Tribute to Late Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo Last week, at a small private funeral, friends and family bid farewell to Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo. I first knew Ambassador Rodrigo when I joined the Foreign Ministry almost 38 years ago. Ambassador Rodrigo had then already acquired an unusually rich reputation for himself, much admired among fellow SLFS officers [...]
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Last week, at a small private funeral, friends and family bid farewell to Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo.
I first knew Ambassador Rodrigo when I joined the Foreign Ministry almost 38 years ago. Ambassador Rodrigo had then already acquired an unusually rich reputation for himself, much admired among fellow SLFS officers and diplomats for his quick wit, sense of humour, professional expertise and, above all, for his easy and genial presence. In fact, to date, my instant reaction to his memory is with a smile of affectionate admiration, a reaction of many others, no doubt.
Ambassador Rodrigo was a man of many parts – many unrelated to his bureaucratic life. In addition to being a brilliant diplomat, he was an artist, an actor, a talented painter, a writer, an intellectual, an orator – multiple talents which combined to make him the unique personality he was. His writings span subjects ranging from geopolitics to corporate affairs and fine arts, including a series about his friend, renowned painter George Keyt.
1979 Non‑Aligned Summit in Havana: Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo, in a black suit, is seated behind Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Sri Lanka’s President J.R. Jayewardene. Also in the picture is the then UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim (extreme right)
Among the many anecdotes about Nihal Rodrigo is this one recounted by his wife Chitra Rodrigo: As a Trinitian, she says Nihal had a deep admiration for Kandyan ladies and asked his friend George Keyt, known to be inspired by Kandyan traditions, to draw a painting of a beautiful Kandyan lady, provided she was ‘fully dressed’ (George Keyt was famed for his Modernist representation of female nudes). Keyt obliged, and the painting adorns their home.
His many professional and personal achievements started from his school days at Trinity College, Kandy, and continued at the University of Peradeniya with prizes and awards in English literature, debating, painting and drama. Subsequently, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his professional career spanned 42 years of bilateral and multilateral postings as well as leadership in the South Asian region.
His early diplomatic attachments were in Germany, India and Australia and subsequently with the rank of ambassador in the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in New York and as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva. As Secretary-General of SAARC, he oversaw the 11th SAARC Summit in Nepal in 2002, the first in the new millennium, in a particularly tense regional setting when the chair of the organisation passed from Sri Lanka to Nepal. Thereafter, at the conclusion of his term as the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 2003, he served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to China.
While his substantive contributions in all these capacities are numerous, his lustre, however, derives not merely from his titles but also from his magnetic personality. Even in tedious diplomatic encounters, he had an artist’s eye for the humorous (and sometimes absurd), a linguist’s skill with words and an actor’s talent for well-timed delivery.
The Fully Dressed Kandyan Lady; right, Advice to a Public Servant
On many tense occasions, his lightning humour pierced the ice and created a warm sense of community and purpose. His artistic skills were put to good use during lengthy multilateral debates when he delighted fellow diplomats with quick caricatures of personalities in the hall. An autographed cartoon sketch of Fidel Castro hangs in his residence in Colombo – one that he, then Secretary to the Foreign Ministry in 2003 and a member of the Sri Lanka delegation to the Non-Aligned Summit in Malaysia, scratched in a flash and had signed by the delighted Cuban leader, who then requested another for himself, which Ambassador Rodrigo completed in a few minutes!
A tribute to Ambassador Rodrigo is incomplete without a word about Chitra Rodrigo, whose own contribution added that extra layer of finesse to Ambassador Rodrigo’s professional success. The role of the modern diplomatic spouse requires unique organisational, leadership and ‘diplomatic’ skills. All this was enhanced by the fact that Mrs Rodrigo was very much an accomplished professional in her own right, having taught literature to several generations of high school students at Ladies College and trained many batches of Foreign Service officers on diplomatic and social protocol.
Paintings gifted to Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo by his friend, renowned painter George Keyt
Ambassador Rodrigo himself started his career teaching English literature at the University of Peradeniya, where he was the leader of the Marrs Hall debating team. Through 60 years of marriage and in so many ways, Ambassador and Mrs Rodrigo complemented and enriched each other’s lives since they met as young undergraduates at the university. There he leaves an enormous gap. We extend our condolences to Mrs Rodrigo and the family. Ambassador Rodrigo’s son Satya Rodrigo is a member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service currently serving as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Italy, and his daughter Nandi Rodrigo is an accomplished writer and journalist working in a senior position at the New York Times Magazine.
In the international setting, Ambassador Rodrigo represented Sri Lanka at an extraordinary moment of global transition – he entered the Foreign Ministry in 1965, at the height of the Cold War and the heyday of the Non-Aligned Movement, and retired in a transformed world in the early years of the 21st century.
As President of the Peradeniya University Dramsoc, he directed the production of Euripides’ Trojan Women , a Greek drama from over 2000 years ago. Later in his career as a multilateral diplomat, Ambassador Rodrigo, in the complexity of the real world, would grapple with the central theme of this ancient drama – war and its human cost. Interestingly, as a diplomat representing Sri Lanka – a nonaligned country – he spoke in multilateral halls about disarmament and global inequality, exposing the futility of power and force when seen from the perspective of humanity – resonating with the central themes of the Trojan Women.
And so this tribute celebrates not only the respected titles he held, but also the distinctive and delightful depth of personality and intellect he brought into them, always without pretension. These qualities enriched his diplomacy. To me, he was a respected colleague whose decency and unassuming simplicity inspired emulation so that we ourselves may aspire to be better.
The country, the Foreign Ministry and Sri Lanka’s diplomats owe much to Ambassador Rodrigo. He led with talent, distinction and humanity. May he rest in peace.
Former Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Print Edition – The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
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