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by Sharm de Alwis

Anandatissa de Alwis was, certainly, an Abraham among men. His vision was of intuitive clarity. He made decisions with the sweep of common sense, decisions which had far reaching effect on land, man and times.

Anandatissa left school early as a bevy of orphaned sisters had to be cared for. His first salary was Rs. 40 as a cub reporter at Lake House. As a student, he would walk to Ananda from Kotte to ease the family purse. Oratory and cadeting were his forte at a time that Ananda College was the supreme leader in those two spheres.

With gentle hands and the handsome frame of the nobility, he was never a sportsman but he was a lover of all kinds of sports and had been Patron of the Havelocks Sports Club.

He didn't have to go through the rigours of the open market to be recognised even in the second year in Advertising as the supreme master and be addressed as the "Chief." He achieved this without formal training but with intuition and common sense.

He made superlative Advertising and Marketing men of those who sat at his feet. He grasped them in his fist and threw them up, and lo, they would fly. Yet another Ad wizard was made.

Anandatissa was a workaholic and was never cribbed and confined by the pendulum of the clock. He would, on occasion, work through the night into the morning hours, breaking the tedium, sometimes, with coffee breaks when he would enrich the lives of his fellow workers with rippling anecdotes of yore. He would impart knowledge, not only because he had ample stocks of it but also because he himself had taken a few hard knocks in the learning.

When he was a cub reporter at Lake House, he once wrote about a man's fall from the second floor of a building. he wrote, "the man fell down" to be summoned by the Editor and told: "I'll give you front page leader column when you write about a man falling up."

There was the time that Sir Oliver and he were not even on speaking terms. Through some huge faux pas, both had invited to a garden tea party. There was a hush of silence as everyone chewed on the finger nail. Sir Oliver walked up to the young Anandatissa, said, "Hello, Ananda," and wrapped his arm round the shoulder. He was led a few steps out of hearing and the only other words Sir Oliver uttered were, "So, how are you?" They walked back in the same embrace and everybody regained the smile. Diplomacy had triumphed.

When he was Private Secretary to Sir John, he learned how to handle tale-carriers.

If a Seneviratne gave gossipy information about a Silva, Sir John would pretend to be occupies but would ring the bell for the peon and summon Silva. Only after Silva entered the room would Sir John re-open the subject with a characteristic, "So, so, Seneviratne, you were saying something about Silva ..." No one carried stories after a lesson such as that.

Few would know that the colour green chosen by the UNP was the brainwave of Anandatissa who suggested it purely because that is the most predominant colour. By the same token, SWRDB chose blue as the colour for his Party. Anandatissa was equally well-versed in Sinhala as he was in English and would twist a phrase to give it an extra dimension. 'As strong as any lion' is certainly an improvement on the hackneyed 'strong as a lion'.

The Advertising and Marketing campaigns he created for his clients were many but the low budget Manhattan shirt, Landmaster hand tractor and Delta toffee programmes were enthusiastically received by customer and clients. He had the canny ability to let his proteges grow. When I asked him what I should do about a matter which was a little difficult to be handled in my cub years, he shot back, "What the bloody hell would you do with it?" I got the message and tackled the problem by myself.

As an interviewer he was in a class of his own and was the master of the open-ended question. His TV interview of Krishnamoorthy must rank as the finest in the art.

There was a time that BBC did not allow anyone to go before its mikes without an approved script. Mr. de Alwis had not been aware of this stipulation when he arrived at the studios. In five minutes he wrote a script which was duly approved by the authorities. But when he spoke into the mike he had no recourse to the script. It lay on the table, a classic by itself, no doubt, but not containing any of the matter spoken.

His finest stint in Parliament was as Speaker when he made use of his ample knowledge, wit and elan to steer the course of debate. When I was asked if his eloquent speech at the Opening of Parliament was prepared, I have pointed out that he came on immediately after Sarath Muttetuwegama and that, certainly, there would not have been time. Also, he never prepared a speech. He was silver-tongued bilingually.

My guru always had the knack of thinking on his feet. I once asked him if he did not think that the so-called Father of the Nation was not the biggest traitor to the country when he did not give S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike his rightful Premiership. Within the drop of three pins he gave an original reply: "that decision of D. S. Senanayake preserved for all time democracy in the country."

If I am to labour the point, the Reds were the only Opposition and they had think-tanks and firebrands. Even their women had brains and guts. Anandatissa de Alwis died in full fettle. He was at the time steering the affairs of his advertising Agency. At the end of the marathon of 75 well run miles one has to dip into Longfellow:

"... and still the wonder grew

That one small head could carry all he knew."

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