"Sirisena didn’t do a permanent job. He changed his job time after time. He sold rambuttan during the rambuttan season, mangoes during the mango season. When there were no fruits to be sold, he opted to take to homosexuality for money." – An English adaptation of a section the short story book ‘Sirisena, Thepanis Samaga Wedihitiyange Kathaa’ by W. Jayasiri, Pg. 14, 2003 
Here is an ideal case of tail wagging the dog, not dog wagging the tail scenario taking place now. That’s regarding the country’s preparation for the February 19 ICC Cricket World Cup to be co-hosted by Sri Lanka along with India and Bangladesh.It is actually not the country’s preparation, but the preparation of the local commercial sector. The hullaballoo brings to mind one classic example.
That’s the extravagant publicity campaign on the prospects of boxer Anuruddha Ratnayake before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Ratnayake’s first round exit was hilarious, making a mockery of his manager Dian Gomes and his ludicrous looking lead up to the boxer’s participation in the Olympics which brought nothing but embarrassment to Mr. Gomes. Superfluous publicity blitzes can end up in jeopardy, but the most vital factor here is who really needs these campaigns that obviously look out of place, out of proportion and at times hilarious.
Let’s hope the ongoing publicity and advert circus before the cricket World Cup do not end up as another Ratnayake-kind-of flop.
The Sri Lanka commercial sector, like one that could be found anywhere else in the region, can craftily exploit anything that is more lucrative in the given ‘season.’ As Jayasiri, the renowned Sinhala cinema actor and writer put it graphically; they live on selling no matter what, no matter what ethical grounds when it comes to selling their goods.
When you watch TV or listen to the radio, or while walking along Galle Road in Colombo, or going to the cinema, inch after inch, literally, highlights the cricket fever and the forthcoming World Cup. But most interestingly, it’s apparently not really the general public that burns the light, but the ads or the companies that really say Sri Lanka can ‘bring the Cup back.’
A film to be engrossed in this ‘artificial,’ commercially simulated general cricket fever copies the award winning Hindi movie, ‘Lagaan.’ It stars Tillekaratne Dilshan too and predicts too that ‘we’ can do it again.
The Sri Lanka business community apparently is not required to be taught how to do business and how to sell what at a given time. But at the expense of what?
It is truly enlightening to find out whether the general public is really ‘crazy’ to see Sangakkara and Co., win another World Cup for Sri Lanka. Do the public look to ‘our’ cricketers with the equal amount of respect and faith which they had for the winners of the 1996 world title? With the deluge of ads that feature Sanga, Mahela, Dilshan and others, these days, will the people really consider the cricketers as ‘unblemished’ heroes who strive unselfishly towards a common cause? That indeed is something hard to believe.
The Island
