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

Recall of life at St. John's College, Jaffna, Ceylon in the 1940 - 1950s.Part 2.

by Dr. VICTOR A. BENJAMIN, FRCS, Former Consultant Surgeon, Department of Health, Ceylon/Sri Lanka.

...Mr. C. H. Gunawardene was specially recruited to teach Sinhala at St.
John's. Apart from the small Sinhala School in Hospital Road, Jaffna, St.
John's was the only school in thë whole of the Northern Province to have a
Sinhala teacher. He was a very young teacher with an extremely bright future
before him. I am sure that his early years at St. John's would have helped
him in later years. He would have gone as an unofficial ambassador from
Jaffna to the Sinhala dominated parts of Ceylon.

All three teachers with the name Mathai taught me. They were better known by
their initials. T. M. Matthai was also the "Scout Master". His son Babu had
his early education at St. John's.

Mr. Balasingh arrived from Madras in 1942 or 1943 , and was the first
Zoology teacher at St. John's. He had a First Class Honours B. Sc. Degree
from Madras, and had done Botany as a subsidiary subject. He would have been
around the age of 22, and was fresh with new ideas on how teaching of these
two subjects should be done. The new Science Laboratory Block had been
dedicated and opened around the time. The task of setting up the Biology
section of the Science Laboratory was assigned to him. Prior to arrival of
Balasingh, Zoology was taught for the Johnians at Chundikuli Girls' College,
by their Principal, Dr (Miss) E. M Thilliampalam. This had been an
unsatisfactory arrangement, particularly where Zoology practicals were
concerned, and clearly even Miss. Thilliampalam wished St. John 's to find
its own full time Zoology teacher. Mr. E. M Ponnudurai who had been the
Botany teacher all these years felt happy to have Balasingh share the
responsibility of teaching Botany also. Balasingh organized the Biology
laboratory with Ponnudurai giving him all the support and help. They jointly
inaugurated the Natural Science Association for the senior Biology Students,
and I was fortunate in being a founder member of that Association. Weekly
meetings were held, soon after school hours. As an incentive for the
students to stay behind, after school, some food in the form of patties, or
vaddai and plantains with a cup of tea was provided from the tuck soap
before the commencement of the meetings. This was paid for from the annual
subscription of One Rupee (Rs. 1.00) paid by the members. Office bearers of
this association were a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer (all of whom
were students), with teachers Ponnudurai and Balsingh being Patrons. The
cost of the food was subsidized by the College. No one really knew whether
it was considered part of formal teaching of Biology, or if it was
extracurricular activity. Students were encouraged to read papers, arrange
demonstrations (or "practicals"), and even debate on controversial subjects
such as whether life started on Land, or in the sea, whether plants or
animals were more important, etc. Help in preparation in presenting a paper,
a demonstration, or a debate, was freely available from Balasingh. who was
more approachable than Ponnudurai. Early in 1945, Balasingh took up the
position of Assistant Lecturer ship at the University he graduated from,
having sponsored Mr. K. K. John to succeed him at St. John's.

Mr. E. M. Ponnudurai was an excellent teacher in Botany. He was a very
strict disciplinarian, and was generally feared by the students, because he
had powerful unofficial authority outside the classrooms, and even outside
the college compound. He was seen everywhere, walking around even after
school hours, as he lived with his family inside the school campus. He knew
every student in the school by name. He would keenly note how games were
being played, and mistakes any player made. He even seemed to know the
parents of most of the schoolboys. His punishment of students never exceeded
a verbal lashing, but the recipients of a scolding from Ponnudurai knew that
they were guilty of some misdemeanor or misbehaviour that had come to
Ponnudurai's notice. The College was everything that Mr. Ponnudurai toiled
for, and he was fond of proclaiming this fact. Nothing else mattered to him.
Botany was Ponnudurai's scientific interest. When I was the only candidate
in the whole of Ceylon to be awarded a Distinction in Botany, at the Higher
School Certificate examination held in December 1945, Mr. Ponnudurai felt
the proudest man on earth. He justifiably assumed it as proof that he was
undisputedly the best Botany Teacher in the whole of Ceylon. In later years,
he would embarrass me by consulting me on serious medical matters, even when
I was only a third year medical student.

Mr. J. R. Thambyaiah taught me Chemistry in the higher forms. He too felt
equally proud of himself, as the best Chemistry Teacher, when I obtained
Distinctions in Chemistry too, at the same H.S.C Examination. But he had to
share that honour with the Chemistry Teacher at Jaffna Central College, for
Kathiravel Reviraj of Central, and I happened to be the only two students in
the whole of Ceylon to be awarded Distinctions in Chemistry that year. It
was a very sad moment for me, about 25 years later. when I was suddenly
summoned to see him at his home. He had severe chest pain of very brief
duration. He died while describing his chest pain to me. 1 was the very last
person he spoke to.

Mr. S. Sivapragasam was a very amiable and lovable science teacher who
introduced Chemistry as a subject to students beginning to learn Science. He
taught the subject from the Chemistry laboratory (in the old block, and
before the new Science Laboratory had been built). He had the ability to
have the whole class involved in spontaneous and simultaneous bursts of
laughter,. even when teaching a dry and uninteresting subject like
Chemistry. His jokes were always new, and were strictly and appropriately
applicable to some situation or event that had taken place only moments
earlier. He was always very calm and serene. Any students or class that
tried any practical joke on Mr. Sivapragasam would instantly be made to look
fools by his instant response. Sivapragasam was a common name, and
therefore, he had to be identified by an appropriate nickname. His two sons.
D.R. Sivapragasam and P. T Sivapragasam studied at St. John's during my
tune. They were little senior to me.

MR. J. T. Solomons was the "ARTS MASTER' who taught drawing, sketching, and
painting with water colours. He was a very simple and pleasant man. He knew
that no student of his would ever equal his skills, even in later life, as
an artist. He was a contented man, having an "Arts Class Room" which he did
not have to share with any other teacher. He knew that during the days when
Ceylon was part of the British Empire, teaching of "ARTS" was held in very
low priority by the British rulers. Artistic skills never helped anyone to
secure any form of employment, and was a neglected subject. The class
timetables allowed students to choose between LATIN and ART, as their
preferred subject. The British Educational Policy for the Colonies in their
Empire placed some importance in learning a second language, and learning
the dead language. Latin was considered more important than learning the
native languages, Tamil or Sinhala. In this context, I chose to be an Art
Student than study Latin. I found that both the teacher of Latin. and the
subject, to be equally boring. .W. J. Solomons, son of Art Master Solomons.
was a few years senior to me at college. He had the same satisfied attitude
to life, as his father. He worked in the Forest Department after leaving
school.

Mr. L. W. D. Nalliah succeeded Mr. Solomons as the "Art Master"

Mr. D. H. Chinniah was a longstanding teacher in the lower forms. He was a
thin, dark. bachelor, who had the unique ability to suppress a smile, even
when inwardly, he was smiling or laughing with others, over some funny or
laugh provoking incident. He always wore white suite and white hat, and
would pedal to school on his rusty old bicycle. He taught with a seriously
monotonous loud voice. and there was no room for any fun, pranks, or jokes
during his classes. He would bring a thin stick with him, the presence of
which served as a deterrent to any student tempted to some minor mischief,
such as throwing paper rolled into a ball at him, when his face was turned
away from the students. If provoked by some fun at his expense, the next
student who failed to give a correct answer to some question from him,
earned a few strokes with the stick that Chinniah carried

Chinniah was a common name in Jaffna. and there were several students with
the name Chinniah, (which sometimes got spelled Sinniah). Students solved
the problem by giving Mr. Chinniah, an appropriate nickname, by which he was
always referred to.

Mr. K. C. Thurairatnam was the only teacher who rode to College on a
majestic motorbike. He was an excellent English teacher, and a handsome and
keen sportsman, and he played better soccer than the students did. He got
married, while working as a teacher at St. John's. He advanced his career a
few years later, by joining the staff of Jaffna College.

Mr. V. C. Canagaratnam was a teacher whom no one forgot. He taught with
great enthusiasm and with a loud voice. He looked equally smart, whether in
National dress or in a Western Lounge Suit. During my time at St. John's, a
cane about a meter in length. was kept in the college office, and was
available to any teacher who required it. Mr. Canagaratnam would send for
the cane with greater regularity than any other teacher. When teachers used
the cane, they had to make written entries on the "cane register" which
always had to be taken with the cane. The names of students who received
strokes with the cane, and other details including the offences that merited
the caning had to be entered by the teacher. Canagaratnam was fair in that
every student had an equal chance to be at the receiving end of the cane.
And every student got that chance. Strangely, the students did not take
offence at his resourcefulness in using the cane as an aid in education. He
was forgiven. and referred to. most affectionately. by the nickname
'crake-en ", (the first part of the nickname "crake" being understood in
English and the "en" which followed being borrowed from Tamil). Canagaratnam
liked the nickname by which he was known, and felt obliged to act that part.
He carried no grudges.

Mr. Param Selvarajah was both cricket coach, and a commissioned officer in
the Ceylon Cadet Battalion. St. John's had cadet platoons, both for senior
cadets and for junior cadets. Later on he joined the regular army, and rose
to the rank of a major.
Mr. E. C. A. Navaratnarajah was another keen teacher of English. and
produced several English Plays. These were so successful. and some of these
were staged in Kandy too. During the period January to June 1946, 1 remained
in
school, even though I had no class to attend as a student. It was just after
my H.S.C and University Entrance Examinations held in December 1945. I was
Senior Prefect at that time, and had a single room in the college boarding
house. I would be asked to act for any teacher who was absent. During this
period, Mr. Navaratnarajah trained students for one of the best plays that
St. John's produced. I attended the training of students, very regularly,
after school hours, not having anything else to do. I did not know that Mr.
Navaratnarajah greatly appreciated my presence as an uninvited observer.
Very soon, I knew the parts of every actor, including what they had to say,
by memory. When Mr. Navaratnarajah knew this, he would ask me to deputise
for any actor who was absent, or who turned up late. He also invited me to
sit near the stage and prompt what had to be said, when an actor got stuck,
forgetting his part. I soon became a voluntary "sub-assistant" to Mr.
Navaratnarajah. He rewarded me in the most unexpected way, by including me
in his group, when the play was staged in Kandy. It was my first visit to
the hill capital.

Mr. P. E.Rajendra, an excellent athlete, had been the Assistant Athletic
Coach at St. Patrick's College for several years, during which years, St.
Patrick's remained the unbeatable Athletic Champions. After some dispute at
St. Patrick's, he joined the staff at St. John's, vowing to train a team
from St. John's that would defeat St. Patrick's. He worked very hard towards
this goal, and transformed ordinary students who were idle in the evenings,
into top grade athletes. Within two or three years, he achieved his aim.
when St. John's became the Athletic Champions. It was a moment of great
triumph for everyone at St. John's. Soon afterwards, he entered the
University. of Ceylon as an undergraduate, and a few years later became the
Director of Physical Education at the University...ctd.