By Sriani Dissanayake Basnayake
Speedy,
Rohini and Zita, thanks for your concern about my health and how my APR is
progressing.
Rohini, the APR is not a joke, but quite real, and you will laugh
hysterically when I tell you the reason for the aggravation of the APR.
I haven’t
had time to contribute to the Blog these last two months, because I have been
busy going for ‘sports practice’ in preparation for the Ladies’ College OGA
inter house sports meet!!! No, I am not down to run in the 100 metres dash, but
the events are graded in 10 year slabs, and everyone in their 70s and 80s are
grouped into the over 70 category. The most “strenuous” event for us, the over
70 group, is a 25 metre walking race.
There are relays and individual events, and yours truly has had to be
‘rubbed down’ with every kind of “kokatath thailaya” on returning home, for the
APR gets really bad after each foray into the field of athletics.
Rohini, you
may remember my sister Nirmala winning a Bronze Medal in the 200 metres at the
Asian Games, while still in school, but not an iota of the athletic genes came
my way. Hence you can just imagine the state of the joints of yours truly…….APR
is putting it very mildly.
D- Day, the
Sports Meet is scheduled for tomorrow. A long silence from my end will indicate
that the old lady has been knocked out after the tremendous effort put in for
the over 70 events!
Dear Sriani, This does make me hysterical with laughter, even though Iam truly sorry your APR is real.
ReplyDeleteI cant imagine you are doing that inter-house sports stuff all over again! We were both in Dale House which won first place most of the time as you'd remember -thanks to the efforts of the likes of you and Nim.You are being very modest when you say you had no sports genes -I remember you doing a lot of it as well as being superb at netball.
Nim ofcourse was in a class of her own and I do remember her great achievements both academically and in athletics. As an athlete she was a treat to watch- Not only was her performance unbeatable, but there was an elegance about how she'd run or effortlessly glide over the hurdles etc. I loved watching her when occasionally she practiced after school in the "back Garden" at Ladies', and not at the Police Park as usual, and of course your mum would have a little friendly chat with us while she waited.
Those were such carefree days-
I wish you The Best of Luck for the events tomorrow- and hope the "kokatath Thailaya" does wonders for you afterwards!
As for the blog Sriani-You have not lost any of your great humour since our school days, and whatever you write will be very entertaining! I dont know how much of the absolutely crazy things we did in our early teens you remember- but they still make me laugh when I think back-it was such fun!
Have a great time tomorrow and we'll certainly be looking forward to more of your humour in the blog.cheers
Very best of luck Sriani. Sock it to them that's what I say. As to APR, I empathize with you as I too have a fair amount of APR and I don't have the luxury of having the special kokatath thailaya! I use to think that APR stood for something to do with interest rates but now I am more familiar with the wide connotations including Always Pretty Reckless and Apey Pissu Reckolasi and Aney Podak Ridei, just to mention a few. Keep contributing and makes us happy!
ReplyDeleteSriani,I hope you've managed to rope Bunter in to this!
ReplyDeleteYou may know she is holidaying in SL at present-
Sriani, Mahen and Rohini, I've been laying low and avoiding "sports practice" even though I am not suffering from significant APR. I know that several of our good friends, including some who are avoiding the winter like me, did get roped in to attend practices. It is Saturday morning now, and while I am writing this Sriani and others may be having a great time competing out there doing their walking races and relays in the blazing sun! Rohini, I agree with you that Sriani is being very modest about her athletic prowess, but Nim was an unusually gifted runner.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be hypocritical and wish you luck, Sriani, because I am rooting for Loos House (Loos Polos!). Loos was always last during my days (I wonder why?) but I hear they dominate the sports events nowadays! Go Loos Go!
Sriani, I hope you won't be knocked over and whatever after effects you have will be mild and transient.
Another reason that I couldn't attend the Sports Meet was that I have to attend a family event in a few hours and it may be my only chance to meet some of my cousins before I go back. I did manage to attend the Founders' Day celebrations and met many "Old Girls." It is good to be here.
Srianee-you lucky thing!
ReplyDeleteSriani - now that your big day is over I wish you a quick recovery and return to perfect form.Best Wishes-
Srianee-you lucky thing!
ReplyDeleteSriani - now that your big day is over I wish you a quick recovery and return to perfect form.Best Wishes-
I wasn't aware of Sriani's sporting achievements but of course we have all heard of Nirmala D who was so well known at the time as a superb hurdler. She was honoured by past President MR for her Asian games Bronze medal.
ReplyDeleteSriyani B, Sriani D, Rohini A and Mahendra, I missed all this and it is the 28th today. How did it go? I am sure Ladies College was proud of it's Old Girls who still have what it takes to appear in these events. It's not about winning or even finishing it, but it is about enjoying it and being proud of the tradition. And I learned some valuable short hand too from Mahendra!
ReplyDeleteZita
Hi everyone! I'm back in one piece. Had a fantastic time at the OGA Sports Meet. Even though my "House" came third, we came first in the over 70 category!!!
ReplyDeleteAs Zita very rightly has said,its not whether you won or lost, but whether you enjoyed doing it, and I certainly did. The young organizers in our "House" wrote to each of the over 70 group and thanked us profusely for taking part. I felt very touched by this gesture. The bottom line is we had great fun.
Sriani B
Well done Sriani! Your enjoyment is our enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteHi Sriani,
ReplyDeleteNice hear from you again. It is rich coming from me in view of my low profile in the recent months!!!
I do know how painful APR can be. I too do suffer from sever APR in addition to my multitude of ailments. I do salute & admire you for your 'guts' for taking part in your former school's sport day. Is it not that this is a perfect example of the old adage...."Old poison taller than the house" ("NARKI WISSAY GETTAHT USSAY")???
As for me, I shall dare not attempt such an act now!! In my halcyon days the only time I ran was when I ran between the wickets in attempting a run as an opening bat in my School's First Team. Despite this I was RUN OUT more times than all other methods put... put sevral time over!! In view of this impediment, our coach trained me to keep wickets as I was an awful runner and too slow to chase the cricket ball!!As for not inheriting the 'sport gene' as compared to your siblings, it brings back fond memories of yester year when I was an SR Haematology @ St.George's Hosp., in London (in 1976) when I received a call out of the blue from your dear late brother Luckey. We were good friends at Med School despite being in different years. Had a long chat and I invited him home for a Thosai diet from a South Indian joint just up the road from us. We had a great time talking of our Med school days & my wife Farina also put her '2 cents worth' of her Uni days of her friendship with your sister Nirmala although being in different years but same Hall of Residence!! At the end of the meal I remember walking with dear Luckey to the Tooting Tube Station in a very warm summer day and bade good bye...... for the very last time. This meeting, Farina & I cherish to this day and talk about it often.
That's life. We have take the rough and the smooth as the come.
Fondest regards to you.
Razaque A.
Sorry for the "typos"--- as they say for typing/spelling mistakes/errors in the Antipodes, in the above posting.
ReplyDeleteFascinating stuff Raz! People who do not visit our blog don't know what they are missing!
ReplyDeleteRazaque, thanks for sharing that "story" about my brother. I can't believe that 26 years have gone by since he left us for good. He seems to have touched so many lives during his short life span.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that we can keep in touch through our Blog. As Speedy says, some don't know what they are missing.
Sriani B