The Jaffna and Colombo communities have been tied in a ceremonial bond through a celebrated cricket tournament between Hindu College, Jaffna and Ananda College, Colombo. Iconic personalities of the Hindu and Buddhist communities in Sri Lanka will be played for the “Sivagurunathan Memorial Trophy” tourney.
The programme will be organized by Ananda College Old Boy’s Association and the event will be worked off on September 28 and 29. In addition to the cricket encounter, an English debate contest for the Panikkar-Thanabalasingham Trophy, in memory of two illustrious teachers who excelled in teaching and encouraged English at Ananda will also be held. A basketball match and chess tournament will also be worked off.
The objective behind the entire programme is to create an opportunity for students, staff and parents to transcend the physical and mental barriers that had been built up over the last few decades and eventually to set an example for inter communal harmony.
The contest is for the Sivagurunathan Trophy, in memory of V.T.S. Sivagurunathan, a JHC alumnus who was a stalwart during Ananda’s formative years. He served at Ananda from 1916 to 1942 as the headmaster and much more during the period of Principal P de S Kularatne. He was a man of great energy and versatility. Whilst doing a full programme of classroom teaching, he drew up the time-tables, supervised production of the college magazine and was an archivist and chronicler who maintained cumulative records of pupils long before the Department of Education did. He also wrote a series of books for the teaching of English to beginners, which were widely used outside Ananda even.
Sivagurunathan openly advocated a liberal, national outlook and found the Ananda College to embody this vision. He was a truly national-minded educationists and worked for harmony among distant cultures. His struggle was to provide opportunities to those who were excluded from receiving a modern education during the Colonial period due to religious or economic considerations.
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