LIFE
Tilan Wijeyesekera
In conversation with Lashani Ramanayake
Family members
My wife Rashmi and son Dhiren – a.k.a. ‘Dboy’
Alma mater
Royal College
Wanted to be
A backpacker wandering through Sri Lanka and abroad without a care in the world
Is
A developer of people, an ‘L board’ startup seed investor, a marketer and general manager who never wanted to be a banker… but here I am! What I will be tomorrow is the big question.
Most unforgettable event
The birth of my son
Favourite song
Ice Ice Baby (by Vanilla Ice) – I used to rap a bit during my schooldays and this is the only song that I remember now
Favourite author
Ajahn Brahm for ‘Good? Bad? Who knows?’ – an amazing read to get a perspective on life
The first thing you notice in an initial encounter with someone
Their smile or lack thereof
Three must-haves
Hmm… mobile, mobile and wallet. Hopefully, the third will also be mobile with our future ‘mobile
wallet’ solutions
Favourite day of the week
Somewhere between Friday and Saturday – sometimes it overlaps into one day based on the friends I’m with. Why? Because it’s ‘Friturday’!
Worst day of the week
Monday, as I’m transitioning from ‘chill’ to ‘passion’ mode… a couple of hours spent trying to wake up is bad but then it’s a good day to practise my passion at work with my teams
Most hated chore
Definitely ironing – if you see me wearing crumpled clothes, you know why!
Hobbies
Light trekking in the mountains, chilling on the beach and watching movies
Pet peeves
Arrogance, two-faced people, and loud or noisy places and people
Driven in
An Audi A5
Would love to drive
An old Ford Capri or Cortina
Favourite local destination
Mirissa
Favourite overseas destination
Melbourne (where my sister, brother-in-law and niece live)
Mantra to unwind
Listening to deep house music with my one-and-a-half-year-old son, chilling on the beach or wandering around the mountains
A good workout is
Ahem. Workout? Oh you mean when I manage to drag myself out of bed in the morning
Likes to watch
My son dancing, the waves rolling onto the beach and people fulfilling their potential
Favourite local sportsperson
Mahela Jayawardene – absolute class. Nothing flashy with the gab but gets the job done as a player and coach – he seems like a really nice guy
Favourite international sportsperson
Novak Djokovic – a real challenger in an era of masters like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – he seems like a nice guy as well
Last post liked on social media
‘I hate keyboard warriors and online racists’
Favourite food
Japanese food, pizza and kiribath – all equal favourites
Favourite colour
Green – living in the heart of Colombo, I see too much concrete and would love to see some greenery
Most used word or phrase
‘Daa da, daa da daa…’
Items on the bucket list following retirement
Live in and run a travellers’ hostel in a chilled out location, get back to teaching and training, and advance my meditation skills
Success is
Being more content and impacting people positively
Impressed by
Humility
Saddened when
I see a lack of fairness in the world
Role model
I don’t have one – I look at the goodness, strengths and weaknesses of different people I come across… and try to learn from them
Colombo is
The place I call ‘home’ with too much traffic and not enough greenery
Sri Lanka is
A resilient paradise
The world is
All we have
Yourself in a few words
Trying to figure out how to be a better person and find more contentment
Motto in life
Build others to build yourself
