Appreciation

Epitome of elegance

It was a chilly Sunday morning, October 23, 2011. I was at our daughter and son-in-law’s residence, at Edinburgh Scotland, United Kingdom watching the live telecast of the 2011 World Cup Rugby on Euro Sports. The telephone rang. At the other end of the line was my Nalanda Cricket captain, 1957, Nihal Withana. “Epa, there is some sad news, your opening partner, Mitra, has passed away,” stated Nihal Withana.

For a moment, I was dumb-founded and shocked. I was engrossed in a deep flash-back about our school days.

Mitra joined the Department of Police as a Sub-Inspector in late 1950s, and retired as a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) after serving the Police with distinction for more than four decades. He was a pride to his uniform. He was a highly disciplined, dutiful officer, who served this country. He was a man of honesty and integrity. Another great quality of Mitra was that he was unassuming. He was loved alike by all officers from the Police Constable to the Inspector General of Police. He was a strict disciplinarian and also he was kind.

During his Police career, spanning probably four decades, he represented the Police as a keeper-batsman. Mitra was an epitome of elegance as a cricketer.

If my memory serves right, Mitra served in North, East, North-Central, Southern and Sabaragamuwa as a senior superintendent of Police and later at the Head Quarters.

He was a fine cricket administrator and served the Police Department, and Sports Club, Government Services Cricket Association and later the Board of Control for Cricket - Sri Lanka. He was also a member of Nalanda OBA and a live wire of Nalanda Sports Club.

Mitra was a dutyful father and a lovable husband. With his dynamic wife, Indira, he brought up his children to serve Sri Lanka. They can be proud of their illustrious father, who was always a “Paragon of Virtue.”

With the demise of Mitra, we lost a sincere, loveable, true friend, and a gentleman.

Premasara Epasinghe Edinburgh, Scotland, UK