'A new league of gentlemen of integrity'

Male Icon 2006:

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Dayan Gomes

Deshamanya Ken Balendra

Mahela Jayawardene

Kumar Sangakkara

Deshamanya Dr. Lalith Kotalawela

Bathiya Jayakody

Santhush Weeramana

"If"...
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
IF you can wait and not be tired by waiting.
Or being lied about don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise,
If you can dream and not make dreams your master,
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
And treat those two imposters just the same,
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out-tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings,
And risk it all on one turn of pitch - and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss,

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you,
Except the will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And what is more you'll be a man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

****

A fine descriptive comparison of what the Male Icon 2006 Awards was all about, a recitation manifested with perfect diction and poetic nuances by His Excellency, Dominick ChilcoT, British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, the chief guest at an event that kept the audience spell-bound. The event too was a whole new experience in itself to Sri Lanka.

Listening to His Excellency, Dominick Chilcott's speech livened up the evenings agenda. It is not too often that one gets an opportunity these days to enjoy 'good English', a flawless expression of the spoken word dauntlessly and humourously delivered which kept the audience intent and curious as there was pin-drop silence at the Grand Ballroom of the Colombo Hilton last Thursday.

I was happy to have graced the occasion. The code 'Bow/Tie' was the order of the day making the 'gentlemen' present look so solemn and distinguished outnumbering the women of course, since it was 'their day' afterall. But, as I sat in the Ballroom I pondered. The event was to honour 'a new league of gentleman'. Could this mean less of the rest? This would be interesting I thought to myself.

As the evening's agenda came alive amidst a packed audience with glitter glamorously adorned for the occasion, the Hon. British High Commissioner went on to express that it is a time when Sri Lanka needs male icons who would make a change for the future 'The event epitomises the importance of role models in life, icons, a new league of gentlemen of integrity, men such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahathma Ghandi, Bill Gates and Lee Kuan Yew.

Integrity in the true sense of the word as quoted by Shakespeare in Hamlet 'This above all: To thine own self be true, for it must follow as dost the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man,' he went on to express.

The scenario of selection of the six male icons of Sri Lanka for 2006 was based on this fine example of disposition of character and integrity, by a panel of eminent female adjudicators comprising Rosy Senanayake (Chairperson), Nayana Karunaratne, Angela Seneviratne, Kamani Mukunthan, Chandani Rajaratnam, Jayomi Lokuliyana and Rozanne Diasz.

Interestingly, the event was pioneered by a distinguished male himself, Fousul Hameed, the Managing Director of Hameedias, a name synonymous with men's clothing in Sri Lanka for the past two decades or so, who remarked that he had embarked on putting together a prestigious event of this nature to honour and herald 'a new league of gentlemen in Sri Lanka,' at a time when men seem to be losing their integrity.

As the audience awaited the announcement of the six finalists 'fever' built up in the Ballroom, with Natasha rendering 'Fever'.

As the contest seemed to draw an amazingly similar anxiety as that of a beauty contest, I thought.

An evening with a difference, as the six male icons 2006 received their awards, Deshamanya Ken Balendra (not present) Deshamanya Dr. Lalith Kotalawela (not present) Dayan Gomes, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (not present), Bathiya Jayakody and Santhush Weeramana were honoured and heralded as the 'new league of gentleman in Sri Lanka, the role models, the icons of Sri Lanka.

I wonder, will this draw a precedent to a 'female icon of the year contest,' keep your fingers crossed.

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