Eng. Lakshitha Weerasinghe: The beautiful life of a virtuoso

BY Eng. Harsha Wickramasinghe

My first recollection of Lakshitha Weerasinghe is that, him being a gifted batsman. That, and his height — he was close to 2 meters tall. He was a fresher at the University of Moratuwa, while I was about to graduate, but friendships are not limited to one’s batch and some friendships persist, mature and inscribe indelible memories. Lakshitha had that unforgettable quality about him and I am afraid I am one of the many who could say this.

He stood tall, literally and metaphorically. Tall and engaging is how many would describe him. He was a good friend and a compassionate human being, contrasting quite much with the general population of university students at the time. We were for the most part a bunch of wanderers with no apparent sense of purpose or time, shabbily dressed – wearing flip-flops most of the time and yet to discover the uses of combs and razors. He, on the other hand was smart, dressed tastefully, was clean shaven and always had a clear sense of direction.

Lakshitha entered u University following quite a successful stint at a bank courtesy of the pre-uni employment luxury accorded to our junior batches by the second insurrection of the JVP, triggered by the signing of Indo-Lanka peace accord. We were in different batches, but in the same u University and same degree program. And Yet, our ‘common ground’ outside of these technicalities remains an enigma to this date.

We would spend hours and days arguing about whether life originated by itself or whether it had tell-a-tale signs of an intelligent design. That thirty plus year old disagreement on the origins of life ended on the 10th of March 2024. My beloved friend Lakshitha ventured into the greater unknown and in doing so made me realise that after my parents he is the closest human being I had to bid farewell to.

Our friendship grew after we left Moratuwa. We ran into each other very often as either trainees or resource persons of so many workshops and programmes. Conversations interrupted were invariably resumed. The one thing which impressed me most was his ability to explain complex technological matters in simple language to non-tech masses and our political leaders. He spoke eloquently in both Sinhala and English without mixing the two, as most of us regularly do.

His most famous slide, that which showed how the system control team of the CEB is constantly battling to keep the load and generation in a delicate balance, told a story which cannot be told even spending 1,001 nights. Clever use of graphics made him a communicator par excellence, propelling him to the unenviable position of ‘sole representative of the CEB’ on many battle grounds. He was the ‘chosen one,’ preferred by his seniors for his clarity of thought and his remarkable grasp of the subject, and by his team for his remarkable ability to take a position and defend it in any hostile forum.

Lakshitha’s ability to ‘get the message across’ was not limited to spoken Sinhala and English. He was an exceptional writer, which saw him becoming the editor position of the prestigious Sri Lanka Engineering News (SLEN), the flagship publication of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. His passion for puzzles overflowed to SLEN, leaving a fair slice of the monthly’s precious real estate to ‘puzzles’ and ‘solutions’ he would so delightfully explain in the following issue. He was a generous editor and invited me to write a guest column on ‘anything of interest’. Thus began my eventful journey in writing, in the shape and size of ‘The Rumbling Strip’, which also brought me much closer to him.

He was a very active council member of the IESL and was the reliable jack-of-all-trades in the Engineering Heritage Museum project. His superior ability to pen down thoughts, which eventually gave life to this project, was admired by many. This work managed to stir an undying love for the rich engineering heritage of Sri Lanka in Lakshitha. This led him to reenact the monsoon steel smelting rituals, several hundred years after the craft died off in the wind ravaged slopes of Balangoda with his equally fascinated collaborators. Similarly, his unmistakable words adorned pages of a diary printed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) his place of employment. Some of his pieces ended up on lobby walls of CEB.

Our encounters were far and few between during his stay at the Samanalawewa power station. His older colleagues there were mesmerised by their first experience with a multimedia presentation using electronically crafted colourful slides. The theme that fateful day had been ‘productivity’. This young engineer was able to drive the whole team at Samanalawewa to earn the coveted ISO9001-2000 and ISO 14001-2001 quality systems certificate for the power station, the first government entity to earn these prestigious certifications. It had not stopped there. The power station has won the first place in National Safety Awards, also through a programme driven by Lakshitha.

He went on to educate the whole ‘Samanalawewa team’ about the opportunity cost of water. The tech savvy analyst in Lakshitha has unearthed the stubborn fact about rice cultivation in downstream Kalthota — 8m3 of water being used to produce a kilogram of rice. Saving any water for power generation by increasing the water use efficiency in the rice production became his top agenda. This intense search for solutions allowed Lakshitha and the Samanalawewa team to develop and introduce the SRI method ‘system for rice intensification’ to Kalthota, working closely with the farmer communities.

His engagement did not stop sharp at signing off time. A very different Lakshitha would emerge after work. He promoted and led many sports activities, especially cricket and badminton at the power station. He also arranged all night vigils whenever an important cricket match was aired on television. There was a wide screen - theatre style, food and non-alcoholic beverages all supplied by Lakshitha to the fans at his own expense and of course with the exceptional culinary skills of his lovely wife Surakshini. He even risked the wrath of authorities to save the lives of several stray dogs, by offering them a sanctuary within his quarters, when a team of exterminators turned up to rid the power plant complex of this ‘menace’. Such was his compassion and such were the many and varied textures of Lakshitha’s beautiful life.

He was the live wire at the System Control Centre during the troubled time where the LTTE took to the skies. Split second decisions had to be made to drown parts of the Colombo city in darkness to save lives when the attackers took off from their makeshift air strips in the Wanni jungles. Lakshitha was able to do this by closely coordinating with the security forces, minimising losses and damage in the city during those dreadful nights without letting the power system of the country to collapse. The most remarkable mark he left at the System Control Centre, however, is believed to be the introduction of a dispatch audit system, a careful and precise narration of any deviation of the actual generation dispatch from the planned schedule. A much improved version of it is still carried out by the Centre even now, I was told.

He worked his ability to overhaul a system wherever he worked and, in many instances, to introduce a whole new system was considered very impressive by all who worked with him. His passion for human life and the well-being of the poorest Sri Lankans and struggling SMEs caused him to start a long journey into least cost generation planning. His vision was simple ‘electricity should be provided to all Sri Lankans at the lowest possible cost and the best possible reliability through a stable grid.’ He stood for this grand vision until the very end of his life.

He being a passionate teacher and lecturer both, we enjoyed our long hours together in the committee appointed to formulate the National Energy Policy and Strategies for Sri Lanka. It is during these long discussions I understood the gentle human being within his formidable exterior frame. He was the living bridge among the diverse stakeholders who worked together to get the energy policy done. His gentle ways quickly united the political leaders, administrators and the technocrats for a grand vision for the energy sector of Sri Lanka. He was much saddened about the poor implementation of this policy which was mainly due to the political turmoil which ensued after its acceptance in the Parliament in mid 2019.

During this eventful period, he tried his best to recruit me to his famous ‘Dharma Kawaya’ - crudely translated to English as the ‘circle of followers of Buddha’s teachings’ to spread his new-found knowledge of Buddha’s teachings. Being the non-conformist I am, I took part only in a couple of his discussions which I must confess were quite enlightening. However, I did have the courage and stupidity to explain to him about my three vices and the resultant indulgence of worldly matters and my apparent desire to be ‘here’ and enjoy rather than finding a path to freedom from all suffering! He didn’t budge an inch and tried his best to save this poor soul from falling into one of the four hells. He insisted that my day of realising the truth and giving up the three vices was not very far, and kept on trying to lure me into the path to freedom.

I might leave a big gap here if I fail to mention his relevance to the CEB’s Engineers Union (CEBEU). As a man who got fed up with Sri Lankan unionism very early in my career, we never agreed on this aspect of his eventful life. Agreeing to disagree, we kept this element out of our discussions as much as possible. In hindsight, though, I can see the great loss of ideological tenacity which will be very hard to fill at their powerful union anytime soon.

I draw from Dr.Tilak Siyambalapitiya who shaped Lakshitha’s and many such others minds to serve this beautiful country with passion to describe his most remarkable attribute as an engineer. Hearing the great loss, he wrote in a WhatsApp group thus:

‘Lakshitha is an example to our young generation and professionals of a person in state service, who could keep his head straight but let his point of view known, firmly and conclusively. Utmost politeness, precision were the hallmarks of his approach to work… read like him, write like him, speak like him, learn how he faced challenging moments of professionals life’.

This, coming from the toughest proofreader of our times, is not a mistake. It is what Lakshitha was all about. His impeccable character, integrity, willingness to let go off perks, power and positions and the courage to stand up for what he believed was right in any forum were felt across the energy sector as these qualities are no longer valid currencies in this country.

Leaving the many technical capabilities of Lakshitha aside, his ability to touch and change lives for better will be remembered by many who were fortunate to be touched by Lakshitha’s kindness. One such subordinate of his at the System Control Centre nearly broke down explaining to me how Lakshitha’s kind interventions virtually resurrected him from a life failed on all counts. There are numerous beneficiaries of his desire to uplift people. The student exchange programme he launched after visiting the Twente University in the Netherlands is a case in point. Many hands at the Samanalawewa power station and many masters students from the Twente University have benefited from this long-term collaboration he initiated.

Being good friends, we (Lakshitha, Ajith Alwis and I) ridiculed each other’s weaknesses whenever there was an opportunity. He would often poke fun at my addiction to the guitar, saying that all artists are destined to go to the ‘Payasa’ after death. I thought it was a branch of heaven, reserved for us, the entertainers. He rudely woke me up saying “you fool… “Payasaya’ is not a heaven, it is a hell”. He failed to wean me out of music. As you can expect, I chuckled and countered him “then it must be a one hell of a hell (!) as all deceased artists are having a good time in it..!”. I decided to quote a verse from the lovely song (written, composed and sung by Senaka Batagoda) in memory of my beloved friend Lakshitha in conclusion.

ජීවිතයේ මේ විදිහට ප්‍රාර්ථනා පුරවාගෙන කාලය තුල දිව යනවා… කල කී දේවල්‌ පමණක්‌ පසුපස වාගේ දැනෙනවා… සෙවණැල්ලක්‌ වගෙයි…

It certainly sums up his beautiful life well lived. I hope the loved ones, the engineering fraternity and anyone whose life was touched by Lakshitha would join me in wishing Lakshitha a safe and short Sansaric journey to the serene shores of Nirvana.

 

by Eng. Harsha Wickramasinghe