Features
THE HOTEL ATTACKED! – Part 29
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
Beach and Tourists Back
The eventful off season for tourism ended by late October 1976. Around the same time, the sea erosion ended and sea became calm again. The Hotel Manager Muna and I, as the Assistant Manager and Executive Chef, led the Coral Gardens Hotel to be fully prepared to welcome guests for the 1976/1977 season. However, the tensions with the villagers, fishermen and beach boys continued.
100-Item New Year’s Eve Buffet
Muna gave me a total free hand to organize a grand New Year’s Eve dinner dance. I auditioned several bands from Colombo and chose two bands with input from the German and Swedish tour leaders. I also developed an international theme for the event with input from some German, French, British, Swedish, Danish, Finish and Norwegian repeat guests. I focused a lot on planning a well-balanced 100-item international buffet menu, which was the most ambitious menu I had planned up to that point of my career.
Due to the on-going tensions with some local groups, we arranged additional security for the big day. Muna had invited two powerful local business leaders who were our friends – Leslie and Dudley, to his table at the New Year’s Eve dinner dance. This was done more as a strengthening of security strategy. Muna had also invited a few foreign tour leaders to his table. As he had three more spaces at his table, he invited Captain Wicks, his wife and their beautiful teenage daughter. I was particularly pleased with that decision.
Riot and Attack
While coordinating the buffet and food and beverage service, I also paid some attention to a large group of ‘loud’ local fishermen having drinks at the public bar. According to the excise department rules, we had to close that bar at 11:00 pm. The resident bar was open till late, but it was exclusively for hotel guests. Just after 11:00 pm, Barman Kalansooriya came to inform Muna and I that the local fishermen were refusing to leave the bar. Muna said, “Close the public bar as per the government rules, and politely request the local fishermen to leave.”
Within a minute, the barman returned looking very worried. He said, “The locals are demanding that they be allowed to have drinks at the resident bar.” We simply could not change the hotel policy focused on the safety of the hotel guests. Our answer to that request was, “No! That is not possible.”
A few minutes later, we heard a big noise. About 50 drunk fishermen shouted while trying to enter the hotel reception to march towards the resident bar. They angrily shouted, “Today is the day we will destroy this hotel!” Muna called the local police station and as I knew most of the gang, I tried to calm down the fishermen. All the waiters stood behind me in support at the hotel entrance. “I understand your concerns. Let’s talk about these issues tomorrow. We should not interrupt the event specially organized for tourists visiting your town”, I pleaded.
On hearing about the commotion, Leslie quickly left Muna’s table and rushed to the hotel entrance area to confront the fishermen. Leslie had a very strong physique and was a well-respected diver and businessman in the area. Some of those fishermen shouting, worked on Leslie’s fishing boats. Leslie interpreted the riot as a personal insult to him since he was the hotel manager’s guest. While angrily staring at the drunk fishermen, Leslie rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He was ready to punish the culprits single-handedly.
Out of fear of Leslie most of the fishermen under his employment ran away. A few others in their drunkenness said, “Respected Leslie Sir, please don’t hit us.” Some of them added, “We did not know that you were at the hotel. We apologize”, and promptly left the hotel car park. There were about two dozen fishermen still standing in defiance. They wanted to fight Leslie, who took the challenge in lightning speed. Within a few minutes Leslie managed to knock down about a dozen. Others ran in fear, but commenced throwing large rocks at Leslie, from a distance.
At that point I held Leslie and tried to move him away, in fear that he might injure someone badly. A large rock was coming our way and Leslie quickly ducked. The rock hit my head and I fell like a tree. I was unconscious when the hotel workers lifted and placed me in the hotel car. I vaguely remembered someone smashing the windscreen of the car just after that and being showered with broken pieces of glass.
Usher the New Year at ER
When I opened my eyes with great difficulty, I was on a small bed in a dark room. I had no memory of anything from that evening. I felt broken glass pieces and blood when I touched my afro hair. The first thing that came to my mind was that I was dying and this was the end for me. In my feeble and drowsy state, I felt no fear of dying.
Next time I regained consciousness, there was a nurse standing by my bed, and my hair was cut to dress the head wounds. She told me that I had two accidents last night and that I was in the emergency room at Galle General Hospital. “What’s the day?” I asked with difficulty. “The first of January” she said. “Which year?” I asked as I could not remember anything at all. The nurse said, “1977.” Soon after that, a young doctor came to see me and informed that I would be taken by an ambulance to a private hospital in Colombo. He also told me that I was lucky that I was wearing my chef hat when I was hit on the head by the thrown stone.
A Month at Wycherley Nursing Home
I didn’t remember anything after that until I woke up in a nice and spacious bedroom. When I looked up, all I could see was an old fashion wooden ceiling fan gently circling. Then I saw my mother and father by my bedside, looking very worried. “You are at the Wycherley Nursing Home in Colombo seven”, my father told me, calmly. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. In fact, I could not walk for two weeks. I was unsteady while the doctors tried different treatments. The bandages on my head were changed daily during visits by various specialists led by Dr. P. R. Anthonis, veteran surgeon (and later, the Chancellor of the University of Colombo).
My mother came to the hospital in the morning every day and stayed with me till late evening. She also tried to feed me the hospital food as well as my favourite dishes, she prepared at home for me. I hardly had any appetite and lost some weight. My father and two sisters came to visit me every evening after work. Many other members of my family and my friends visited me, but I could not talk too much. I was pleasantly surprised when Captain Wicks, his wife and their teenage daughter visited me one day. To cheer me up they told me that they were most impressed with my 100-item buffet, but saddened because of what happened to me on the New Year’s Eve.
A happy note during this unsteady month for me was appreciating the chance given to me to recover within a beautiful historic building. The Wycherley was built in early 1920s by a versatile gentleman. He was one of the greatest Ceylonese surgeons, writers and experts of the flora and fauna and the aboriginal people of the island – Dr. Richard Lionel Spittel. He had retired from the Government service at 53 years of age and ventured out to run his own Wycherley Nursing Home. High ceilings, old style celling fans, white windows and wooden floors enhanced the unique ambiance of the Wycherley.
One day, I noticed a teenage girl in a house right opposite the nursing home looking into my room frequently. My mother was surprised when this young girl waved at us. The next day she visited us and appeared to know details of what happened to me at the Coral Gardens Hotel. She said, “I am Roshika Fernando. I live with my family in Coniston Place, adjoining the Wycherley. I heard of what happened from a cousin of mine who is in the hotel industry.” As she was feeling very sorry for me, Roshika became a regular visitor in the afternoons. We used to have short chats and later when doctors wanted me to practice walking again, Roshika used to accompany me in the front garden of the Wycherley. Gradually our walks extended to Coniston Place. She was a very charming, kind and friendly girl.
Death Threats to the Manager
Towards the end of January, 1977, Muna came to see me. His story was frightening. He told me, “Chandana, since January first, I have been sleeping in a different room every night.” When I asked him the reason, he said that every evening around 9:00 pm he used to get a strange telephone call with a death threat. He had increased security at the hotel and arranged the local police to do frequent visits to the hotel. He then said, “I am on my way to the head office to get their advice.”
Within an hour, Muna returned to my room at the Wycherley. “I resigned!” he announced. I was shocked. Muna and I were a good team and together we accomplished many innovative things. I was saddened to hear about his decision and inquired about it. Muna was disappointed with the head office Director in charge of hotels, who allegedly told Muna, “I say, Munasinghe, tell those villagers if they kill you, the company will not give up. We will send another manager.” Instead of any further verbal communication, Muna immediately wrote his letter of resignation and handed it over to the Director.
Muna was seven years older than me and was like a big brother to me. He guided me well and also gave me full authority to run my departments. I was disappointed with his sudden departure from the job. “Are you going to the hotel now?” I asked Muna. “No, I will never step into that hotel again. I will send the driver to bring all my belongings to Colombo”. And that’s what he did.
Within a week, Muna found a good job at the Galle Face Hotel and moved on. That wasn’t the end of my working relationship with Muna. Within five years, on the same day in late 1981, Muna and I joined the Ceylon Hotel School as Senior Lecturers. He taught Professional Cookery and I taught Food and Beverage Operations to the fourth and final year students of CHS. During our breaks from lectures, we used to have some long chats about our memorable time at the Bentota Beach Hotel and the Coral Gardens Hotel.
Soon after Muna said good bye and left my room, my mother was prompting me to follow Muna’s steps and resign. I did not agree with her, and I decided to go back to Coral Gardens Hotel. I felt that my mission was not completed at the hotel, yet. That month I spent at the Wycherley was the only time I ever stayed at a hospital for an illness or injury in my whole life. I was eager to get out.
A Shaky Return
After a break of one month, I returned to the hotel on the first of February. It was little shaky at the beginning as I still could not walk properly. After I re-started work, I quickly recovered. In spite of serious advice to not step out of the hotel without a bodyguard, I commenced walking by myself to other hotels in the evenings. To my surprise, many villagers who threw stones at the hotel on December 31st, apologized to me. They said that they never wanted to harm me and it was a mistake in their drunken state. That day, I learnt that even with one’s adversaries, through an open dialogue, some problems can be resolved. I accepted their apology.
Impressed with my bravery of returning to work, a few in the company board had discussed the possibility of promoting me to be the Manager. However, some Directors, felt that at the age of 23, I may need more experience before being promoted. Given the unique types of challenges in managing hotels in Hikkaduwa, there were talks of sending a mature Manager, perhaps with miliary officer experience.