Talk about life’s miracles: As a homeless young man in downtown L A Walter Jayasinghe spent his nights in the Greyhound Bus Terminal. Many years later, he was successfully negotiating multi million-dollar deals in the American health care industry and had an uncountable list of relatives, friends, strangers who had been touched by his kind caring ways.
Dr. Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, whose autobiography; ‘Same Sky, Different Nights’ can be read as a companion volume to his biography of Dr. Jay (both books describe overcoming life’s obstacles to reap success) draws on his close association with Walter Jayasinghe and his family and associates to fashion an elegantly written account that is both spellbinding and informative of this icon of success as a doctor, entrepreneur, and benefactor.
It begins in 1945 with young Walter watching the smoke rising from his father’s funeral pyre, innocently unaware of the foreboding future that lies ahead, when his mother remarries, when he moves to live with his elder sister and switches schools, his sudden marriage to a friend’s sister while still at medical school and the hardships he encounters living in a tent, depending on his friends for meals, bring to mind F. Scott Fitzgerald’s challenge: “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”
As a young man overshadowed by adverse circumstances, Walter Jayasinghe has the right credentials to become a Fitzgerald protagonist. “I had no funds to pay boarding fees. So, I decided to put up a tent and lived in a tent on my father’s property...That was also the time when my friend from Ananda, Chandrarathna said, “Come and have breakfast with us.” So, every morning I would go to Chandrathna’s; I skipped lunch – no money; dinner time, I would go to my Ananda friend, Nihalsinghe’s house for dinner.” Later, when he and his friend arrived in California with nowhere to stay and no clothes to change into, he still found ways to survive. “We went to public bathrooms and washed our underwear, and wore the wet underwear and it dried on our bodies. We did the same with the outerwear...A hot dog was only 10 cents; hamburger 25 cents, so a dollar went a long way. The beer was in a cone – a plastic holder, a cone was 15 cents. So, we had a beer and washed our cares away.” The day he married Aeshea in the Court House only her mother was present and they ‘bought two metal rings for five dollars – didn’t have money to buy anything better...then...went to a Japanese restaurant and had lunch because that was all (they) could afford. “It comes as no surprise that adversity is a central theme of Dr. Jasentuliyana’s biography of this iconic immigrant from Sri Lanka, aptly named ‘Portrait of Perseverance’.
But, as time goes by, things begin to pick up. “Gradually, money started coming in,” recalls Dr. Jay. “I have always had this knack of anticipating an income and spending it ahead of time. It is very foolish, but I used to do it all the time, and get away with it...luck won’t follow you. You must create luck; that is my belief.” But Dr. Jay also believes in the mantra, 80% effort, 20% intelligence. Plus, the most essential ingredient of all: ‘your usefulness to humanity’. He says, ‘If you cannot be of use to your fellow-beings you are not useful even to yourself.” Keeping this in mind he has helped an uncountable number of Sri Lankans and others throughout his life, even when he himself was struggling to make ends meet.
As Teera Fonseka writes: “...three days later I received a lay-off notice. That gloomy evening, I felt like it was the end of the world. I was back to square one; my courage shattered...one day a friend told me about Dr. Jay. After an interview with him in July 1981, I started working for Los Angeles Medical Center...Every man looks out the window and sees something.
Dr. Jay looks, says something and always takes the initiative to do something.” Fiona Emersley says: “I am extremely grateful and appreciative of the opportunities that Walter and Aeshea gave me. I know I’m just one of the many they have helped over the years, and know I’m not the last.”
Dr. Jasentuliyana has delivered a trophy and it is, as promised, a life-size replica of Dr. Walter Jayasinghe. Built from minutiae glued together with a lively narrative and a dazzling variety of tributes and illustrations complied in honour of his 80th birthday, here is the story of a tumultuous life rendered in a never-dull, enlightening fashion. To quote the biographer; “You are a very lucky man Dr. Jay – your tortuous journey has brought you to a summit of peace and tranquility.”
Aditha Dissanayake,
Journalist and Author.