It was a quiet and calm evening with surprising weather for the month of February, we were all absorbed in our own thoughts having evening tea when my dear brother broke the news, and this seemed to catch everybody’s attention. ‘Do you’ll know that the president was coming to our prize day’ said my brother. I raised my head from the book I was reading, I was astonished about what I just heard. My brother was telling that his Excellency the president Mahinda Rajapakse was going to be the chief guest of their school prize giving! How grate, I thought for a moment . lthough I and my mother was very much taken in by this news my father thought that that it was a very common thing to happen because many presidents have visited their school in the history.
Anyway I was longing to see the president for it was my whimsy of all times. The fact that I was going to see the president of our country in person and not on TV excited me (almost all the time the president is seen on TV). I sought more information from my brother interested in what was to happen on that day, but he knew very little himself.
I was looking forward to see the president who I sometimes address as the king of Sri Lanka abstractedly. With all these thoughts in my mind I fell asleep happily that night. In the next few days I was able to hear more news about the upcoming grand event. My brother was told that the surroundings were going to be highly secured and that vehicles weren’t allowed to park inside school premises whilst taking cameras and cell phones to the event were prohibited. I had no quandary until this point; all these rules were quite acceptable up to this point.
Only I didn’t know that the upcoming condition might ruin all my plans for the grand event. The time of the event had changed as the president was coming. Instead of Friday afternoon the time of the event has been altered to Friday morning. This was very bad news to me, what a disaster I thought. I was looking forward to go to the prize day and now it’s in the morning in which case I will have to cut school to take part in it. This idea was not very wise in my opinion. I was deflated at this point.
We were wandering what to do since my brother was not quite sure of all this things he was told of. But I was quite sure that this was not anybodies tale. I had the thought of cutting school and attending this event more than once that week. This thought was brought to an end by another thought that struck me which was that I couldn’t simply say that I cut school to see the president (which was my whole intention of attending this event) would it not sound too lame a reason for me to say, so I thought that I might as well make my mind about this matter.
Although I made up my mind not to go I still couldn’t stop myself from feeling anxious about it, but of course both my parents very positive about my concerns. Mom would say, ‘Why don’t you simply come and stop worrying’ but papa (my father) would say a totally different thing such as, there won’t be anything special to see there, even if there was you are not cutting school for such a reason. ’ Both, mom and papa would have to attend the event as this was my brother’s last prize giving. They were getting prepared for the event amid all this I pretended to have forgotten my worries.
Several days passed and finally it was the day for the grand event I was longing for and am going to miss. I didn’t talk much about it with anyone that morning but went to school silently without complaining. Dropping me at school mom and papa headed towards the town to finish some work before the event. It was ten o’clock and there I was struggling with my math sum and trying not to think of what might be happening at the Trinity College main hall where my parents should be by that time. And there they must be promptly sitting inside the main hall of the college awaiting the president’s arrival I thought.
I was filled with panic all of a sudden regarding the president’s arrival. Did my parents find a proper parking with all the roads closed. After all this trains of thoughts ultimately, I managed to concentrate in my work with great difficulty. It must’ve been sometime past two o’clock when I was walking towards the main gate chatting with my friends almost forgetting that I have missed a great experience for a lifetime. It all came to mind with seeing mom wearing a saree (which is very rare). Mom started to speak about the event even before I could get into the vehicle.
Mom simply started off by saying ‘you should’ve come we were able to see a great deal of the president at the prize giving. ’ Getting into the vehicle I had three speakers to tell me what happened there. ‘We were expecting him from ten o’clock and the president turned up at half past eleven. I don’t know why he couldn’t work on time. ’ said my brother with a slight irritation in his voice. ‘I wonder why the president delivered the speech both in Sinhala and Tamil instead of English’ said my father in curiosity. ‘However we had nice seats in the balcony, didn’t we? mom responded immediately, ‘Indeed we had nice seats and we could see the president quite clearly through the TV screens they had set all over the place. ’ after a pause she said enjoying herself ‘I think the president looked much larger and worn out than on the television. ’ ‘If not for those TV screens we wouldn’t have been able to Sammy (my brother’s pet name), I and mom were busy trying to find out where he was seated at that time’ said my father.
He continued with sudden enthusiasm, did any of you notice that there was a special podium set to for the president? receiving no answer, he went on speaking ‘I think that the president has his own podium which he takes wherever he makes a speech. ’ this time my brother responded briefly ‘I think so too’. All this time I had very little talk, so I thought of asking a question ‘did the president give away all the prizes? ’ I got an immediate answer from my brother who was checking the prize list at that moment, ‘No, he only distributed about thirty prizes or so’. The next few moments’ conversation did not interest me at all, so I went back into my train of thoughts.
I had a mixed feeling throughout the rest of the day, I was almost happy about what had happened but somewhere in my mind I felt bad not having experienced anything myself. Nevertheless that feeling continued only until I happen to hear something of great interest the following day. That Saturday somewhere during the day time when I was enjoying myself watching a TV programme I came across an announcement which said “Expect the president’s speech made at Trinity College Kandy on this Friday, tonight at 9. 00 p. m. presented by The Presidential Media Unit”. I was delighted to hear this bit of information.
I was impatiently waiting until it was nine o’clock that day, craving to see what had happened. It was finally time for me to sit down at ease and watch whatever the presidential media unit might show on the account of the prize day. After the introduction of the programme it was time was for the climax. I could see his Excellency the president Mahinda Rajapakse arriving at the main hall of Trinity College in a Mercedes Benz with a band playing to welcome him. The president walked into the hallway on a red carpet with army officers on either side of the path.
A tiny bit of the remarkable song sung to welcome the president was shown; at this point I could see everything I had previously heard in detail. The president was seated on the first row at the right hand side, the staff seated right behind him, the prize winners were seated further behind and the rest of the hall was occupied by the parents, past pupils etc. while the prefects were standing on either sides of the hall. The flower decorations were quite scenic (while the difference of the podium I mentioned before was quite clearly seen here). altogether everything was agreeable I thought.
It was time for the president to deliver his speech. The president started off by thanking for the invitation he had received and then went on speaking or rather complementing on the activities and the achievements of the school. He also spoke about some great individuals who had set up their lives through this school. He made this event an opportunity to pass on some public messages as well. An hour and a half had passed and I didn’t even feel the time pass by. It must have been the way the president had presented the speech that kept me from feeling bored.
I was feeling as good as been present there at the moment of the event by this time. I felt as good as have seen the president myself and not through the TV and through others’ view point (although that was what really happened). I have always known that experience meant direct participation, but here I am feeling satisfied about a event I had been longing to take part in (to experience in other words) and had failed to do so even though my whole family had experienced the great fact about the event. For this reason I call the unsuccessful event of my seeing the president a wonderful experience as I enjoy looking back at it.
