Initiative of ‘A9 Fusion’ to strengthen bond between Dharmaraja Kandy and Hindu Jaffna
View(s):The Old Boys’ Unions of Dharmaraja College, Kandy and Hindu College, Jaffna have come together with an initiative that would become an annual pilgrimage for both schools with the introduction of ‘A9 Fusion’, a combined event that includes sports and cultural programme.
After several rounds of intense discussions, the inaugural ‘A9 Fusion Cultural Programme and A9 Fusion Limited Overs Cricket Match’ have been planned to be held in Jaffna on the 23rd of August, with Hindu College taking the honour of hosting the first-ever of a longstanding and traditional event.
The Limited Overs Cricket Encounter, played between the First Xi teams of this year’s hosts Dharmaraja College and Hindu College, will be the cynosure of the day’s events, which will include cultural and educational programmes.
The programme that will involve a day of activities that will create lot of interaction between the students, teachers, parents and old boys of both schools – Hindu and Dharmaraja. The main focus of the day’s events will be the display of deep-rooted cultural heritage that both communities treat with mutual respect, supplemented with a nationally revered sporting event in the form of a cricket match. They include an art exhibition and a workshop conducted by an eminent Old Rajan artist to provide an aesthetic value addition to the students of Jaffna. The careful selection of the events, in particular the cultural evening, art exhibition and the cricket match, will enable the organizers to reach a much broader audience including, students, teachers, parents and more importantly the general public.
“We hope to elevate this event to a national level of awareness to broad-base such friendly and rich entertaining engagements such that people of two geographies and communities begin to understand and appreciate each other more deeply. In order to give due recognition and respect to the communities in north and south along the A9 highway, the events are carefully selected to arouse enthusiasm among the people. It is needless to elaborate that broader the captive audience, faster the realization of the mission and the vision,” a joint statement issued by the Joint Organizing Committee stated.
The ‘A9 Fusion’ cultural event, jointly organized by the two Old Boys’ Unions, will span for approximately three hours, showcasing performances of cultural value of the Sri Lankan community, performed by the cultural and aesthetic teams of both two schools, supplemented by guest performances from invited schools linked to the A9 highway. All events will take place at the Hindu College auditorium.
The main attraction of the day, the friendly Limited Overs Cricket Encounter between the First Xi teams of Hindu and Dharmaraja colleges, will take place at the Hindu College ground in Jaffna.
As it is the inaugural year, participation at the cultural event will be limited to both schools involved and a few invited schools from and around Jaffna. Similarly, in the following year, where it will be held in Kandy, the participation will be extended to schools in Kandy in addition to Dharmaraja and Hindu colleges.
“As this annual event establishes firmly in the calendars of both schools and the organizers will surely gather more experience, expanding the participation to other schools along the A9 highway. This will be a first of its kind event in Sri Lanka where two premier schools from two different geographies with unique cultural heritages come together for a day of activities. Around 130 students and teachers from both Dharmaraja and Hindu colleges and invited schools are expected to take part. Additionally, around 300 to 400 invitees are expected to attend the events that will comprise of students, parents and old boys from all participating schools,” the statement added.
The organisers, by initiating the event, intends to instigate everlasting student friendships along the A9 highway, built on the foundations of mutual understanding, fostered through cultural similarities that survive the test of time. They also intend to use deep-rooted cultural commonalities together with a popular sport to create opportunities for students, teachers, parents and past pupils to interact with each other in a friendly environment supporting each other and identify the common thread that exists amongst them.