It’s indeed a pity that life is not cricket. If it were, we’d not have seen the festering wounds of an ignorant war.
– Sri Lankan cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara, some 31-minutes into his 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s on July 4, 2011
We’ve always known, and indeed written on the SI blog, that Kumar Sangakkara was not merely a fine cricket player but an extraordinarily eloquent one as well.
In his 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords on July 4, Sangakkara showed what a fine wordsmith he is in a remarkable address on the subject Spirit of Sri Lankan Cricket.
Sangakkara delivered a scintillating summary of the story of Sri Lankan cricket deftly weaving the history of the game in the island nation with the country’s colonial history, politics, civil war, victory, defeat, corruption and political interference.
SearchIndia.com strongly recommends that cricket acolytes listen to Sangakkara’s address in its entirety here.
For fans of the game, and they number in the hundreds of millions, the one-hour would be time well-spent.
We’re inclined to believe Sangakkara wrote the speech himself but, hey, if you’d like to prove us wrong we’re all ears.
Does a career in politics beckon for Sangakkara?
We think so after this fine player removes his gloves and pads for the last time.
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Very true.
I too love to listen to this guy speak at the post match presentation and interviews.
I like the way Dhoni speaks too, very honest, but he is sometimes forced to play to the gallery because of the aura of Captain Cool surrounding him.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Dhoni is no match for the maturity and eloquence Sangakkara exudes in his demeanor and speeches.
True but with due respect to Sangakkara’s eloquence, I’ll take Dhoni’s good luck charm anytime. ๐
When it mattered most Dhoni stood up and got counted – World Cup finals. The poise with which he hit the winning stroke was simply outstanding. It is a stroke that will remain the memory of a generation of Indians.
Dhoni will probably never get to deliver such a fine lecture though.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: True but with due respect to Sangakkara’s eloquence, I’ll take Dhoni’s good luck charm anytime.
So would Sangakkara! ๐
He is not a Law student for nothing! ๐
By the way,excellent lecture.
I’ve heard the speech too,the two Es fit him to the T – Elegance (In Batting) and Eloquence (In speech).
He is really a hard hitter of the ball,and has an ability to play an array of Drives.(Straight drive,Cover drive.).
He has played many great innings against good Fast bowlers at their peak (Vs Shane Bond in 2006,now a 119 against England etc.).And that makes him stand apart from the other Lankan batters who just play well in and around Colombo and fail outside Asia.
P.S: Dhoni might lack those two Es, but he is a better Captain and that’s the reason why India has been more successful in recent years.
Off-topic: May be you knew this, yet were silent. This was going on for around a week!! Trivandrum Padmanabha swami temple is the richest temple in the country, perhaps in the world. From the day they opened its vaults to see what is really inside, just by an order of Supreme Court, the amount of treasure found is increasing day by day insanely [now amounting to around 1 Lakh Crores!! (USD 22 Billion, yes, ‘Billion’.) ]
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/06/137627235/some-22-billion-in-gold-diamonds-jewels-found-in-indian-temple
This is just one of such temples with vaults. May be, it is time to search all the ancient temples in the country ๐ No wonder, why Ghazni made around 23 expeditions to India, and why British did not want to leave India for 300 years ๐
But things, even if explored, we can’t guarantee they would be really safe in hands of our beloved political leaders.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, the discovery of the vast temple treasures are all over the place here too. Covered widely even in NYT and other U.S. newspapers.
But one way or the other, the wealth will disappear in a decade.
We remember reading that Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize medal has disappeared.
What would have happened in a communist realm such as PRC? ๐
And there is no sense if the temple is to hold all the assets itself – for no use. May be, part of it should be directed at welfare schemes.
Or, perhaps, the temple can buy a controlling stake (if not, as single largest stakeholder) in Google or Microsoft, and change the logo to include “Naamam” ๐ and distribute free software to India (thus piracy is coming to an end)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Since it’s Incredible India, the money will soon make a few people immensely wealthy!
Ideally, the jewelry and gold should be auctioned and the proceeds used for Education, Healthcare and Feeding the destitute in India.
Of course, it won’t happen.
It would be wonderful even if this treasure is used to improve the overall standards of Temples and other cultural institutions. This will generate jobs, improve the economy of small towns and generate recurring revenue from Cultural tourism.
India has the cultural heritage and wealth that is unique and nearly unmatched (probably with the exception of China, Greece and Egypt). India has so many genuine historic sites that are dying a slow and painful death.
Increased accessibility, information and marketing coupled with improved infrastructure can do wonders for tourism in “Incredible India”.
Related to the Padmanabha swamy temple treasures – Found this in Facebook. A good one to share ๐
Centuries of wealth safely guarded by the royal family is less than what the politicians have plundered and stacked in Swiss banks in half a century !!!
The Power of Democracy Vs Monarchy
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Now that the treasures have been exposed to temptations of the basest in society, they will not last long.
Let’s compare Sanga’s eloquence with the eloquence of probably the greatest basketball star ever..
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Michael-Jordan-s-high-school-love-letter-reveale?urn=nba-wp5843
To be fair to him, he didn’t know it was going to go public.. and he didn’t have any writers or proofreaders.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Plain awful. Middle school students in Panruti and Villupuram schools will probably write better.
As one of the commenters in your link page correctly wrote: if i wrote letters like that I would’ve stuck to basketball too. ๐
BTW, it’s interesting to note from Michael’s Wiki Profile that he did not marry Laquette, the recipient of the letter.
He should have probably married her.. his divorce cost him 150 mil. dollars.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
That’s probably chump change for Michael.