Desmond – the MAN you didn’t see

As I write, people will be rushing to the Press to write effusively about Desmond the great entertainer. This is about the MAN behind that singer.

It is strange writing a eulogy about a man I have not met, nor seen. I came to know about him and his qualities from a mutual contact (let us call him ‘R’). Having heard so much about him, I almost feel I knew the man closely.

Desmond was a global property; yet he loved Sri Lanka and loved coming here which he did almost every year (until Covid intervened). He almost always opens his concerts with his signature song eulogising Sri Lanka.

In addition to seeing his granddaughter, he would not forget to visit his relatives, some of them well out of Colombo. For the not so well to do ones, he will always leave ‘little something’. A visit to see his old aunty in a care- home was a must – so it was to take his guitar and to sing a song to entertain her, lifting her spirits. This, in spite of a very busy schedule in the short time he spent here.

It would have been very convenient for him to buy fruits from a posh supermarket. No, he would make a bee-line to his favourite fruit vendor at the Kollupitiya market, where he would be welcomed with not just respect, but with a lot of affection, too.

The helpers hanging around in the market would plead with his driver-companion (R) NOT to carry the bags to the car. The reason? Two or three fellows would fight to carry the bags and invariably be rewarded with aRs 1,000 note each.

Any security guard who opens the door for him and greets him would be similarly acknowledged. So was the woman who gives out the parking ticket. Whereas some would simply and surreptitiously drive away if the parking attendant is not in the vicinity, Desmond would call her over. “This (50/=) is for the parking and this (1000/=), is for you”.

It is not a case of just giving away money. He would take the trouble to stop and talk to them, and ask them how they are.

In other words, he would recognise them as fellow human beings irrespective of their station. He did not see people as ‘small’ or ‘big’, but as fellow human beings. For those in need, he helped.

R came to know him quite by accident when in 2015, he was asked to drive him around as his regular driver was not available. Desmond started chatting to him and came to know him and trust him. From then onwards, whenever Desmond came to SL, R was his driver-companion. The hyphenated title is important as that is how Desmond treated him – not as ‘just a driver’.

When R drove him to one of his shows, Desmond would buy him a ticket and invite him in. Sometimes, he would ask R to bring his family, too, to the show. He would pay out of his pocket for every ticket, never asking the sponsors or the organisers for complimentary ones. On the occasion when R declined to come in because he felt  ‘it is not quite right’, Desmond would give him money to go out and a have a good meal. Desmond would not eat while his companion goes hungry.

Covid was a difficult time for all. More so for those who were earning a daily living. Desmond realised this and felt for them even from 5,000 miles away. He sent a mini-container of 90kg with masses of canned food, dry rations, clothes, etc., to R and his family. Why should he bother, when he was not even in the country? Such was the nature of the man.

All these were not done under the radar of any publicity.

His fans saw an accomplished singer in glitzy attire. A celebrity.  A singing legend.I see a man with a heart. It is to that Man, I salute today.

What we have lost is NOT a great singer who happens to be kind, but a great human being who happened to possess a golden voice.More than anything else, it is a great loss to humanity.

May God Bless His Soul!  

Dr Asoka Weerakkody