COMMUNITY

Tamil colleges put on ‘scintillating’ show

Every summer among the occasions that Tamil expatriates in London look forward to is the TSSA festival, which takes place annually on the bank holiday Monday in August, writes Stephen Thavam

This year in particular, the expectations were heightened by the fact that the TSSA was celebrating its 10. To mark this special occasion, the opening ceremony was performed by the Mayor of Ealing Cllr. Ranjit Dheer.

The forecast for the day had been one of warm, glorious sunshine and we were not to be disappointed. As the initial trickle of people, which started as early as 8 am rapidly grew to an arrival en masse of participants and spectators, it became clear that the expectation of a record turnout was not misplaced.

This year past pupils of 42 Tamil schools from Sri Lanka participated in the open Cricket tournament, cricket over 40s, cricket under 16, Netball, Volleyball and under 10s soccer competitions and the sight of the sheer number of people encompassed within the sporting arena was a testimony to how quickly the Association had grown over the years.

The open cricket tournament as usual was the first even to be kicked off and featured 22 teams. Anybody wanting a little background to the schools involved only had to flick through the stylish souvenir brochure for a concise introduction, which also featured the draw for the tournament and listed all teams taking part in the other competitions.

The games in the first round were in the round robin format - most of the teams were put into groups of three and played each other once within the group with the winner of the group progressing to the next round.

The draw for the tournament in keeping with tradition is not based on a seeding system and consequently opens up the potential for some interesting games early on. This year, the possibility for this materialized almost instantly when having routinely won all their group games St. John's college and Jaffna Central, arguably the two strongest teams in the tournament, came head to head in the quarter finals.

With the spectators astutely aware that one of the giants would be taking no further part in the competition beyond this round, the anticipation of a close encounter was matched equally by a certain amount of tension from both camps.

The match though not remarkable in itself due to the heavy one-sided nature, did produce some scintillating cricket from the Central team. Having been put into bat, a big total was never in doubt, and St. John's were left to chase a total requiring around 12 an over. This task however proved well beyond them with their key opening batmen being removed very early on by some clever bowling.

The fact that St.John's effectively had to concede the game before the final over had commenced was a good indication of the margin of the victory, and from this success, the path to the final for Central was a routine affair.

If the bottom half of the draw had produced some interesting games, the top half featuring the other big name, Jaffna Hindu, was far more straight forward. As expected, Hindu marched through to the final with little resistance, and with both Central and Hindu playing excellent cricket, the prospect was for a tantalizing final between these two very strong sides.

Batting first had proved very profitable for Central in previous rounds and this sequence continued through in the final. They amassed a total of 94 in the six overs, with powerful and disruptive stroke play, in particular from Mano, who scored an excellent quick fire 40. Most teams faced with such a total would rarely contemplate stealing a victory but in Suthan and Broody Hindu possessed batsmen single handedly capable of knocking off even the 16 runs per over required.

As expected, the response was equally aggressive and to everyone's astonishment the scoreboard indicated a total of 40 even before the second over had been completed. However, in attempting to continue the innings in the same vein that they had begun it, both openers soon found themselves back with the spectators at the boundary line.

Although the remaining Hindu batsmen intermittently showed signs continuing the fight, an over from Murali where only three runs were conceded confirmed Centrals hold on the game and their emergence as the Champions of 2001.

The open cricket tournament was undoubtedly the main event of the day but it was noticeable that the other sporting activities taking place in parallel were equally well supported. The netball tournament in particular had a good share of the spectators and the final between Chundikuli and Hindu Ladies where Chundikuli triumphed with relative ease was played in a spirited atmosphere created by an enthusiastic and vocal crowd planted close to the boundary of the court. The volleyball tournament was also witnessed by a sizeable number of people who were treated a to a remarkable standard of play.

The cricket under 16 tournament and the under 10s soccer had on display some extremely talented youngsters, who in time would no doubt take central stage in the main events. And a special mention must of course be made of the over 40s cricket tournament where in spite of the harsh realities of age, the veterans continue to give their 100% for their old schools and where this year, St. John's overcame Jaffna Hindu in the final.

In addition to the above, there were two further events which were focused on maintaining the strong links that already exist between the Association in the UK and that of Canada. An exhibition cricket match between the TSSA team and a select 11 produced some of the best cricket of the day and similarly an exhibition netball game between the TSSA side and the team from JSSA Canada was of the highest quality. JSSA Canada was established on 4 November 1994 following a visit by their President Mr. Jogaratnam to the UK festival in August 1994 and currently holds 52 schools as registered members. All in all, the day proved to be thoroughly entertaining.

Toronto temple celebrates ‘Aavani Chathurthi’

Sri Varasithi Vinayakar Toronto Temple celebrated Aavani Chathurthi on the August 22, at its premises sited at Kennedy and McNiccoll, attended by several hundred Tamil worshippers. The celebrations at Sri Varasithi temple began at 3.30pm, with several poojas being held for Lord Vinayakar.

Around 8pm, Ceasar the elephant, which was ornamented with colourful pieces of cloth, was brought inside the temple and was guided around the temple by his keepers. Ceasar then stood before the main statue of Lord Vinayakar and bowed down on his front two legs, where at this point the temple priests placed flower garlands over his head. He was then led outside the temple, where people were allowed to come give elephant food to him.

Then around 9.30pm, after the pooja inside the temple was done, a priest was mounted on top of Ceasar and a Ther was taken around the outside of the temple with Ceasar at the front and the Ther following behind and a procession of worshippers behind, singing religious songs.

Once the procession was completed the final pooja was held inside the temple and this ended at around 10pm. Following the pooja sweet rice and kaddallai was served for the worshippers. The celebration was attended by more than 500 people and was celebrated very grandly. Worshippers said there are many reasons as to why Chathurthi is celebrated, one of them being the Hindu legend about Lord Vinayar.

"Lord Vinayakar was dancing in the Himalayas and one day Chandran (the Moon) whilst watching the Lord dance, started to mimic him. This upset Vinayakar and so in return he cursed Chandran and told Chandran that he would start to disappear slowly - from being a full moon, he gradually started to disappear," a worshipper said.

"Chandran who was upset by all this rushed to Lord Shiva and asked what he should do, Lord Shiva replied saying that he was wrong in what he did and should go apologise to Vinayakar. So on the fourth day after Ammavaasai (no moon day) in Aarvani (August) Chandran apologised to Vinayakar and in return Vinayakar blessed Chandran and replied that after this day you will gradually start to grow back - hence the different periods of the moons cycle."

Therefore, on this day people around the world fast and pray to Vinayakar in the hope that Vinayakar will solve all problems that they have. Chaturthi is celebrated once every month and is celebrated on the fourth day after Ammavaasai (no moon day).

Aarvanni Chathurthi (this is the Chathurthi which falls between the 15th of August and the 15th September) is celebrated grandly as this is thought to be the day that Lord Vinayakar is supposed to have forgiven Chandran (the Moon).

Reena Amriwala performs Bharathanatya arangetram

Reena Amriwala, student of Ragini Rajagopal, performed her Bharathanatya arangetram on August 26 at The Arts Centre of Latymer Upper School. The literary and art critic, Mr S Sriskandarajah was the Chief Guest, while Mrs Hansa Solanki of the Brixton Sai Centre was the Guest of Honour at the debut performance.

Gujarati born and British raised Reena is a law student at the London School of Economics. "An admirable quality about her is that her higher learning at such a famed institution does not weigh her down, nor even prevent her from coming regularly for dance classes" says her guru, Mrs Rajagopal.

Reena's repertoire consisted of a Pushpanjali, followed by an Alarippu and the Natesha Kauthuvam. The Jathiswaram was followed by a Varnam entitled 'Sakiye inthe jalam enadi', portraying the feelings of a young devotee in love with Lord Krishna. After the intermission, Reena performed a Keethanam devoted to Lord Natarajah and a Nritta Vadhya Vinyasam.

The Patham described the 'Oonjal' ritual and portrayed the beauty of Goddess Madurai Meenakshi. The Panthaatam, or ball dance was next, before the Thillana dedicated to Lord Krishna. The final dance was performed to a Sai Bhajan, and a Maha Mangal Aarathi

In his greetings, the Chief Guest praised the "exemplary" attitude of Reena and said he was sure it would '"serve as a clarion call to those UK born youths of Asian origin who drift rudderlessly in the turbulent sea of Western confusion".

Reena was accompanied during her arangetram by vocalist Mrs Mathini Sriskandarajah, Mr M Balachandar on the mirdangam, Mrs Malini Thanabalasingham on veena, Mr K T Sivaganesan on violin, Mr Thiyagarajah Raghavaraman on the flute and Mr Kanthiah Sithamparanathan on morsing.

Obituaries

Dr Arumugam Sittampalam

Passed away: 04/09/01

Dr Arumugam Sittampalam of Ariyalai Jaffna, beloved husband of Puvaneswary, loving father of Yogieswaran (deceased), Jegatheswaran, Nuguleswaran, Ganeshwaran, Ketheswaran and Thayalini, affectionate father in law of Pushpalatha, Joan and David, precious appappa of Vanee, Gobi, Luxsmie, Jake and Hannah, sadly passed away peacefully on Tuesday September 4, 2001 in Barnet, London, UK. He was laid to rest on Thursday September 6.

Anyone wishing to pay their respects may contact the family at 18 Wycherley Crescent, Barnet, Herts, EN5 1AR, UK. Tel: 0208 440 4537

Mrs Ilaiyathambi Sivakolunthu

Mrs Ilaiyathambi Sivakolunthu, born in Kayts Kalaboomi and resident in Vannarpannai Iyanar Koviladi, passed away Thursday 06 September.

She was the beloved wife of late Mr Ambalavanar Ilaiyathambi, Sister of Rasaratnam Pakkiyam of Thirunelveli,

Beloved mother of Maheswari, Ananthanadarajah, Nallainathan , Pathmavathy, Navamani, Ragunathan (London), Kathirkamathamby, Punithavathy, Dr Vaikunthavasan (London), Paramagnanam,

Mother-in-law of Sokkalingam, Mathinyar, Karunavathy, Dr Perinbanathan, Dr Pakkiyaluxmi (London), Mahaluxmi, Dr Ambikai, Grand mother of Sriharan (London), Shanthakumar, Sivakumar (Swiss), Janani (France), Ongarani, Srithevi, Sivapriya, Ariharan (Canada), Sharmini (London), Janahan (London), Dharshan, Menaka, Abhirami, and Prasanna.

Mrs Ilaiyathambi Siv-akolunthu's final rites were held at her residence at No 2, Sivaprahasam Road, and cremation was at Kombaiyanmanal Hindu cemetery on 07 September.

Contact:

Nallainathan (Son)

Kathirkamathamby (Son)

Paramagnanam (Son)

Mrs N Perinbanathan (Daughter)

Punithavathy (Daughter).