Ravi Kulatunga
Born in Colombo Sri Lanka, to two very adventurous and pioneering parents, who decided to leave the relative comforts of a familiar homeland, to travel across the vastness of oceans and continents to a land they had read only in books, to the continent of Africa. Bearing three siblings, all very young and afraid and a hope of a different life, they did what none of their families had ever done before. But soon the fear evaporated into a childhood spent chasing the sun (and occasionally being chased by the wildlife) and an acceptance that we may come from different places, but inevitably we all dream and bleed the same. It made the unfamiliar, familiar again, and soon the trepidation ebbed away and was soon swallowed up by the glorious sunsets across the savannah and the discovery of new friendships. Memories are now filled with the sense of freedom and adventure and of accommodating people, and at an early age, I began to draw inspiration from the stories they told. Stories of struggle and loss, but of determined hope as well. From then on, I was drawn into the web of story-telling and aspired to tell stories to others,
as they did with me. My mother taught English, so if we weren't living future tales for ourselves, she insisted we immerse ourselves in the fictional lives of others. We travelled greatly through Africa and Europe, settling in the midlands of England for a couple of years, where again we absorbed ourselves in the enriching pantheon of life. As if this thirst for the new was not enough, we found ourselves beginning new lives in Australia. A teenager now, the struggles of new migrants in a new land and the importance of learning anew, yet retaining our identities and where we came from fueled this struggle.
School was all about adjusting, and even though we had spoken English all our lives, the Australian accent made it a second language. So, even what we thought was common, was challenging and renewable. Yet, we were welcomed and we adapted, like so many of the people we met, that too had arrived in Australia from everywhere for the first time. Soon, we never felt lost, and like the land itself, we were always reminded of the vastness of the opportunities and hope that lay within its borders. It was not always easy though and we escaped as a family, as we had always done, by travelling and reading. Then in my final year of school, I lost a friend to suicide and it was then that I started to write my first book. It was a time before computers and so I bought a typewriter and when I finally finished it five years later, it felt that I had accepted finally the tragedy that had come to pass.
It was soon time to make a decision about the rest of my life. It felt like university had no limits, compared at least to the conforms of school life. From boundaries and disciplines to a community full of exploration and creativity and freedom. Learning no longer a chore but an exchange of ideas and a habit of thinking beyond what had already been learnt. Emerging four years later filled with theoretical models and possibilities now of its application, a career of engineering beckoned. Yet three years later - less than the time spent studying the very subject - it was back to university to now study a Masters in Business Administration.
Restlessness accompanied graduation two years later and it wasn't long before I arrived in New Zealand on an unforgiving dark wintry night. Working in bars and restaurants provided the flexibility and the time for travel and discovery, and even though by now I had seen so much of the world, I could not help but be transfixed by this beautiful and relatively untouched nation. But duty, as it always does, called and a soon the entrapment and obligations of a job and a career took over. It was not as much a burden as I had imagined it to be. The twenty-five years that have now passed as a management consultant working in a number of businesses to drive performance and cultural change have been fulfilling and a doorway into new and memorable adventures. It gave me the opportunity to travel and work with different organisations and people in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific nations. I learnt a lot about about what it took to build and sustain successful organisations, but I learnt a lot about as well.
In this time, I was able to start my own boutique consultancy and this again brought new adventures and challenges. Airports and aeroplanes became a constant part of my work, and it was here, that to while away the time, writing helped to fill the gap waiting enabled.
My daughter was born not long after I started my business and immediately every available moment I had was filled with her life. It was only later as she started to grow, that I returned to writing and now she also has become the inspiration and the words to the stories that fill the pages of the books I write.
Drawing from the inspiration of travelling and witnessing new lands and meeting their people and listening to their stories, as well as reading stories that other authors have told, have been an inspiration to my own writing. I am aware that if not for my parents, my brother and my sister, my wife and my wonderful daughter, the memorable friendships crafted along the way and the people that I have been fortunate enough to have met, these inspirations would not have eventuated or would not, at least, amount to much.
