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In
the spirit of the season Organised by
the Rotary Club of Colombo Uptown, the evening of entertainment
in keeping with the spirit of Christmas reminded us to spare a thought
for worthy causes amidst the celebrations. Traditional
songs like Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night and Sleigh Ride were
sung in perfect harmony by the Old Joes choir, expertly conducted
by Migara Luvis. Other songs featured were 'Va Pensiero', taken
from Verdi's Nabucco and 'Last Christmas', rearranged by Kamalini
Samarakoon, their accompanist. Kevin Franke
and Krishan Jayaratnam of Dejavu met all expectations with "I've
Seen Fire, I've Seen Rain" and "Have Yourself A Merry
Little Christmas." Dilip Seneviratne and Flame provided the
accompaniment. Their rendition
of 'Hotel California' and 'Mardi Gras' have almost become anthems
in Sri Lanka. Flame presented more of such acoustic music at its
best, keeping toes tapping the entire evening. Dilip Seneviratne's
'I Hope You Don't Mind' and 'I Don't Want To Talk About Anything,'
together with an instrumental piece 'Boogie' were a good addition
to the evening's programme. All artistes joined in the finale - 'So This Is Christmas.' "The purpose of the show was to promote the cause, Polio eradication and all of us were happy to be associated with an event of that nature," said leader of the Old Joes choir, Dayan Gunesekara. The show was produced by Michael Ranasinghe. Surviving
the challenge Making it through
the vigorous and keenly contested first leg at Bolgoda, they faced
the next gruelling round at Kitulgala and made it to the finals,
to emerge victors. Indeed, the 'Sharks' had earned their week-long
vacation to Kenya. Adheesha Salpitikorala
(27), the captain of the team, Chathura Kumara (25), Dilan Danushka
(23), Janaka Chandrarathne (27), Nayana Nivanthi (22) and Hemamale
Perera (20) (the latter were both cadets at school) were the jubilant
victors of the first KIT Challenge (the local version of Survivor),
a joint venture by Dialog GSM and Wild Holidays (Pvt) Ltd. At the initial
team briefing, as the 'Sharks' were observing the rafts, tents and
other equipment on display, Adheesha recalls how he had remarked
"...if we get to Kitulgala...". Hearing this Col. Wasantha
Jayasuriya, Director of Wild Holidays (Pvt) Ltd., had immediately
told them, "Don't say 'if', say 'when'...". "From
that day on, we took a more positive outlook and decided that we
would indeed say 'when' instead of 'if'. We stuck by those words
right up to the end," says Adheesha who with frequent contributions
and anecdotes from his team mates, recalled the obstacles they faced
and how they kept going even when things got really tough. The primary
difference between the semi-finals at Kitulgala and the finals at
Ella was the change in endurance measurements, claims Adheesha.
"All throughout the preliminary and semi-final rounds we were
tested mainly on our physical endurance but at the finals the extent
of our mental endurance mattered," he said. Their adventures
had -literally- many 'ups and downs'. For instance Adheesha recalled
how their boat capsized while white water rafting at Kitulgala and
how both he and another team member had been submerged under the
raft for approximately two minutes. This, he said, was quite an
experience as it took him some time to figure out what exactly had
happened. Kitulgala had
been no easy task as the teams were divided into two and 4 teams
each were made to do either water or land events which consisted
of rock climbing and jumping from 30ft tall bridges into the water,
jumping straight into the rapids etc. After the 1st
round at Bolgoda, the 'Sharks' had trained daily in Gampaha (their
home town). The steps leading up to the Asgiriya Temple, located
atop a hill proved to be quite useful to the team to increase their
stamina and endurance levels. Mile long jogs
too were part of their daily routine. Their main focus was on maintaining
their stamina and speed. According to
the Sharks, the Final at Ella had held quite a few unexpected surprises
for them. At the pre-final briefing the teams had been warned that
the teams could be separated. But nothing prepared them for what
was to come at Ella. On the first
day, one member from each team was asked to climb a rock on four
parallel tracks and once on top of the rock were gathered together
and taken to a particular location. Little did they imagine that
they would not see their own team members again for the next three
days. Together with two members from Wild Holidays, they were now
to be part of a new team. The organisers
thus separated the rest of the members so that no two members of
one team were left together. As the Final
began, each team comprised of six members, one member from each
of the four finalist teams and two Wild Holiday crew. Two teams
consisting solely of Wild Holidays Crew too were also formed. All
together there were eight teams, though the latter two were not
taking part on a competitive basis. Each day the
teams set out on the same route but at different times so as to
avoid encountering each other. A ration-pack was handed over to
each team for their survival in the three days to come. At the end
of each day they had to make their way to an allocated campsite,
where they had to prepare it for their use. They had to put up their
tents and make their own out-houses using gunny bags and sticks.
An award was given to the best looking campsite, which was jointly
won by groups 3 and 4. One of the
unique factors of the whole event was that the participants themselves
had a role to play in the final scoring. At the end of each day
each team had a 'Tribal Council' meeting together with judges from
Wild Holidays, who handed out a questionnaire to assess factors
like their mental endurance, team work and ability to adhere to
leadership. Each leaflet
had all the names of the team members written on the sheet where
they had to firstly cross out their own names from the sheet and
give an unbiased assessment of each team member. "By the
end of the first day, our team was so united that it was almost
as if we had all been in the same team in the first place. It was
a brilliant experience to get to know so many new people and learn
to work as a team, even though we were in reality opposing teams,"
said Adheesha. On the second
and third days an unexpected event took place as each of their campsites
was attacked and ransacked by alleged 'Kasippu' and 'Ganja' dealers,
army deserters and illegal timber traders. All their provisions
and clothing were taken from them. Their hands
were tied behind their backs and they were told to lie face down
on the ground. But then Adheesha made a silent observation "When
I was down on the ground I saw a boot near my face that looked very
familiar...". "I was
sure I had seen the Wild Holidays Crew wearing the same type of
boot. I shared my thoughts with my team mates so we weren't worried."
"We initially suspected something but, mainly because they
were quite violent and looked serious, we had our doubts that it
could be part of the challenge" said Nayana. "On the
final day we were asked not to cook our breakfast, that we'd be
given a hot meal shortly. So, in great anticipation of a decent
meal at last, we began our last leg," said Chathura. Their
delight was short lived however, cos' when they finally did get
their meals, it was far from warm and was barely enough for one
person, let alone six. Thereafter,
with 'pleasant' thoughts of their organisers they headed towards
home base. Both Adheesha
and Nayana won 1st and 3rd places respectively for best all-round
performance. The Sharks
are thankful to Mr. Dave Siriwardana of Dave Tractors for generously
sponsoring all the rations and essential items they needed for the
final. After much
deliberation the final result was announced in ascending order.
"When they announced the names of the 1st runners up, we let
out whoops of joy and happiness, that all our hard work had been
rewarded," says Adheesha. Look out Kenya. Here come the 'Sharks'. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
