Being a judge with a long-standing career is no easy feat and definitely not a job role suited for just anyone. It requires one to make many sacrifices, have the right attitude, be flexible, and change with the times. We celebrate the 63rd Birthday of our father, Justice Mahanil Prasantha De Silva recently who gracefully concluded a 28-year career as a Judge, retiring at the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka.
As his daughters, Akki, Dils, and Chutti, would like to revisit our journey as children of a career judge.
A Judge is someone who works round the clock; the bench may commence at 10 a.m. and conclude by afternoon, but their job tasks may extend beyond 10 p.m. sometimes, given the thick briefs they go through to understand how to arrive at the final verdict. However, Thaththi always tried his level best to strike a balance. He always managed his time and made sure he fulfilled all of his duties as a father, and he always goes above and beyond.
Thaththi missed the births of his two younger daughters, Dils and Chutti, as he was stationed out of Colombo both times. He had to make a long journey back from wherever he was stationed at the time. Despite his absence in the very beginning, he made it a point to attend our parents-teacher meetings, concerts, prize givings, and colours’ awarding ceremonies, and in some years even baked birthday cakes for us to take to school. He was the embarrassing father taking hundreds of his three little devils.
Something we always mention to Thaththi is how our friends are immediately terrified of him upon learning that he is a Judge! We remember vividly how two of Dils’s tall guy-friends were standing outside the gate, terrified to come inside our house because Thaththi was at home. Thaththi is always puzzled by this, not realising that his job intimidates people. However, once our friends get to know him, they realise how approachable he is as a person.
Before PickMe’s and Ubers, Thaththi would always drop us to wherever amidst his hectic schedule. When Akki was preparing for her Ordinary Level Examinations, Thaththi was serving as a District Judge in Ratnapura. However, he made the long three-hour drive from Ratnapura to Colombo, quickly slurped a cup of coffee seated in his car and whizzed off with Akki to drop her off at her tuition class – still in his office attire. He would then sit in the car, a judgement in hand, continuing to work until Akki’s class was done. After returning home he would continue to read his briefs till late in the night, preparing for the next day’s work. Now imagine repeating this for Dils and Chutti as well. We are truly amazed by his commitment to make life easier for us, no matter how hectic it was for him!
Thaththi’s interests range from architecture and photography to creating cooking recipes and baking, which he has passed on to his children. Back in the day, Akki used to sit together with Thaththi and design jewellery for Ammi. Her love and skill for designing stemmed from his influence, she later went on to make a career out of it. He also used the experience of building homes to impart knowledge to us; today, thanks to him, we are well-versed in construction.
Thaththi is extremely talented and skilled. When he was a child, he used to listen in on his elder sister learning the piano. Without any private lessons, he is well versed in the piano, and plays it by ear! He participated in the ‘The Annual Gala Dinner of the Judiciary – Benchmark’ in 2014 where he opened the concert with a rendition of ‘ma baalakaale’. Sadly, none of us have inherited his piano skills.
He received a full-scholarship to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland to complete a Masters in Law, in 2003. A lot of hard work and dedication went behind this achievement, for he wrote numerous research articles, law books and digests. His desire to make meaningful contributions to Sri Lankan legal literature is true to date, he has written a number of journal articles for several law journals in the country, exceeding hundreds of pages. We would like to think that we have inherited his desire to be a powerhouse.
Thaththi is a family man, through and through. He didn’t want to leave us and go abroad for his Masters; so for a year, we also schooled in Aberdeen! He balanced both his studies and taking care of us in Scotland, while Ammi went to work, totally reversing stereotypical gender roles. Perhaps, this was a foundation for us to become more sensitive to social constructs and challenge traditional norms. Even after 19 years, the 11 months in Aberdeen remain as one of our fondest memories.
He instilled in us a sense of gratitude, for he never forgot his roots. He was the Editor of the Judges’ Journal for three consecutive years and revived this Journal after 19 years, with the launch of the felicitation issue for Justice Soza, the founder Director of the Sri Lanka Judges Institute, who was also one of Thaththi’s earliest mentors. We also learnt about generosity of spirit from our father. Especially when he goes abroad, he never forgets the staff and will always bring them something too. On special occasions, he never forgets to present them a gift; whether it’s clothes or food. He always extends a hand to those around him.
Our father always has a go-getter attitude, which we have learnt from him as well. Even though Akki likes to bug us by saying that she is Thaththi’s favourite, he has always treated us equally and allowed us to grow and find our own identities. He was never a ‘helicopter parent’, but rather allowed us to make our own decisions and learn from our mistakes. His inspired us to pursue our own dreams, this is how akki ended up in 3D Designing, Dils in Law and Chutti in Mental Health.
He has proved time and time again how versatile he is at both administration and being a Judge. In 2009 he was appointed as the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission and in 2018 he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Sri Lanka Judges Institute. We look up to him because he never shied away from any challenges or obstacles. We believe that this is why we also excelled at our extracurricular activities during our school and university days.
We are grateful that he predominantly worked in the area of Civil Law. The mental pressure of serving in a Criminal Court and coming home to three young daughters was frustrating for both him and for us as well.
As Thaththi enters this new chapter in his life on his retirement, we hope he will be able to make up for the sacrifices he endured in terms of his social life and other passions. We hope he may find peace and happiness in the finer things in life. We are ever so grateful for the positive light he has been and continue to be to us.
