India tour of Sri Lanka: Hello before an emotional goodbye
India Test skipper Virat Kohli is garlanded on arrival in Colombo. India will play Sri Lanka in a three-match Test series beginning August 12. (Source: Reuters)
IT’S not until two hours have elapsed on tour that the first Sri Lankan elephant, with its distinctly darker complexion, is spotted. Two hours too long you might say.
The mildly-mighty tusker is on his way to Kandy you’re told, like most of them are at this time of the year for the Esala Perahera or the annual procession for the Buddha’s Sacred Tooth Relic. And this one looks like he’s starred in many a ceremony in his time.
Much like the illustrious Kandyan — as the up-country folk refer to themselves — who is set to ensure that the tea-producing hill-station hogs the limelight for a majority of August otherwise too.
For, in three weeks’ time — post the second of the three Test series against India — the curtain shall fall one final time on the remarkable cricket career of Kumar Sangakkara.
In the couple of hours it takes to succeed in the most obvious upon-arrival indulgence in the Emerald Isle-elephant-spotting of course-you’ve already stumbled upon half-a-dozen Sangakkaras smiling at you from hoardings of different sizes, trying to sell everything from flat-screen TVs to motorbikes. Soon the world’s eyes will be on the Lankan legend to see how the final chapter of the Sanga saga pans out.
Sri Lanka is never short of surprises. You’re also never shy of learning a thing or two about this tear-drop shaped island. Like the realization that you have landed in Ka-Lombo and not Co-Lumbo as we are all used to calling it as the Sri Lankan Airlines flight with its ever-smiling crew taxis around the Bandaranaike International Airport.
Then there’s the fact that while Sri Lankans too fold their hands in a form of ‘Namaste’ while greeting their guests — and there is a horde of them especially from the Western lands at this ‘season’ of the year — their technique is slightly different, odd even.
Different actions
Our coastal neighbours tend to extend their elbows apart, as if they’ve been caught mid-pose during yoga, rather than let their arms relax across the abdomen. But it shouldn’t surprise us.
Isn’t this the land of unorthodox bowling actions after all? Not to forget that only Sri Lankans can use the word ‘No’ positively or while convincing the other person. “We are always helpful. We are Sri Lankan, no?” you’ll hear them say everywhere from airports to banks.
Indian cricket teams haven’t been left behind either. Over the many years they’ve taken the short flight across to this singular island, they have learnt that playing Tests in Sri Lanka is a pretty darn tough proposition, winning them even tougher.
Over the next four weeks, Virat Kohli and his young team will have their task cut out in trying to set the record straight.
And if you were in Sri Lanka and didn’t know about their impending arrival, the Sunday Observer-the widely-read national weekly-was trying its best to ensure you did.
“Indian cricketers will be here tomorrow” read a massive headline in bold, right alongside the masthead on the front page, even if there weren’t too many details about the tour elsewhere in the paper.
The August 2 edition surprisingly though did carry a heavy Indian presence elsewhere, with the ‘Cinema’ page informing the readers about Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan patching their differences and leaving Aamir Khan in the lurch.
There were also glowing tributes to the late APJ Abdul Kalam as well as a special page dedicated to Bollywood celebrities’ Instagram pictures. There is even a single-column ad of the Indian High Commission putting up their used van of 1999 vintage for sale.
The rest of the Observer is filled with political news with heavy and detailed features regarding the upcoming elections as former president Mahinda Rajapaksa attempts to wrest back the initiative.
And they’re palpable signs that the goings on in the first Test at Galle might get dwarfed by the anticipation of the impact the elections slated on August 17 might have on the still-recuperating Sri Lankan diaspora.
The general tension in the air is palpable with politics and not cricket on everyone’s lips. If anything, life-size cut-outs of politicians, with them seemingly walking towards you flashing victorious smiles already, and hoardings outweigh even those of Sangakkara and the other superstar cricketers in the country.
It might just be in spurts but there are many who believe violence is in the air. The death of a national team rugby player, who was allegedly killed in an accident, is making the headlines with many conspiracy theories floating vicariously. “It is murder, most cruel,” reports a leading paper rather chillingly.
But still, Sri Lanka continues to wage on at its sing-song and melodious pace with its plush profusion of swaying palm trees providing the perfect bassline from the background. Soon all build-ups will only concern their Kandyan King, who prepares for his final bow, even if it’s already been established that his reign shall be eternal, however long in the tooth he might be.
