Tribute

H N D Lewis

Lewis who died on April 5, 2010 was a legend of our times in the Plantation Sector having commenced his career as a Learner Asst. Teamaker, as it was designated then, at High Forest Estate, Kandapola, under late A C Cameron and thereafter he was appointed as the Factory Officer of Stonycliff Group, Kotagala, by Vernon Tissera, from where he was selected to Diyagama West Estate, Agrapatna, during the superintendence of late G M Torrance (a Senior Visiting Agent at the time), when it was managed by Whittalls Estates and Agencies Limited. After retirement Lewis served on Helbodde and Geragama Group for a short period contributing his experience and the knowledge for the betterment of the tea industry.

He was an officer with a deep sense of responsibility and was very dedicated towards his job and his resolute loyalty to his superior was a very rare quality. The healthy combination of the Boss or the Superior and the Departmental Head and their combination without over-riding each other was indeed a good administrative phenomenon.

He was an amiable person to work with and his knowledge on tea manufacture was indeed remarkable. An exemplary officer he was, who commanded respect and was an inspiring Team Leader of the juniors.

I could vividly remember the nights he spent with his boss Vernon Tissera, the then Superintendent of Stonycliff Group, Kotagala, carrying out experiments to produce a good cup of tea vis-a-vis to achieve a good price or the highest price, for their teas.

When Vernon Tissera introduced the ‘Rubber Roller’ - (which M/s Brown & Co., Ltd., later termed it as the ‘CRT Roller’ or the ‘Cell-rupturing Tea Roller’) - gifted by his good friend the late Alien de Silva (a hero of the low country plantation sector) - of Ensalwatte Group, both Tissera and late Lewis, worked tirelessly over-night on many days to achieve their targets.

I could remember their dialogue -Tissera will ask-how Lewi, which one came out better A or B - ah, if B is better, go ahead-we’ll see tonight, its cold now - watch the wither-limit the use of hot air-” and so forth and so on.

We the juniors, were always envy to see how thrilled they were on Tuesdays having seen their prices and the late Ranjith Sri Nissanka will have the prices at his finger tips to convey same in answer to our phone call. The net result will be shared by both with equal satisfaction and exchanging pleasantries.

It was no easy task to keep pace with Vernon Tissera - our ‘Tea Master’-as referred to by another hard-task-master in the plantation sector - Hermon Gunaratne in his famous book Plantation Raj - who made us ‘men’ and we owe him much for what we are today and Lewis, always ensured that the required standards of the boss, be it discipline, loyalty, or duty, are maintained in a high order and made every effort to instill in the juniors to cultivate such qualities for a better future.

Lewis valued traditions and preserved same for the juniors to follow. In fact he was instrumental in introducing the tradition of a ‘send-off’ to Planter Trainees starting with Mohan Samarakoan (who in later years became another tough master - with no nonsense and spick-and-span in whatever he does) - at Stonycliff, for the Trainee to leave with pleasant memories!

Late Lewis was himself a good trainer and he trained many assistants and some of whom such as late S J David and Eddie Godawela of the Stonycliff fame, reached high positions in their respective careers.

- Nihal de Silva