"Thaaththa" Bindu Udagedara asked, "What is all this talk about anniversaries?"
"Why do you say that?" Bindu's father, Percy wanted to know.
"Why, first there was Anura making such a fuss about completing twenty years in Parliament...."
"Then?"
"Then, there were so many other MPs who entered Parliament in July 1977 having little ceremonies of their own, though, of course they couldn't get Benazir to attend...."
"I suppose they were telling Anura that he was not the only person to complete twenty years...."
"And now, Satellite will be having her own anniversary...."
"What is that?"
"Why, her government will be completing three years this week which is the halfway mark in it's term of office..."
"But" Percy said, "I think most of us have forgotten a very important anniversary...."
"What was that thaaththa?"
"Why, last Tuesday marked the tenth anniversary of the Indo-Lanka Accord..."
"And no one even remembered it....."
"That is because we only remember the anniversaries we want to remember", Percy said.
"Why do you say that?"
"Why, Bindu, most of the people who were responsible for the Accord are now dead...."
"Ah, yes" Bindu agreed; "Gandhi was killed, JR passed away, even Gamini was killed. Even Lalith and Premadasa who opposed the Accord are no more....."
"And" Percy said; "even Hameed, Narasimha Rao and Dixit who brokered the deal are no longer in power...."
"And, that is why everybody has forgotten the Accord" Bindu observed.
"But remember" Percy pointed out, "Prabha is still there and no less stronger than he was then..."
"But thaaththa", Bindu said, "what is most surprising is what has happened to those who opposed the Accord...."
"Why do you say that?"
"Why, thaaththa, remember all those people who staged satyagrahas in Pettah trying to stop the Accord and its Provincial Councils being implemented...."
"Ah yes" Percy said, "now those same people are trying to convince us about a package that offers much more than Provincial Councils....
"And" said Bindu, "in the intervening ten years, so many thousands of lives have been lost...."
"And" said Percy, "remember how everybody blamed JR for selling the country to India those days...."
"Ten years later, I think we can now safely say JR made the best out of a bad situation, because nobody who followed him did any better..."
"So" said Percy, "wherever he is, JR must be having the last laugh...."
"He usually does" Bindu said.
"Why do you say that?" Percy wanted to know.
"Why didn't they all blame him for the Executive Presidency also?"
"Yes they did. But those who blamed him now know they cannot survive without it..."
"So as always, JR has the last laugh" Bindu said.
Percy readily agreed.
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