Sri Lanka

This morning (Sri Lanka time, 9:30 am) I stumbled on the Baron website and was amazed, enthused and delighted to read its contents and of people from the past, particularly Brian Williams - my favourite correspondent at Reuters.

Brian, for us in Sri Lanka, was an institution and here’s one interesting anecdote about the guy and his ability:

At a time when Brian was based in New Delhi as buro chief, he came to Colombo to report on the Sri Lankan conflict - like many others from Reuter buros overseas - and was a great asset, as always, to our coverage. This was around 1985-88 I believe. The Colombo buro was headed by Dalton de Silva, a veteran journalist who sadly passed away some years back after a battle with cancer.

One morning, Dalton told me to meet Brian at the Galle Face Hotel (where he was staying) to pass on an urgent message. Knocking at his room door, Brian comes out staggering with blood-red eyes saying “Hey, mate, what’s happening?” - typically Brian.

“Hey Brian, did you wake up with a drink,” I asked,  laughing. “Oh, no mate, I have been drinking all night,” he laughed.

True to form and his ability, Brian turned up in the office by 8-9 am and churned out great copy for the morning AM SCHEDULE on the Sri Lanka situation. This is after returning to the hotel the previous night (late) after writing the late-nite piece. Being sozzy didn’t cloud his skills as a journalist honed probably during his Vietnam war reporting days.

It was a pleasure to work with Brian and learn from him. ■