Although bilateral diplomatic relations were established with France in 1948, it was only in 1956 that the Ceylonese Legation was opened in Paris. Ceylon’s first-ever envoy to France was the bright young Foreign Service Officer from the first batch of the Ceylon Overseas Service of 1949, Vernon Lorraine Benjamin Mendis (later Dr.). He held the post of Chargé d’Affaires and is credited with having established our mission in the French capital in 1956.
He reported to our High Commissioner in London at that time, Sir George Claude Stanley Corea, who was accredited as Special Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary of Ceylon to France.
Vernon Mendis came to Paris fresh from a three-year stint as First Secretary in Tokyo where he established the Ceylonese Mission in Japan. Even to this day Dr. Mendis is remembered as one of Sri Lanka’s top-class career diplomats and one who could effortlessly hold his own, with anyone, and in any part of the world.
“...Sir John Kotelawala was very fond of France. Not only was he a very good French speaker, but there was also a particular affection for France. The fact that he selected me, I thought, was a singular honour… France had links with this country for a long time. It played a very important role in public works, in the realm of water, electricity, power and hence the links between France and Sir John Kotelawala. Remember he was Minister of Transport and that meant that this was the area in which France made a very notable contribution. There was also trade, the usual traditional things like tea. France was also selling wheat to Ceylon...” (Vernon Mendis. Bonsoir, 1998)
At that time the young Vernon Mendis did not know that he was to return to Paris once again as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador from 1978 to 1981.
The Diplomatic Residence was at avenue Mac-Mahon, one of those posh broad avenues which branch off from the Place Charles de Gaulle – Etoile near the Arch of Triumph at the top of the fashionable avenue des Champs-Elysées. Chargé d’Affaires Mendis lived there with his gracious wife Paddy. She was the dignified and elegant hostess, and seamlessly complemented her husband’s diplomatic skills to perfection.
“At that time our residence was open-house to the comparatively small Ceylonese community in Paris. We didn’t have too many Sri Lankans in Paris at that time so there was no question of organizing charities or bazaars or collecting funds.” (Paddy Mendis. Bonsoir, 1998)
Apart from the cocktail soirées and diplomatic parties, one of the most unforgettable memories Paddy Mendis has of Paris is the fact that “at that time English was hardly used and so one had to have at least a working knowledge of French to survive”.
In 1956, the French capital hosted “La Foire de Paris” – The Paris Trade Exhibition, and most foreign missions were requested to represent their countries at the gala event. True, Ceylon was famed for her tea, but then tea alone wouldn’t do. It had to have something more, to make it exciting and with oriental charm.
The Mendises had been in a dilemma until in walked Lester James Peries and Titus Totawatte en route to the Cannes Film Festival. Remember it was 1956 and they had come across from London with Rekawa. LJP was incidentally also related to Vernon Mendis.
While the Peries-Totawatte duo temporarily lodged at the Mendises, the resourceful Paddy hit upon the idea of enlisting their help to make the “Ceylonese Stall” more appealing.
They conferred over cups of coffee and voilà, the ideas flowed. Paddy was to get all the coconut – desiccated and otherwise – she could lay her petite hands on. This was to be cooked and stirred and sugared and thickened and coloured and served in small squares.
In Sri Lanka we call them the humble pol toffee. Mais non...that year at the Foire de Paris, they were upgraded and showcased as Co-Ker-Nut cookies. Served with cups of steaming hot thé de ceylan, it was an instant hit among the French and European visitors.
They had been such a hit, recalls Paddy, that many Frenchwomen had asked her for the recipe. Paddy Mendis has thus unwittingly been responsible for introducing pol toffee to France. Madame will be happy to know that more than half a century later, Sri Lankan shops in “Little Jaffna” in the La Chapelle area, near the Gare du Nord sell pol toffee even to this day!
Titus Totawate parallely set to work. All he wanted were hundreds and hundreds of sheets of old newspapers and magazines. That wasn’t a problem. It was the pre-internet era. Paris was full of newspaper kiosks. The French loved to read, so newspapers and magazines were bountiful.
Titus also wanted the Mendises to refrain from using their bathtub for a few days. Featuring Dr. Mendis on Bonsoir, decades later, I, in turn, refrained from asking him how they washed themselves during that period… Yes we at Bonsoir imposed our own self-censorship and knew how to be très polite!
Well anyway, into this bathtub of warm water went in those hundreds of sheets of newspapers. Titus Totawatte was a wizard and anyone walking into the Mendises toilet would have seen an incomprehensible witches brew! With the limited resources available, he used all his creativity and with his bare hands, he transformed all that paper pulp into a beautiful makara thorana which adorned the entrance to the Ceylonese Stall.
This was spoken about for several months...at diplomatic parties and by the hundreds of visitors who came...Indeed Ceylon Tea, Co-Ker-Nut cookies and a Makara Thorana in Paree!