Well, here we are
again for three days of unlimited revelry at the SSC after a
lapse of a year. (Although it seems like yesterday!). I bet you
are comfortably seated in your tent (unless you have already
fallen on the ground, intoxicated with high spirits) watching
the Thomians teach the Royalists a lesson or two in the game of
cricket. I have no doubt that you are more interested in having
fun rather that watching what happens at the centre of the SSC.
But that's what the Royal-Thomian is all about. It is the
gathering of Thomians and Royalists young and old on the pretext
of watching a cricket match in order to leaven their studies,
workplaces, families (or sometimes they tag along) to relax and
revel with their comrades.
I would consider being
one of the fortunate Thomians to have had the privilege to have
served as a Tent Secretary at the 120th Battle of the
Blues. It was here that I found out the true meaning of the 'BIG
MATCH'. ms true
that our cricketers put in a lot of effort and practice to
ensure that the crowd gets a thrilling game, but the real game
goes on behind the scenes.
I would now like to
share a few experiences that would remind some of you old
Thomians of the good old days when you were involved in
organizing this glorious event
The game started with
the finding'of advertisements by the house prefects. I must say
that the procuring of the above is a tedious task which requires
much skill. But by the end of January, we ended up with 190 ads.
(Well-done Boyts!) It was fun to see how the house cops (as they
are respectfully referred to) try to collect as many ads in
order to reduce the heavy load of souvenirs that each one is
burdened to sell.
Once the ads and
articles were collected, we literally took residence at our very
hospitable Uncle Laliths (the best of printers) home in order to
perfect our masterpiece.
The next innings was
the organizing of the "cycle parade" which most of the ladies
are all well aware of, and love to watch. We were greatly
assisted by DIG Colombo in order to secure the route and
permits. This required visiting the Police headquarters quite
often where we were sent
in all directions just
to get a simple thing done - Government organizations! The
parade a was a great success with over 800 cyclists and five
trunks (I'm sure the ladies would agree). The highlights of the
parade were Hetti (I think most of you know him by his rather
muscular stature), riding a small chally with a small helmet on,
whilst the girls at Holy Family Convent cheered him and good old
Nirosh (kuchi) falling off the prefects truck and casually
walking away (whilst everybody in the other truck was on each
other due to the sudden breaking of the truck to save him from
being run over).
Our next task was the
decorating of the boys' tent, which was done late at nights with
the aid of Branudeens van headlights. The boys did a wonderful
job climbing poles to put up banners, blowing up balloons, etc.
This went on till Branudeen's battery went dead (poor chap
nearly had a heart attack).
Well, it finally came,
the day we had been preparing for over the past six months. We
had our fingers crossed for Naren and the boys who ended up
surprising all of us by putting of a victory that will be
remembered for many years to come. The three days went of very
smoothly with house cops doing an incredible feat of selling
over 2500 souvenirs and keeping the boys tent under control
despite the fact that for the first time ever the two boys tents
were adjacent, with only a three foot high partition. (This was
very unfortunate for the uniformed Royalists as they had to go
through our boystentto respond to the calls of nature - poor
chaps had to "hold on" for three whole days.)
I must say that our
contemporaries from Colombo 8, led by Shanaka Perera, whom we
already had the opportunity of getting requainted with,
cooperated immensely in the ensuring that all the boys had a
good time.
The two occasions on
which we met ended in the Thomians winning the Royal - Thomian
prefects cricket match while the Royalists clinched the rugby
match in the last minute. Many an acquaintance and friendship
were established at these two events that helped us coordinate
with one another at the Big Match in order to tackle the likes
of Mr. Nimal Dias Jayasinghe, chairman of the Joint Committee.
It was indeed a privilege to work together with gentlemen in the
likes of Mr. Nimal Dias Jayasinghe, My Lyie Pieris, Mr. Akmal
Sathuk and Mr Y. S. De Soyza who cooperated with us to make the
120th Battle of the Blues one of the best.
All our efforts were
crowned when Naren and his team showed the Royalists who were
the better men. It was a great feeling to know that a Thomian
victory had been secured in "our" year. Three days had whizzed
passed it and us had come to an end. As a tradition on the final
night all the prefects met up at Galle Face Green to celebrate a
job well done.
So as you might have
noticed, the Royal Thomian is more than just a cricket match, it
is a time to work, take on responsibility and build new
friendships and make old ones even stronger. I hope many
Thomians will have the experience I had wtych has made a great
impact in my life
ESTO PERPETUA
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