Wednesday, February 05, 2020

"Sanga" a patriotic Sri Lankan; who is celebrated across the Island being conferred with an honor at Colombo Kamban Vizha 2020

After witnessing massive bursts of applause intermittently while announcer recites the achievements and accolades of the all-time great Kumar Sangakkara in an event which is dedicated to celebrate Tamil literature, I paused and reflected does Sanga really deserve all these honors and applause?

Sanga is on the stage amidst a traditional setting


Mind you, the crowd is not only comprise of cricket fanatic, I would say only fourth of an audience would have followed Sanga closely as a cricketer, the rest probably may have heard about him only for his off field deeds. He is a well-known personality among minorities not only for his cricketing styles, but also for his sensational speeches, and activities towards uniting people of Sri Lanka. Though his vision is yet to be achieved fully, he managed to garner a special spot in almost every Tamil speaking people's heart, hence the roar of applause he got, I realized he is worth every bit of it.

The magic happened when the highlights of his MCC cowdery lecture being played in the auditorium, I hope all would agree this as his top notch speech among all the wonderful speeches he has delivered on and off the fields across the world to-date. After the historical lines of "I am Tamil, I'm Sinhalese, I'm Muslim and Burgher,  I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity, but above all, today and always I will be, proudly, Sri Lankan", the entire auditorium stood and given a well-deserved standing ovation to this wonderful, Kumar Sangakkara.

Sanga is getting a prompt standing ovation 


As he mentions in that MCC lecture, as well as way back in his Cricinfo interview, he and his family has always lived in harmony with their minority neighbors, and he made lot of friends from those communities, that says a lot about his greater involvement with the other communities. Personally, for me, he is seen as a good human being and a true Sri Lankan, above all his cricketing achievements, when he said that their family had given shelter for Tamils during a brutal attack unleashed on them in July'1983, widely dubbed as “black July”.

I strongly believe, the sense of belongings would be at peak when, and only when people are being involved. Hence, Sanga, in my humble opinion, is the only Sri Lankan celebrity who has been involved in the pains of minority communities, and could really be a healer of our past wounds, and act as a bridging person between the communities.

I also wanted Sanga to be a Sri Lankan Justin Trudeau, Emanual Macron and the male version of Sanna Marin. But I then realized if he plunges into the politics he will inevitably being portrait as a traitor by our main stream media, and the real politicians would get better at him for his greater involvement in the bridging activities. Hence, now I sincerely don’t want him to enter the politics but wish he continues to involve his life in bridging the Sri Lankan people, and I strongly believe this island will one day be truly united not by force but by love and affection.