends (Fridays) when we
used to meet up at someone's place or camp. Among this gang were people like
Masrur Mahboob, Firoze Ibrahim (my older brother in law), Fazal Farook from Sagara Road adjoining our
Colombo home. Later on we were joined by many others, some of whose names I
remember as, Nazeer Rasheed, Fiaz Hameed, Shah Mihilar, Fairuf Ibrahim (my
younger brother in law who died at the early age of 46 in a fatal car crash in
Riyadh in 1996), Fareed Mohideen, Dr. Ziaudeen Abdul Cader, Professor of
Pharmacology at King Feisal University, Dr. Rasheed and Dr. Ishak of the University
of Petroleum and Minerals, Ismet Zaheed (an uncle, son of Proctor NM Zaheed and
brother of Hamza, Fareed, Kamil, & Thahir), Rumi Farook (brother of Fazal
Farook), Reza Ashroff (Bawa) & Family, and Zarook from Dematagoda Road.
The Hajj
The Pilgrimage of Hajj, the Fifth Pillar in Islam, comes during
the last (twelfth) month of the Islamic Hijri calendar and was round the corner
sometime towards the latter part of 1980 and the company decided to provide a
bus and other required necessities for the staff to perform this pilgrimage. I
joined the group and we ended up with 50 Sri Lankans in one yellow American
school bus. The Akurana boys did the driving which encompassed more than 3,000
Km. to Makkah and back from Dammam. The journey was an unforgettable one for me
trekking through the desert sands and mountains, stopping at wayside villages
for food, water, and prayers. My brother also joined in the Hajj together with
a smaller group of Sri Lankans from his company in a separate bus. We agreed
and hoped to meet at Makkah, Mina and Arafat although the chances were rather
remote in such a huge place with millions of pilgrims all dressed alike in
white, God Willing!
Having left Dammam a about 4:00 pm
one afternoon on the 6th Day of the month of Dhul Hijjah, we traveled almost
1,500 Km, through Buraidah & Onaiza in the Central Region, to arrive at
Makkah in the early hours of the morning on the 7th Day. Although the journey
itself was a tiring one the many stops along the way at various small towns and
villages were truly exciting. The scenic beauty of the desert sand dunes,
mountains, shrubs, and even animal life was also very educative and
interesting. I made notes of all the points we stopped at and some descriptions
of the many things we heard and saw along the way. I also traced a rough sketch
map of the route we took as it was my first ride across the Arabian desert from East to West. Thoughts of the
Empty Quarter and its crossing by Philby came to my mind as the bus rolled
across the asphalt that was spread on the sand like a winding serpent.
We crossed through strange places,
for the first time in my life, through the desert and came across towns and
villages with names like Unaiza, Buraidha, Sael Kabeer, Sael Sageer, along the
way. Arriving at the Taif mountain plains we disembarked to perform our
ablutions and change into the Ihram, the two pieces of white unstitched cotton
cloth garment that every male pilgrimage has to adorn. It took another 2 hours
or more to reach the Ka'bah at Makkah. My first glimpse of the Holy site was
most traumatic and tears sprang from my eyes to remember the Creator and His
messenger (peace be upon him) who strove to preach the religion to the pagan
Quraish of Makkah almost 1400 years ago.
The pilgrimage began with the
performance of the lesser pilgrimage of 'Umrah first. I was the leader of the
group and had to lead the rest of them holding a flag staff carrying an
identification flag raised on it in my hands in order that nobody gets lost in
the crowd. We first made ablution and proceeded to perform the rites of Tawaf,
or circumambulation, seven times around the Ka'aba. Having completed that we made two
rakaats of Prayer and proceeded to carry out the rites of Sai, running seven
times between the hillocksof As Safah and Al Marwah,
emulating the running of Prophet Abraham's wife, Hagar, in search of water for
her thirsty baby, Prophet Ismail (peace be upon them). Clipping a part of ones hair completed
the lesser pilgrimage and we were now free to change our clothes back to
ordinary ones prior to traveling to Mina for the commencement of the Hajj.
We rested awhile in Makkah,
spending the night in the Holy City, and woke up early next morning to begin
the rites of Hajj. Changing back into Ihram once again we started out in the
bus to the tent city of Mina where we had to find a suitable location to park
and rest with the intention of spending one night there. The plains of Mina
were filled with tents and people in their millions settling down in their
abodes, preparing for the pilgrimage rites. We had no tents or Mutawwif (Hajj
Guide) and had to manage with the knowledge of the rites of hajj as we had read
and understood. The boys were very well disciplined and listened to me
diligently. They were also all first timers and hence were full of enthusiasm
to carry out the rites of the pilgrimage correctly and well. We survived on
meagre meals of biscuits, fruits, milk, juices and water as we did not have any
means of cooking and preparation of meals. The boys were also not so concerned
with food at this time.
Nightfall was serene in Mina and we
went to bed after having completed the night prayer. The next morning was a
very busy one with everyone scampering to get on their buses to proceed to
Arafat where the main rites of the pilgrimage would take place. On arrival we
parked close to some utilities that would be beneficial to us during our stay
there and settled down to the rites of the pilgrimage. Noon time came and the
Mosque at Arafat came alive with the sermon of the Hajj being delivered by the
Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia followed by the Noon and afternoon prayers combined
and conducted in two rakaats each. The sun was hot but a cool breeze across the
plains gave us some consolation amidst the heat and dust. We performed al the
rites of prayer, supplication and submission to the Creator during the rest of
the afternoon after having partaked a small meal. As soon as the call for the
sunset prayer was heard the pilgrims began to get into the or vehicles to start
moving back to Muzdalifah, adjoining Mina, in order to rest the night there as
ordained by the Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam.
Muzdalifah was quite cool at night
and we picked up stones there during the night for the ritual of stoning the
devil which would commence on the next three days. It was here that I bumped
into my brother and his group amongst the throng of pilgrims who were gathered
for the night. It was a great emotional moment for us notwithstanding the fact
that it was like finding a needle in a haystack. We decided to stay close to
each other with both groups moving together for the rest of the pilgrimage so
we could enjoy each others company.
The next day was the day of Eid, or
Festival of Sacrifice, and we proceeded to slaughter our share of sheep as is
required. Seven of us pooled our resources together and slaughtered a camel as
is permitted as an alternative to a single sheep per pilgrim. The meat was
distributed to the poor and needy of Makkah. Nowadays the meat is frozen and
immediately packed and shipped to Africa, Asia, and other third world nations
for the benefit of the poor. More than a million animals are sacrificed each
year during the pilgrimage. The next three days were spent in stoning the three
concrete pillars at Mina which represented the three stations when Satan tried
his best to entice Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) to refrain from adhering
to God's Command of sacrificing his only son, Ismail. The significance of the
stoning is the rejection of Satan, and, thereby evil, and the acceptance of
adherence to God's commands and rights.
Back in Mina I also met my cousin
Siddiq Ghouse, who had come all the way from Colombo to perform the pilgrimage,
at the Sri Lankan pilgrims tent there. There were several others
whom I knew too amongst their groups and we shared some moments of discussion
and exchange of news and information with them.
The pilgrimage was now over and we
were able to change back into our normal clothes after taking a shower at Mina.
The cool water was very refreshing after the harsh conditions of the desert
sands and heat. We proceeded back to Makkah for the final rites of Tawaf
and Sai and rode our bus back home through Madinah where we visited the Mosque
of the Prophet (peace be upon him) where we performed several prayers during
the time we spent there.
There was a great feeling of
humility, submission to the Creator, and elation in the hearts and minds of
everyone having accomplished an event that is very significant in the life of a
believer. The boys took turns in driving the bus, taking time to rest, and
share the tiresome task of the 1,500 Km trek ahead.
When we returned to Dammam we were
all totally exhausted and rested our limbs for a day before we returned to work
at the end of the Hajj seasons holidays.
SAMBA
Saudi American Bank, the local subsidy of Citibank NA, USA, was
planning to open up their offices and branches in the Eastern Region and were in
the process of head hunting during the end of 1980. Having contacted the
authorities responsible for IT Operations I approached them for a suitable
interview for a job in technology. In interview and test was conducted and I
was selected right away with an offer of a very attractive salary and benefits
package that most banks in the Middle East offer. I accepted.
Returning to Colombo in December
1980, I proceeded to prepare my paperwork for returning to SAMBA on a new
contract of employment. My visa was issued at the Saudi Embassy in Bombay and I
had to travel to India to have it stamped on my passport.
The homecoming was a scintillating
reunion day for all of the family. My brother too joined me on his annual
vacation and we took an Air France flight out of Bahrain Airport to Colombo. We
were met, at the airport, by our families and it was wonderful to be back.
Melina, my daughter, was 6 years
old now a little lady too. The family
were all delighted to have both
me and my brother back together.
The visa issuance process at Bombay
was another saga that is worth mentioning here. The Saudi Embassy wanted proof
of my qualifications as a Computer Systems Analyst and refused to accept the
certificates issued by IBM in Colombo as they were a private sector commercial
organization. I had to meet with the Sri Lankan Trade Commissioner in Bombay
and have my IBM certificates ent back to Colombo through the diplomatic bag and
certified as authentic by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo after
consultation with IBM. This whole process took about 3 weeks to complete and I
enjoyed a fully paid holiday at Bombay during this time. My stay at Bombay was
in a small town called Ville Parle at the home of Aunty Usha, who was the
sister of my step mother, Aunty Shireen. I was taken care of well by Aunty Usha,
her sister in law, and her two nephews, Bhujan and Madhav. The days were
occupied with trips to the Saudi Consulate at Maker Towers and finally the visa
was issued. I took a Saudia flight from Bombay to Dhahran, finally.
Arriving at Dhahran I settled down
in my new job at SAMBA, Eastern Region, which was located at the Fluor Arabia
building on the Khobar-Dammam road. Initially, I shared my brothers accommodation and later on established
a place of my own at Shawan Building in the heart of AlKhobar. The furniture
was made to measure by a specialist Pakistani carpenter called Ghulam Rasool
who worked at the carpentry shop of my brothers company. He made a complete
bedroom suite, and also a utility cabinet for the living room. It took me a few
weeks to have the visas for the rest of the family ready and I flew back to
Colombo to fetch them in December of 1981 returning to Dhahran in February 1982
having spent some time in Karachi, Pakistan, where the visas were issued. In
Karachi we stayed at my wife's paternal uncle Dhahlan Ibrahims place. They were
most hospitable to us and afforded every
assistance in applying and
obtaining the visas without any difficulty.
Settling down, back in AlKhobar
with my wife Shirani and the kids, was a new lease of life for all of us. It
was winter and very cold at nights. We had a wonderful selection of neighbors
in the building who came to our every assistance to make the family comfortable
and happy. Of them the Maimany family from Saudi Arabia, Saiqa and her family
from Bombay, Khadija and her family from Hyderabad, and the Ahmed Rageh family from Egypt were
the closest to us.
This was the time when I purchased
my first car in Saudi Arabia. It was a Mitsubishi Galant 2000 cc Sedan that was
owned by a colleague of mine working at SAMBA. he had
used it for about 6 months only and hence I was able to purchase it for a very
reasonable price of SR 10,000. It was silver grey in color and served us well
until and even after we moved to Riyadh in 1985.
Schooling in Saudi
Melina, initially
attended a private school run by a Spanish-American lady. It was called
"Mrs Roses' Wise Owls". Mrs Rose was a wonderful American lady who
was much loved by her students and their parents. The school was located very
close to where we lived and hence was very convenient for us. Shirani, with her
teaching experience also involved her skills with Mrs Rose's school and proved
very successful in her activities.
Later on, Melina obtained admission
to Manarat Al Sharkiyah International School and subsequently moved to the
Saudi Arabian International Schools American Section at Dhahran where she
continued her education up to 1985 when we had to move to Riyadh.
Nadia was too young to start
schooling yet and spent most of her time at home pampered by the wonderful
neighbors we had in AlKhobar.
Moving to Riyadh
Up to this point of time SAMBA was totally dependent of the
Citibank Middle East & North African Software development unit located in
Athens, Greece. In 1985 they decided to set up their own software development
team in Riyadh and we had to move there in July of that year. Moving was
traumatic but had to be accomplished. The bank took care of all the logistics
and we simply took a local flight from Dhahran to Riyadh and established
ourselves in a town caled Sulaimaniyah in Riyadh. Our new house was located
right opposite a travel agent called Transad Travels where many young Sri
Lankans whom we knew closely lived and worked. Of them the noted characters
were Fazal najmudeen, Riaz Zaheed a first cousin of mine), Hussain Buhary,
& Terrence Thomas. Later on, Iqbal Hassen, a cousin of my wife, who took up
a job with DHL in Riyadh, also came to join the gang. This was a tremendous help
for our initiation and settling down in such a large and bustling city.
We moved to a newly constructed
apartment block that had two floors and 6 apartments. Our immediate neighbor
was a young Saudi who was married to a European lady from the UK. They had two
little kids, a daughter and a son, who eventually became buddies of my two
little ones and offered great company for them amidst the tussles and the
brawls. His wife also proved to be wonderful company for mine and we got along
very well together and are still friends at the time of writing this (2002).
The third apartment on the ground floor was vacant, initially, and then later
occupied by a British couple working for the Military Hospital in Riyadh which
was just a few blocks away in Sulaimaniya. The upper floor was occupied by
three families from Palestine.
Life in Riyadh was rather hectic at
the start as the city was very large and the highways were some of the widest
and largest in the world. Getting used to the Riyadh culture was another lesson
in human relations management. Riyadh summers were also very hot sizzling up to
50 degrees Celsius in July/August and freezing cold in the winter dipping down
to almost zero Celsius in January/February.
Work at SAMBA was also very
strenuous as we had many projects of software development for delivery and had
to burn the midnight oil on many occasions to deliver. SAMBA was, and still is,
the leading bank in technology service to its customers across the Kingdom.
Some of the software that I wrote for the bank are still (2002) running online
real-time and it was a treat to learn of this when I bumped into some of my ex
colleagues at the banks technology center.
Head of Technology at SAMBA at that
time was an Englishman called George White and we had a headcount of more than
120 staff within the department. Some of the names that come tomy mind now are,
Tasos Kouverianos, John Kladitis, Dimitri Monos, Dimitri Tsiridakis, Jim
Hristidis, Lysandros Panogopaulos, (all from Athens, Greece), Khalid Khan from
Pakistan, Narayanan, Anup Kumar Das, Natarajan Sivakumaran, from India, Selman
Al Fares, Abdullah Al Salamah, Abdullah Al Hozaimy, Hala Kudwah, all from Saudi
Arabia, Hugh Amos from the USA, Derrick Sham from Singapore, Chris Cassidy from
the UK, Muhammad Basheer and Aslam Ahmad, the two erstwhile Secretaries from
Pakistan, and Vic Vargas, the office automation expert from the Philippines. I
was the only Sri Lankan in the team until a migrant from UK, Bernard
Jayasundera, joined us sometime in the late eighties to work on the
state-of-the art ATM project that was just blooming in the region. A wonderful
team of real software specialists who shared and worked in unison delivering
banking automated products that took SAMBA leaps and bounds ahead of its
nearest competition. Most of the software was written in COBOL while some
special utility programs were written in Assembler. The system used was a
custom built Citibank Software System that was originally created in Athens,
Greece, where the Middle East technology hub of Citibank was located.
Later on the position of technology
head was held by another Englishman called Keith Wilson, and then was localized
to Saudi's like Ahmed Bajunaid and Selman Al Fares. Working with all these fine
people from varying nationalities was a tremendous insight into foreign
cultures, mannerisms and behavior patterns and also inculcated muc patience,
caution, and understanding between all concerned.
In addition to Systems Analysis and
Programming I was also involved in delivering basic IT Introduction Training
for end users at the SAMBA Training Center. Later on I took up Project
Management, Business Process Management and Team Leadership for specific
products and projects.
Relocating to Sri Lanka
It was sometime towards 1988/89 that we made a conscious decision
to relocate back to Sri Lanka as our older daughter, Melina, had reached the
age of 13/14 and would not be able to continue her future education in Saudi
Arabia on account of the non availability of higher education for girls in the
English Medium at that time. The decision was tough but it had to be made
taking into account the needs of the family to be together and binding. I
submitted my resignation to the bank stating the reasons for wanting to leave
and they were quite understanding of my position and graciously accepted.
Preparations were made for the family tro leave first on account of commencing
their new school year back at Stafford International School in Colombo and I
had to stay on for a few more months in order to complete some of the
outstanding projects before leaving to Colombo for good. Parting was very sad.
Leaving a home away from home was difficult. We had made so many new friends
and associations with a varied bunch of families and groups and it was quiote
painstaking to break away from the style of living we had cultivated during the
past 10 years.
Having packed all our baggage and
even loading a container full of our household goods we set sail for sunny Sri
Lanka once again. Initially, I established a
small IT Training Company called
"Bits and Bytes" and started off an IT Training Business for teaching
basic Office Automation tools like WordProcessing, Spreadsheets, and Database
Management. Life was quite hectic back at home on account of the congested
traffic, humidity of Colombo, and the aftermath of a local civil insurgency
that the country was undergoing at the hands of a communist rebel group called
the JVP. At the end of 2 years managing Bits and Bytes I was offered a short
term IT consultancy assignment back in Saudi Arabia for the implementation of a
Hospital Information System in Jeddah and Madinah for a private sector
Healthcare organization. This time I had to return to Saudi alone as the
children were now fully engrossed in their studies back in Sri Lanka. I spent 3
months in Jeddah and another 3 months in Madinah fulfilling the contract and
implementing the Hospital Information System in both places successfully.
Having completed the assignment I was also able to secure a suitable employment
position for one of my maternal cousins, Ejaz Rasheed, as Systems Manager of
the hospital at Madinah in order to continue maintenance of the implemented
system there.
Citibank NA, Colombo
On my return to Colombo in 1989 I was offered the position of
Information Technology Manager at Citibank NA in Colombo and signed up a
contract with them for two years. This job kept me quite busy for the next two
years as I had to manage a one man department and also chip in some of my time
to managing some of the Human Relations Management and Advertising for the
bank. Work was quite hectic as I had to be the first one to start the working
day at the bank and the last one to leave as the whole computer system was
under my custody and Citibank security and audit required very strict controls
and methods. Sometime towards the second year I was so exhausted with work that
I collapsed at my desk while at work and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit
of Nawaloka Hospital with a possible heart attack. Two weeks of severe tests
and observations came up with a diagnosis of "Unstable Angina" and I
was given some time for rest and recuperation. I had no other choice but to
resign from the bank and seek some other more easier type
of employment.
During my employment at Citibank in
Colombo some of the people who worked closely with me were, Nihal Welikala
(CEO), Eran Wickremaratne (Corporate Head), Rajan Arulanantham (Operations
Manager), Derrick (?), Kapila Jayawardena his wife Preethi, Tyronne Paiva
(Treasury), Samarasinghe, Praneela Fernando, Ruwini Perera, Christine de Niese,
& Samsudeen.
It was during my tenure with
Citibank NA, Colombo, that my dear father suffered a stroke and
passed away. The bank had organized a seminar on Treasury Management called
"The Bourse Game" which was being conducted at the Galadari Meridian
Hotel. All the loca and foreign banks in the country were participating in the
program and all the representatives, including myself who was responsible for
the automated requirements of the program, were resident at the hotel for a
week, being the duration of the program. Previously, the IT part of the program
was scheduled to be conducted by the Citibank Singapore technology
representatives who were qualified and very experienced in conducting and
managing this internationally acclaimed event. The event itself was sponsored
by USAID in collaboration with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Citibank
Technology. The uneasy civil tensions within Sri Lanka at that time, on account
of the JVP insurrection that was going on in the island, gave rise to the
Citibank Singapore representatives refusing to travel to Sri Lanka for security
reasons. Since all plans to hold this event were already finalized and publcized
throughout the financial sector in the country, Citibank Colombo decided to
send me and Tyronne Paiva immediately to Singapore to take a crash course on
how to manage the IT/Treasury sector of the program. We spent a week in
Singapore and returned back to Colombo well prepared to deliver the program at
the Meridian.
It was on the penultimate day of
this program that my father, while tending to the front garden of our parental
home in Colombo, suffered the stroke and was rushed to the intensive care unit
of Nawaloka Hospital by my wife and rest of the family. I was immediately
informed at the hotel by about 5 pm and rushed myself to see his condition
which was rather bad. I was able to talk a few words with him as he recognized
me and acknowledged my presence as soon as he saw me. Having discussed his
condition with the rest of the family and the medical staff at the hospital I
had to return back to the hotel that evening in order to wrap up the final days
program of the Bourse Game which was almost on the verge of completion. It was
at about 3:00 am in the morning that the telephone beside my bed rang to inform
me that Dad had died.
I rushed, immediately to the
hospital and had all the necessary arrangements to have his body released for
burial and handed over some of the tasks to my brother and other family members
to handle for burial at 10 am that same morning. However, I still had a
commitment to return to the hotel by 8:00 am in order to make sure the final days program was successfully live and running.
It was quite hectic, yet, everything went with clockwork precision and I was
able to initiate he final days proceedings
and get back home to my parents home at Bambalapitiya in order to attend the
burial which took place at 11:00 am as planned. Having completed the required rights I had to rush back to the Galadari Meridian to ensure
that the final proceedings of the
seminar was completed
successfully. The management of the bank and all the participants at the
seminar were most kind and appreciative for my commitment towards completing
the program amidst the sadness of losing my dear father. May he attain
Paradise!
Operation Desert Storm
It was at this juncture that the storm in the desert between Iraq
and Kuwait was brewing. However, I was bold enough to take up a short term
consultancy assignmet for implementing a Local Area Network Accounting System
for a private sector company in Bahrain. I left Colombo for the
assignment in Bahrain in September 1989 and it was right in the middle of the work
that President Saddam Hussain decided to invade Kuwait. The war began and all
exits from Bahrain were closed with immediate effect. We continued the work
amidst severe tension and uneasiness within the small Island of Bahrain and it
was in January that the allied forces began the assault on Iraq. Scud missilies
were flying all around us and the instability of the environment was very
precarious. CNN was broadcasting live, minute to minute, coverage of the war
and we were all glued to the television set from dusk till dawn, gas marks
close at hand, fearing biological or nuclear war.
I lived in a small western
expatriate compound in a town called Adiliya in Bahrain. We had a mixed group
of residents within the facility and spent most of our time sharing and discussing
the worsening situation day in and day out. It was here that I met Bill and
Cindy Fahrenbruck with whom I have lost total contact since then and would love
to get in touch once again. Bill was a member of the US Naval crew on board the
warship La Salle actively engaged in battle in the Arabian Gulf. His wife,
Cindy, was a Bangladeshi ex stewardess who had worked for Gulf Air and quit
after her marriage to Bill. She was of European (British) descent and the two
of them were expecting their first set of twins at that time. Bill was on
duty and used to visit the compound only when he was able to get some leave off
work. There was also another Filipino and a Moroccan family who used to gather
every evening at Cindy's place to chat and share the days news and experiences.
The roar of fighter aircraft and
helicopters right over our roofs every night was deafening and frightening. We
could hear the aftermath of Scud Missiles hitting the ground and then were updated
to its details live on CNN. There were many occasions when we all felt that we
were going to die. Yet, something within our hearts and minds pushed us to be
together and move along, doing our daily work chores as planned, and living
until the rise of each new dawn. My family
in Colombo were devastated and
were frantically trying to use all their influence with people in high places
to reach me or even get me out of Bahrain. It was of no use. I was able to talk
to them on the telephone from time to time and assure them that I was alright.
We were all given gas marks as a precautionary measure against biological or
chemical warfare that was very much in the air at that time.
I met a Sri Lankan family in
Bahrain who were very kind to me and accomodated me for meals at their home on
many occasions. The lady happened to be a sister of one of my wife's first
cousins husband. It was a tremendous relief for me to have them nearby. I have
not mentioned their names here as I do not have their permission yet to do so.
May God Bless them for their kindness and
hospitality.
The war was finally over in
February 1990 and I was able to take one of the first flight to Colombo from Bahrain, having completed
a major portion of my project and leaving the remaining to be carried out by
in-house resources at the company. It was great to be back home
safe and sound with my family once again. May God be Praised!
The Sultanate of Oman
A few weeks after my return to Colombo I was introduced to an
Omani gentleman called Yahya Al Mauly who had arrived in Colombo to recruit
senior IT staff for the Ministry of Defence in Muscat where he
wascurrently holding the coveted position of the Director of IT. After some
mutual conversation and exchanges he offered me a job as Deputy Director of IT
with the Ministry of Defence in Oman on a contract for two years. I accepted as
the terms and conditions were quite lucrative. The only drawback was that I had
to take up this new assignment on single status as my family were not ready to move on account of the
children's education.
I arrived at Seeb Airport in Oman
one evening in April 1990 and was picked up by Yahya himself who drove me back
to my residence at the Seeb Military base. I was recruited at Grade 19 of the
Omani Ministry of Defence in the position of Major with the Chief of Staff
Sultan's Armed Forces (COSSAF). This was to be my first exposure to military
life in a modern fully equipped army camp that was typically British.
My role with the Directorate of
Data Processing (as it was then called) was to be a backup for the Director and
manage all the required administrative and technical activities of the unit. We
had several programmers, two office automation executives, and a team of
operations staff that manned the IT Directorate. Some of my colleagues who
assisted me with my work were Saud, Hamed, Fathima, & Sa'adiya, all Omani
Programmers, Reffai & Faleel, two Sri Lankan programmers, Abdullah and his
team of Computer Operators, Habeeba the active and agile Secretary of the unit,
Khalifa, an Omani, and Paul Grace, a Brit, who were responsible for office
automation. Paul had to leave the MOD service in a hurry as he got himself into
a situation where he could not stay any longer. Saud took over from me, after
some initial training about the type of work involved, when I left in 1992.
I was assigned military quarters
and provided with a military car and driver as per MOD policy. All messing was
conducted within several officers' messes within the military camp. My favorite
mess was the Jebel (Mountain) Mess right next door to where I was resident. The
camp occupied a vast extent of land and was fully equipped with all facilities
for comfortable living. Other Messes that I frequented were The Khanja (Dagger), and the
HQ Mess which were all located within reasonable distance from one another
inside the camp. The camp itself was located about 20 Km away from downtown
Muscat and Ruwi.
Oman is one of the most beautiful
countries in the middle east bordered on the east coast by the
Arabian Gulf. It's mountains are green and black rocky
unlike the sandy brown and white clay like mountains of the other middle
eastern nations. The Omani people are also a very friendly type who have a very
cordial and warm attitude towards Asians on account of their historical trade
and social relationships with Pakistan and India. Working hours at the MOD was
from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm which gave us the whole evening to ourselves. The messing
facilities offered books, newspapers, video's,
indoor games, billiards & snooker, and swimming which were all extremely
useful to spend ones time effectively.
A large contingent of British
Officers also frequented the messes on account of the fact that the British MOD
was actually managing the Omani MOD in many aspects of its development and
progress based on an agreement between the two countries. I had the wonderful
opportunity to meet and know many of these British military officers. Two of my
close associates were Major Jim Woodman (Military Surveyor), my Bridge partner,
and Major Peter Cross (Architect) and his lovely wife Anne from the UK. Colonel
Geoffrey C Parkes and Lt. Col Chris Rowland of the Defence Engineering Services
were also a very close associates with whom we spent
many a wonderful moment in the deserts and beaches of Oman. Many of the others
who come to my mind are, the wonderful Ms Colleen Ouseley and
her Engineer husband, Bill & Christine Young who represented the IT
Consutling firm SCICON who were supervising the implementation of their
software on our mainframe system. Of the Filipino officers within the mess some
of my close associates were Flor Pilpil and Rod Habana (both in Engineering
Services). Amongst the Sri Lankans I spent many a happy moment with Dr. Kamal
Magdon Ismail (Dental Surgeon) and Dr. Ranjit Fernando who were, both, attached
to the Military Hospital. Dr Ranjit and I used to partner in Bridge on some
occasions too. Amongst the Indian officers was Derrick Misquita. Of the non MOD
Sri Lankans in Oman I was most fortunate to meet and know Dr. Firazath Hussain,
of the Royal Hospital, who is also a relative of my wife, and Rezano Rajap, a
travel manager whom I previously knew in Colombo.
Of those whom I met and knew at Sultan
Qaboos University Hospital are, the erstwhile Emie Manabat, Cynthia Badana,
& Rose, all from the Philippines, & Nelum Fernando from Sri Lanka, who
also happened to be my neighbor at my home in Colombo.
Two years passed by me like
lightning and I visited Colombo at the end of each year on my annual summer
vacation. At the end of my contract with the MOD I was given the option to
renew for another two years but something new emerged in my life and I chose to
take it instead.
Back to SAMBA
SAMBA in Saudi Arabia had ventured out into developing and
servicing its expatriate customers with a brand new concept in money transfers
overseas and was looking out for resources to manage this project. They had
already contacted Citibank Colombo looking for me and subsequently obtained my
contact in Oman through my wife in Colombo. They made me an offer that was too
good to refuse as Manager of the SPEEDCASH development project that was
projected to deliver a novel innovative way of transferring money back home for
expatriates working in the Middle East.
I signed the contract, returned
home, and this time took my family along with me too back to Saudi Arabia in
November 1992. Settling down back in Riyadh was a piece of cake as it was
already another home to all of us. The girls had grown now and Melina was 17
years old while Nadia was 11. They resumed their education in Riyadh with
Melina obtaining admission to the University of Maryland, Riyadh Campus, and
Nadia attending the British School in Riyadh. We moved into an apartment
complex called SRECO at Sulaimaniya in Riyadh where many other SAMBA employees
were already housed. Our first month back in Riyadh was spent at the Swiss
Movenpick Novotel Hotel which was located adjacent to the head office of SAMBA
in Riyadh. This time I bought myself a brand new Toyota Corolla 1992 1600 cc
Sedan which was midnight blue in color. I am still (2002) using the same
vehicle having done more than 250,000 Km on it during the past 10 years.
Life in Saudi Arabia was always
pleasant for us and the return was most warm and pleasing. Work at the bank was
also very heavy as we had to prepare and deliver the new products of the
remittance system in double quick time before the competition could get ahead
of us. The Speedcash system used a new technique of registering a customer one
time with all his static data in country and all relevant information of his
beneficiary in his home country. This data was recorded on an Oracle database
and shipped off to another database in the destination country correspondent
bank. Every time the customer wanted to make remittance all he had to do was to
provide his reference number (RAN - Remittance Account Number), Beneficiary
Number, and Amount of remittance and the money was transferred to the door of
the beneficiary in his/her home country within 24 hours. The system was
brilliant and caught the attention of a large volume of expatriates who flocked
the bank counters to enroll and use it. Several new features for payment of
insurance premiums and other regular direct payments were also introduced and
the product was a winner from day one.
After spending three years with the
Speedcash department, which was called Transaction Banking Group, I moved to take
up a more interesting position as Unit Head, Production Quality Assurance,
within SAMBA technology in 1995. Abdullah Al Salamah was my direct supervisor
and he was a Saudi colleague from my previous programming days with SAMBA
technology. We had a great relationship and understanding between one another
and were able to deliver effectively and successfully during this period.
Melina managed to secure a place at
the University of Maryland, Riyadh Campus, and started a course on Human
Biology and Child Education. The campus was located within the premises of the
King Feisal Specialist Hospital Research & Development Unit in Riyadh city
and was only a few blocks away from where we lived in Tahliya Street,
Sulaimaniya. Nadia was unable to gain admission to the American School in
Riyadh on account of the large number of American families living and working
here due to the post Gulf War situation and hence had to continue her education
at the British School in Riyadh. She settled down well and went on to be very
successful in her educational career excelling in English writing skills that
spurred her on to take up journalism as a vocation.
Melina gets married
It was sometime during this period that another Muslim family
living and working in Riyadh, Dina and Afulal Salih, approached us with a
proposal of marriage for Melina. The intended groom was Dina's brother Ahamed
Yousry Sheriff who was a migrant Canadian living and working in Toronto,
Canada. After preliminary discussions and thought the marriage proposal was
accepted and plans were now afoot for a grand marriage ceremony in Colombo in
1993. The date for the wedding was fixed for December 13, 1993 and we travelled
to Colombo for the big occasion which was held at the Colombo Hilton Hotel
amidst a gathering of family, friends and well-wishers. The ceremonies went off
successfully and the new couple left for Toronto to start a new life in a new
place. Shirani, Nadia, and I left Colombo for Riyadh to continue our working
life there. In 1994 we received the wonderful news that Melina was pregnant
with her first child and it filled all of us with great delight and joy. The
due date was September and new plans were afoot now to visit Canada to be
present at the birth of our first grand-daughter.
It was one bright autumn afternoon,
on September 22, 1994, that Maria Admira Sheriff came into this world at the
Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Canada, amidst the joy and happiness of all the
family present around her at that time. One of my wife's aunts, FK (Fathima Khani)
Aunty, was also present at the birth and this strengthened the family ties even
further. Maria was a beautiful bundle of joy with dark hair and fair
complexion. Subsequently Melina, Yousry and Maria came to live with us in
Riyadh and Yousry was able to secure a job with SAMBA and settle down
comfortably with us. Subsequently, in 1997, he changed jobs and moved to UPS in
Riyadh.
Since the family was growing
steadily we decided to move to a larger villa in Riyadh, in 1996, that provided more play area, garden space,
and even a swimming pool. It was during our stay in this new house at a
location called Hayya Al Malik Fahd (King Fahd Quarter), in Riyadh, that our grandson, Abdullah Yousry Sheriff,
was born at The Dallah Hospital on Mar 25, 1996. His arrival into this world
and our lives brought tremendous joy and happiness to all members of the
family, both in Riyadh and in Colombo, as he was the first male progeny that
God Blessed us with. Maria and Abdullah, soon,
started hitting it off in the usual manner that most brothers and sisters do,
enjoying each others company and also fighting with one another. The house was
now alight with sounds and laughter throughout the days and nights.
An uneventful turn of events then
took place in 2004 when Melina and Yousry wee divorced since they were unable
to manage themselves together as a family and the Shariah Court in Riyadh
granted her custody of the two children who then came under my custody as the
male Guardian. Melina, since then, started working as a teacher at Manarat
International School, where the grandkids also attend and have performed
exceedingly well in their studies.
ACS
It was sometime in January 1997 that I decided to quit the banking
sector once and for all for good and submitted my resignation at SAMBA. It was
a difficult decision to make at that time but it happened somehow. I took up a
new position as General Manager, Software Quality Assurance, with a private
sector Saudi IT service provider called Arabic Computer Systems (ACS) on a
2-year contract on Mar 1, 1997. My main tasks with the new employer was
implementing ISO9000 across the company and also attending to Year 2000
Solution projects with prospective clients. ACS was heavily involved with
supply and service of IT hardware, software, communications and networking
solutions to prime clients in the Middle Eastern region. They were also the
sole representative for BaaN ERP Software solutions in the region. This job
took me on many an interesting business trip to Jeddah, Dammam, AlKhobar, Dubai
and Sri Lanka, in search of new ventures, partnerships, seminars, conferences,
and meetings. The company was run and managed by the Managing Director, an
enterprising young Saudi Engineer and ex Military Captain, Muhammad Al Ballaa',
who eventually became a very close friend and associate in my sojourn in Saudi
Arabia. His brother, Dr. Sulaiman Al Ballaa', who was responsible for
Operations Management within the company also became a very close friend and
associate and we developed a wonderful personal relationship that has
flourished to this day.
Nadia gets married
On one of the occasions when we were on holiday in Colombo, Sri
Lanka, a proposal of marriage was brought for Nadia, our second daughter, and
within weeks all arrangements were made for her marriage. The marriage took
place in January 1999 and Nadia and her husband, Abdul Qadir Hussain, son of
Ashroff Hussain & Maria Haniffa, moved to Riyadh to start a new life in the
Middle East. Incidentally, Abdul Qadir is also the nephew of the current Minister
of Western Province Development, MH Mohamed, of the UNP Government (2003) and
former Minister in several previous UNP Governments of Sri Lanka.
It was during this period that we
moved house to another large 3 floor villa in Hayya Al Morooj at the
intersection of King Abdul Aziz Street and the cross road leading to Exit 9 on
the International Airport Road (East Ring Road). The house was a very large one
with a garden and swimming pool that the grandkids and their friends enjoyed
very much. The owner Nasser Al Ghamdi, who used to work for Nissan Motor in
Riyadh, was a amiable person who eventually became a
very close friend until such time as he decided to sell his house and thereby
compelled us to move again, back, to Sulaimaniya.
Al Faisaliah Group
On completion of my contract with ACS in 1999 I chose not to renew
same and moved, once again, to another local conglomerate called Al Faisaliah
Group (AFG) on June 1, 1999 and took up a position as Manager, Software Quality
Assurance. It was here that I had another opportunity to serve under an old
colleague and Manager from SAMBA, Mr Selman Al Fares, Group IT Manager. Our very first project was
the Y2K implementation which took us smoothly through the new Millenium into
the year 2000.
It was in 2000 that AFG decided to
implement SAP ERP across all its 18 subsidiaries and I was automatically thrown
into the project as Quality Assurance Manager with the aded responsibility of
Training, Documentation and User Authorization Management. The project was a
massive eercise n Software Implementation and concluded successfully in January
2002. Thereafter Al Faisaliah chose to establish a new business unit for
implementing SAP and providing IT Consultancy, called FBTC, where I was given
another responsible role as QA Manager.
It was in January 2003 that I
moved, within AFG, to the Group HR & Administration Department as QA
Manager with the objective of establishing a new process mapping system,
business process re-engineering, coupled with the implementation of
ISO9001:2000. A comprehensive new Pay-Grade program was implemented of which I
was able to contribute significantly and realize a successful implementation in
April 2003.
Many of my colleagues at AFG are P
H Subramani (General Manager FBTC) from India, Ahmed Khattab (SAP Consultant)
from Egypt, Khalid Al Shamlan (Project Manager), Khalid Shangiti (development
Manager), Abdul Aziz Al Saab (Change Manager), all from Saudi Arabia, Shabir
Ahmed, Alastair Campbell, Gerrit Olivier, Mark Breda, Abdul Samad, Rory
Richards, Hans Greeff, all SAP Consultants from South Africa, Abhay Bhatter,
Babu Prasad, Arshard Muhammad, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, SAP Consultants from India,
Khalid Al Herran, Taha Madani, Adel Abdul Salam, & Adel Abu Haimed, all SAP
Consultants from Saudi Arabia, Tariq Alvi (Internal Auditor) from Pakistan,
Sa'ad Al Sabty (Audit), Khalid Al Hathal (HR & Admin), Ziad Tunisi
(Finance), all AFG Directors from Saudi Arabia.
AFG is a large corporate business owned
and managed by the family of the late King Feisal of Saudi Arabia. The current
President (2003) is Prince Mohamed bin Khalid bin Abdullah Al Feisal, great
grandson of the late King Feisal of Saudi Arabia. The company deals in
manufacturing, distribution, IT Projects & Services, Medical &
Measurement instrumentation, Plastics, Petroleum, Multimedia, Home
Electronuics, Food, Dairy Farming (Al Safi, the largest integrated dairy farm
in the world as recorded in the Guiness Book of Records) and Internet Service
Provision in Saudi Arabia.
2004 saw a move back to Group IT
department to join the newly formed shared services Contracts & Customer
Services department that would be the coordinating unit for all IT services to
the AFG businesses. The job involved preparation of SLA's, management and
maintenance of IT contracts with AFG business units and external vendors,
project management, management reporting, audit compliance reviews, training
for Group IT personnel, cost allocation and invoicing business units for IT
services and quality assurance. The department was renamed Business Quality
Assurance in January 2005. July 2005 gave me the opportunity of taking over as
Manager of BQA on
the resignation of Osama Al Hodaithi who moved on to join Capital Markets Saudi
Arabia in order to further his career.
October 2006 saw a merger of AFG
Group IT business unit with another IT development subsidiary of AFG called
Faisaliah Business & Technology Services Company (FBTC) into a newly formed
subsidiary also named FBTC as a profit center.
After nine long years at AFG, I
finally quit in April 2008. And that was my eventual retirement from a regular
day job after 39 long years.
Hayya Al Falah
It was also in 2008 January that we decided to move house from
Sulaimaniya to Hayya Al Falah at Exit 7 on the North Ring Road on account of
the proximity to Manarat International School which was located on Exit 8 at
the next intersection. The town is brand new located on the northern border of
Riyadh city and provides many an open space unlike the downtown areas. The
infrastructure is also very modern and up to date in keeping with new
technology and development.
Private IT Consulting
Moving
on to a more freer life of independence and Consulting, in the evening of my
life, I took up the challenge of spending seven months with a new investment
and brokerage house called Watan Investment. My work was devoted mainly to
compliance, corporate governance and the audit and certification process
mandatewd by the local Capital markets Authority, Tadawul. An ex colleague from
SAMBA, Tawfiq Al Gargoush, was the CIO and we worked together and successfully
achieved our objectives with the organization trading in the local stock market
sometime in the mid 2008. The company had implemented a share trading system
called "OMS" developed in Sri Lanka by a Saudi owned organization
called "Mubasher", a subsidiary of Arabic Computer Systems owned and
managed by the Ball'aa family in Riyadh. Most of the consultants implementing
the system were from Sri Lanka and the work environment was more or less very
homely and reminded me of my old times back in Colombo.
Come
October 2008 and the Consulting business becomes even more lucrative. I tied up
with a local Audit Office called "Al Mudaiheem", in Riyadh, and was
involved in their Consulting area providing customers with Corporate
Governance, Compliance, Risk Management, Business Continuity and other related
services. Having completed this assignment I embarked on an Oracle ERP/Hyperion
implementation project for Muhammad AbdulAziz Al Rajhi & Sons Industrial
Holding Company, a private corporation, since July 2009. The project has been
live since Jan 2011. In addition, I am also managing the IT operations of the
Holding Company for the duration of the project until it is handed over by mid
2011. Final hand over completed by September 2011. Completed and delivered by
end 2011.
AlMalath AlArabia Ltd
Spent some time at home concentrating on domestic chores and family during
Oct/Nov 2011 and have initiated a new consulting assignment with AlMalath
AlArabia, a new holding company in Riyadh, in December. The Group will manage
several subsidiary organizations involved in training, real estate,
investments, IT consulting and implementation, and certification process.
December 2011 and I team up with an old
colleague from my SAMBA days, Selman Al Fares, who I have known since 1985 in
starting a new consulting company in Riyadh called AlMalath AlArabia Ltd.
Malath in Arabic means refuge or sanctuary and the objective of the
organization was to provide comfort, relief and assistance to companies needing
business and technology functionality to survive. Our first project has been
initiated in 2012 in providing a large leading retailer of household goods
implement an ERP solution for their business across the Middle East. Other
projects are also in the pipeline and hope to get busy with them during the
course of 2012/13.
The first project at AlMalath is the project
management of an SAP ERP implementation at SACO, one of the leading hardware
and home depot retail store network in Saudi Arabia. Several other smaller
projects were also carried out simultaneously.
Maria goes to Toronto
Our grand daughter, Maria, was accepted at the University of Toronto,
Scarborough Campus, to pursue a career in Neurosciences, starting Sep 2012. The
news has delighted all of the family and Maria moved to Toronto in July 2012 to
start her University life there. She completed her Cambridge GCE A2
examinations in Riyadh in May 2012. Good grades at this examination which has
given her a first year exemption and reduced her university course to 3 years.
Maria
has now moved to her own apartment in Scarborough Town Center where she has to
fend for herself and commute alone to the campus. It will certainly be an
excellent learning curve for survival for her and we hope she learns the ropes
and manages herself effectively. Shirani and the girls have been visiting her
each year during the summer and this keeps her morale up at least for a few months
every year.
Maria
graduated on June 2 2016 with a mention on the Deans Honor Role.
Abdullah goes to University
Abdullah,
our grandson has just completed his Cambridge IGCSE Examination in May, 2013
and obtained 6 A Stars and 2 B's successfully. Taking him for his tuition
classes and external activities has taken quite a load of my time these days
which has been an exhilarating experience at the age of 65+. Having obtained 3
A’s at the Cambridge A2 exams held in 2014, Abdullah has also moved to start
his University career in Toronto in 2015. He joins Maria in her apartment in
Scarborough and the two will have to lean to manage and support each other
through their career.
Shawirni
Shawirni is a new project that has come up through AlMalath in developing and
delivering a web portal for the Middle East, similar to www.yelp.com in the USA. Development work on the
portal commenced in 2013 and the solution is planned for roll out in 2015.
Several delays hindered the prokect progress, both from the client side and the
developer shortcomings. New developers from India were brought in to clean up the mess
in 2015.
The App
is almost completed and waiting for final testing before going live.
Raxworldhotels
Another hospitality consulting company has engaged me in delivering all their
IT needs since June 2015. The work is simple but interesting and involves
management and maintenance of all the email, web development and other IT
requirements that the organization requires.
BSW
Business Systems Weaver, an IT & Business services company, owned by the Al
Hindi family based in Jeddah, have contracted to give me consulting work which
I am now carrying out based in Riyadh. The work is interesting and very
convenient to deliver.
Appstech LLC
IT
Consulting. Deployed VAT system for KSA.
Jeddah
Moved to
Jeddah on June 1, 2016. Melina starts a new job in education at Nun Academy in
Jeddah. Staying at Al Salam Compound in Al Rehab District. Later, she moves to
Toronto to settle down with our granddaughter, Maria. We made many new friends
at the compound some of whom are Madhu & Prashanth, Anup & Snehal, and
Rajah & Shashi.
Home
Finally, returned to Colombo in Oct 2018 after
a wonderful stay in Toronto with Melina and the grandkids. Canada was
beautiful. The disciplinary lifestyle was a welcome change from the haphazard
rat race in Asia and the Middle East. Visited many places of interest and
enjoyed the Toronto Islands very much.
During my long sojourn in the middle east I had
embarked on writing several books on various topics ranging from people,
poetry, and community to genealogy. It was in 2020, during the Covid-19
pandemic that I started to publish them one by one.
Have completed 12 books already and still
working on finalizing the rest.
It was also in 2020 that I had the great
opportunity to join a philosophy class online conducted by Professor
Priyedarshi Jetli and supported by Professor NK Shinod. I was actually invited
to join the group pf young Indian PhD students pursuing their doctorates in
various branches of Philosophy. Learning a new academic sphere has been
challenging and exciting.
Publications
It was in the year 2020 that the Covid virus
pandemic struck the earth and there was total chaos everywhere. The spread of this
virus was unprecedented in recent times and people had to develop new norms and
methods to continue living peacefully and safely.
In this backdrop I had the golden opportunity
of publishing all of my writings on Amazon and KOBO as follows:
Bamba
Days – A detailed account of the people, families,
places, streets, and events in the town of Bambalapitiya since the 60s
February
Frolic – Collection of poetry through the years
Ceylon
Moor Families – Volume 1 to 14 –
Genealogy of around 300 Sri Lankan Muslim Families researched and compiled over
a 100 years by my paternal grandpa, Mohamed Sameer bin Haji Ismail Effendi and
continued by me, after his demise in 1972.
Islamic
Inheritance Q&A – A summary of the math computation of Islamic
Inheritance plus over real life 500 Q&A answered on the internet
Sophie
Akka & Somapala – A collection of comic strips highlighting
the socio-political environment of humanity created and posted on FB since 2017
Working Career through the Years
1967-68:
Brown & Company Agricultural Division, Forbes Road, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka
- Temp, Collating Statistics of Massey-Ferguson Tractor/Trailer Sales from the
registration records at the RMV
1969-1979:
The Chartered Bank, Colombo, Queen Street, Fort, Colombo 1, Sri
Lanka - Banker
1979-1979:
Metropolitan Agencies Ltd, Ward Place, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka - IT Manager
HP Division
1979-1980:
General Agencies Corporation (GAC), AlKhobar, Saudi Arabia, - Camp
Manager, Dammam-Ras Tanura Highway Project
1981-1988:
Saudi American Bank (SAMBA), AlKhobar Branch, Saudi Arabia – Data Center
Operations / SAMBA Technology Unit Software Design/Development
1988-1989:
Al Mutabaghani Jeddah/Madinah (New Jeddah Clinic/Madinah National
Hospital) – Implementation of Gerber Alley HIS Application as a private
consultant
1989-1989:
Al Mulla Bahrain (6 months) – LPO Management System Development
1989-1990:
Bits and Bytes – IT Training, Sri Lanka
1990-1991:
Citibank NA, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka – CIO
1991-1992:
Ministry of Defence, Seeb Camp, Sultanate of Oman – Deputy IT Head,
Department of Data Processing, COSSAF
1992-1998:
Saudi American Bank, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Unit Head Software
Development
1998-1999:
Arabic Computer Systems (ACS), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Head of QA
1999-2008:
Al Faisaliah Group (AFG), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Managing IT
Consultant/SAP Team
2008-2009:
Watan Investments, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Unit Head IT Audit/Risk
Management
2009-2009:
Al Mudaiheem, Accounting/Audit Company, Riyadh, KSA – Head of QA
2009-2012:
Muhammad AbdulAziz Al Rajhi & Sons Company Ltd, Riyadh, KSA – Oracle
ERP Implementation Project Manager
2012-2012:
ANN Company Ltd., Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Senior IT Projects Consultant
2012-2014:
Al Malath Al Arabia Ltd., Riyadh, KSA - Senior IT Projects Consultant
2014-2014:
Shawirni, Riyadh, KSA – Portal Development
2014-2015:
Saadeddin Pastries, Riyadh, KSA - Senior IT Projects Consultant
2015-2015:
Raxworld Hotels, Riyadh, KSA - Senior IT Projects Consultant
2015-2016:
Business Systems Weaver, Jeddah, KSA - Senior IT Projects Consultant
2016-date:
Appstech LLC – IT Consulting
I also had the luxury of using the Sinclair
ZX80 in the 70s, Radio Shack TRS80, the IBM PC, the Apple II, the very first
Macintosh, and every other device that came after them. It was fun.
Mainframes I worked on are, IBM System360,
HP3000, Perkin Elmer 3200 series, Dec Vax, Data General, Wang VS,
Sun/Solaris/Sybase, Oracle & SAP ERP.
Genealogy
Links to the roots
Ahmed Lebbe Marikar – Family #10 M-F-F-F-F-F-F (7 generations)
Idroos Lebbe – Family #13 M-M-F-F-F-F-F-F (8 generations)
Sinne Lebbe Sahib Dorai Alim – Family #20 F-F-F-F (4 generations)
OLMALM Alim – Family #30 F-M-M-F (4 generations)
Oduma Lebbbe Marikar – Family #46 F-F-F-M-F (5 generations)
Abdul Careem – Family #60 F-M-F-F (4 generations)
Kader Kando – Family #70 F-M-F-M-F (5 generations)
Sultan Alaudin of Konya
– Family #90a F-F-M-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F (28
generations)
Meera Lebbe Slema Lebbe
Comoster – Family #93 F-F-M-M-M-Father (6
generations)
Pulli Maan Deen Cassim – Family #366 M-M-F-M-F-F (6 generations)
Pulli
Maan Deen (Spouse) – Family #377 M-M-F-M-F-F (6 generations)
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