By Nihal D Amarasekera
Our grateful thanks to the duo for organising the Zoom and bringing us closer together despite the oceans and continents that separate us. Although more than half a century has passed since our last goodbye in the lobby of that iconic building at Kynsey road the desire to reach each other has not waned. As the clock struck at 5 pm in London I expected to see my friends but the vagaries of technology caused a delay.
The PC got hot with emails crisscrossing the continents trying to figure out the real reason for this hold-up. This reminded me of the early days of Sinhala films when I was taken to the Metro cinema in Nugegoda. The film was to start at 6 pm but the inevitable technical problems delayed the start. The only difference now being the seat is more comfortable and the bugs didn’t bite me.
It is wonderful to have that minute of glory to speak our mind while our friends listened with muted silence. We all joined the digital age rather late and some later than others, hence the umbilicus came before the face!! It was so lovely to see Lareef who didn’t look a day older than when I first saw him first as a 15-year-old bowl brilliantly on that breezy wicket at Mt Lavinia. Lucky, Rohini Abhay, Sunil and Anton from my end of the alphabet were never far away from me as we strove through the hustle and bustle of life in the faculty for five long years. It is such a great pleasure to see them again. Sumathy has found his Velona banyan for the current hot weather in the UK. I wish I owned one too to remind me of being a street kid in the wilds of Nugegoda in the 1950s. Jimmy is a dignified country gentleman saving lives in Dulwich, and it shows. It was so lovely to see Wickramasekeran for the first time since 1967. At every Zoom, Pramilla and Zita have used their allocated time to say something interesting to attract our attention. This indeed is a special gift and I’m certain there is a politician in them waiting to emerge!! Indra as always is smiling enjoying the luxuries and the life in Sri Lanka. The names Sunil Abeysuriya and Ravi Nadarajah appeared white on black as credits at the end of a film until Ravi made his appearance. There is something to be said for turning the cameras away from you allowing people to remember as we were.
On the same theme, I recall more recently when we were on lockdown and all the hairdressers were shut and my hair was unmanageably long ready for a ponytail. I had facetime with my 7-year-old granddaughter. I had not combed my hair that day and she said instantly “Granddad you look terrible”. Children have the wonderful ability to say things with honesty without any gilding and embellishments.
That taught me to look presentable on Zoom although I haven’t achieved it yet. I last saw Ravi Nadarajah at the London Reunion when we sat at the same table. Sunil who spoke for all of 40 minutes previously remained invisible and silent. Trust all is well my friend. Amidst the tropical storms, tornados, power-cuts and Corona. It was so wonderful to see Srianee, lovely and smiling.
I’m sure we will continue to get better with our Zooms when we get the hang of the technology and acquire the discipline needed to make the meeting a seamless chat, swapping banter and trading wisecracks. On our Zooms, we have somehow managed to create that atmosphere we have all enjoyed all those years ago
Nihal, as usual you wrote your "review" of our Zoom session with style and humor. Because of my annual trips to Sri Lanka I do see most of you from time to time. Personally, I find Zoom meeting a bit frustrating because there is a delay in the transmission, and I always feel as if I am interrupting people when I try to say something. But we should be grateful to Rajan and Mahen for taking the time and trouble to organize this, because it is all we've got at the moment. It was especially heartwarming to see Wickramasekeran on the screen, in spite of all his health problems. It has been a really long time since I had spoken to him on the phone, so after the Zoom session ended I picked up the phone and dialed his number in California. We caught up with a lovely conversation. It was uplifting to talk to him because he is completely devoid of self-pity and never complains about his illness. It is just the way it is for him!
ReplyDeleteSrianee
ReplyDeleteIt is always a pleasure to read your comments for its clarity and honesty and done without rancour. People of the Indian subcontinent in general and Sri Lankans in particular are rather sensitive and are careful not to say things which people don't like to hear. I do take your point about the Zoom. There were times I felt the Zoom has lost its way and going nowhere!! What is the topic of conversation and who is talking? At times there was total silence when time is precious and confined to 40 minutes- muted into submission!! The positives of our Zoom overshadow these hiccups which I feel are minor. Seeing everyone happy and smiling made my efforts worthwhile. Wickramasekeran's cheerfull demeanour in adversity is a lesson for us all.
I honestly believe with the passage of time our Zooms will get better as we all get to grips with the technology. We must use our allocated time wisely. I am grateful to Patas who joins us at a rather inconvenient time for him, just to be with us. He has taken tremendous trouble to set things up. Mahen has done a good job making sure the technology is right for our meeting. Long live the Patas and Mahen show and thank you.
We are getting a lot of unsolicited comments from "crawlers" which I regret. These comments will be deleted soon. The only way of stopping them is to implement moderation of comments which means that the Blog Admin will have a full time job of whetting and allowing only suitable ones.
ReplyDeleteMahen
ReplyDeleteI've seen some of the unsolicited comments over the years. There have been a few unacceptable ones too. The problem appears to be getting worse post Corona virus and lockdown. I must say when they appear they are a distraction and feel like an invasion of our privacy. Can that extra work load be delegated and shared? I Would be grateful for your views on how we should tackle the problem.