Obituaries

Tribute to Late A.Raveendran By Rohan Rajaratnam
I could have easily written four or five pages about Ravi. I do intend to write more about him later, and hopefully, SJC will include it in the 2021 magazine. I knew him as well as anybody else at SJC in those days. I can start from July 1966 (at our Sports Meet) when Theivendra, Vipul, Surendra, and the Johnstone House athletes S. Tharmarajah and Jeyanandarajah were at the height of their fame. Ravi became the Under-12 champion in 1966. That’s when it all began. He maintained his form and consistency until he left school in 1973.

What a magnificent all-round sportsman he was. I am sure you’d remember the Under-19 long jump event in 1973. Ravi broke Vipul’s record. He leapt vertically
at least 5’ after taking off from the board and we thought he would go past the sandpit. He almost did. I am sure you were there too. Later, he went to Colombo with the SJC team in October 1973 to take part in the Public Schools’ Meet. I was listening to the Bristol Sports Roundup with Tommy Perera (Ceylon Tobacco Company) that night (starting at 7:30 pm). I was just holding my breath when he announced: “the Under-19 Long Jump event was won by A. Raveendran of St. John’s College, Jaffna”.

I leapt for joy when I heard that. I screamed loudly and I scared the hell out of everyone at home and I also scared some of my neighbours. The following Monday, I was waiting for him to return to SJC. I saw him coming in through the main gate and I was the first person to greet him. I ran up to him, hugged him, and said, “Congratulations machchan.

We are very proud you.”The wavy hair; Adidas spikes; V-shaped body; temperamental; a bit arrogant (I was also arrogant in those days); confident; ability to perform in crunch situations; ability to run faster than anyone else at school in the 100M and 200M events; ability to jump greater distances vertically or horizontally than any other athlete at school; performing a beautiful hitch kick which enabled him to maintain his balance and get ready for a proper landing in the long jump; executing the straddle technique to do the high jump; his ability to come from behind in the 200M as he demonstrated in the 200M final (Under-19, 1st year) in 1972 at SJC and still win the event (he’s in lane 1. He was running last after the first 50M but he still managed to win the event with a lead of about 25 metres at the end); the 200M final (Under-17) in the Zonal Meet in Jaffna in 1971 (he beat Central College’s Sheriff Ali who himself was a fine sprinter); in the Under-19 triple 1973 (2nd year) where his first two jumps were no good (overstepped the board) and he was about to be disqualified but he shortened his run-up for the 3rd jump and jumped more than 40’ and easily qualified for the next round and he won the event easily. I could go on and on….. The 4 x 400M relay was the final event at our sports meet and Ravi ran the anchor leg. I was hoping to go head-to-head with him (it was not his event) but when I got the baton (by the dining hall), Ravi had a lead of almost 110 metres (he was by the water tank). Peter Selvaratnam, Ravi Joshua and another runner had given Handy House an unassailable lead and A. Ravi just had to “coast” along the track to win the event for Handy House.

When he completed the race, I was about 50 metres behind him. I made up about 60 metres in doing so (I was between the chemistry and biology labs). Ravi was not tired as he only had to compete in the 4 x 100M and 4 x 400M relays that day. I had to run the 1500M final about an hour before 4 x 400M final (I won the 800M – 1500M double for Johnstone House in 1973 and ’74 – Under 19) and I also had to run the anchor leg in the 4 x 100M relay about 30 minutes before the 4 x 400M relay final. That was the last time he competed at SJC. He did very well in all the cricket matches that he played for SJC in 1973. He contributed with the bat and ball and took some brilliant catches.

In the game against St. Patrick’s College (on Saturday morning when SPC batted – their 1st innings), skipper Satha Alexander placed A. Ravi at deep wide mid-on and he asked me to field at long leg. Ravi told me “Rohan, let’s make sure the Patricians don’t score a boundary between wide mid-on and long leg.” For about an hour or two (when Alexander bowled his off spinners) we did not allow the Patricians to score a single boundary between wide mid-on and long leg. And then came his brilliant performance at the Big Match in 1973. As you might remember, I dropped a return catch while bowling to Sri Kantha on Friday evening and it happened a few minutes before the stumps were drawn. That was the only chance we had. It’s an easy catch but I was not looking at the batsman when I delivered the ball. I was looking at the spot where I wanted the ball to land when I delivered that leg cutter. When I looked up, the ball was only about 2 feet from me and I tried to catch it but I dropped it. Their score was 68 for no loss. Something happened that night when somebody who was watching that game felt that it would be A. Ravindran who could get us the necessary breakthrough.

I only found out several months later about what he said. Nobody else told me. That man I only found out several months later about what he said. Nobody else told me. That man had sent word through wicketkeeper Thevapalan who was staying with Mr. V. R. Amarasingham that weekend. He wanted Alexander to bring on A. Ravindran from the Subramaniam Park end on Saturday morning. That’s exactly what happened. I bowled from the Clock Tower end.

On Friday evening, I bowled from the other end. In the space of about 20 minutes, A. Ravi (there were two others by the name of Raveendran in the team), had Sri Kantha caught behind by Thevapalan and then clean bowled the other opening batsman, Sivakumar the left hander (themost technically correct batsman in Jaffna. He was the most difficult batsman to dislodge in 1973), and a few minutes later, clean bowled M. S. Nazeer before he could even bring his bat down. The ball came to me. I was fielding at fine leg. A few minutes later, I had Anandarajah caught behind by Thevapalan and Central had lost their four best batsman in the space of about 20 or 25 minutes. Later, Gowripalan and Satha Alexander ran through the middle order and the tailenders and JCC got bowled out for 108. We made 173 in the 1st innings.

You must be wondering about the man who had sent word through Thevapalan on Friday night. It was my father and he knew a thing or two about cricket. One small bowling change made all the difference. It must be remembered that we had about 8 or 9 players who could bowl. At least 3 of us (Satha Alexander, Gowripalan, and I) had taken more than 8 wickets in a game in 1972 or ’73 (Gowri and I did) but my father felt it was A. Ravi who could get us the necessary breakthrough. He met Ravi when he attended the CSJPPA function in November 2006 in London. He told him “A. Raveendran, I knew you were a brilliant athlete but I would never forget your brilliant bowling performance against the Centralites in March 1973.” After the Big Match was over in March 1973, we went to see a movie called “Do Raha” at the Windsor Theatre in Jaffna. The Central College team was also there. It’s unbelievable. It’s the late night show. None of us knew a word of Hindi in March 1973.

I last saw him in July 1974. He came to SJC to see us compete. I was warming up for my 800M or 3000M final by the dining hall. He came and sat on the floor of the dining hall watching me warm up. He asked me if I would win the remaining events. I told him that I would not have any problems. I never lost the 800M, 1500M and 3000M events anywhere in Jaffna and I never lost the 400M final in Jaffna. Ravi knew that and respected me. We will miss him. I was hoping to meet him in Jaffna in May/June 2023 but now it cannot happen and it makes me very sad.