And so they laid Tryphon to rest

by Richard Dwight

For the endearing Tryphon Mirando, the shadows had lengthened, the evening had come, the busy world hushed and, the fever of life was over - and so as expected, there was a large and representative gathering, at the General cemetery Borella at eventide on Monday, in an act of fond farewell to a kindly man, who at all times meant so much, to so many different people, in so many different ways.

Swiftly there came to mind the composing thought, that "for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose" - a time to work and a time to rest, a time to enter and a time to leave. "The reality of which, hard though it be to take, are time honoured proven words, that did enable a good many to reconcile themselves to the sudden untimely demise of Tryphon, as they now, kept walking in mute silence, to lay him at his final resting place.

In the procession were the young and old from his College Royal, to which he, to the end stood deeply committed - the young too late to remember him at his peak, but old enough to recognise his innate goodness. Janashakthi to a man was in full force and leading them all was the Chairman, Chandra Schaffter, Director Ramesh and yet other officials, to whom Tryphon's death came as a rude shock, nay an irreparable loss, a void that would be hard to fill.

Whilst finding favour in the eyes of his superiors, he never failed to treat his subordinates well, to whom Tryphon was the fount of all goodness and the reservoir of human kindness, their presence in large numbers bore eloquent testimony to this.

Making their way as well in the procession, were members and officials of the SLTA, Tamil Union and Sri Lanka Cricket, to all of which he was a tower of strength, painstakingly espousing their cause until his death.

The former president of the BCCSL, Upali Dharmadasa, said of his one time secretary (BCCSL) Tryphon, that he belonged to a rare breed, spoken of as gentlemen, which is fast dwindling in the contemporary times we live in and, that he would be hard to replace.

Tryphon must surely have made quite an impact in the arena of cricket here, for there to be many past captains present at the funeral in Michael Tissera, Duleep Mendis, Bandula Warnapura, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya, whilst the cricketers were Lalith Kaluperuma, Brendon Kuruppu, Chaminda Vaas and yet others.

His wide appeal and the high esteem he was held in, did have a distinguished array of pall bearers in Ms. M.T.L. Fernando, R. Senathirajah, L.C.R. de C. Wijetunge, Rohan Perera, Deutrom Alluvihare, Jay Ladwa, Upali Dharmadasa, Nissanka Wijewardene, Saliya Senenayake and Daya Pandithagunewardene.

As the sun kept ebbing, the pleasant gentle breeze playing on the foliage of the trees, beneath which lay the coffin and, as the officiating priest Fr. Neil Karunaratne began performing the final rites.

Our mind began to ponder on what was it that made Tryphon Mirando be the kind of person he was and live the kind of life he led - our humble reasoning was that he had in him a special quality of 'innocence' which amongst other things stands for goodwill, honesty, intellectual humility, consideration for the views and feelings of others, generosity and a lack of guile or malice.

It's difficult to understand as to why he had to be taken away, at the comparative young age of 51, when everything that he laboured for was beginning to blossom out. Bear with us if we strike a religious note here, to say that God takes His elect when we least expect it, in order that we may value the gift all the more. And who are we the finite to question the infinite.

Men like Tryphon don't come easy, they are few and far between occurrence. And Cardinal Newman's definition of a gentleman. "Is one who does not inflict pain on another" was we believe tailor-made for Tryphon.

As we made our way, from the sobering experience that comes about on visiting a cemetery, we became even more conscious that a good and noble man in Tryphon had crossed the great divide, to a land of eternal bliss.

May the turf lie gently over him.