Kandy: Every day my drive from Colombo to Kandy takes over four hours. Leaving the hotel around 7am, the roads are always misty. As the sun peeps out, the mist clears and I enjoy the greenery all the way to the stadium, which is located 2,000 feet above sea level.
My knowledge of Tamil often comes in handy in Kandy since most people here speak the language. A lot of people here earn a decent living after saving up during their working years in Dubai. In fact, the shop in Colombo from where I got a plug for my laptop is New Dubai Shopping centre.
Being a match day, many volunteers were seen helping officials out. One of them offered me a few bananas, saying they were from his farm. His ancestors were from Kerala and they had come here nearly 60 years ago to work on the tea plantations.
Many fans were also slowly making their way to the stadium. Among them was Sri Lanka's famous cheer leader Percy Abeysekera. He recognised me by name and immediately pointed out, "I have the clipping of your article in the Gulf News where you wrote about me when I came to Sharjah in 1990."
Abeysekera is known as the voice of Sri Lanka and has accompanied the team around the world on its tours. In fact, he had provided such a boost to the team that the Sri Lankan cricket board used to fly him along with the team. When I apologised for not recognising him, he said: "I am no longer the young man you met screaming from the stands of Sharjah. I am two days younger to Garfield Sobers...I am 75."
Abeysekera, who works as the public relations consultant for ACL Cables in Colombo, is almost as popular as Sri Lankan players.
"I have named my eldest grandson Garfield and my latest grandson Sachin. They are two cricketers I adore," he said. He was carrying with him a clipping of Sunil Gavaskar on which Gavaskar had written: "Percy, let your voice continue to cheer Sri Lanka forever."
