The ancestry of Sri Lanka is well recorded with the earliest-known inhabitants of the land spanning back approximately 30,000 years before Common Era. However, when the Portuguese inhabited the country in the 1500’s, this Bhushan attributes to the origin of his family name, since Decosta is commonly Portuguese. These nations converted people to Christianity over time, and through mixed marriages the cultures blended. Therefore, Bhushan and his family have always been Catholic even though this is a minority religion in Sri Lanka.

A shrine to Mother Mary lines an entertainment wall in the Decosta’s family room, a constant reminder of their devotion. Bhushan explains this was a common element of many Sri Lankan homes in the Christian community he grew up in, some boasting more elaborate statues around the house.

Bhushan was brought up in a family of very devoted Catholics who never missed a week of mass.

“If I happened to miss a Sunday mass, my mother would scream,” he chuckled. “But this put me on the right path at an early age. I wanted to do right by her.”

In fact, growing up in a country with civil disorder, Bhushan agreed to carry on his studies in India with his sister, at the age of just ten. He attended a school with strict catholic administration until a young adult. It was at this stage where he felt the school and community truly brought him up.

“It would have been hard to deviate or rebel under the discipline group of priests who ran the school,” he admits.

As a child, Bhushan lived in a court where he’d play with the other young boys away from the busy streets.

“It was a simple life and we played with simple toys,” he said. Such toys included marbles and cricket however Bhushan had a particular interest in aircrafts. He’d play with cardboard boxes and make toy airports out of them. This, he thought, would become his career, working in engineering or even architecture.

Instead, Bhushan travelled back to Sri Lanka. He dabbled in telecommunications and even had a stint in divisional cricket. After completing a Bachelor of Science he fell into I.T working in enterprise resource planning – something he is now very

passionate about. But he has no regrets of his career choice. In fact, he insists it has been “God’s plan,” even though it took time forming his career and letting his life slowly take shape.

Working in this industry led to greater opportunities for Bhushan, travelling back and forth to many European countries including Sweden and Germany for work.

“I loved Europe,” he fondly added, but admits he missed home quite often.

It was in Germany when Bhushan had the privilege of working with his former boss whilst in a consultancy job, a man who valued his employees and treated them as equals. His boss was down to earth even though he held so much power in the company.

“His talents and leadership qualities were exceptional,” Bhushan still admires to this day.

While working overseas, he holidayed in Australia for the first time and enjoyed his experience here.

Bhushan flew between Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney on a travel visa, and this was when he noticed there was something different about Melbourne, “something special” – even though the weather was a lot colder than Sri Lanka.