Sigiriya and Cricket

Last night, while watching the SL vs WI game I was on a chat with one of my American friends. A born and bred American type, the type to which cricket doesn't make any sense at all. So I gave her the link to the stream I was watching and then tried to explain what's the whole thing is about. Her knowledge of Baseball helped a bit, so did the fact that T20 lasts only about four hours. But she seriously didn't believe that the more original version of the game, Test cricket, is played full five days or that people actually watch them the full five days. Finally crapinfo scorecards, youtube vids and some articles convinced her that it is in fact true. I didn't even consider telling her that there was a time when they played Timeless-Tests where games went on for days, even more than 10 and were abandoned only because the English had to catch the ship back home. She would seriously have considered me a bit of a retard if I said that too and that I actually enjoy this five day game more than all the others. Hell, she may still be thinking that I'm a retard anyway.

Then the conversation moved onto other things and finally we came to Sigiriya. No we didn't actually go to Sigiriya, just the topic moved to that. So I was giving her this online tour guide which she genuinely seemed to be enjoying. Starting with the Wiki, I gave her some links, lovely pics and some background. Then finally I came to telling her about sort of local stories about it, the theories and what not. She was unsurprisingly impressed by the frescoes and made a comment that made me laugh out loud for a while. She was like, "Sach, seems that pornography was legal in your country back then isn't it? Who made it otherwise? The Brits? Oh god, those Brits are always a bit lost it, aren't they?" But she seriously loved the frescoes and took a keen interest in the verses or the poems written on the Mirror Wall. So I had to cite her a few I remembered, and she loved this particular one, which incidentally is my favorite as well.

බුදල් මී
සියොවැ ආමී
සීගිරි බැලීමී
බැලු බැලු බොහො ජනා ලියුවෙන් මා නොලීමී

Loosely translated into English, it goes like;

I am Budal
Came alone
Saw the Sigiriya
Since many who saw it wrote something, I didn't

I absolutely LOVE it. The first time I heard that was, I think when I was like 10. My dad taught me that for he himself is a History teacher and almost a scholar when it comes to Sigiriya. He knows a lot about it and I learned a few things from him, including this. Isn't it simply so amazing. Our ancestors certainly had some wit and intelligence didn't they? My American friend too agreed on that.

By the way, does any of you guys know if there is any web site which we can find more of those verses written on the Mirror Wall? I searched a bit but couldn't find many. Made me realize that people outside Sri Lanka has very limited access to stuff like this, isn't it? If you are in Sri Lanka of course you could go to a library, pick up a book and learn those things. I think the government should look into things like these too. If we could come up with the web site, an online library of sorts where you can find almost everything that is documented about the history of this island I think that should be a great thing. Could use to promote tourism in the country too.

OK, so since I have been talking about cricket let me go on a bit more. First, I was so amused by the number of facebook status messages, comments, links and the sorts about the SL vs AUS match. Honestly, some people I thought that didn't know the difference between a bat and a ball had put some comments. At least a "Yippeeeeeeeeee!!!". And I'm sure it's not because we won, rather it's got more to do with the fact that Aussies lost. Lately we've been winning some good matches, but nobody except the people who really loved the game bothered to put a comment. Now the Aussies lose and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. How much people love to hate the Aussies!

Talking about Australia, I think CA (Cricket Australia) missed a big trick by sending Symonds home. I know a lot of people hate him, well at least he's not widely liked even outside Sri Lanka, but honestly I like the guy. He was one fucking cricketer, which, for me is the most important thing. Yes he had an issue with drinking, wasn't really the nice guy, but hell I'd take a drunk Symonds over a well behaved Kallis any day. He was a genuine match winner. But now it seems the Aussies have lost him forever, which in my opinion a big loss for the game. Cricket will surely be poorer without him. Also this reflects another bad aspect of cricket being so professional these days. Sending a player home for having a drink - in his leisure time? Seriously? Gone are the days when you played hard and then at the end of the day - drank hard. I mean, for God's sake cricket is still a game you jerks! In my opinion it shouldn't be so strict and professional. People with the same mindset are the ones who hail their favorite cricketers when they are going great guns and burn down their houses when they loose a couple of games. Cricket should be taken a bit less-seriously. It' a game - you win some, you lose some. As long as you play hard and you play fair that should be good. Let them have a drink at the end of the day. Let them enjoy!

Reminds me of something someone said on a cricket forum on this. "Oh well, if the Aussies don't want him, let's get him to play for us. We have enough beer here and enough lakes for him to fish too. Let the bugger drink as much as he wants and fish as much as he wants. As long as he turns up for the games and beat the crap out of the other teams, I wouldn't complain"

Couldn't have put any better myself.