In memory of ASOKA PERERA - Milroy Berenger & Ramesh Abayasekara
Asoka was as close to being a founding member of the revamped STC OBA NSW as one could be. While he was not a Jefferson, in many respects he did have the qualities and aspirations of one. He possessed an enhanced sense of community which he was never shy to spread around. When AP called, one never knew what one was getting into. It could be lots of work spread over many years. He was a Thomian staunch and true, an ex-planter, an agriculturist, an ex-officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, a debt collector, a teacher, a writer, a poet, a painter, a self-taught restorer of computers that had collected a virus or two, a raconteur with an impish grin at the end, a tea taster, a wine connoisseur, an historian, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, an avid bird watcher, a keen gardener – his lawn at Winston Hills in NSW was on par with the Big Club grounds cricket pitch – and a member of the Winston Hills Liberal Party.
I once happened to visit Asoka on an afternoon in the height of summer when the temperature in Winston Hills was at its peak. Asoka was mowing his front lawn dressed in a pair of planter’s khaki shorts and gum boots! As my gaze fell on his labour of love he looked at me with pride. The lawn was a lush green carpet, cut to perfection and the edging detailed to the last blade of grass.
He was never short of a story and was always happy to share his time when he met a kindred soul on his life’s journey. He was a family man, and his life revolved around his wife Malkanthi and daughter Maalika. Their needs always came first.
As ex-President Lalith Senaratne wrote in the STC OBA Souvenir (2005), the OBA in NSW began around 1982. However I first met Asoka and Malkanthi Perera in 1999 at Lal and Lali Wimalaratne’s home in Pennant Hills, NSW, when a group of Old Thomians gathered to try to give body to what was to become a revamped STC OBA in NSW. The OBA model needed to be changed to cater to the new laws and regulations that governed such community associations.
Our first committee meeting was held at Asoka and Malkanthi’s home. As I recall, the first challenge the new committee had to deal with was an operating loss of A$1,000! Various suggestions were bandied across the table but we seemed to be going in no particular direction. Thankfully, one Old Boy saw the ‘pickle’ we were in, and rather mercifully suggested that we divide the loss amongst the committee members and move on. This idea to restore our solvency was widely and enthusiastically embraced and the STC OBA NSW embarked on a new era.
For no particular reason, Asoka just fell into the task of being the main conduit within the newly formed committee. He kept minutes, circulated them soon after each meeting, and was essentially the ‘go-to’ man for matters OBA during his time in office. As I look back at that time, Ananda Amaranath, Lal Wimalaratne and Asoka exerted much influence, and this gave the OBA an important degree of leadership that enabled it to begin evolving as a viable institution within the Sri Lankan community in NSW.
After his time as a dedicated and rather creative STC OBA committee member, Asoka moved on and developed other interests. His sense of community was always important to him as an individual and it flowered in various shapes and forms. The details are sketchy but, as I recall, on one of his visits to the Wasgomuwa National Park, Asoka came across a remote village also called Wasgomuwa. The village was situated beside the National Park and the poor villagers had to endure frequent damage to their huts, fields and crops from wild elephants. As he walked around the village, Asoka was moved by the poverty of the villagers, who he regarded as ‘the poorest of the poor’. Upon returning to Winston Hills he embarked on a project to help the inhabitants of Wasgomuwa. His first port of call was the Winston Hills Rotary, followed by appeals to his wide circle of friends in the community. It did not take long for Asoka, moved as he had been, to become the Wasgomuwa villagers’ self-appointed ambassador in Sydney.
His first project was to try to equip Wasgomuwa with a pre-school. Thanks to his tireless efforts and managerial nous, the pre-school was built within a relatively short space of time. Once the building work was finished it was equipped with desks, chairs, play equipment and a toilet. This done, the villagers began to get a better sense of the man, his interests, his passion, his sense of social justice and his desire to try making a difference. Thereafter, when Asoka visited he was followed around the village like the Pied Piper of Hamelin!
Shortly after Wasgomuwa, circumstances changed for Asoka and Malkanthi and they both decided to relocate to Sri Lanka. Asoka found it quite challenging to make the break from Sydney where they had lived a good part of their adult lives. Going back to Colombo was akin to going back to a new country where change was occurring rapidly while the security situation within the country was a significant concern. However, once the decision was made and the plan to relocate enacted, Asoka moved on and began to spread his sense of community in Sri Lanka. Wasgomuwa began to take up more of his time. He could visit regularly and get involved in some of the changes within the village. He did not have to wait months to see the results of his initiatives.
Asoka began to work closely with the Colombo Metropolitan Rotary, as well as friends and relatives, in a more structured, hands-on manner. He was able to equip the village with a few sewing machines so that he could give reality to his vision whereby no lass in the village would leave her home without knowing how to sew. Cows were bought and the villagers were taught how to make yogurt. Other skills were taught and developed: how to make soap and candles; prepare dry fish; and grow mushrooms. The man of many parts and interests was able to use his myriad skills to energise thinking in the village mind. The poor villagers who had been shut off from the rest of the country began to see beyond their chena cultivations and lives of hard work which until then promised little or no return. Asoka the administrator combined with Asoka the teacher to bring them out of their endless poverty trap. While the work was challenging, Asoka was spurred on by the sense of gratitude he often saw in a poor villager’s eyes, and the confidence he gained by the community response to his many requests for help.
Thanks to the greater levels of support Asoka was able to tap into in Sri Lanka, a few homes were provided with electricity. Others were provided with spill-proof ‘safety’ oil lamps to enable the children to study at night. Powerful torches were given to the villagers for them to use when trying to protect their huts and fields from rampaging elephants. While these projects were gaining traction in wasgomuwa, Asoka was also able to build another pre-school in the adjoining village.
One of his final projects before he became too ill to travel was to accompany a team of four doctors with medical supplies to check on the children and the aged in the village. Consequently, over 85 villagers, some of whom had never seen a doctor in their lives, were treated for a range of ailments, including some conditions that had become much worse than they should have due to the lack of basic facilities in the village.
Such was the nature of the man, such were his sense of values, his interests and his sense of humour, that Asoka endeared himself to many minds. Today, Rotary in Sri Lanka is continuing his work in his memory, while family and friends who supported Asoka pay visits to Wasgomuwa whenever possible. The momentum he created from nothing lives on.
Asoka was a good man. He did not have a mean bone in his body. He put a lot of thought and energy into his stories. He loved to capture a person’s mind by adding a subtle or dramatic twist to the ending of a story. He was kind to me. He would listen, think and advise. He allowed me to call him stupid, and he would smile back at me. He had the ability to make me relax over a glass of red wine which always came with good conversation.
He told me a story about a trip to the wine country in Adelaide where he had booked to have dinner. The booking was for 7.00 pm but he showed up at Reception at 12 noon. When the receptionist advised Asoka that his booking was for much later, he ignored her and requested the wine list. A rather perplexed young woman reluctantly handed him the wine list, which Asoka proceeded to study with great thought. After five minutes he advised the woman that he would like to have a particular bottle of red wine with his meal. While the receptionist was probably wondering what to make of this ‘brown sahib’, he instructed her – in a rather firm voice – to have the bottle of red wine opened and decanted to allow the wine to breathe. Asoka must have been in his element as he observed the look on the receptionist’s face as she went inside to do as instructed. Here was Asoka in his element. At one level he was revelling in the young girl’s sense of confused wonder while he rather ‘haughtily’ exhibited his sense of epicurean sophistication, with a mischievous smile!
Asoka shared this tale with me when we were on holiday in the Blue Mountains, so to drive home his point a bottle of red was opened a full three hours before we would drink it. At the appointed hour we sat down with a plate of blue cheese and our decanted wine. I watched in wonder as Asoka, the connoisseur, poured the wine, sniffed his glass and ever so slowly washed his tongue and fangs with the wine, swishing from left to right while his eyes spoke to me. Then it was my turn, and I must confess I simply could not match the master at his craft. Asoka looked at me with a smile – part of which was pity, part sophisticated superiority, another part sheer mirth – knowing that I was way out of my depth! It all fitted in so perfectly with the award given to Asoka when the first TOSCA awards were inaugurated in NSW – ‘London Hamu’!
Rest in Peace, Asoka. One day I will join you for a second glass of red!
Milroy Berenger (Winchester – Miller-Chapman 1960-1972 )
Editor’s note: After Warden Canon R.S. de Saram left STC at the end of 1958, a group of senior masters decided to nominate a group that would be the first entrants to the newly formed De Saram House in 1959. They chose a mix of students based on their academic and sporting prowess. Asoka was chosen to move from Buck to De Saram. He was appointed a House Prefect and shortly afterward became a School Prefect.
Morning in Whitmore Village
(I dedicate this poem to my wife whose tolerance of a rival was most modern; and to my daughter, for her unrestrained love, generosity, energy, inspiration and insight. If not, this would remain forever in my mind and heart – unspoken and unexposed. – Asoka)
The eastern sky takes a golden hue, The loose stone walls that demarcate the fields,
The mist rolling down the mountain peaks The mist rolling down the mountain peaks,
And sets the mountains ablaze. The meandering brooks which through the valley flows,
The dew like scattered jewels spread, Inspires both the watercolourist and the poet.
Glistens across the vale. I wished that my wife and daughter were there,
The herd moves silently to the farmhouse shed, To see the glorious morn,
And rabbits make way to their burrows. And remember in the years to come,
A robin redbreast flits from bough to bough, A Cumbrian village at dawn.
And a raven sings its plaintive song. They surely err, when they say this land
I walked along a wooded path, Is desolate and bare.
Away from the pastures green. Asoka Perera (Buck House; De Saram House 1951-1963)
And there beheld the mountain range,
With a placid lake beneath.
Some yachts were tethered to the buoys,
While others floated by.
The maples stood with golden crowns,
Others with orange, russet and brown.
The woods were painted in autumn colors,
But the ground was sparse and bare.
A pheasant called from the thicket below,
To its mate on the far-off mound.
I paused and stopped near a golden elm
And looked towards the sky
And saw a pale blue tent above me
Without a trace of cloud.
I stood spellbound in absolute awe
Until it was time to move.
Then I turned, and walked back home,
In contentment and joy.
They err those who say
This land is desolate and bare,
But the forested ghylls and the gently rolling hills
Is a beauty rarely surpassed.
