He was a good friend to all

He was “Lal” to his friends. We “golayas” addressed him as Mr. Amaratunge. My first association with Mr. Amaratunge was when I was a trainee at the CEB. We found him to be a soft-spoken, very quiet, easy going and hard working engineer who never ever forgot to share a smile with us, the trainees. His betel chewing appeared to be somewhat weird, but we admired his bold nature of not giving it up to please the sophisticated.

However, what amazed us most was his deep knowledge in the electro-mechanical design of electricity distribution lines. He tried his best to teach us the finer points of this subject and thereby won our deep respect and admiration. Such qualities made him somewhat different to others. All of us wondered whether we also could be like him one day; excel at least in one field of electrical engineering whilst being simple and humble.

A few years later when I met him again at the CEB, I saw another facet to him. He was criticizing the management severely, very angry and agitated over a purported injustice. We listened and I heard somebody remarking that he is Mr. Lal Amaratunge, a brilliant engineer seconded to Mahaweli, and a man with a “no nonsense” approach to injustice.

It is at Mahaweli, Mr. Amaratunge had met Shanthi, one of the first lady electrical engineers of Sri Lanka. Apparently none of their colleagues had known about the short circuit that had developed until they received invitations for the wedding. While serving at Mahaweli, both he and Shanthi got offers of employment at a very reputed consultancy firm in the UK where they worked for many years with distinction. On their return, H.S. Subasinghe, then Chairman LECO had extended an invitation to Mr. Amaratunge to join the newly established electricity distribution company. He had at first refused, but later agreed to accept the position as the Head of Designs. Shanthi became the Head of the Planning Department.

Around this time, after a stint abroad, I too was looking for employment. LECO was the first I came across. I was posted to the Designs Department and by destiny or otherwise Mr. Amaratunge became my boss. I saw the same interest and enthusiasm as in the good old days, when guiding young engineers and explaining to them the theoretical concepts.

He wanted all engineers to work with accuracy and have a good grasp of the fundamentals. If anybody was found disregarding these golden rules, Mr. Amaratunge took them to task. All were aware that his intention was to develop them and did not take any offence to such treatment.

With the leadership given by Mr. T. R. Cooray, LECO entered the PC age using Sinclair PCs. Mr. Amaratunge took a step further, by getting his engineers to develop software to carry out almost all design tasks related to electromechanical design of distribution lines. Even today, after two or three decades since these were developed, I understand that upgraded versions of the same are being used for LECO design calculations. He was instrumental in leading the way for drafting of the codes and manuals in-house, for system planning, construction, operations etc. These served as the base for engineering excellence of LECO and much of the credit for such achievements should go to Mr. Amaratunge.

In the latter part of his life, Mr. Amaratunge despite an unfortunate illness, continued to work and contributed enormously to the development of Sri Lanka’s electrical engineering industry. However, he finally decided to retire before reaching the mandatory age limit. Numerous pleas by the management to stay in service were of little or no avail and the final result was the transformation of the “solid connection” he had with electrical engineering into a permanent “open circuit”. With that Sri Lanka lost one of the best brains that enriched the country’s electrical engineering industry.

Shanthi continued to serve LECO and only the friends and relations very close to Amaratungas know, the immense sacrifices she made to look after Mr. Amaratunge showing abundance of love and care. Kushani, their loving daughter was Mr. Amaratunge’s precious pearl, and his attachment, affection and devotion to her was boundless. Kushani and her husband reciprocated and did all what they could to keep their father in good spirits and happy until his last breath.

It is almost three months since Mr. Amaratunge passed away and we have lost a good and genuine friend, a fatherly figure and more than all an engineer par excellence. As Buddhists we firmly believe that he is born in a place where he would be experiencing peace, tranquility and long lasting happiness as a result of the good deeds done in this life. Let us all pray for the ending of the sansaric journey of this great and courageous man in the pursuit of attaining enlightenment.

I first met uncle in 1984 when his daughter Nilmini also known as Mila and I became friends at Law College. We spent a week into our vacation after the 1st Year Exam in Matale. I remember uncle and aunty warmly welcomed us, and we had a very good holiday. After that I become a good friend of the Warnapala family which has lasted upto date.

The untimely death of aunty, left uncle to look after the children all by himself. Only Nilmini and Hemantha were married at that time and were in the UK. The youngest son, Sampath may have been only 15 years. Uncle played the role of the father and mother and looked after them, educated them (all six are lawyers) and saw to it that all were given in marriage. He was a devout Buddhist, a good father, husband, grandfather, a good in-law and most of all a good friend to all.