St. John's College, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Speech given at the 'Prize-giving' ceremony, June 21, 2014- Cricket Analogy.

Bernard Sinniah  Managing Director CitiBank London

The Honourable Chairman, Principal Sir, Distinguished Guests, Staff and
Students of St John’s, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you very much for inviting my wife, Anita and me here today, as your
guests of honour. It is indeed an honour and I am deeply humbled to stand in
front of you all.  

St John’s College has a very long history, having been founded some 191
years ago. The education of life that this great institution provides is
never evident when you are a student. It becomes evident only when you go
out into the real world, where one is challenged. St John’s quietly enables
us to face them all, to overcome and go forward. We sing - ‘Johnians always
play the game’. This doesn’t just refer to sports but it refers to the wider
game of life.

Having spent almost all my school days at St John’s, I am eternally grateful
for what I learnt here. The learning was endless and at times painful. The
first few years of hostel life was tough. Forming friendships was
challenging as we came from so many different backgrounds. Sometimes, it was
difficult, to getting used to teachers who were such strict disciplinarians.
But underneath all this, there was something special about St John’s that I
can be very proud of. Today, the first thing I proudly say to anyone is -“I
studied at St John’s, College, Jaffna, Sri Lanka – the best school in the
world!” 

The innocent friendships that we formed some thirty-five years ago have
grown from strength to strength. The fear we had for our teachers has turned
into utmost respect and total loyalty. Most of all, our affection for St
John’s continues to grow in every possible way.

I am not sure how many years have gone by since the first college prize
giving was held, but surely I must be the only Chief guest, who had never
won a prize. Among this audience, I can see some very familiar faces. I see
some of my former teachers who would never have dreamt, that I would be
standing here one day, as the Chief Guest. I would like to say that it feels
like a dream for me, too.

I want to begin by congratulating each and every one of you who has won a
prize. This is a reflection of your hard work and dedication throughout the
past year. Whether you won a prize for academic achievement, for
achievements in sport or in any other field, it is truly great to have your
efforts richly rewarded and recognised.  I am sure you made yourselves, your
parents and family members and all your teachers very proud. Well done and I
wish you all continued success.

When I was a student, we, the non-prize-winners, were always asked to sit at
the back of the hall. As the winners were getting their well-deserved
prizes, the one thing that constantly crossed my mind was – ‘Could I ever be
successful?’

Today I want to speak to all of you- those who won prizes and those who like
me, are wondering whether they could ever be successful.  I would like to
tell you this - it is all up to you. It is you and you alone who can define
your success. I want to really challenge you by asking a simple question “Do
you know how good you are - to be successful?”

I want to tell you a story - a true story where I was present. It happened
on the 24th of April 2007 at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. It was a very
hot and humid day when Sri Lanka took on New Zealand in the World cup
Semi-finals. It is the stand out innings of Mahela Jayawardena, which I
would like to share with you.

The scorecard will tell us that Mahela scored one hundred and fifteen runs
in one hundred and nine balls. But, the scorecard will not tell you the hard
work that went into getting there- how his innings was formed, how he was
patient, how he let go of so many opportunities to score and how he built
partnerships. The scorecard will also not tell you how he used his strengths
and used that perfectly to overcome the challenges he faced, to build and
deliver a great innings.

Most importantly, Mahela Jayawardena, the Sri Lankan Captain believed in
himself. He knew he was good enough to deliver a quality innings. That was
the key component of his success and of his beautiful innings that day.

Well, we all can learn a lot from that. We define our success by what is on
the board or by the prizes we win. What success was for Tharanga that day
was different to what it was for Mahela. Tharanga was judged by the
explosive start that he gave to the innings while Mahela was judged for the
calm and steady way he settled for a long innings, accelerating at the end.
Both of them were successful. It is therefore important to understand that
all of us can and will achieve success through different routes.

It is my fundamental belief that every one of us has the capacity and
capability to achieve success. It does not mean that we become over
confident and arrogant about our talents. It is about believing that we can!

When Mahela came to the crease, Tharanga was in full flow. The run rate was
still around five, but Sri Lanka’s batting was vulnerable, which even the
opposing captain Stephen Fleming acknowledged at the toss.

Mahela knew that he too, could join Tharanga and start scoring fast. He
could have done that but he didn’t. He buckled down and scored very slowly,
giving Tharanga the opportunity to score freely. He played carefully so that
he could easily pick-up his run rate later. That was his strength and he was
aware of that.

On the other hand, when I got through my Ordinary Level examination with
much difficulty, I believed that I should try to become a doctor. As you
know, this was a prestigious profession – it was then and, I am sure it is
now! I enrolled my self to the Bio stream; despite the fact that I had
failed Biology. My first class was Zoology where I was given a frog to
dissect and then to draw it. When I finished drawing, my Zoology teacher
told me that my frog looked like a goat. Next day, I spoke to the Principal
and quickly transferred myself out of the Bio stream into Mathematics
stream. I knew my limitations but tried to ignore them. 

Successful people know and acknowledge their limitations. Your limitations
will throw you challenges and obstacles. There is no point fighting them. It
is better to overcome them; otherwise they will hold you back from achieving
success. 
At the end of Fortieth over, Sri Lanka had slowly built their innings to one
hundred and eighty runs for the loss of four wickets. Mahela was not out at
forty runs from seventy-four balls. The commentators were giving him a hard
time. They were accusing him of taking too much time saying that Sri Lanka
had had a decent platform and have now they’ve messed it up.  
This is what happens in real life too, People will judge us by what they
expect from us without realising that all of us have different paths to
achieve success. The world will not know our limitations, the world will not
know our strengths and the world will not know the challenges we face. But
the world will be quick to judge us by what they expect from us.  
That is where your own determination and drive will have to come in. That is
how Mahela built his innings - He got to his fifty in the forty-first over
and in seventy-six balls. What happened from there on was a privilege to
watch – a brutal attack on the New Zealand bowling. He raced to one hundred
in one hundred and four balls. The last fifty came up in twenty-eight balls
and took Sri Lanka to two hundred and eighty nine for the loss of five
wickets.  This was way over what was predicted. It was done solely by his
sheer belief and careful execution. 
As we go on to live our lives outside the school environment, we will have
wickets falling around us. We will have commentators predicting what we
could achieve and commend or condemn the way we bat. The challenge for us is
not to allow these external factors to affect us. Do we allow these external
pressures to stress us or do we build our innings carefully and according to
what we want to achieve and play a Mahela innings?  To achieve success and
bring the best out of you, you will need to withstand these external
pressures and build your own innings. 
One has to look back at Mahela’s innings and admire the way he built it. He
took a long time to lay a good foundation. His, was a slow and steady
innings. Likewise, success doesn’t come overnight. One has to work for it
patiently and build it up slowly. We should run a marathon, not a sprint. 
You will need to take your own time, according to your own plan and ability
and then go and achieve your own success! 
When I was seated at that grounds watching that match and was getting
frustrated by his innings, I never realised how well he was planning it.
Cricinfo, the cricket website, described it as, ‘An innings that has been
worth it’s weight in gold’. Every time the run rate was dropping, he would
slowly squeeze in a four and every time a wicket fell, he took on a slightly
attacking role and then went back to playing a steady innings. He was
reacting to the situation rather than worrying about it.  
This is an incredible attribute that we all need. Every time we face a
crisis or a challenge, we really need to take a step back, analyse the
situation and react. – React positively. As they say ’the reaction to a
challenge is more important than the challenge itself’. There is no point in
worrying about a wicket that falls, but it is important to figure out what
needs to be done next.  There is no point in worrying about not winning a
prize but you should think forward as to how to do better and thereby giving
yourself a chance to win a prize. 
There are so many stories like Mahela’s innings from which we can learn
about life.  Whether you are a prize winner today or not, there are bigger
and better things to look forward to in the future.  
You will and You can achieve success : 
•     By Understanding your strengths and limitations. •     By Reacting
positively to your challenges. •     By Accepting that your path could be
different to that ofothers.•     By Being patient and building your life
over a period of time.And most importantly: By Believing in yourself! 
Before I finish, once again I’d like to thank you all for inviting Anita and
me. As I said at the outset, we are deeply touched and humbled to be here. 
In closing, I would like to say to all of you again – Believe in yourself!
You have so much inside you that will make you very successful! Next time,
don’t ask yourself the question that I asked myself. Assure yourself by
saying ‘Yes, I can be successful’ 
And as the great Boxer Mohammed Ali once said, ‘If my mind can conceive it;
and my heart can believe it; then I can achieve it’ 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH