Sega Nagendra, 1939-2022: An appreciation

Segarajasingham Nagendra, known as Sega, met the love of his life when they were both children. Eight years her senior, Sega was the playmate and bodyguard of his cousin Sarla Murugaser. Both were direct descendants of Sir Ponnamabalam Arunachalam, being this illustrious Ceylonese’s great grandchildren, down different lines. 

As they grew up, the newly qualified driver Sega would give Sarla lifts home from school, borrowing his father’s Humber Hawk motorcar. She remembers him shouting at the other drivers as they cut in front, or perhaps he cut in behind. Judging Colombo’s random roadsters then as today is more a matter of opinion than fact.

In those days Sega and Sarla were just playmate cousins. Sega was schooled at St. Joseph’s College where he was an enthusiastic sportsman, while Sarla excelled as a sprinter at Ladies College. It was a few years after her leaving school that this tall skinny but extremely handsome young man was presented to Sarla as a suitor by her mother. As was often the case in those days it was not so much the young man pursuing the young lady.

Following ancient tradition, the young lady’s mother, Mrs Maheswary Murugaser, caught the young man. Having been close from a young age, neither the young man nor the young lady made any attempt to escape the chase, falling willingly into each other’s arms. For their honeymoon in 1969 Sega borrowed his father’s second motorcar, a Ford Anglia, driving the happy couple on a 1,500 km tour around Ceylon. Sega’s parents, Dr. T. Nagendra and Annarpoorni, were content that their devoted son moved them from primary to secondary place in his affections yielding precedence to his new bride. With his parents living close by in Rosmead Place, Sega would continue to visit them every day possible for the rest of their lives.

Sarla’s father T. Murugaser, a senior public servant and later businessman who for a time managed the Sri Lanka Cricket Team, gave Sega a fatherly lecture. Sega was instructed to look after his daughter as carefully as he himself had done, and to never move far away from him. Sega honoured both these promises. He treasured and cared for Sarla, as she treasured and cared for him. 

With her family home in Alexandra Place Colombo 7, the furthest the young couple moved was to a rented property, Rs. 150 per month, on Gregory’s Road. This is on the opposite side of St. Bridget’s Convent school to Alexandra Place. Not long after, they bought the next-door property to Sarla’s parents in Alexandra Place. Here they lived the rest of their lives together. Here they brought up their two children, Kshirabdhi and Prashan, and welcomed their son-in-law Jekhan and their daughter-in-law Chameli. And they enjoyed their two grandsons Karnan and Suhit.

Sega commenced his career at Ford Rhodes & Thornton, later to become KPMG. After part-qualifying Sega joined Carsons Cumberbatch, one of Sri Lanka’s leading firms. Starting as a junior accounts executive earning Rs. 1,500 per month, he rose through the ranks in that company to become the Senior Director. As he moved into the corporate’s upper echelons, Sega became the resident general manager of Pegasus Reef, at the time a leading beach hotel. He moved on from there to be the director in charge where Carson’s was the Sri Lanka agent for leading foreign products such as Michelin Tyres. 

He rose to become Carson’s Chief Accountant before he took on his favourite role as KLM Director. His KLM role, which he held for almost 20 years, provided perks allowing him to travel extensively around the world on free first-class tickets, often taking Sarla and their two children to the USA, Europe and the Middle East. 

Marketing the KLM brand in Sri Lanka put him in a limelight he relished. Even though Sega himself was teetotal he headed campaigns including the popular annual Oktoberfest beer festival. After he retired from Carsons in 1997 Sega joined his dear friend Dion Jayasuriya to become Finance Director of CML Edwards, a company building roads and bridges across Sri Lanka. He eventually retired from CML Edwards in 2018. Until his dying day Sega continued to be chairman and director of companies including the technology company E-Futures where his son Prashan is CEO.

Sega was an outstanding networker aided by Sarla who was every bit his equal in this sphere.

Together they made the perfect partnership, sometimes attending several dinners in a day maintaining strong relations with friends and influencers in Colombo. Sega was a past chairman/president of the Sri Lanka chapters of the Skal Club, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, and the Chartered Management Institute. He chaired the Sri Lanka Pakistan and the Sri Lanka Benelux Business Councils. In 2015 he became Chairman of perhaps Sri Lanka’s most prestigious association, The Colombo Club.

Every human enjoys happiness and suffers tragedy. Sega was a leading businessman, director and chairman of many companies, patron and trustee of temples and associations. He was highly respected as an honourable man who would do his utmost to see fair play. His relationship with his wife was one of the best I have ever seen. However, his greatest tragedy was losing his daughter, who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis and passed away in London in 2013 at 40 years of age leaving her 16-year-old son and husband. For the remaining nine years of his life, this tragedy remained with him. He was her hero, she was his angel.

At Sega’s funeral I was told by many what I already knew. That he was a very good man. That he was a people’s person. I can personally attest he would greet the office peon as sincerely and kindly as he would an ambassador.

Sega died suddenly of a heart attack. He and Sarla had recently spent Christmas in England, visiting his grandson Karnan and fiancée Ellie at their new home in Folkestone. Just a month before they had visited me in Jaffna, the town of their ancestors. Sega had the good fortune to make these important reconnections before he was taken.

The world lost one of its gentlemen. I believe by his example others who knew him have learned to become gentlemen and gentlewomen. Others who will themselves continue by his example to make the world a better place.

His son-in-law, Jekhan Aruliah