A humble man and well-recognised expert in the field of forestry
Loku Aiyya to his siblings ( late brother, two sisters) and cousins, Bamini to his school friends, Shantha to professional colleagues and to me, Apuchu/Appachchi to our two children (Narmada and Ranga), was a very humble gentleman with exceptional qualities.
He was the eldest of four children born to A.A. Baminiwatte (Principal) and Mrs. U.K. Baminiwatte (teacher). He commenced his education in Delwita, Kurunegala where his parents were teachers but became a boarder at the young age of nine to attend Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala. He entered Kingswood College, Kandy, Grade 6 at the age of 10 and remained a hosteller until he completed school in 1971. On leaving school he won a five-year scholarship (19721977) to East Germany to pursue higher education where he obtained a Masters in Forestry studying the subjects in the German language.
On his return to Sri Lanka, he joined the government service in 1978 as an Asst. Conservator of Forests in the Forest Department and had opportunities to obtain special training in Remote Sensing applied to Forest Inventory from South Dakota State University in USA (1986) and a post \graduate diploma in forest surveys from the International Institute of Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) in the Netherlands (1989-1990). In addition, he followed many training courses in USA, Switzerland, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Australia, Malaysia, India and within Sri Lanka. He had a knack for languages and was very fluent in German and French in addition to Sinhala and English.
After an early retirement as a Deputy Conservator of Forests in 1996, he spent his vast knowledge, experience and energy on the development of forestry in the country through various projects as a Consultant / Advisor / Expert / Specialist / Technical writer, among them the Hambantota Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project/ NIVA, Estate Forests and Water Resources Development Project/ GTZ, Participatory Forestry Project/ ADB, Plantation Development Project/ADB, Forest Resources Management Projects/ADB Forestry Programme for Early Rehabilitation in Asian Tsunami Affected Countries/ FAO, and the GHG Inventory Data Catalogue for Sri Lanka/FAO.
He also functioned as a Watershed Management Specialist in Land and Water Conservation Project (Forestry Component) in Yemen under the banner of the UN.
He has many publications to his credit, conference papers published locally as well as overseas, as well as many special reports and manuals in Forestry.
Shantha was a well-recognised expert in the field of forestry and his wide experience made him a good teacher to Forestry students at Sri Jayewardenepura University in the 1990s and to his subordinates in the Forest Department. He was also very knowledgeable in varied fields such as international affairs, politics, films, art history, literature, and geography etc. Despite this, he remained a gentle and humble person, a man of few words who did whatever that had to be done quietly without fuss.
He loved travelling and working in the field as a forest inventory expert. He was a connoisseur of nature. His love for photography had emerged during his days as an undergraduate in East Germany and he had a large collection of slides of places visited during the vacations. He took pleasure in showing them to our children and sharing with them stories of his visits.
He was a faithful, much loved and loving husband who took care of me and supported me unconditionally in my work. The mutual respect for individuality and the implicit trust in each other that he nurtured within our relationship helped me in no mean measure to perform my duties as a senior government officer at an optimum level. He was an exceptional father to our two children; he had an endearing way of getting close to them emotionally and intellectually. It is a pleasure to note that both children have his qualities of self- discipline, honesty, respect for rules and regulations, punctuality, striving for perfection irrespective of the activity undertaken and the pursuit of knowledge through all means available.
Narmada, Ranga and I find it hard to express or imagine how we could hope to fill the void he has left in our lives. May he have a short journey through samsara and attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana.