He had a distinguished career in the Army

Yogendra Balaretnarajah passed away recently. I first met Yogendra, then an 18-year-old youth, at Jaffna College Vaddukoddai in June 1957. And 62 years later I am happy to send my greetings to him on his 80th birthday. I will refer to him as Gulliver because that was the name he was known by amongst his schoolmates. Our friendship lasted for 62 years and by the grace of God I hope memories of our friendship will remain even longer.

Sixty two years is a very long time and it is full of memories. Various incidents in our lifetime keep surging in my mind. I remember the times we spent singing Jim Reeves and Pat Boone songs as we went double on a bike from Chundukuli to the milk bar in Jaffna town to have a smoke and a tea. There were others too who joined  us and very often we had to take turns to take a puff from a cigarette and have a cup of tea those days; that exercise cost 20cts and that was big money!

Gulliver had a sense of humour and I remember an occasion when there was thunder and lightning. He remarked “kadawull torch adikkiraar” (God is flashing a torch). Gulliver was very witty. He was fun loving as well.

I remember the time Gulliver joined the Army as a cadet officer and was sent to Sandhurst in the UK for training. I was very happy for him and during his 2 year stay in Sandhurst we used to correspond regularly. I remember going to the port to meet him on his return after training and I was thrilled to see him in his Army uniform looking very smart and handsome. He brought two leather humpties purchased in the port. He said that they were gifts for us and we had them in our homes for very many years. His first assignment was to the Armoured Corps which was an elite unit of the army and I remember visiting him at his quarters in Mutuwal.

Gulliver was the best man at my wedding and he along with another friend of mine- Gopin Ratnabalasooriya- drove us to the Negombo Rest House for our honeymoon. It was considered unsafe to keep jewellery in the rest house and Gulliver and Gopin took all Malar’s  jewellery and thaali back to Colombo for safe keeping at my parents’ home. Gulliver helped us to set up our first home in Mt. Lavinia and I remember him cutting up a piece of linoleum to fix on a table and also doing other odd jobs in the house.

There was a fete at Methodist College Kollupitiya and Gulliver and I attended the fete one night. There, he saw a young beautiful damsel and he fell head over heels in love with her. Soon they got married and raised a family of three lovely children. The two boys were very proud of their father and hero worshipped him. If I remember right, one of the boys wanted to emulate the father and join the Army, but he was dissuaded by the father himself and other elders in the family. Our two families have been very close and though distance separated us, we have maintained a happy relationship.

Gulliver had a distinguished career in the army and was well respected by both his superiors and subordinates. He could have risen to the post of Army Commander had he not been a Tamil.

It has been a privilege and blessing for me and my family that we had  Gulliver as a friend. I wish him a happy birthday. May God grant him happiness, good health and peace of mind.
Victor Duraisamy,
Auburn
NSW Australia