The recent spate of one-dayers played in Sri Lanka, disastrous as they were for India, brought back beautiful memories of being a spectator last year when the Aussies visited the island.One had long since given up watching cricket in stadiums thanks to the saturation of televised matches and the dread of being part of chaotic crowds in Indian stadia. There was a period in the early and late sixties in Calcutta, when one would do anything to be present all five days at the Eden Gardens. The most coveted position off the field was the stand next to the players — cheering and jeering them and shaking hands with Abbas Ali Baig were the highlights of the day. Then came live television cricket so one got completely out of the habit of watching cricket in the stadium. Till Colombo. The day-night match last year was a treat. Each stand had its own band of music which played happy, popular beats when the home team hit a four or sixer or got a visitor out, but was equally quick to play a mournful dirge when the fortunes swung. Even though beer was imbibed by the mugfulls there was no rowdiness. A small group set off crackers but policemen confiscated the supplies with a stern warning. Sri Lankans lost the match, yet there was no display of angst. Nearly 30,000 people poured out of the stadium a little before midnight but there was no frenzy.I was on a six-month assignment at that time in Sri Lanka to revamp the news segment of a private channel. Television in the island is poised exactly where Doordarshan was in India in the late eighties. It is largely terrestrial, there are two state-owned channels, the rest, 6 to 8, are privately owned. Programming is mostly Sinhalese with a few hours a day allotted for Tamil, even less for English. There is no such thing as a niche channel. As with DD, each channel encompasses everything, including news. Only the Sinhalese programmes are original, the Tamil segment is largely dependent on Chennai-based channels for inputs and of course to the Tamil, Hindi and Hollywood film industries.News is polarised here, it is either pro- or anti-Chandrika. The rapport between media and politicians is truly intriguing. Once when the Tamil Alliance was placing its recommendations before the Norwegian negotiators, I accompanied reporters to get them trained in “piece to camera”. We were delayed in reaching the embassy but the young reporter was unfazed. He called a senior member of the Alliance and asked him to delay the proceedings so that we may cover the entire round. The TA member obliged!Last year was a comparatively peaceful period in Sri Lanka’s crisis ridden history. Maybe the gods were getting restive and the tsunami was unleashed. Sri Lanka bore the brunt.Even as the islanders were painfully making their way back from the natural cataclysm, tragic political drama is unfolding once again with the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar. Is it back to square one, for the stoic islanders? I pray that it is not so.
