Bradman bats for tea

Wednesday, 2 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Following is the address delivered by Chief Guest Deshamanya Bradman Weerakoon at the 120th AGM of the Colombo Tea Traders Association held on 27 June at the Hilton: Mr. Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, representatives of the Committee, members of the CTTA, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your generous words of introduction. I consider it a singular honour to be here as the Chief Guest of this very important Association on its 120th anniversary. I was actually very happy to receive and accept your invitation which came to me through a mutual friend. When I asked him ‘Why me?’ (and he was a politician), he told me that the CTTA would not mind anyone – whatever the age – as long as he was not a politician. So I am here as an ancient citizen of my country to enjoy this important anniversary with you. Of course, as the introduction made out, I have, almost throughout my career, been in touch with this premier industry of our economy. There are several reasons for my happiness in being here this evening. Your Association, the Colombo Tea Traders Association, is an institution rich with age and tradition, which manages to keep young, alive and relevant, because of the experienced generations of men (and women) who have lead its destinies through the years. By any standards, the CTTA has had a remarkable life of growth and development, through a long and turbulent period of change. You have been witness to so many of the historic events that this country has experienced in the last one-and-a-quarter centuries. You have been affected by those events; and in turn you have affected the form and trajectory of those events. "After all these years of turbulence and change, in the middle years of the second decade of the 21st century, we (Sri Lanka) now, remains, as one of the leading producers of tea in the world, with facilities like Auction rooms and products that are admittedly the best in world quality. These facts speak eloquently to the skills and ability, the discipline, the resourcefulness and the commitment of all the stake holders in this great national enterprise I think the one single factor which accounts for your success is your belief and faith in the power and influence of habit and tradition. It resonates through the entire story of tea and all of you associated with it To me, you represent the vision of the ideal Sri Lanka to which we all aspire: One which is “multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual” in make-up and composition; Modern – in terms of belief in science and technology and the ability to accommodate diversity and competition; in short to know how to disagree; without being disagreeable; And to be truly global and international, in outlook and behaviour The ever-present threat is the erosion of standards which habit and tradition have ensured for us thus far. The present trends in the country at large are not propitious. The short-cut for quick profit and popularity of the mass, contends with the long haul of hard work and dedication. I know that many of you seniors in the trade are seriously concerned with the current trends and the costs that these pose for long-term sustainability of standards. All we can hope for is that the lessons of the past will continue to inspire us today and in the future" Major highlights Let’s trace the major highlights.

You were born at the end of the 19th century, as a vital part of the colonial project of the British empire; a plantation crop with high sale value in Western markets.
When coffee fell through incurable disease, and all but died, in the last quarter of that century, you were conceived in tea, as a continuing part of that project.
Queen Victoria was Queen then and we were part of the British Empire, on which it was boasted wrongly, that ‘the sun would never set’.
Your young Association not only survived, but in a seamless transition from coffee rapidly expanded into thousands of acres of thriving tea plantations.
The land was opened up, with railways and roads in the most inaccessible parts of the island. It was accomplished through much sacrifice and hard work, chiefly through British capital, entrepreneurial risk-taking, and management and migrant Indian labour. You were, in your heyday, a veritable plantation Raj, dominating the political, economic and social scene of the times.
You continued to expand and prosper, through the adversity of the First and Second World Wars, and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
You survived nationalisation, and the heavy hand of State control, for several years.
And you are now at your 120th anniversary in the second decade of the 21st century, alive and well, relatively unscathed, to shine once more as free and independent plantations and firms, under your own management.
Today, low grown teas constitute the larger part of our production;
Value-added teas in packs and bags, green tea, scented and flavoured teas together exceed, in value and quantity, the export of bulk tea;
Our internationally-famous brands, through the strenuous efforts of our marketers, have taken Ceylon Tea (along with cricket) into the remotest parts of the globe and the markets for our products have shifted from the West and Europe to the Middle East and Russia.

At our Independence you were the premier export earner, the source of the highest employment, and in so many ways the mainstay of our economy.

Along the way, you managed to adapt to immense structural changes you faced, locally and internationally. You did so in several innovative ways. Some of the more significant effects of how you did so and changed are seen in the facts your Annual Reports relate: Habit and tradition After all these years of turbulence and change, in the middle years of the second decade of the 21st century, we (Sri Lanka) now, remains, as one of the leading producers of tea in the world, with facilities like Auction rooms and products that are admittedly the best in world quality. These facts speak eloquently to the skills and ability, the discipline, the resourcefulness and the commitment of all the stake holders in this great national enterprise. How has this been achieved? Let me try to pinpoint the essence of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ as I visualise them. I think the one single factor which accounts for your success is your belief and faith in the power and influence of habit and tradition. It resonates through the entire story of tea and all of you associated with it. I believe it lies:

in the shape and form of the culture of the individual firms and entities that form your Association and the people who run your Organisation;
your incredible resilience in adversity – you just refuse to die;
your style, your discipline, your ceaseless quest for perfection – in short, your way of work;
the language and vocabulary you use;
and, the icons and symbols you cherish.

All these reflect the enormous power of habit and tradition. Let me relate to you a simple story which illustrates what I mean and the tenacity and power of tradition. A few days ago, as part of my preparation for this speech, I asked for a book on the history of tea, from a very senior member of your Association. I think I was thinking of something like the old DM Forest book which at one time I had in my library, but was now unable to trace. He was most helpful and courteous. He came all the way to my village home, where I was one weekend, with Maxwell Fernando’s fine books on ‘The Story of Ceylon Tea’ and many samples of great tea. I invited him for a lunch of game rice and curry and suggested we wash our fingers. Surprisingly he said he preferred fork and spoon. Apparently, as a young lad of 19, he had been recruited over several applicants, as a tea-taster at the prestigious firm of Brookebonds. It was a pretty good job for a lad of 19 and he dressed smartly for his first session of tasting that afternoon. He entered the tasting room and drew near the Englishman who was going to train the new recruits and was met by a stream of abuse. “Bloody curry,” screamed the Englishman, “you’ve been having curry for lunch.” And our friend yes – he always had curry with rice. “But why did you use your fingers? You’ll never be able to taste tea if you do that,” shouted the Englishman. And so, our friend who went on to become a leading tea taster, and later a Director of the firm, learned an important habit and tradition. He has never used his fingers for curry thereafter – even if it was chicken curry – and that was 46 years ago!

The language of tea I see the richness of habit and tradition in the fictional literature too, the story of Ceylon Tea has spawned; I think of writers like Christine Wilson in ‘The Bitter Berry’ (which was mainly about coffee), Michele de Kretser in ‘The Hamilton Case,’ Yasmine Guneratne in a riveting episode of revels in a PD’s bungalow on a Saturday night in ‘The Sweet and Simple Kind,’ and our very own Malinga Hermon Guneratne in ‘The Plantation Raj’ and ‘The Suicide Club,’ which was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize a few years ago. I see it in the special meaning you give to common words in the language of tea which you use; nPlucking, which means just picking two leaves and a bud; nSpitting, which is not something uncivil and should not be indulged in in polite company, but which means the tasting of tea before grading and ejecting from the mouth before announcing that it is brisk, or coloury, or fruity, or pungent, or sweaty, or weedy. Clearly the tea taster’s sense of smell must be very refined;

The word creeper for a raw recruit to tea planting, which always intrigued me as to what these hearty young men from the leading public schools in their shorts and hose were up to before they became, in due course, SDs and PDs and heirs to their beautiful estate bungalows
When I read my first TRI publication I came upon the phrase ‘manual defoliation’. I thought I had chanced on some novel form of sexual aberration. I was quite disappointed to learn that all it meant was plucking.
And then the word cart-road (which actually refers to main roads) used by the older planters, that recalls the olden days when the cart was the only form of transport of goods in and produce out, before the railway and lorry transport.

And of course there are many, many more words in planting and manufacture and the trade which are special and peculiar to the tea industry. I see it in your set of common values – The discipline, the attention to cleanliness, to precise timing, to unwavering honesty, to loyalty, you inherit from those who have gone before and your common vocabulary and language which make you exclusive and a culture which prizes tradition. To me, you represent the vision of the ideal Sri Lanka to which we all aspire.

One which is “multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual” in make-up and composition;
Modern – in terms of belief in science and technology and the ability to accommodate diversity and competition; in short to know how to disagree; without being disagreeable.
And to be truly global and international, in outlook and behaviour.

The future of tea And finally, before I exhaust my time and your patience, what I think about the future of tea and the challenges you face. Your excellent Annual Reports comment on quite a few of them. There is the well-known problem of the annual replanting rate, which is presently far below the recommended rate, if we are to maintain Sri Lanka as a leading producer country. The Government subsidy is woefully small and with the small margins which are currently obtained by producers, owing to increasing costs of production along with the limited time-period on the leases the Regional Companies have received, there is a danger here of decreasing yields, which needs to be addressed. There is also the question of the early release of funds, earned by the industry through the cess on exports, which are now held up by the Treasury to meet other Government liabilities. These funds could be well used for promotional work and improvement of the packaging equipment in the face of the intense global competition from powerful multi-nationals in the market. This problem of monies earned by the industry through the cess or duty being appropriated by the Government, for what it terms urgent national needs, was there in my time as Secretary Plantations. That fine gentleman, the Hon. M.D.H. Jayewardene, had to pay for his post of Minister Plantations for openly criticising the then Minister of Finance (the redoubtable Ronnie de Mel), at the Budget debate. For as MDH then put it, the Government was slowly “killing the golden goose” by expropriating the export duty without allowing it to flow back to the industry for its own growth and development. Today, no Minister would want to touch such a thorny subject with the Ministry of Finance. External challenges There are also some important external challenges that merit our attention. They are external to the local industry and there is little you can do to relieve these. One has to do with the vulnerability of our foreign markets with which you do business. The Middle East in this respect is highly dynamic and changing. There was the ‘Arab Spring,’ which caused political change, conflict and dislocation of marketing channels in Libya and Egypt. Now there is the threat of further armed conflict in Syria and Iraq by the emergence of ISIS which seeks to create a Sunni-dominated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Our marketing strategies will have to respond imaginatively to these changes. And then, there is the threat that hangs over all of us of the sanctions of various forms that may be imposed on our economy as a consequence of the international inquiry on alleged violations of international humanitarian law, that may soon take place, in furtherance of the Geneva Resolution passed against us by the UNHRC at its last session. I think you are all aware of that and I don’t propose to talk of the details of that. But I think we need to be aware of what could possibly happen if the international inquiry takes place and some of the one-sided information now available in the global public domain gets shown on TV screens around the world. Apart from action at an official level by States, all kinds of other unforeseen negative impacts may result on our trade in tea (as in other Sri Lankan products) in those parts of the world in which social media plays a large part in influencing consumer preference. We had a small example of that recently in regard to one of our high profile brands although I must confess I have no idea what the overall effect was. This is also something which our marketing strategies in vulnerable markets may have to address. Maintaining high standards And above all these, as important as they are, looms that most formidable challenge for all stakeholders that I highlighted in my remarks earlier. That is, how we maintain and continue the high standards nurtured through more than a century of habit and tradition, that has made Sri Lankan Tea a high quality product. That enviable position has not been won by divine inspiration or mere chance. It is something which has been won by much hard work, discipline, sacrifice and unremitting commitment, for which all of you can take credit. But if we are to take account of the murmurs we increasingly hear today, that position is under severe threat today as the seemingly implacable, irrevocable forces of indiscipline, lawlessness and disorder, we see in the Sri Lankan wider society, draw ever closer to the tea industry. It is a task which will fall on all in the trade to repel these insidious forces with all the courage and grit they can muster. The ever-present threat is the erosion of standards which habit and tradition have ensured for us thus far. The present trends in the country at large are not propitious. The short-cut for quick profit and popularity of the mass, contends with the long haul of hard work and dedication. I know that many of you seniors in the trade are seriously concerned with the current trends and the costs that these pose for long-term sustainability of standards. All we can hope for is that the lessons of the past will continue to inspire us today and in the future. I have not the slightest doubt, that keeping alive the standards, habits and traditions that served you so well in the past, this great industry will continue to adorn the pages of our country’s history, in the next 100 years, as well. Thank you very much. Pix by Lasantha Kumara