Memories with Sri Lanka’s cheerleader Percy Abeysekera who is no more

By K.R. Nayar
From Wankhede Stadium

Mumbai.  Sri Lanka’s cheerleader Percy Abeysekera, who passed away at the age of 87 on Monday, leaves behind many memories. For me he was a source of excellent anecdotes and hilarious comments that I very often used in my diary. During the 2011 World Cup jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, while in Sri Lanka, we used to travel together for the matches from Colombo to Kandy. It was an experience sitting with Abeysekera and listening to his stories.

 

The ever jovial Percy Abeysekera 

Above is a picture of him that I had taken during one of our bus travels to Kandy. Our journey to Kandy would start at 7am. On the first day when he came and sat next to me , I did not know who he was. I did not realise that he was the man whose sound would reverberate from the crowd cheering for the Sri Lankan team. 

 When he introduced himself, I apologized for not recognizing him. He said: “I have the clipping of your article where you wrote about me when I came to Sharjah in 1990.” When he realised that I was feeling bad for not recognizing a face known to all, he said: "I am no longer the young man you met screaming from the stands of Sharjah. I am two days younger to Garfield Sobers...I am 75."

 

That day, I wrote about the trip to Kandy with the title: “At home in Kandy with the ‘Voice of Sri Lanka.’ I gave that title based what he told me during the trip. “I have named my eldest grandson Garfield and my latest grandson Sachin. They are the two cricketers I adore,"I remember him saying. From his bsg, he then took out a small clipping of Sunil Gavaskar on which Gavaskar had written: "Percy, let your voice continue to cheer Sri Lanka forever." Ravi Shastri once wrote: “Dear Percy, don’t ever lose your voice. Sri Lanka needs it more than you.’

 

Everything he talked was with reference to cricket just like he talked about his age and his family. Though he cheered for Sri Lanka, he admired all great players and cheered for the great shots.

 

Percy Abeysekera with Mahendra Singh Dhoni 

Abeysekera had mentioned that he was the public relations consultant for ACL Cables in Colombo. I remember telling myself that no one would be more suitable for that job than this man who was as popular as the Sri Lankan players.  All fellow journalists in that bus addressed his as Uncle Percy. He was more experienced than most of them since he had been cheering for Sri Lanka since the 1979 World Cup.

It was when Sri Lanka co-hosted the World Cup in 1996 that he was at his best. New Zealand captain Martin Crowe once handed him his man of the match award listening to his hilarious comments from the stands. Rohit Sharma visited him at his home in September this year.

 

The flag-waving Percy Abeysekera 

Percy’s was brilliant at passing comments that rhymed well. He once said: “David Boon, Tasmanian goon, come back soon, before noon.’ My friend and Sri Lankan journalist Rex Clementine, with whom I have reported many World Cups and watched Percy from the press box, wrote on his obit: “Uncle Percy will be missed. We may replace Aravinda de Silva one day, but we will never be able to replace Percy Abeysekara. He was in a league of his own.”