NIMAL LAKSHAPATHIARACHCHI’S LAST INTERVIEW

What Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi told 3 weeks before his death?

Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi is cleverer at work than speaking. His interviews to newspapers have been very rare. The following extract is from “Mawbima” newspaper to which he had given an interview three weeks before his death. The introduction given to him was as below:
Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi is a fellow who introduced a maxxa media trend and he played many games with other media and he has had won most of them. He works 1000 miles per hour at Hiru TV with the young generation. He works by heart and follows the hearts of the young generation by understanding their talents. Even though he isn’t very young now, he is still young at heart and these are the answers he gave to the questions asked by me:

Residence:
 40/7, Buller’s Street, Colombo 07

If you speak of Colombo 07:
“Cinnamon had been the main products of here, thus it is called Cinnamon Gardens. Because the value rises every minute, nobody sells houses in this area. Therefore we don’t see many newcomers.”

What do you think about the young generation?
“Today’s generation is smarter than us in every aspect. I think positively about them. I have worked 100% with them. Even recently, I interviewed a lot of young girls and boys. Some of them directly request for the positions they like. That is because they are that much confident of themselves. Even we don’t have such confidence at times. At the same time, they have many talents. From the day I started I won victory with them. I love this young generation”.

Why do many people scold the young generation?
“It is wrong to scold the whole bunch of them for the mistakes done by a very few. It is very wrong to scold them for very minor faults without appreciating what they are doing. Especially the young generation we see today had started their lives along with the war. That obviously had an effect on their lives. I see very few adults who have self tolerance to see from one generation to the other. Thus, the young generation are been scolded for nothing. The war was won by the youth. Therefore we should appreciate them without finding faults with them.”

What is the biggest challenge the youth is facing right now?
“The whole world has become a knowledge based society. If the youth wants to win the world and earn money they have to first collect knowledge. The young generation has to find more knowledge than what is in their school text books. I think the biggest challenge is exploring knowledge”.

How were you able to win such games in your media life?
I was able to work with the greatest people in media like Dayananda Gunawardhana and Sugathapala De Silva. They were like walking encyclopedias. Whenever we asked something from them, they would stop and teach that to us. We were lucky and we learnt those lessons and gained knowledge from them. Rupavahini,the State Television was born in front of us when I too was working in SLBC. Later on I was able to be the head of them. From that practical knowledge I could play and win all games.”

You have been able to mark a turning point in Sri Lankan FM radio. Tell us more.
“I could do something ours internationally with Sirasa FM. There we introduced a new phase to the FM Radio channels and attracted the crowds who had been bored with the conventional old styles. That is a truth accepted by the majority. I joined MBC media corporation for a salary of RS: 7500/-. Finally I was able to climb the ladder up to the post of group Director in Maharaja Group. Due to my mature knowledge and the investments I was able to use the FM channels towards the entertainment of the people”.

Where will our media be in 50 years of time?
“Information systems will increase in numbers by that time and they will be very complex. The media will expand in such a way that it would be more beneficial to the customers. Thus, the ability to monitor media according their personal agendas will be lost. By that time, the people who are implementing rules and who try to control media will have nothing to do. At the same time the freedom of media expression will increase to unprecedented heights”.

Do girls have to sacrifice sexually if they wish to join media?
“Among the growing competition, the girls will have to forget many things. Yes, people who are determined in joining media will do anything to get there. When I recruit a girl I always think that I too have a daughter. I think that if I do something wrong to this girl that will affect my daughter as well. We have to work responsibly. Today we see that responsibility is lost in many people. It is pointless in scolding the girls. They too are helpless. But the girls should be aware of this.”

How do gambling, drinking and women affect a “man”?
“Out of these three gambling is very destructive. Buddhism says “Laddhan laddhan Vinasethi” which means all what we get will be destroyed. But ah… if one gets addicted to gambling then he will be lost. On the other hand, a woman is a beautiful thing. We should not take advantages from her. Mother too is a woman. If we do any harm to a woman that would mean that we do something against our mother. There are women who aren’t that great. Prostitution had been there since the time of history. Here we need to work in such a tolerance and understanding. When we go to school, we have a basic idea about the five precepts. Even though we don’t abide by them, we have a basic idea and understanding about it.”