Here’s to our beloved friend and one of the unsung heroes of our time
I write this tribute not only to extend our deepest sympathies to Siva’s family, but also to remember some of our dearest memories of him and cherish his love, kindness, virtuousness and integrity.
I got to know Siva during our days at the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) and we became closer friends while we worked at Maduru Oya (one of the five reservoirs constructed under the Mahaweli accelerated programme.) The Maduru Oya team was a close-knit family. Most of us starting our careers at the time were bachelors except for Siva, Vetti, Thiru and a few others yet, we all formed an inseparable unit; we met at every opportunity during most evenings and weekends.
The Maduru Oya site connected to distant towns by poor transport links had only modest facilities to offer and yet we were content. We cherish the days spent there as some of our happiest: I still fondly remember the impromptu Thosai parties we had at Siva’s or Vetti’s or Thiru’s houses.Those days, whenever we were hungry or fed up of chummery meals, we used to gatecrash Siva’s place, knowing that Meena always had a Thosai mixture prepared.When we had parties in our bachelor dormitories, we invited all the families.
When it came to sporting events, playing cricket on makeshift stony camp ground is something to remember: Siva was an active participant. We also remember many trips we made. Pasikudah beach was one of the favourite attractions and I still remember a week-long trip organized by Siva, Vetti, Jeba, Thiru, Yaso, Shanthi Kumar and a few others in 1983 for us to visit Jaffna and Nagadeepa. During our stay in Jaffna, grand lunches and dinners were organized at their ancestral homes by their parents. We could travel all over Jaffna peninsula and our visit to Nallur Temple was a very special experience.We will never forget the traditional Jaffna hospitality. On the way to Jaffna we were to pass Siva’s place and to our surprise he had arranged a box of Thal arrack for us. Though, he was a devout teetotaler, Siva knew how happy we would be to taste the local stuff
On another occasion when we were gathered for an evening party, Siva rushed into our dormitory. He was on the night shift and usually he would never leave early to join us if he was on duty. From his appearance, we knew that something extraordinary had happened. He told us he and his night shift crew working in the dam site had a big fight with a fellow expatriate Engineer engaged in excavation works. Siva had noticed pieces of ancient square bricks coming out of the ongoing excavation and he suspected the presence of an ancient brick structure buried underneath.He had tried to stop the excavation to conduct a proper investigation before causing damage to the suspected ruins. As the expatriate Engineer could not be convinced, Siva had come to seek our support to halt the work.
We all immediately jumped into jeeps and rushed to support Siva and his team. The sudden arrival of around 20-30 people calling for suspension of excavation work made the expatriate Engineer yield and work was stopped. Someone informed our Chief Resident Engineer Granville Herath, who had gone to Colombo H/O for an official meeting and he alerted Minister Gamini Dissanayake to intervene. Finally, the Dam Engineer from Crippen Int. came to the site and officially announced suspension of further excavations till the Archaeological Department or any other Government Authority gave the clearance. Subsequent investigations showed that the timely action of Siva and his team had saved the now well known “Maduru Oya Sluice” or “Ancient Biso Kotuwa” of the Maduru Oya ancient dam, a Sri Lankan engineering marvel.
Siva’s alertness led to this historic discovery and preservation of an invaluable monument of cultural importance and engineering excellence. Let us put on record his achievement and appreciate and honour him for his service to our nation: he is truly one of the ‘unsung heroes’ of our time.
Siva studied at Ananda College and his Sinhala was fluent. He respected and treated all equally. This story is incomplete if we do not mention some of his efforts to socially and culturally uplift the local population together with our Maduru Oya team. Our team was closely associated with the Most Venerable Kithalagama Sri Seelalankara Thera of Dimbulagala temple and several other poor Buddhist temples. Many of the social and cultural events, during our off days were coordinated by friends like Siva. Interestingly many of the engineers at the Maduru Oya dam project were Hindu.
We as a team, took great interest to visit remote villages and temples to donate dry rations. We donated beds to some monks stationed in remote temples located downstream of Maduru Oya. Books and stationery were collected and distributed among children in those remote areas.
Our thoughts and prayers at this moment are with Meena, putha Rajeev, Siva’s father-in-law and beloved relatives. It was truly a joy to work with and to have known Siva. We will never forget the warmth of his innocent smile, which brightened up our days. We will never forget his humanity, courage, generosity and his boundless kindness.
May he attain supreme bliss of Nibbana.
Susith Arambepola