Premila Thurairatnam
Mr. Sabapathipillai Rajanayagam O.B.E was a wise man who lived till he was 104 years old (1908–2012). He was alert to the end when most of his contemporaries had passed on.
His achievements are exemplary: coming from humble beginnings – his London diaries (attached) state how he grew up in a mud hut in a remote island called Karaithivu1 off Jaffna, Ceylon. From there his career culminated in being invited to Buckingham Palace! He studied hard and was awarded the University Telegraph Engineering scholarship to Imperial College, London in 1930. His article written for the Imperial College centenary when he too hit a century, can be found here: ………………………………………………………………… https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/memories/Rajanayagam.shtml
He returned to Ceylon in 1934, and was appointed Telegraph engineer. The jubilant folk of Karaithivu gave him a formal reception. On the day of his wedding, he wore a turban to church, [an item] usually worn by Hindus. The unhappy clergy did not protest as they were in awe of him. Not a complacent man, he worked hard to better his positions throughout his career. He was awarded an O.B.E in 1943 for providing essential communication when Japan attacked Ceylon: the details can be found in this article: https://thuppahis.com/2022/03/26/young-sabapathipillai-rajanayagam-received-obe-during-world-war-ii/).
In 1945 he was made the Honorary General Secretary of the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club which was building its new cricket pavilion in Colombo. His engagement with Sir Donald Bradman can be read in this amusing article: https://island.lk/did-ceylon-try-a-fast-one-on-don-bradmans-team/.
In 1950 he was the president of the Engineering Association of Ceylon and in 1951 president of the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science. He was then reappointed Secretary of the Engineering Association on the passing of H.F. Billimoria. The Engineering Association was a nebulous society composed of engineers, architects, surveyors etc. and was not recognised as a professional body by other countries. Ceylonese professionals were compelled to seek membership in British institutes for worldwide recognition. Mr. Rajanayagam realised that the best approach was to have the Engineering Association become a member of the Commonwealth Engineering Conference. In 1956 he was appointed Chief Telecommunications Engineer and in 1958 he attended the Commonwealth Engineering Conference in Australia where he was instrumental in getting the Engineering Association of Ceylon elected a member. Mr. Rajanayagam was the father of the Institution of Engineers Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
In 1960 he was the chairman of the board of directors of Jaffna College where he studied as a youth and in 1962 he was the Vice President of the Asia Electronics Union.
He established the Jaffna College Technical Institute in 1971 and was appointed its director, giving much-needed opportunities to the youth of the northern province. The first batch graduated in 1977. He migrated to Australia with his wife in 1986 due to the worsening war situation in Jaffna where they had moved to live since 1973.
He lived in Adelaide until he died in 2012. During this time he wrote 7 books of which 5 have been published. His last book written in Tamil about Karainagar when he was over 100 years old, is an invaluable resource and is in the process of publication.
His autobiography How I Became is a detailed narration of his life written when he was 89 years old and is attached here. He writes about his regret in missing meeting Adolf Hitler and trying to meet Benito Mussolini, but had to be content with meeting his son-in-law Count Galcazzo Ciano who was unassuming and cordial and gave him a signed photograph of himself.
He says that although he was in the presence of towering figures like Gandhi, and Tagore, he was too shy to speak to them. There were also other luminaries such as Sir P. Ramanathan, Jawaharlal Nehru, M. A. Jinnah, and George Bernard Shaw with whom he had the opportunity to speak, but did not. Instead, he wrote his keen observations in Famous People [this is attached]. Those with whom he did have discussions were: Krishna Menon, Shri Rajagopalachari, Sarojini Naidu, D. S. Senanayake, Mr. G. G. Ponnampalam, Sir Baron Jayatilleka and the Duke of Edinburgh. He met the Duke once in Ceylon (1956) and later at Buckingham Palace, London.
Dr. Arthur C. Clarke was a neighbour of Mr. Rajanayagam and they used to chat in the evenings at the Vihara Mahadevi Park. Mr. S.W.R.D Bandaranaike was also a neighbour of his and he writes in How I Became how he walked across to S.W.R.D’s house on the day he won the election to congratulate him and how S.W.R.D put his arms around him and embraced him; they were acquaintances from university days when they were members of the Betel Club.
When he turned 100, he wrote an accurate timeline of his life (attached). When I asked him whether he was going to get a letter from Queen Elizabeth II like most people when they turned 100, he chuckled and replied: “Not necessary, her father has already written to me back in 1943” — O.B.E signed by King George VI!
FOOTNOTES:
1 = In the early 1900s Karainagar was referred to as Karaithivu.
Author’s note: I acknowledge the diligent effort of Mr. Thurai Vinayakalingam who typed my grandfather’s writings of London Diaries and Famous People. He knew my grandfather during his time at Jaffna College Technical Institute as Assistant Director and Dean of Studies in 1987. He also wrote an article titled Musings from the Writings of Late Mr. S. Rajanayagam O.B.E which appeared in the Tamil Senior Citizens Fellowship, Victoria News Bulletin Vol 32 No. 1 March 2021.
Great article detailing his achievements and am proud of my grand uncle.
Very interesting of his personality
This is not nit-picking. Rajanayagam, the centenarian, had written in his London College Memories, “In our culture we seldom say sorry, and in fact there is no word in Tamil for it.” This is rather surprising comment from a literate guy. He is totally wrong. There are not one, but many ways (depending on context) to express remorse in Tamil.
For example, The English-English-Tamil dictionary of Dr. S. Muthukrishnnan (Ilakkumi Pathippakam, Chennai, 2003, 3rd ed.) has the following Tamil words ‘irangathakka’, ‘varutham koLhira’, to express feeling of regret, pity and apology.
In Jaffna Tamil, we use to begin an apology, with the prefix ‘kurai vilanka vendam’.
To me, Rajanayagam’s impressions on the ‘Famous People’ he had met on certain occasions, lack proper context. For example, he had mentioned that Sir Pon Ramanathan (1851-1930) was rather haughty, compared to Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). I’d say, Sir P. did earn it, by paying his dues. And one shouldn’t ignore the fact that Sir P. was 17 or 18 years senior to Gandhi. And when Gandhi visited Ceylon in 1927, Gandhi’s star had not risen as a freedom fighter for India, while Sir P. was in declining physical and mental health. Rajanayagam was only 19 years old then!