cat’S eye

Kudos this Sunday

Yes, Menika is purring and even meowing with head tossed from side to side in sheer delight, because for a change she intends handing out praise. On other Sundays she spits venom or sneers. Not this Sunday. Her saucer runneth over with the milk of human kindness and she wants to share a few licks of word-appreciation. You’ve guessed to whom first. Yes, to Kumar Sangakkara for being a lion of Sri Lanka and bringing honour to the country both on and off the cricket field. Many have sung their hosannas to him voicing the country’s praise both in print and via electronic media and in the field itself.

Rex Clementine, sports writer of The Island newspaper, has consistently and with justification written glowingly of this cricketer. Kumar was paid the highest honour when both the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended his informal farewell after the recent Test match with India. There, President Sirisena, with a very maithri smile broadening to a wide grin (seldom seen, come to think of it) offered him the honour of being Sri Lanka’s diplomatic representative in the Court of St James aka Britain.

To some this was a wonderful gesture; to others more knowledgeable in the ways of diplomacy, this was a bomb. I chatted to a friend whose husband was once the ambassador to the said Court of St James and she felt strongly that that important embassy had to be headed by a career diplomat. So also opined a man who had served in the UN, and his wife. Menika begged to differ. She remains unconvinced. OK, OK, they are experienced and totally unbiased people who judge it is too impetuous a gesture of the President, and too vital a post to be handed over to a novice. But Menika holds onto her personal view which is both a gut feeling and thought out. The first justification: second secretaries and others in the embassy, trained in the art and craft of diplomacy, could attend to the nitty gritties (major and weighty) of business in our mission in the UK and Sangakkara can be the icing on the cake.

Which sharply brings to mind that excellent diplomat who said at the unveiling of his portrait in Oxford that he was a cake baked at home, meaning Ceylon/Sri Lanka, to which the Oxford icing was added. Another fortuitous parallel flashes through the mind, with this feline puffing herself with provincial pride. Both Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumar Sangakkara are Trinitians and claim they owe a great debt to that College in the Hill Capital that moulded their characters and thus had then turn out to be perfect gentlemen.

By the time you read this, it may be that Sangakkara has met the President as proposed by him soon after the offer was made, and the decision taken. This cat hopes the post is given and received by Sangakkara who will make an excellent ambassador to Britain. Why? Britain is the parent country that birthed the game of cricket; Sanga has already made his honour-and-credit mark in that country with his Cowdrey address on the ‘Spirit of Cricket’; and is young and personable with a family to boost that exuded quality.

Man in Russia

He speaks excellent English and knows the true nature of diplomacy though untutored in it. Haven’t the presidents of the USA often sent abroad as ambassadors persons known personally and recognized by the White House? Better not talk of our past where the ex Prez sent as ambassadors people who kowtowed to him, and many relatives ended up filling ambassadorial posts with the likes of the man in Russia who supplied illegal arms to the rebels of Ukraine. Come on! Let’s remember the less-than-able, picked-off-from-insignificance, people who headed our missions, even in very important positions. The post in Washington is to be noted here.

Even the much respected President Ranasinghe Premadasa sent a relative of his wife to a Scandinavian posting as ambassador with disastrous results. He travelled there with his bride and one or two boyfriends, attending to them at the expense of his wife, whom he said had travelled much and could manage while he had to see to his ‘valets’!! If this cat’s memory does not fail her, he committed suicide later. So she ends this comment with the hope Sangakkara accepts the ambassadorial post.The second silver tray of praise is for Rosy Senanayake. She definitely deserved to win her Parliamentary seat in Colombo. Explanations have been forwarded for her surprise rejection and she intended asking for a recount of her votes. Abiding by stipulations made, she is not accommodated on the nominated list.

We in Colombo did her bad. And it is a shame she is not to be in Parliament unless some sudden turn is taken. She is smart, committed to her responsibilities, cleverly proficient in both Sinhala and English, and a pride to the nation. When one thinks of the scum (in Menika’s opinion and very many others’) that have been elected from Colombo, one wonders whether people who voted had their brains inverted or some such calamity occurred in the polling booths.

Women in droves voted for this ‘sister’ of theirs who they knew, glamour and good looks notwithstanding, was a dedicated worker. And she loses to some rotters (again Menika’s opinion). Wonder why the kudos to her? Because she had the grace and sincerity to say her defeat did not matter in the light of the UNP winning most seats. She appeared at a president-attended function and was all glamorous smiles. No sulking by her.A recent visit to the Rajagiriya Ayurveda Hospital has Menika singing praises to most there. A young man, nurse aide she presumes, was extremely polite and said the doctor she wished to see would be in and to please take a seat and even switched on a fan to cool her consternation. A nurse in a ward made two telephone calls to another to help Menika.

The doctors themselves are very helpful and concerned about their patients. Of course you get the minors who imagine themselves majors and attempt throwing their weight around. Two years ago an administrative staffer complained to Menika that the ayurveda hospitals are not treated on par with the so-called western medical institutions. Work is in progress to extend the Rajagiriya hospital. One needed remedy is to have more persons dispensing medicines in the morning. Queues get very long and even carers who bring patients along, feel fatigued. But the hospital in general deserves praise since it caters to hundreds per day and serves further hundreds in-house.

Menika ends her say with gratitude that the country too has changed, so much, for the better. The very atmosphere is impregnated with a sense of freedom and fraternity.