LAL SOYSA

When he passed away a few days ago Lal was probably the oldest member of a distinguished clan that encompassed persons who belonged within several distinct surnames.

Hence I think this would be a suitable occasion to mention some of them.

Among his father, Robin Soysa’s relatives, those whose names I have heard tell of, were Dr. Ananda (whose wife, Professor Priyani Soysa  had one of her children around to mark her 96th birthday). She is not regarded as being quite a member of the clan.

Those who did include Chakrin Soysa, Bernard and his siblings and, within easy reach of family, a de Alwis branch as well as a Wijeratne, Tudawe and de Silva complex. In the periphery were Wickremasinghes (such as N C / “Black Hole”), Panditha Gunawardena  (including Harsha of the CCS who died young),  Vidyasagara (Vijaya and brother), Fonseka  (Carlo, Eustace),Cumaratunga (Gaya, Gevindu, Vijaya), Jayawardena (N U, Lal), Fernando (Jason/Morgan). The de Silvas included not only those like Sherman but others named Nandalochana.

That extended clan owned a lot of ‘real estate’ that covered much of the land between  Bambalapitiya through Thimbirigasyaya to Nawala and across the other way towards Dehiwala. Lal’s father owned property off Bullers Road above Thummmulla.

Robin Soysa was the principal in Soysa Brothers which had for many decades been the most respected brokering firm for spices. No doubt he looked forward to providing his son the  necessary orientation for developing the company in good order. But Lal, alas, was hampered  by being ‘an only son’ marooned among several daughters. Misunderstandings were bound  to occur.

Lal’s progress ‘upwards’ was also literal – he left his father’s offices in the State Bank of India building and went upstairs to the offices of Gordon Fraser Co. After an apprenticeship of sorts there he was recruited by Colombo Commercials, which, among its disparate enterprises was also one of the bigger Agency Houses. Over the years, the Managing Director, Kenneth Ratwatte  and the principal shareholder, Dusty Miller, came to value both Lal’s competence and his integrity.

‘Land Reform’ was not far away though and the big mercantile firms, the agency houses among them, were forced to scale themselves down.

Of Princy and Lal’s three children, all boys, only the youngest, truly a ‘Baba’, lives abroad. The second, Lasantha made rapid progress towards the top in the administration (as I thought it was) of Port operations with Maersk in the large shipping centers in Malaysia and Indonesia. The  senior most, Sudantha has led the way not only for his brothers and cousins but for young ones to reach the highest points in boy’s and men’s tennis in Sri Lanka.

What’s written above is a brief note on the mark that Lal Soysa has left behind. He knew and understood Buddhism and I wish him a brief sojourn in samsara.

Gamini Seneviratne