Desire to hobnob with the high and mighty!

A large crowd of fans turned up at the farewell accorded to the retiring legendary fast bowler Mali the other day. 

Both the current Number One and the former strongman too were present. There was a large number of prominent politicos from both sides of the divide among the gathering and some of them were seen seated in the Number One’s box. 

Among the prominent attendees were the Borella politico long associated with the gentlemen’s game in a big way and the current purohita in charge of the game Hari from Badulla. 
On seeing the Badulla high-up ahead of him, was looking for a seat, the Borella politico who walked in soon after him beat a hasty retreat. Meanwhile, the former strongman arrived and took his seat. The Badulla high-up immediately sat next to the former strongman and started chatting with him. A few minutes later, the Borella politico suddenly showed up by the strongman’s side, leaned over and whispered something in the Badulla’s high-up’s ear. As if in response to the whispered message, the Badulla high-up got up from the seat and headed to a distant seat. And the Borella one took the seat vacated by the Badulla purohita. 

A short while later, Number One arrived and took his seat. Badulla purohita on seeing his arrival, walked up to his seat, warmly greeted him and occupied a vacant seat next to him. The Borella man soon after showed up before Number One greeted him and presently turned to Badulla stalwart and whispered something in his ear as he did before. The Badulla one immediately got up from the seat and moved away and the Borella politico took the vacated chair.  Practically everyone present, watched this episode with an amused smile for they knew that the Borella politico had managed to face video cameras shoulder to shoulder with both the current Number One and the former strongman. However, none of them who discussed this two scenes made a complimentary remark relating to his long career associated with the game, they say.