Brain drain, a process that rids intellectuals and scholars from their motherlands, has become a grave matter for developing countries and their governments.
These individuals leave their motherlands not only seeking for greener pastures but due to secure suitable employment, children’s education, get rid of dilemmas and safety issues and for various other reasons.
The developing countries in Asia would fast-track their sustainable development efforts if they find means to protect and recognize these skilled individuals who reluctantly bid adieu to their motherlands for obvious reasons.
Ajit Bodiratne, an old Royalist, is an individual who has become a victim of brain drain. A true lover of Sri Lanka and its diversity and heritage, Bodiratne now lives in Kentucky, Canada with his family of two children and his parents.
“After leaving college, I pursued my higher studies in the field of accounts. While working for the garment sector and a few other accounting organizations I managed to do my exams and become an accountant. Yet I couldn’t find employment that is suitable for my qualifications that would help me to work towards achieving Chartered Marketer status. This frustration and agony made me migrate,” Bodiratne said.
He adds, “I was able to find suitable employment in Canada after communicating with a few companies while living in Sri Lanka.”
Apart from being a fully-fledged accountant, Bodiratne is a versatile artist. The pictures of Gamini Fonseka, Jeewarani as well as sceneries and self-portraits he drew with the ball-point pen were admired and highly commended by his peers while he was residing in Sri Lanka.
Eventually he has broadened his purview to become an oil-painter and now he mostly paints on canvas.
“I have a collection of paintings in hand and am working on producing more. The little time off work is utilized for drawing. The drawings I do using the ball-point pen too are in high demand here hence this is becoming a lucrative second profession for me,” he said.
Bodiratne is looking forward to holding his first art exhibition in Canada this year.
Being a ‘Nature-boy’ he loves to grow vegetables in the backyard of his house during his leisure time. This is something his father who hails from Ratnapura had done when they were living in Sri Lanka.
“Sri Lanka is my motherland and I intend to come back to my country with my wife once my children’s education is over and they have gotten jobs,” Bodiratne adds with passion.
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