‘Call me Arjuna’
Stopping by the Moors Sports Club down Braybrooke Place on a weekend, you may have noticed a foreigner in cricket whites towering over the little ones aspiring to be the next Sangakkara or Mahela. What comes as a big surprise is that the cricketer was none other than the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea.
Ambassador Arjuna Jongmoon Choi and his wife Sunjue Cho. Pix by Mangala Weerasekera
Ambassador Arjuna Jongmoon Choi went ahead and enrolled himself for beginner’s cricket classes simply because “It didn’t take long to realise if you don’t understand cricket, you don’t understand Sri Lankan culture.” Posted to Sri Lanka three years ago Ambassador Choi found himself rather lost ever so often when the topic of conversation veered to cricket, which he soon found to be “like a religion here”.
Deciding to get in on the action rather than cheer from the pavilion, the Ambassador “went for cricket coaching for about two months” and read all the books he could find to wrap his head around the rules of the game. Having played baseball since college days “it wasn’t too difficult to catch on” but the weekends he spent on the pitch bring to mind him fond memories of his most feared competition- a nine-year-old fast bowler, Dilshan. “He was so fast my bat could not even touch the ball,” he laughs, recalling that his attempts at batting attracted some laughter from little Dilshan’s friends.
“I can’t bowl” the Ambassador admits, “I’m so used to pitching baseballs that I can’t throw with a straight elbow.” After hours of practice on the pitch and in the garden of his official residence he now passes for a decent batsman though bowling is still a challenge.
Starting out “just wanting to fit in with Sri Lankan friends,” learning cricket turned the Ambassador into a true believer of the beauty of the game. Having read about Sri Lanka’s World Cup win of ’96” and great cricketing personalities he says, “I really love it.”
Explaining how he came to have a very Sri Lankan sounding first name he says, “Well, my friends gave it to me, so I took it.” After asking his dinner guests for a Sri Lankan name he says “one of my friends, without even thinking called me Arjuna.” Happy with the name he mildly shocked his staff the next morning by announcing, “From today, I want everyone to call me Arjuna.” Not particularly enjoying the “formal image” people in his profession have Ambassador Arjuna Choi, who has been signing his farewell addresses with the new addition to his name, has even got new name cards printed.
“I even met the real Arjuna,” he laughs, speaking of his encounter with former Captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team Arjuna Ranatunga.
Time to pack: Some of the paintings Ambassador Choi will take back with him
“I told him he is the real Arjuna, I’m just a fake!”
After hearing that Korea now has a national cricket team formed in 2012, he brought them down to Sri Lanka for a six-week stay and saw to it that they “got all the practice matches they possibly could.”
Serving in the USA, Bangkok and Myanmar the Ambassador had visited Sri Lanka when in the Foreign Office at both national and regional levels but his first encounter with a Sri Lankan was back the early 1980’s when he joined the Foreign Service as a Junior Protocol Officer. His first assignment was to “sort out the programme of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister of that time, R. Premadasa’s visit to Korea.”
New to his work he remembers making “so many mistakes” but at the end of his stay, when the Prime Minister was leaving Korea all the young officer’s apologies were brushed off with a warm invitation to visit Sri Lanka. “The Prime Minister said that one day I must visit his beautiful land and at that time, I never even dreamed I would even come to Sri Lanka,” he says.
Enjoying making friends with people from all walks of life, the Ambassador and his wife have a large circle of friends both within and outside the diplomatic circle. “I think my husband is popular because our Sri Lankan friends think of him as just another friend and not a foreigner,” laughs Ambassador Choi’s wife, Sunjue Choi. Sharing that their two children work abroad, Mrs Choi said that their daughter who has visited the island three times loves Sri Lanka, and has even worn saree for the events they hosted.
The couple have seen a lot of the country, be it on official visits to the projects started by Korea in Jaffna or the East or on casual trips with friends. Travelling by train to Nuwara Eliya, they have been fascinated by how much diversity is packed into the small land mass.
Sunjue Choi who loves Sri Lankan food admittedly a little more than her husband says that she has learned how to cook all her favourite Lankan dishes. “I myself made ‘thosai’ and some sambol last night,” she beamed. “Even in Korea we have sambols.” Walking into one of her dear friend’s kitchens Sunjue picked up all the techniques used to make curries. “The First Lady’s official residence in Tangalle is where I watched the cooks and learned everything.” She adds that she will also miss visiting and “hanging out with the kids at Carlton Preschool with the First Lady.”
Packing up his cricketing gear and the Sri Lankan paintings that he collected during his years of service in Sri Lanka Ambassador Choi and his charming wife will bid goodbye early next month when his term comes to an end. Their ties with the island though, will not end. Intending to connect with the Sri Lankan community of about 25,000 in Korea, the Ambassador says “I can do more for Sri Lanka in Seoul than I can do from here.” And no doubt, he will be cheering for Lankan cricket wherever he is.