Kakkapalliye Pol Goviya

It was an early Saturday morning just a little over two years ago. We had agreed to meet at a point in the Wennappuwa town to follow our hero to his estate at Kakkapalliya. Having met the week before at the tourist board again, like we had done on several occasions earlier to discuss how we could make a dream project of this doyen turn into a reality, we were gracefully invited to join him on his visit to the estate farm, during the weekend.

Precise instruction

That was for me a most memorable experience. I had heard and read that he had been daring in his ways and I was somewhat surprised at the way he conformed, to the convention of time. His instruction to us for that morning was precise. Exact spot and exact time. We were to meet by the roadside close to the turn to the Govipola. We did not have to wait for him for he was already there with his driver, waiting for us.

We got there sharp on time. Yet he had arrived before us as a gracious host would.

He was 84 years old (or young) then and it was a lesson for the two young colleagues who accompanied me from the tourist board. They were impressed and that made me happy. It was a lesson for them for making their own futures bright.

Dr Ray Wijewardene

Kakkapalliya is located beyond Wennappuwa on the Northwestern coastal belt of Sri Lanka and Late Vidayajothi Ray Wijewardene (VRW); our govi mahaththya (gentleman farmer) hero owned 150 acres of a coconut plantation there.

Our car followed his white four-wheel-drive which bore his company logo. It was a sign that was similar to the symbol for recycling, with the difference of four arrows following each other.

He explained to me, when standing outside the Tourist Board’s porch, while I saw him to his vehicle after one of our meetings; the logo represented the four elements of Patavi (matter/solidity), Apo (water/flowing), Thejo (fire/heat) and Vayo (air/movement). The elements and its Samadhi (concentration/equilibrium) he said formed the philosophy and conceptual base for the engineering and agricultural innovation and other sustainability options he adopted.

Standing by the vehicle door pointing to the sign on it, he said to me (then only 24 years his junior at 60), “Young man, this is what we must aim for. We must keep these elements in balance. That then, will mean we are being sustainable”.

He was referring to an earlier discussion we had on the need to educate the young on adopting sustainable ways. Thank you, Comrade Ray Sir, for reminding me of that lesson in life.

At the farm, we drove through on the gravel road in the surrounds of lush green coconut palms, many other large trees and Gilicida plantations direct to the ‘Attalaya’.

Attalaya was his self-designed farm dwelling; a modern version design of a tree house in a dry-zone Chena farm. It was totally self-sufficient in its energy requirements. Solar panels were in place and the design ensured ample sunlight during the day.

A free flow of cool air was blowing across the house and the bata-palali (bamboo screens) provided protection from rain-spray when necessary. It was an innovation of a small open concept adobe, three stories high.

Our own ways

He had an English university professor friend already waiting for him, at the Attalaya when we arrived. We all met on the top-most floor of the dwelling for tea, biscuits and a chitchat before taking on a guided tour of the Govipola. Here, the man was in his elements. He took on the wheel of the vehicle and had us sit with him. We were taken to a world that was, his own. He told us to look around and compare the variation in the greenness of the foliage with the neighbouring estates. His was lush-green with no brown patches on leaves indicating the absence of any plant disease. “This is the result of eight years of endurance in not using any chemical fertilizer. The whole place nourishes on organic fertilizer alone and we now have 40 percent more yield, than all others in this area,” he said.

We were then treated to an educational discourse on traditional methods of Kandyan garden agriculture he had adopted. He showed us the rows of Gilicida plants grown along the rows of coconut palms. The gaps of pathways created between them were called the ‘Saru Alliya’ (path for fertilizing and maintenance) and the ‘Gaman Alliya’ (path for plucking and picking) he said.

Rewarding success

“I had a time convincing these people,” pointing to his manager who had stayed through it all at the Govipola, “that not using chemical fertilizer will yield results. It took us eight years more to learn that it works”. “Look”, he said emphatically and in child-like excitement “see the ‘gaddavilla pus’ (earthworm churned soil), it is only now they are back in action.

They were all dead when we still used the chemicals”. Turning again to the manager he said, “this man wanted us to go back to using those fertilizers several times and that was in frustration. I kept insisting and about a year ago, he admitted that we had succeeded. He stuck with me, when many others before him left, and I am grateful”. At the end of our tour we learnt that VRW had requested the manager to buy air-tickets for him and his family for a leisure trip to Singapore.

That was his way of rewarding the faith the manager had in his wisdom that led to profitability. The other highlights of the tour included inspecting the gasifiers where Gilicida branches were used as fuel-wood.

This was to generate energy for operating machines that prepared and rolled coconut husks into coir-rope. The Gilicida leaves were used as the substitute for the urea fertilizer the coconut trees needed. They were soaked in water and mixed with the soil along the ‘Saru Alliya’.

Since his passing away last week, much has been written about this unique individual by several others. That he was an alumnus of Cambridge and Harvard, Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa, Chairman of several institutions, a creator and crasher of light aircraft, a daring pilot, an Olympian and an Asian Games silver medallist Yachtsman and the inventor of the Landmaster two-wheel hand-held tractor and more.

Dreams into reality

I dare not attempt to repeat reminisce all of his achievements, for that I imagine would not be what he would have wished of me.

To me, the memory of this man will remain as the caring and humble humanist, who gave and wanted so much from life. He was a visionary dreamer and a realist all in one.

There is one other dream, I know of, he wished to see fulfilled and that was his desire to set up an innovation activity centre for the children of our land.

We began talking about it, but it yet to take off the ground. It is now left in our hands to explore how we could pursue his wish further. That, I think will be fitting tribute for persons the likes of Late Vidayajothi Rayvatha (Ray) Wijewardene; turning unfulfilled dreams into reality and learning lessons from the wisdom left behind.