Once again the third day of the annual Royal - Thomian Cricket Match played in Colombo arrived. As in the past, STC OBA Canada celebrates this day with Stag Night. A night that boys will and can be boys again, away from wives and girl friends. This year too, the event was held at St. Philips Parish Hall at 60, Dixon Road, Etobicoke. The Stag Night which commenced at 7:00 pm, followed a Special General Meeting of the members to consider and take a vote on the proposal to register the STC OBA Canada as a Not for Profit Organisation under the laws and regulations of the Province of Ontario.
Webmaster, Sajeewa Peiris gave an exhibition of showing all those present a slide show of pictures beamed on a large screen from the game in Colombo. Later on, he showed actual live streaming of some highlights of the third day game.
To get everyone present into the right mood and in the right spirits, the guys gathered inside the STC Boys Tent along with a collection of traditional rivals from Royal College to imbibe with some blessings from Lord Bacchus. DJ Chamil Welikala then got the sounds and beat going to get the toes a tapping. Assistant Social Secretary, Hiran Perera got the party under way by vocalizing some oldies. One by one, most present got onto the dance floor to get the party underway. Soon it was Papare sounds and typical big match fare played by DJ Chamil. By 9:00 pm the party was well on its way, with most present stomping around and swaying to the sounds of the beat.
Dinner was announced at 10:00 pm. Everyone gathered went downstairs and tucked into a spicy and tasteful fare of Pittu, Noodles, Mus Curry, Pol Sambol and Brinjal. Dessert of Fruit Salad and Ice Cream, followed.
Dinner time was followed by the very talented Thomian musicians, Kumaru Wijesundera on Guitar, Shantha Jayasekera on Congo Drum, Hiran Perera on Keyboard taking stage. The singing took off with several Royalists too joining in the lusty singing. Pianist, Ravi Niles then joined the group and the singing took on a greater momentum for another hour or so.
Social Secretary, Balen Rajanathan worked tirelessly throughout the evening to ensure that everyone was well fed and nothing was overlooked. Assistant Treasurer, Sakthi Arumugam assisted by Suresan and Assistant Secretary, Sri Rangan, manned the doors to register all those attending the event, collect cash and handout dinner and drink tickets. Daya Ginige, continued to record the event with his camera throughout the evening. Gamini Kumarage and Chian de Silva served as Barmen throughout the evening.
The evening wound down at around 12:00 am. A well organized event, where everyone enjoyed. But it was rather disappointing to note that many of the younger old Thomians, gave the event a skip.
Hiran A
Dear Members,
Scrabble, Poker & Bingo - Y2012
Incredible! Yes, one word is all that is required to describe the event conducted on a relatively mild winter day at the UFCW Auditorium in Missisauga on Saturday, February 25th 2012 commencing at 10:00 am.
The inaugural Scrabble tournament organized jointly with the St. Bridget’s Convent OGA in Y2010, was unfortunately not repeated in Y2011. Never giving up on this idea, Past President Dulsri Ranjan Weerasinghe coaxed the Methodist College Association of Canada to join the Thomians this year in jointly organizing this event which was expanded to include Poker and Bingo tournaments too.
Scrabble
The morning activities commenced with 18 players matched to try their wits on Scrabble. Once again the players from St. Bridget’s who totally showed up the Thomians at the early event were there in strength. Not to be outdone, Methodist too brought in their players, which included Sakthi Arumugam at his wife’s insistence representing her team. Hiran Adhihetty had a totally poor showing scoring only 90 points to Sakthi’s over 200. Another round among the losers was then held to see which of the best in that group would move onto another round. Pramuk Weerasinghe totally rattled Hiran by opening his play with a 7 letter word – SNARERS. On challenging such a start, it was found there is such a word. To add insult to injury, Hiran had to forego a turn at play. Soon Pramuk took total charge of the board and racked up over 350 points with Hiran trailing far behind with about 190 points to lose once again.
The finals were now drawing near. Previous champion Kaveri, met her match in sister-in-law who was a reluctant participant initially. Kushi Perera then showed total class as a champion player by outclassing Kaveri. What a pleasure it was to watch this game. But the best was left for last, when Kaveri’s son, Vimalan Raviraj beat out aunt Kushi to be the ultimate winner.
Winners & Awards
Highest Single Word Score 80 points Kushi Perera
Highest Score 557 points Vimalan Raviraj
Winner of Tournament Vimalan Raviraj
The champions once again – St. Bridget’s.
The team from STC promise that they will practice, read dictionaries and improve on their English for next year’s tournament. Evidently, Arndt, Rifle Mendis and Raja Asirwatham are rolling in their graves at the shame the STC OBA Team have put them through, once again.
Poker
Here the Thomian team led by Shantha Jayasekera, Chian de Silva and Sanjay Perera held their own in organizing the tournament to flawless perfection. The electronic interface and the well laid out Auditorium gave an ambience that would have put even a Las Vegas Casino to shame. Light music of several old melodies provided with the compliments of Daya Ginige were played in the background throughout the day.
A long day and afternoon ended with the following being those who shared the spoils:
1. Brett Gonsalves
2. John Ragell
3. Rebecca Joachim
4. Mayuran Sivarajah
5. Chris Fernando
6. Nirosha Isaacs
Bingo
After a well laid out lunch of Lamprai and Buriyani, which was well managed by Neru Weerasinghe and Yogesh Sri Rangan, where all guests were personally treated to Thomian hospitality, everyone gathered for the most successful event of the day. The best was left for last – BINGO.
With Daya G rolling the numbers, and DR calling out the event that commenced around 4:00 pm kept going, on and on and on……. Everyone gathered got totally excited and had more sheets to fill as the afternoon progressed. There were prizes for Top Line, Crosses and BINGO. This was an event that saw everyone involved. Mothers, Sons and Daughters, Husbands and Wives, Young and Old.
Finally, a great and exciting day had to come to a conclusion around 6:20 pm.
The day’s proceedings ended with the awarding of prizes to all those gathered with Methodist’s Saro Niles and STC’s Hiran being called upon to do the honours.
With the day’s collections and after all expenses, the STC OBA and Methodist College Association were able to announce a donation to the Leukemia Research Foundation of $ 550.
In conclusion, special mention must be made of the hard working teams from both organizations:
Methodist
Anushya Ranasinghe, Indrani Wootler, Chandri de Silva, Indrani Amerasinghe & Saro Niles.
STC OBA
Project Chairman – DR, Balen Rajanathan, Ram Thirugnanam, Jehan Ahamed, Shantha Jayasekera, Chian de Silva, Sanjay Perera & Daya Ginige.
Finally thanks to, Bravo Logistics for their donation of $ 500 towards the lunch, Saro and Ravi Niles for bringing a ‘giveaway gift’ to all those attending & Jehan for use of UFCW premises.
Though a long, long day, everyone went home with a ‘smile on their face’ and a ‘promise to return next year’.
Thank you, everyone who made this event happen. Easily one of the best organized, meaningful and fun day that the STC OBA has ever organized.
Hiran A |
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