Sir John Kotelawala in retirement

A man who practised what he preached; Kotelawala was such a pleasure-seeker that people did not take him seriously. After being a minister for 23 years and Prime Minister for three and a half, he lost the general election in 1956, and preferred not to involve in serious politics at the age of 61, but remained an MP for a few more years, till his life became essentially a private and contented retirement, shuttling between Kandawela and Kent.

Born with the proverbial ‘silver spoon in the mouth’ on April 4, 1895 –General Sir John Kotelawala was a soldier and politician, who served as Prime Minister from 1953 to 1956. John Kotelawala Snr, the tough policeman who became very popular after raiding notorious gaming dens of ‘Nainage Sooduwa’ fame 100 years ago, was his father. JK (senior) retired as a senior police officer to engage in running wife’s property. Prosperous planter and arrack renter from Madapatha, Piliyandala, Mudaliyar DCG Attygalle had three daughters—eldest, Alice Elizabeth who carried a dowry of 2,058 acres of cultivated coconut and rubber plantations and a share of Kahatagaha plambego Mines (M Roberts-1979) married our third PM’s father who was a police constable at the time and also from Madapatha. (There are unconfirmed reports or village gossip on this unusual union.)

Young John Lionel attended Royal College, Colombo, before he went on a trip to England and France, and finally attended Cambridge University’s Christ's College to study agriculture.

On retirement, Sir John divided his time between motherland and England; this ‘legendary’ socialite, spend his best months of the English summer in a garden paradise at Brogues Wood, his country home in Kent; and the rest of the year in Kandawela, where he has an estate often described as a Garden of Eden.

In England, the running of his farm took up much of his time. Here in Sri Lanka he lived amid 150 acres of rolling lawns, landscaped gardens and artificial lakes set among woods. After a strenuous game on a fine tennis court, he did cool off in an indoor swimming pool. His stables gave him unending pleasure; in the first few years of his retirement, he enjoyed riding horses, both in England and here.

He loved so much sitting down, after a vigorous game of tennis in the sun-drenched verandah of his mansion sharing reminiscences with old friends of his days who held high office. He was a wonderful teller of anecdotes arousing vulgar or indecent wit and humour which sometimes caused confusion in his political prime, but in retirement, he freely and harmlessly displayed to the enjoyment of his listeners.

International politics

He followed international politics even in his retirement—on Vietnam, he declared, “If America pulls out within a few years China will over-run South East Asia.” Discussing life in general, “my own belief” he said, “is quite simple, what a man sows he reaps: karma, if you wish—either in this life or in the next” of his own life he added, “I have had a very good innings, and have never regretted a single action. I hope when the end comes I pass away without suffering. I am not afraid of death.”

His stories lead one through the great capitals of the globe with spicy illustrations which holds his listeners’ spell-bound.

He did not have a rigid blueprint for living and believes in no ‘isms’. On religion, he said, “one must never be fanatical. We cannot say one religion is better than another. I use religion as a guide not as a way of life”. But whether he was in Kandawala or Kent his day dawned with ‘Pirith’ followed by yoga. Almost every other day when in Kandawala he went to Mt Lavinia beach and swam in the sea.

With carefully selected meals, avoiding rice, bread and other starchy foods, he did a daily check on sugar levels and weekly weight check. While he encouraged guests to feast on exotic dishes, he ate salads and cheese. A traditional walk around the estate after breakfast for feeding the pets, black swans, peacocks, deer, elephants, tropical fish, squirrels and birds. And at Brogues Wood, the geese, the mallards, wallabies and goats. They were as much a part of his life like his regular guests, his parties, his afternoon siestas and the convivial drink before meals.

During his political life, he acquired enemies as well as supporters. In his retirement, his circle of friends widened and he enjoyed the status of an elder statesman, shorn of personal ambition and removed from the political fray.

How did he come to terms with himself? How could someone formerly so energetic and ambitious subdue the frustrations of public inactivity? The answer is he had his own philosophy. ‘no man…’ what we quoted at the beginning of this note.

Sporting activities

If a man’s sporting activities are any indication of his age disposition then Sir John must surely be the youngest and happiest national leader in retirement. In his own words: “I enjoyed good health and fortune had been kind to me. I use the fortune to enrich my health because without it life is of no value.”

Let me conclude this piece with a real happening which the writer himself was involved, without which Sir John’s life after retirement is incomplete. Time, the late 1960s—place, Kollupitiya head office of multinational Shaw Wallace & Hedges.

The writer joined them as a trainee and was posted to the foreign liquor division. The company was the agent for most of the popular brands of scotch & cognac from Europe. It was the usual practice for Sir John’s driver cum butler to call over in one of Sir John’s cars that bore registration 5-SRI-5 once a month for two or three cases of Black Label whisky. The citizens of my vintage will remember, that since the SRI series was introduced by the Bandaranaike government in the mid-fifties, the first in the series, 1- SRI -1, a Cadillac, and 2 -SRI-2, 3 -SRI -3 etc. was always registered under Sir John’s name as a special favour by Bandaranaike to his friend.

On one fine day, the writer was climbing up the stairs to meet his manager, when he bumped into the driver of Sir John on the staircase. Guessing that he had come for his Black Label he greeted him and asked, “How many cases of Black Label are you ordering today?”, as our friend ignored him and just grinned away, he repeated the inquiry. Prompt came the reply surprising the writer, “No, today…it’s not Black Label…but the Fair Label” and walked away. Being puzzled by his remark, he related this to his senior colleague, who clarified matters.

“I say you are too new to this place young man; we sell not only your division’s stuff to Sir John for which he comes only once a month but more often for the ‘Fair label’ and that is so and so,” and he mentioned the name of a young attractive lady, a junior secretary at this European conglomerate. I guess Sir John was in his early seventies then.

Lionel to his close friends, the former bachelor PM who started the day with Pirith, ended it with Scotch down the drains!

In his last-will, this great son of Sri Lanka left to the country for setting up a defence academy, his Kandawala Estate. He suffered a stroke and passed away on October 2, 1980.