More about the offer of a job

THEATRE: "No, that's not very good," said J.R. when I told him that we did not earn much from our stage activities. "An artist - the actor - must live comfortably," he emphasized. "You must follow men like E.C.B. Wijesinghe and Winston Serasinghe.

They get a good income and live comfortably." I wanted to tell the Minister that ECB was a rich man and did not need whatever he earned on the stage to live comfortably. And that Winston Serasinghe had a good job and that he hardly ever made any money from the stage, but I did not, out of courtesy.

"Even an actor must have a good income. It is only then that he can be independent," added the Minister looking keenly at me. "Do you have a home of your own ?" He asked me. "No Sir, I live in a rented house," I told him. J.R. looked concerned. "Do you have a vehicle of your own?" I told him I did not own a vehicle.

I was beginning to feel a little embarrassed. Not so much because I was a poor chap but because I was reminded about it. I was not even aware of the fact. We were employed and had got along quite well.

We did not even think that we were living in a rented house and that we had no vehicle. There were thousands of people like us. We were young and enjoying our life as it was. This man was being kind to me and I appreciated that in spite of the embarrassment.

J.R. leaned back on his chair, brought the finger tips of his hands together and looked at me. "I am about to start out on a new project," he said. "It will be called 'Salu Sala'. I want to bring all the cottage industries and the handicrafts etc. of this country together under one roof.

We must bring the products of these craftsmen to the city and expose them to the tourists and create a wider market for their products. The Head Office will be at Jawatta Road.

We will be having an exhibition and sales centre in the heart of Colombo too - most likely at the Cargills building." He paused for a little while. I was wondering why he was telling me all this. I knew very little about cottage industries or handicrafts.

Public relations

"I can offer you a job in this new venture. It is one of my projects. You don't have to join us as a clerk. I think you will be able to handle things like publicity and public relations. Of course you will get a much better salary than now.

Think it over, said the Minister. I must say the offer surprised me. I was thirty-five at that time. I had come to know several Minsters and such persons - mainly through my activities in the theatre and the Cinema.

But no Govt. Minister or any high official had ever offered me a job so far. Some of them - men like Senator Reggie Perera, Senator Chandra Gunasekera, T.B. Subasinghe, Maitripala Senanayake etc knew that I was working as a clerk in the Public Works Dept., and took the fact for granted.

I believe it had not occurred to any of them, that perhaps Jayasena deserved a better job. It never occurred to me either. I felt grateful to this man - this Minister of State - who was offering me a good job.

"I am most grateful to you Sir, for your kindness," I told the Minister. "This is a very serious proposition as far as I am concerned. In fact it is the very first such proposition from a Minister, Sir. I will go home, discuss it with my wife and we will think about it.

I will get back to you after that, Sir." That subject being concluded, J.R. spoke a few minutes more about other things such as the state of our theatre, cinema etc. and he took leave of me.

All the way to office I was thinking about this unusual offer. I was not sure if Mr. J.R. Jayewardene had seen any of my other plays. If such a person had come in to one of our shows the news invariably reached us.

I remembered instances when one of the ticket counter boys would come running into the makeup room and announce excitedly that T.B. Illangaratne, or Maitripala Senanayake or Dudley Senanayake or some such person of importance was there in the audience, and we would be thrilled no end.

Mr. Jayewardene may have seen the film 'Gampereliya', but it was very unlikely he had seen any of my plays such as Janelaya or Kuveni. I was almost certain that 'Manaranjana' was the only play of mine he had seen.

Revolutionary

Was he so impressed with Manaranjana? Or, was it that he saw a budding revolutionary in my play? Was he trying to curtail my theatre activities by the offer of a job? No, that was very unfair.

Not only unfair, it is grossly ungrateful! I told myself. After all, who am I? What does it matter to a man like J.R. Jayewardene whether I turn out to be a revolutionary or not? I would be just a 'podiyen' for a man like him.

Amid all these doubts and conjectures, amid the joy of recognition etc. my mind was certain of one main factor. If I joined a new venture like the Salu Sala as a publicity man or even as a public relations man I would have very little time to do anything else.

There will be so much work to do, so much travel, so many meetings, so many reports to write etc., I would hardly have any time to do another play. I had already completed the translation of the Caucasian Chalk Circle (Hunu Wataye Kathawa) and we were already on to rehearsals. Will all this soul satisfying, life breathing work be stalled with the acceptance of a new job?

I discussed this perplexing matter with Manel and also with my good friends. I even mentioned it to my mentor - Senator Reggie Perera. "J.R. is a good man. He will look after you well. He is an exemplary man to work with.

But about your theatre activities of course.I don't know what to say. It is up to you to decide whether you are going to have an illustrious career as a top Corporation man or as a top theatre man!" That was typical of Reggie.

Finally I decided that I want to be in this beautiful, life breathing, sometimes hectic, sometimes frustrating, sometimes joyous thing called theatre! Fortunately, my wife Manel thought so too. Bless her for that.

"There's enough time to build a house and own a vehicle. We have much more work to do on the stage. Our rented house and the 113 bus will be good enough for us till then!" She declared smiling her special smile. That was that.

I wrote a very courteous letter to State Minister, J.R. Jayewardene explaining my circumstances. I said that I would continue as a clerk because it gave me enough time to get involved in my other artistic activities.

Missed opportunity

I think I received an acknowledgement - I cannot remember for certain. At certain 'difficult' junctures of my life, when money became an essential commodity, there were just a passing regret or two for a missed opportunity, but on the whole I am more than happy I took that decision at that crucial moment - even to this day.

I came in closer contact with Mr. Jayewardene, later in life, especially when I was working with the National Youth Services Council and later with the Rupavahini Corporation.

In fact my very last major production - a massive spectacle of the history of Lanka from Kuveni upto the gaining of Independence from the British - was performed at the Bogambara Grounds in Kandy with President J.R. Jayewardene present celebrating Independence Day of 1983, when I was serving the N.Y.S.C. as its Deputy Director in-charge of Cultural affairs.

He was so impressed by the show that he turned up on day two also to see the performance. This was on the 3rd and 4th of February, 1983. I joined the Rupavahini Corporation as its Deputy Director General (Programs) on the 6th of February that year.

As I had mentioned earlier we had difficult times there, especially after the communal riots in July that year. I remember Mr. Jayewardene comming to our studios several times during my time there for his Addresses to the Nation.

There were a couple of times when I corrected a word or two in his 'copy' just before transmission. On a couple of occasions he had told the studio staff to call for Jayasena. I wonder whether on such occasions he remembered me as the young man to whom he had offered a job at Salu Sala 17 years ago.

I was right in 1966 in not taking that job. I realized that after joining the Rupavahini Corporation in 1983 as one of its top programme administrators. I was kept so busy with all kinds of meetings, purchase committees, selection panels, pre-view boards etc. that often I had to miss out on my own performances as Azdak in Hunu Wataye Kathawa.

That was very frustrating indeed, but inane little meetings and committees and panels and whatnot were so important to the Corporation that my presence there was absolutely necessary.

Wedding

The last time I met J.R. was at a wedding, after his retirement. One of our most popular female vocalists - Champa Kalhari Jayasekera - was getting married and J.R. was witness from the groom's side and I was witness from the bride's party.

A special table had been laid out for J.R. with the usual wedding ceremony delicacies etc., to sit until the auspicious time came for the signing. He was alone there. He had seen me seated elsewhere and sent me a message to come and sit with him. I did so very gladly. I noticed a special plate of roasted cadju set in front of him.

We talked about the bride and the groom and other things. "Sir, how come you are from the groom's side?" I asked him. "Why, I know him because he brings these 'disinfectants' to our home", he said. Actually the man was a large scale producer of joss sticks! "How come you know the bride?" He asked me. "Sir, I introduced her to TV."

I said. I could not resist another question. "Sir, is it true that when you go election campaigning, you only take a packet of roasted kadju?" J.R. looked very surprised. "How do you know?" Was his surprised query. "I have heard so, Sir." "Why not? Cadju is full of proteins and gives me enough energy for my meetings. I hardly eat anything else." And he reached for the plate of cadju.

That day he asked both of us to come and see him at Bremiere and have a chat with him. Somehow, we could not fulfil that request. I am sorry about that up to this day.

Thought of the week

For Heaven's sake, why cannot our Postal Dept. print some attractive stamps?

The country is brimming with beautiful, memorable world renowned craft, carvings, paintings, temples and churches, flora and fauna. And all we have is a drummer beating a drum for as far as I can remember. In other countries special stamps are issued on special occasions, special events and on birthdays of very special people.

We have an occasional new issue for events such as Vesak and Christmas but the number printed is very limited. Only the relevant Minister, his officials and perhaps a few collectors get them. The public can hardly ever buy a new stamp from the postal outlets.

When we get air-mail letters from countries such as Australia, the United States, Russia, Poland etc. we get beautiful and memorable stamps worth preserving. What can we send in return? It is always a drab picture, often ill-conceived and badly done.

Why does not the Postal authorities commission some of our best painters to produce designs for them? Or obtain their permission to reproduce some of their best creative works in stamps?

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