Sugi Rajaratnam passes away

Sugi Rajaratnam of Royal College and Tamil Union fame passed away this week and his funeral will take place, today, February 10, 2007 at 5:00 pm.

Daily News of Sat Feb 10 2007 reported in its Obituary column as follows:-

RAJARATNAM - SUGI - Beloved husband of Suvendrini, precious father of Sukanya & Sumangala, loving father-in-law of Ravi Chanmugam, son of late R. Rajaratnam (Rasa - Royal College) & late Muriel, brother of Logesh, Kukoo, Gokhale & late Radhan, son-in-law of Mr V.P. Gnanakone & late Florence, brother-in-law of Kumar, Jayantha and Vasanth. Cortege leaves residence No. 57/7, Ward Place, Colombo 7 at 5.00 p.m. on Saturday the 10th of February. Burial at General Cemetery, Borella.

His name will always remain legendary in the hearts and minds of all Royalists who were in College during the sixties and enjoyed every moment of his pace bowling with Lakshman Thalaysingham at the other end.

May He Rest in Peace!

Sugi played First XI Cricket for Royal in the early sixties and was a member of the memorable 1964 team, under Shaw Wilson. As the Thomian Captain in 1964, Premalal Goonesekere, once wrote,

“Friday, the 13th March 1964. Oval time 10.20a.m. Shaw Wilson's lucky coin decided to rebel against its custodian and spin in favour of the boys from Mt. Lavlnia. It was a known fact that the wicket had been prepared in such a manner so as to give a sporting chance to both batsmen and bowlers. Having called correctly I had a problem whether to bat or field. The team had previously favored bowling first and then taking their chances, because we all knew that there was no way that our powerful batting line up could be demolished twice by any school boy bowling side that year. I fully agreed with them, but I was also not going to carry the can for inviting our opponents to bat on what looked like a perfect batting wicket, no matter how the strip would play later. So S. Thomas' elected to bat.

Royal started cautiously against our openers so much so that we in the pavilion were convinced that they were scared of us. Sugi Rajaratnam and Thalayasingham, one of the best pace combinations in school cricket that year, opened to a field of fine leg and third man each, to supplement their two slips and gully.”

Sugi belonged to the Royal College 1956 Group and took a great interest in the school even after he had left. He was the Consultant Engineer for the Royal College Sports Complex at Reid Avenue. His batch of 1956 consisted of some famous and even infamous names, such as Shaw Wilson, Ashey Cader, Reza (Bawa) Ashroff, Siddig “Colin” Ghouse, L De Chikera, Angus Croning, NR Fernando, Tommy Sivanesarasa, K Sockanathan, Nihal Welikala, Mynah Wijesinghe, Lloyd Perera, Nalin Pathikirikorale, Yusuf Jeevunjee, “Galtic” Sivanathan, Moiz Setrhwala, Lal Saranapala (of Tuckshop fame), Ghazi Careem, Harendra (HSR) Goonerwardene, D M Swaminathan, Dan Muthoveloe and others.

Sugi continued to play club cricket for Tamil Union where he also participated and performed well in Tennis. He also played for the Over 50’s Royal tem in their match against the Over 50 STC team during the 125th Royal Thomian year in 2004. The Over 50 Teams consisted of the following:-

Royal-Thomian Over 50s match - 2004
Royal (from): Asitha Jayaweera (capt), Vijaya Malalasekera, Sarath Samarasinghe, Ray de Silva (all three over 60 years), Nihal Kodituwakku, Mahinda Wijesinghe, Jagath Fernando, Nirmal Hettiarachchi, Jayantha Kudahetty, Sunimal Yapa, S. Skandamukar, Cedri Fernando, Harsha Samarajeewa, Sugi Rajaratnam, A. R. Gunesekera, L. A. D. Sirisena, Ranjith Samarajeeva, Michael Dias.

S. Thomas' (from): Anura Tennekoon (capt), Claude Reid, Mano Ponniah, Michael Tissera (all three over 60 years), M. Lareef Idroos, P. L. D. Kariyawasam, Dr. David Ponniah, Tiny Reid, Ana Medonza, Kumar Boralessa, Azam Hameed, Trevor Rajaratnam, Dr. Buddy Reid, Neil Chanmugam, Bundo Samarasinghe and H. S. M. Peiris.

His late Dad, Rasa Rajaratnam, who was a master at College and known to many as "Conner" Rajaratnam was also a very popular individual who was in charge of Cricket during the old days. "Conner" has taught and narrated volumes of his famous "stories, to many a father and son during his career at Royal.