Remembering Clarence Chinniah
I first met Clarence in 1982 when I took over my posting in
Trincomalee as Government Agent. He was a young member of the Sri Lanka
Administrative Service and Assistant Government Agent in Kuchchaveli in
Trincomalee.
|
Clarence Chinniah |
My next encounter with him was when I was Secretary of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Clarence had by that time served in different
capacities in the Ministry and in Sri Lanka missions overseas such as in
Beijing, Havana and Brussels. I distinctly remember that during the time
he was serving in his first Ambassadorial post in Maldives, he wished
leave be granted to travel abroad to treat a particular ailment in the
kneecap. I ungrudgingly approved his request.
No matter how far apart these encounters were, Clarence is etched in
my memory as a taciturn person who carried out his duties without much
ado and with a lot of ingrained commitment.
Cyril Chinniah, Clarence's late uncle, a Senior Instructor from the
organization and Method Division of the General Treasury was at the Sri
Lanka Institute of Administrative Studies in the mid 1960s, when I was a
junior officer of the Government as a Divisional Revenue officer in
Galle and trained us in the Affairs of State. Suffice it to say that in
a positive sense the apple does not fall far from the tree. I have the
highest regard for both.
With his passing, the Foreign Service of Sri Lanka has lost a dutiful
and adept officer, an officer who will be missed by all his colleagues
who knew him at some point in time. A mother has lost a devoted son and
the siblings a loving brother.
Within a day of my assuming duties at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in
Paris in November last year, I received a congratulatory e-mail from
Clarence, containing a verse and a pledge to visit me "when I come to
Paris next."
Little did we both know of what would come to pass.
Now as we bid good bye to this true son of Sri Lanka, I quote this
very verse sent to me from his last posting as Ambassador in Poland.
"Spare me a thought in your Leisure.
Think of me in the hour of Divine.
If forgotten in the hour of Pleasure,
Remember me in your hour of Prayer."
Dear Clarence, you will be in our thoughts and prayers, always.
May you attain Nibbana!
Lionel Fernando -Ambassador for Sri Lanka in France & Permanent
Delegate to UNESCO
|
