SARIC Rising Tide

44 AN AMBASSADOR FROM ANOTHER WORLD L ANKA PE R E RA S R I L ANKA 45 an ambassador from another world And I hope that that is me— that perhaps somewhere, somehow, and without realizing it, I too have made a difference. “I t’s the visual of the marigold seller,” says Lanka Perera , reflecting on a poem that has shaped her thinking. “She walks on holding her flowers as upright as a torch, as an unwitting Ambassador from another world. She is delivering a message while also carving a path for others without realising it. It’s both a powerful visual and an unsurprising one. As a teacher-turned-electrical engineer with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Lanka understands the majesty of words all too well. In a lilting voice, she describes growing up in the suburbs of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, Colombo. “I’m the daughter of an army officer and, like with so many families, he was often away from home, serving in different and difficult areas. My mother worked in insurance and brought up three kids while also looking after our grandparents. She would always say that even if you are a female you have to work and have financial independence, and I have tried to live by her words.” Interestingly for an engineer, Lanka hated math as a child and struggled with its concepts. Looking back, she realises it was more the way it was taught, as opposed to being a subject drenched in complexity. “I think wisdom suddenly flourished when I was around 15 and it all started to make sense,” she says with a laugh. “Still, I wanted to be an accountant rather than an engineer, and I am not sure why I chose mathematics and physics over biology. I really didn’t have a passion or a vision for it at the time.”