Have you ever been
surrounded by thousands of noisy people but you felt utterly alone because you
don’t recognize anybody and nobody recognize you? The only recognizable
constant is the school flag. Even that seems to be a different shade of Maroon
and Silver.
Silibiris looked
forward to the 85th Encounter between Ananda Nalanda, albeit not at the old
Wanathamulla Oval not even at Colombo 7 SSC but at unfamiliar surroundings at
Khettarama Stadium. The promise of meeting Lella, Jora, Kelaya, Myna, Hadda
after 40 years, or the possibility of coming across the teachers who were
pretty young things at the time and even the odd older one who commanded so
much respect may still be alive was enough to be at the ground nice and early.
Finding Kehettarama
Stadium, only previously seen on TV, would have been a challenge had a life
long friend Kosalaya volunteering a lift. Even he had not been to a Big Match
for over 15 years. Anura Bada flatly refused his call to join in saying he had
better things to do and a million to earn.
Five rupee student
entry fee in ’74 now inflated to five hundred rupees charged at the gate for
old boys was an indication of changes ahead. Brothers tent, a symbol of
camaraderie of boys from similar backgrounds in the years gone by, was
generously priced at Rs1750 for good measure.
Car parking inside
Gate 5 appeared highly sought after. The reason became apparent when
approaching all those cars with the boots open, surrounded by old boys. The
boot was a veritable bar full of Scotch, Gin, Rum, Vodka, Pol, VOSA served on
the rocks, with Coke or just neat.
The school prefects
checking tickets at the turnstiles looked fresh faced primary school kids. Did
we look like that too when we ushered those old uncles to their seats at the
Colombo Oval? The old uncles of ‘70s didn’t stay seated in their seats for tool
long. In no time the old classmates found each other with no SMS required,
proceeding to play the merry devil dancing to the songs of dirty baila like
“enna yanna nangi aney galak kapanna…..ara mahaweli ganga ainay…” while the
nangis sitting near by pretended to look annoyed but horengli side eyeing the
potential suitors amongst the bachelor uncles.
Looking around the
ground today, those dirty baila singers thronged by crowds clapping and dancing
appeared to have given way to , Papare Bands, Big Bands with rows of
trumpeters, drummers or DJs mixing Dance House music in front of massive
speakers. The dancing youngsters would have been right at home at a Stereo
Sonic Concert in any western country with all the moves.
Stumbling on Kings on
a stage led by Chandral Fonseka of Golden Chimes singing 70s hit songs in front
of the Brothers tent was akin to coming across an oasis in the desert of the
massive concreted stadium. Inquiring from onlookers as to who the familiar
looking lead singer and the band was returned shrugs of “don’t know”. The boys
seemed to be more attracted to the dancing girls on stage than the songs which
were on lips of everyone in a bygone era.
After the lunch
break, and a few sips of Scotch and Coke openly smuggled in, some uncles did
find their voice and the courage to break into some traditional Big Match songs
only to be drowned out by the deafening sounds of DJ music. An uncle from the
Class of 85 did come across and have a chat with 29+++ Silibiris sans his
classmates who must have been home taking diabetes pills, blood pressure and
Cholesterol tablets eating paralu pan drinking Koththamalli.
Incidentally, there
was some high quality game of cricket happening in the middle. An Anandian fast
bowler look alike of P Dayapriya bowling his heart out and a spin bowler with
an unusual “puhul hora karen danay” type action trying to break a developing
3rd wicket partnership that was taking less fancied Nalanda team’s total closer
to a surprisingly low score of 170 all out made by the favourites of the
season, Ananadians.
Silibiris standing
amongst the wildly cheering Nalandians when they passed the Ananada total for
the loss of 4 wickets was gob smacked when the Nalandian boys didn’t know the
name of their own school’s batsmen batting in the middle.
“Why uncle, can’t you read the score board?” was their
reply.
One sheepishly did
volunteer that they could not recognize the batsmen from that far. This is the
generation of TV cricket children who have grown with the luxury of close ups,
replays, stats on screen and commentators telling them the same thing the
watcher can see on the screen.
Never mind the lack
of familiar faces, sounds of dirty baila songs, school boys having the stats of
their school’s players at their finger -tips
and enough spectators to even half fill the vast stadium where old Colombo Oval
would have looked full to the rafters.
Thank God for small mercies.
Annasi vendors still
carried basins of neatly arranged pineapple pieces, balanced on their heads . The
price of a piece had inflated 100 times but the sweet taste remained the same.
