• Inspiration and motivation for national unity 

By Surya Vishwa

Initiated by his love for the food cooked by his parents and grandparents in Vaddukoddai in Jaffna, Christy Richards who had returned to Sri Lanka 10 years ago after working around the globe as an economics specialist, had suggested to Cinnamon Grand hotel in Colombo the starting of showcasing the people of Sri Lanka through its food. 

Starting with Jaffna today will mark the third night of the Jaffna food festival, which will premiere a special soup themed the ‘Ambassador’s Murunga soup,’ on an idea suggested by Christy to the Cinnamon Grand management. The soup has been inspired by the use of Drumstick (Murunga), a vegetable of high nutritional value that grows around the country and a core part of the daily traditional diet of both the Sinhalese and Tamils of Sri Lanka. 

“While the Sinhalese have a particular way of making the Murunga curry, the Tamils have another way, which involves quite a liberal use of gingerly oil,” says Richards. 

He has been inspired to ask the hotel to theme it as “Ambassador’s soup” dedicated to the current American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung as a tribute to her patronising local foods of Sri Lanka within the past five months she has been in the island.

“I am aware that she has enjoyed the Jaffna cuisine and her simplicity in dining in places ordinary citizens have their meals in, in Jaffna and elsewhere. Hence, as she struck me as an intensely humanistic diplomat, I wanted the soup to be dedicated to her and look forward to her being a guest at the Sri Lanka cuisine nights,” says Richards.

Christy Richards who is 83 years young, still functions as an economic consultant to leading global institutions such as the IMF and he is confident that Sri Lanka will bounce back. Thus he feels that the morale of the people should be boosted and their efforts showcased.

Having left Sri Lanka at the age of 22 in 1960 for a global career, he has never forgotten his home country and has turned his ancestral family property in Vaddukoddai to a knowledge centre for children from the age of 3 to around 16. It is primarily run as a Montessori and prior to the COVID time had almost 200 students in total alongside older students who received extra coaching, completely free of charge in almost all of the subjects taught in school. Teachers are hired, mostly from Jaffna College, the Alma Mater of Richards and students are provided clothes, shoes and even bicycles. This educational centre; the Serandeebam Harmony school is managed by Richards and few others that includes his niece.

Like many in his age category, despite having reason to drown in depression or anger owing to some of the post-colonial developments in this country, he has stanchly stuck to his humanity. 

“My wife is a Sinhalese and in our entire marriage we have never encountered any ethnic identity based issues. I am considered father or grandfather or even great grandfather to a range of Sinhala staff members at the Cinnamon Grand. I have my meals there daily and in the process of interacting with them for the past 10 years have been advising them on matters pertaining to their career development or higher education,” he states.

For much of his early career he has functioned as a recruiter for government departments of several countries and says that with the exception of one person he has never recruited anyone wrong for the job.

“There was this young man who was excellent at communication skills but when he had to do written financial analysis he performed badly. I had a chat with him and told him he would do well in stock brokering and he went on to a stellar career in that route,” recalls Richards.

Living through the current situation in Sri Lanka, and based on his experience in working on financial matters with some of the key economies of the world, he believes that the people of Sri Lanka will pull through but states that the efforts will have to be sustained for at least a decade.

“It will take a long. Our role should be to motivate and support,” he reiterates. 

What does he think of national unity in Sri Lanka? On that matter as well he is optimistic although he had witnessed the 1958 anti-Tamil riots first hand and in which a 28-year-old cousin had been killed in Dehiwala. 

“Violence and peace both are generated by humans. I believe in giving energy to peace and in promoting this human quality while being very well-aware of the chaos and misery wrought by the lack of a peaceful quality in a human,” he states, explaining that his schooling had provided him a foundation to interact with students of many backgrounds and ethnicities that included diverse non-Sri Lankans.

“My school, Jaffna College, which both then and now remains one of the best schools in the country which to date has an undergraduate department which prepares students for overseas education, was in the 1950s a school which parents around Sri Lanka wanted to send their students to.”

“Especially the naughty children were sent to this school for disciplining,” he laughs narrating childhood memories of his Sinhala, Muslim and Burgher friends. 

He believes that a cultural identity of a person could be kept intact despite global exposure and goes on to explain his faith in the Siddha traditional medicine practiced in Jaffna.

“Till the age of 22 until I left Sri Lanka I knew only the Siddha medicine native to Jaffna.”

“I believe if Sri Lanka had promoted Sinhala Wedakama, Sidha, Unani and overall Lankan Ayurveda during the COVID virus time for Lankans, Sri Lanka would have greatly benefitted in showcasing the country as a tourist destination for traditional and indigenous healing,” he states. Speaking of the Sri Lankan cuisine series he had inspired the Cinnamon Grand hotel to start, he states that after the Jaffna cuisine series ends, there will be cuisine featured from other parts of Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka is a richly diverse country in its culture and food is one aspect of this diversity. Food is a great unifier within the country as well and I hope to work with diverse persons in the south as well to promote the traditional food of Sri Lanka,” states Christy Richards. 

The people of Sri Lanka have not failed