Sharing and caring as a way of life
Today's column is about two very special people I had the fortune to
come across in my professional life in tourism. Late Alec Robertson,
Buddhist scholar and lecturer, with a vision to spread the Buddha word
and his profound knowledge of our own history and civilisation with
others. His eighth death anniversary fell on the last day of last year.
The other is the much active culinary expert and proponent of the
merits of Sri Lankan cuisine, Chef Dr Pablis Silva of the Mount Lavinia
Hotel. In his 74th year now, his vision is to position the uniqueness of
our own cuisine on the top pedestal in the international arena. For his
unique contribution and service, he was conferred the President's award
as a Tourism Legend in 2009.
Walking encyclopaedia
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Alec
Robertson |
Pablis
Silva |
I got to know Late Alec Robertson in the early 1980s as an invited
lecturer contributing to the Guide Lecturer Training Program conducted
by the Ceylon Tourist Board. Most knew him for his discourses on
Buddhism and little did we know that he was also a walking encyclopaedia
on our civilisation and history. Born to a Christian family, he was
exposed to works of comparative religion as a child, at his home. His
father had a collection of books on the subject and young Alec's mind
was shaped with the exposure he had and an insatiable drive was created
to learn more and more about the merits of the Buddhist way of life and
of our civilisation.
Master of ceremony
I first met Chef Publis also in the early 1980s and that was at the
Mount Lavinia Hotel. Each year, at the time of Sinhala and Tamil New
Year, the Chairman and proprietor of the hotel Late U K Edmund held a
gathering for all the staff, well wishers and their families around the
hotel's swimming pool. Kiribath, Kavun, Kokis and other traditional
sweetmeats were served and as a young officer on the staff of the
Tourist Board, I was invited to attend.
Chef Publis was a prominent member of the team and was the humble
master of ceremonies at the event. A Bastille of the British tradition
of the then Ceylon, the Mt. Lavinia Hotel had been purchased by Edmund
in the mid 1970s and the celebration of the traditional New Year within
the hotel's domain each year, was indeed a unique happening.
Humble beginnings
What strikes me most about both these individuals is that they are
both self-made persons in their chosen areas of expertise. They did not
begin acquiring diplomas or degrees, but excelled in the spheres they
chose to master them through sheer grit, determination and hard work.
They acquired knowledge and experience through research, exploration and
experiment. Most importantly, each had a vision of where they wanted to
take their sphere of expertise i.e. to the pinnacle of achievement. When
doing so, they humbly demonstrated that they deeply cared for whatever
they did and wanted so passionately to share their knowledge and
experience with others.
Passion and pride
Late Alec Robertson worked at the Auditor General's Department.
For 29 years he had served as the President of the Servants of the
Buddha Society, which regularly meets every weekend to hold discourses
on the Dhamma, an event and practice that has gone on, for the last 80
years.
I remember listening to him grooming the guide lecturers and his
presentations oozed with passion and pride of the traditions and the
ethos that has made us to be what we are.
Just about two weeks before his last death anniversary, I had the
chance to meet one of his daughters at my bank branch where she works,
and she told me that he had always spoken well of the days he shared his
knowledge with the tourism industry. He had seen it as an opportunity to
pass on his knowledge to the visitors to our land through the guide
lecturers.
Nutritional values
Earlier this month, we had Chef Publis and his wife visiting the
village of Kiula, where we live. It was at a request made by me to him,
to share his wisdom on the nutritional values of our cuisine, with the
mothers and fathers of the village.
As we discussed at the time of my invitation, there is a dire need
today, even in rural settings, to regain knowledge and understanding on
the merits of our own food and how we could benefit from using what is
so richly abundant in our own natural environment.
The production and promotion of fast foods of convenience and the
influence of television advertising has created a crisis situation in
our belief system of nutritional values.
There is an urgent need to address it head on to ensure that Sri
Lanka does not become a nation of ill-nourished persons in the future.
We all know what ill-nourishment can do to the well-being of a
people, where the growth of the mind and body can be stifled, turning us
into being unproductive citizens.
Nation's well-being
The likes of Late Alec Robertson and Chef Publis Silva have taken on
a mission in life to care for the well-being of our nation. Their humble
way had been to share their knowledge and experience with the society at
large without expectation of anything in return. One served our
spiritual needs, while the other continues to crusade to achieve a
desired state of mind-body wellness for our people.
Both known for their humility and strong convictions chose sharing
and caring as their way of life, leaving everyone who came in contact
with them with invaluable life-skills.
I recall the memory of late Alec Robertson with much affection and
wish Chef Publis even more strength and resolve to carry out his
mission.
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