Election Day and School Cricket Madness

I really did not expect to write quite so much about cricket while here, but it seems to be everywhere I turn. As I walked to work today I passed the D.S. Sanayake Boys College today I witnessed the revelry that accompanies 'old boy school cricket' had spilled into the road and overtaken most of Gregory's Road. I found myself walking through a gauntlet of adolescent boys bedecked in their school colors of yellow and black. They were all polite and proper and completely consumed by chat with their friends on the upcoming game, entirely too distracted to make silly adolescent boy comments to a sole American female walking through the middle of the road. Bands were playing. Cars were thumping stereos. Faces were being painted. Some of the older boys had piled three or four of their friends on a motor bike (not really a motorcycle). They even had a rather unfortunate and miserable looking elephant chained to a parking spot with the school flag draped over his back, underneath the pile of heavy chains used to 'keep them in order'. Many boys had gathered around it and were posing for 'uploadable' photos.

And I nearly forgot, they had a double-decker London-style bus filled to the brim with alumni, and older boys waving huge yellow and black flags. We will surely hear their parade later in the morning as they make their way to one of the large cricket grounds just beyond our office...

But...

Today is actually election day, mostly in areas outside of Colombo. Schools were mostly closed across the country yesterday because they serve as polling locations.. Government workers get today off. Some have called on the private sector to get a day off too, but I believe that will be unlikely.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, Sri Lanka is a democracy. Has been since the late '40s. It has a functioning government that is highly centralized. It is also highly prone to familial dynasties. Currently we are in the Rajapaksa Dynasty. With the sitting president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, having appointed three of his brothers to high ranking cabinet positions, not least of which the Ministry of Defense is led by his brother, Basil. His son, all of 23-years-old, has recently won a seat in Parliament and is tapped to follow in his father's footsteps as President, should M. Rajapaksa decide to step down. (In 2008 he managed to change the constitution with the 18th amendment to eliminate term limits)

Almost everyone I have spoken to about the elections has made a funny face, waved their hand and said, 'what's the point, they're all fixed anyway'. One woman with whom I spoke said that her precinct's votes were all lost in the last election, and she had to go through a big process to get them found. It turned her off voting a bit, not to mention the fact that these seem to be the kind of mid-term elections few people get very excited about.

But let us not get too cynical. There are elections today. People will be voting. They may get new Parliamentarians. Then again...it may just remain business as usual, in a democratically maintained Rajapaksa-political dynasty.