When Sri Lanka won the World Cup, cricket's ultimate challenge in 1996, virtually the entire population – or at least those who found their way to a television set – were literally on their toes watching the final. Tamil separatist rebels or the Tamil Tigers, not to be outdone, also cried a temporary halt to the spate of attacks and violence. It was rumored that both government soldiers and the rebels had signed off on a temporary truce to watch the match and ‘not disturb the other'. Whether it really happened no one is certain, not the Sri Lankan public for sure! However the stars were undoubtedly Sri Lanka playing Australia at the Lahore stadium and the only fireworks in Sri Lanka that night on March 17 was watching Aravinda de Silva slam a century and take the Sri Lanka through to an exhilarating victory. We were, however, not so lucky at the 2007 World Cup finals in Jamaica where Sri Lanka again was locked in battle against Australia. While glued to the TV intensely watching the match on April 28, thousands of kilometers away sometimes with lumps forming in our throats as Australia appeared to take the game away, the Tigers launched a daring air raid over Colombo. In what sounded like ‘pings' as the alert was sounded and anti-aircraft guns mounted on buildings fired away at random in the dark of the night when electricity switched off across the city as a precaution, two rebel aircraft flew low and dropped bombs at two oil storage facilities in the capital. There was a lot of damage but no casualties and at the end of the day, Sri Lanka had lost the battle with Australia and faced the ignominy of seeing the two aircraft return to their bases in northern Sri Lanka, unscathed despite rounds and rounds of anti-aircraft gunfire. With the ‘demise' of the LTTE in May 2009, such brazen attacks are no more and this time when Sri Lanka prepares for the World Cup being played closer home – in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh next month – there won't be any distractions. Not even the political games being played at home between President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling administration and a motley group of opposition parties led by the mainstream United National Party (UNP)! There are other concerns like the rising cost of living and local government elections which are being held during this period barring in the areas where the matches are taking place in Sri Lanka. Yet, for youngsters like Ravindra Kumara, a 26-year old vegetable vendor at a market in Colombo, nothing will come in the way of the World Cup. “We are going to win. I know for sure and our focus will be on cricket, cricket and more cricket, in the next few weeks.” Most youngsters, irrespective of whether the Sri Lankan team has been on a winning roll in recent months or not, are placing their bets on the local side doing what they did in 1996. “Apey team eka (our team) dinnanewa (will win),” said Upul Jeevan, an office aide in a Colombo firm. The country is being spruced up for the occasion. Buntings and promotional boards have appeared across the city while a mega concert was held launching Sri Lanka's preparation for the 49-day event which begins on Feb. 19 in Bangladesh and ends on April 2 in Mumbai. Sri Lanka is hosting 12 of the 49 matches. After-parties, musical concerts, street markets, etc have all been planned as cricket administrators helped by government authorities prepare possibly the biggest show in the past few decades in conflict-free Sri Lanka, drawing also some 3,000 journalists from across the globe and hundreds more tourists. Cricket stadiums are racing against time in the upgrading process with officials from the International Cricket Council due by end January for inspections to certify that the grounds are ready for the big games. Thousands of Sri Lankans are preparing to attend the matches with hotels in and around the venues in Colombo, Kandy (central hills), and Hambantota (southern most part of the country) getting ready with accommodation requests. “We are ready with virtually, spanking new stadiums and other facilities,” says a confident Suraj Dandeniya, ICC's tournament director for the games being played in Sri Lanka, during an interview on ESPN. Likewise newspapers, television and radio here and in the Indian subcontinent and other cricket playing nations are all about the World Cup and the changes of each team. Politics is taking a back-seat, Sri Lankan astrologers, considered a special breed in a country where many people believe in astrological forecasts for their day-to-day life, have also jumped on the bandwagon. Noel Brian Ranasinghe, a well-known Sri Lanka musician who has studied the western system of astrology and the occult for many decades, believes the planets favor India, Sri Lanka, England and Australia battling it out to the finals. “India ruled by Saturn which is the Lord of its sign ‘Capricorn' will be exalted. Likewise, the Lord of England's sign which is ‘Mars' is also exalted in ‘Capricorn', the sign of India. ‘Jupiter' which is the ‘ruling' planet of Australia will be in the sign of ‘Aries' and Sri Lanka which has ‘Jupiter' in its own sign will also benefit. So watch out for these four countries as they battle it out for the World Cup,” he said, smiling when asked who would be the winner. “I shouldn't tell you that but the stars already know,” he says. Veteran astrologer Piyasena Rathuwithana, also President Rajapaksa personal astrologer and who follows the Eastern system of astrology, says Sri Lanka has an outside chance of winning the Cup but refuses to say who would be the final two. According to his assessment, England, Australia, India and Sri Lanka will be the front-runners in the tournament, consistent with Ranasinghe's theory. “The transition of Mars (the fighter planet) to Virgo (the lagna of Sri Lanka) from tomorrow (Jan. 25) will improve the fighting spirit and bring glory to the Sri Lankan team,” he said explaining in astrological jargon the way astrologers believe the World Cup will play out. As an entire, cricket-crazy nation focuses on cricket in a land where Muttiah Muralidharan and Sanath Jayasuriya are legends, for a near 50 days and night, President Rajapaksa can be assured that – just like the Tigers calling a temporary halt to the hostilities – Sri Lanka's opposition will also ensure a brief truce in the political battles while the cost of living issue too would be forgotten (for a short spell)! The writer is a politcal analyst based in Colombo __
