COLOMBO-BANGKOK- FRANKFURT-LONDON – Part 40

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

chandij@sympatico.ca

The Pandal in the Village

As done one year ago at Hotel Ceysands, and now as the Manager of Hotel Swanee, I was able to motivate the hotel maintenance department to create a pandal. This was to celebrate Gautama Buddha’s birthday on the Vesak full moon day in the month of May, 1979. This colourful, illuminated Vesak Pandal depicted the tale of the ‘Patachara’ jathaka story. Towards the end of the tourist season, I created a new job – hotel artist. The villager who got the job post was a creative artist, who handled painting many new thematic signs that I wanted displayed around the hotel. He also did many art works for our various events and ended up leading the pandal project.

“Where should we erect the pandal?” I asked the subcommittee headed by the maintenance supervisor and the union leader. They overwhelmingly supported the idea of erecting it in the hotel gardens. I did not think that allowing hundreds of villagers to come onto the hotel premises for over a week to see the pandal was a good idea. “Why don’t we erect it in the village just outside the hotel entrance?” I suggested.

When various reasons such as villagers stealing the bulbs came up, I told them, “Let me make special arrangements to look after the security of the pandal.” I summoned Solomon, the village thug, whom I had befriended and told him about the concerns of the sub-committee. At the end of that one-on-one discussion, Solomon and I agreed on two conditions. Solomon agreed to provide security and ensure that bulbs would not be stolen. I offered Solomon to be the chief guest who would officially open the pandal on the Vesak day, right after a well-known Buddhist monk from the area performed the religious blessings.

I knew that this type of public recognition and expression of respect was very important to Solomon. He generously donated Rs. 350 to the Swanee Staff Welfare Society, after opening the pandol in the presence of many villagers. He was extremely grateful and proud of recognition done in public. The subcommittee were pleasantly surprised that we did not lose a single bulb over the one-week period of display which was enjoyed by over a thousand villagers.

Corporate Changes at John Keells

Early 1979 was a time when John Keells and Walkers Tours were undergoing some major corporate changes at the helm. I had to follow these changes and understand the internal politics, because unit managers had to operate within the context of the corporate culture. The Chairman of the group, Mr. Mark Bostock, visited the Bentota/Beruwala area every weekend since his weekend holiday bungalow was located in the area. He liked to visit the growing number of John Keells and other hotels in the area. I had developed a friendly relationship with him six years ago when I was the Tournament Secretary for two annual Nationalized Services seven-a-side Rugby Tournaments. At that time, he held the post of the President of the Ceylon Rugby Football Union.

One of Mr Bostock’s right-hand men from John Keells, Mr. Ken Balendra (then the Tea Director, and eventually, the first Sri Lankan to become the Chairman of the group of companies for a decade) was entrusted to learn the travel trade and control Walkers Tours as the Managing Director. He succeeded Sriyantha Senaratne, who left Walkers Tours to start a rival company, Gemini Tours. A few directors left with him. Gemini contracted Mr. Somaratna De Silva, the architect who designed the Walkers Tours’ then flagship hotel – The Village, Habarana, to create a rival hotel in Sigiriya with the same concept and design. When this new hotel was nearing completion, Mr. Somaratna De Silva invited me to his home in Colombo four and asked me if I would like to join Gemini as the Hotel Opening Manager of this new hotel – Sigiriya Village, an offer I declined.

My friend, Bobby Adams had opened The Village, Habarana as the Manager in 1976. Within three years, he was given two quick promotions, first the General Manager and then the Director Operations of a new Keells subsidiary company. It was called Hotel Management & Marketing Services in charge of all hotels in the growing chain. Bobby was the first hotelier in Sri Lanka to hold such a corporate position. I was happy to report directly to Bobby. My former superior and intended father-in-law, Captain D. A. Wickramasinge was entrusted with new tasks at the Keells head office and eventually ran the group’s outbound tour company – Silverstock.

A Gesture by Mark Bostock

In the late 1970s, overseas travelling was a real luxury for Sri Lankans. Very few people got opportunities to do so. Since the mid-1950s, my father was a global traveller and I always wanted to travel around the world like he did. Since 1961, I regularly glanced through an interesting book in my father’s extensive library. The 320-page Travellers Digest published by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (B.O.A.C.) instilled the urge in me to become a global gypsy. However, at the age of 25, I had only experienced three domestic flights with Air Ceylon to Jaffna and Trincomalee on family vacations. I was waiting for an opportunity to commence my global travels.

Most Sunday mornings, Mr. Bostock walked his dog on the beach, and dropped in at Hotel Swanee to check how I was managing. He was impressed with the manner in which I had dealt with the village thugs, beach boys and touts who previously gave a hard time to my predecessors and hotel guests. The Chairman approved of Bobby and I, as we were hands-on hoteliers. One day we were seated by the Hotel Swanee poolside chatting, and Mr. Bostock asked me if I had been to his country – the United Kingdom. I told him that I had never travelled overseas. Within a week, he arranged for my first overseas trip on the company account.

I spent the whole summer of 1979 in London, discovering international five-star hotel standards. One of Mr. Bostock’s friends was Sir Charles Forte (later Baron Forte), who at that time owned the largest hotel chain in the world – Trust House Forte (THF, later Forte PLC). Using that connection, Mr. Bostock arranged for everything to be free for me in London as well as a few days in Thailand and West Germany.

Then Assistant Manager of the Village and my friend, Ranjith Dharmaratnam (later my Assistant Manager at Hotel Swanee) was my travel companion. Walkers Tours got the leading West German tour operator they represented in Sri Lanka as sole agents – Neckermann Reisen to make our travel arrangements in their charter flights. With that memorable trip in 1979, the world became my oyster. Today I am short of two countries to qualify for membership in the prestigious Travelers’ Century Club (TCC), for people who have visited 100 or more of the world’s countries and territories. Thank you for the help, Mr. Mark Bostock! RIP!

Bangkok

We arrived in Thailand in the evening. My first impression of Bangkok was how busy and vibrant it was. Compared to now, the capital and most populous city of Thailand was very different in 1979 in terms of development. There were very few skyscrapers, a couple of supermarkets and one department store on the famous Silom road, where our hotel was located. However, compared with Colombo, Bangkok was huge. One thing in common between now and then was the relatively large population. Around one sixth of the population of the country lived in Bangkok, dwarfing Thailand’s other urban centres in both size and importance to the national economy.

Bangkok was in the heart of the modernization of Siam, later renamed Thailand. The city was the centre of Thailand’s political struggles throughout the 20th century, as the country abolished absolute monarchy, adopted constitutional rule and underwent numerous military coups and several uprisings. In 1979 it was evident that the city was emerging rapidly as a centre for the arts, fashion and entertainment. Bangkok had already become famous for its street life, cultural landmarks and red-light districts.

Arriving at the famous Narai Hotel on the Silom Road of Bangkok’s main business district was exciting for Ranjith and I. This 500-room hotel, which had opened 11 years ago, was the largest hotel I had seen up to that point. I was fascinated that its food and beverage operation included over 30 restaurants. The two largest hotels in Sri Lanka – Hotel Lanka Oberoi and Hotel Ceylon Inter.Continental had only 266 rooms and 252 rooms and a handful of restaurants.

Narai Hotel was one of Bangkok’s earliest large hotels. Our second night there, Ranjith and I enjoyed a sumptuous dinner at the hotel’s 360-degree revolving restaurant which was the first of its kind in Thailand. It towered over the low-lying urban landscape with panoramic views. The Guest Relations Officer who was in charge of our tour of the hotel also showed us its ballroom which held up to about 1,000 guests. The next day we left for West Germany.

Frankfurt

Ranjith and I arrived in Frankfurt early in the morning. Arriving in one of the most populous cites in West Germany was somewhat nostalgic to me. Although I had never been out of Sri Lanka, I was exposed to two overseas cultures in the early 1970s – Japanese and German. Japanese through my involvement with Judo and German through my three years at the Ceylon Hotel School which had eight West German or German trained members of faculty. I also learnt some words in those two languages. I remembered the stories my father told me after his visit to Frankfurt a decade earlier to attend the world’s largest book fair.

Guten Morgen und willkommen in Frankfurt” we were greeted by Günter whom we knew from the Neckermann Reisen operation in Sri Lanka. Günter’s family was from Frankfurt and he was an excellent guide for us. After breakfast and while waiting for our hotel rooms to be ready, he took us on a quick city tour. Günter was proud that Frankfurt was a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and transportation. Given its five centuries as a previous city state, the history of Frankfurt was rich and was most diverse culturally, ethnically and religiously.

Over the next two days, Ranjith and I were taken to a regional office of Neckermann. Günter also took us around to a few museums, art galleries, a botanical garden, a city forest and some football grounds where FIFA World Cup 1974 matches were played. We also dinned in a few of the best restaurants of Frankfurt. We were sad to leave Frankfurt, but Günter reminded us that we had another stop in Frankfurt after our three months of training in London.

London

It was an interesting first time visit to the United Kingdom. A few months before our arrival, the Conservative Party had won the general election and Mrs. Margaret Thatcher had become the first female Prime Minister of the country. In later years, I lived in the UK on two occasions during her 11-years at the helm of British politics. Throughout, I enjoyed watching her on British television and her various interesting battles. She was particularly forceful against the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) led by an aggressive and confrontational Mr. Arthur Scargill and the Falklands war against Argentina. Although I did not agree with some of her policies, I was somewhat saddened when the Iron Lady eventually met her Waterloo in 1990, as a result of the famous cabinet revolt against her. I also served her once at a royal banquet hosted by the Queen, when I worked at the best British hotel – The Dorchester, in 1984.

London is among the oldest of the world’s great cities with a history spanning nearly two millennia – and one of the most cosmopolitan. Because of the colonial past of Ceylon, my generation grew up brain washed with exaggerated expectations of the grandeur of London as the capital of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Some first impressions did not live up to expectations of Ranjith and myself. However, given the uniqueness of the city as the centre of the British government, monarchy, commerce, arts, entertainment and sports, I quickly fell in love with London. In later years, in addition to living in London on two occasions in the 1980s and 1990s, I visited London 35 times over a period of five years from the year 2000, when I was elected as a Board Member and then as the President of the Institute of Hospitality UK, and as the Chairman of HCIMA Limited.

Two of the early culture shocks we experienced in London were how cosmopolitan most parts of London were and also the Punk subculture. A pleasant surprise to me was that my favourite actor, Yul Brynner was living in London at that time nearing his 4,500th stage appearance as the King of Siam in “The King and I”. One of the first things I did in London was to buy an expensive front seat ticket to see him on stage at the West End. It was simply magical!

I was particularly happy to know that the hotel arranged by Trust House Forte for my full-board complimentary accommodation – Regent’s Palace, was only a few feet from the Piccadilly Circus. For nearly three months every day after work, I sat on those famous steps. I used to simply sit there and look at the lights, slow-moving red double decker buses and enjoyed chatting with many young tourists. I didn’t care about the time passing by. The summer of 1979 was one of my most memorable periods. I love London.