Bright side and dark side in Sanath's life

Though one side of my life came right ...
 another side collapsed
-- Sanath Jayasuriya speaks

Sometime back Sandra -- wife of distinguished cricketer and Deputy Minister Sanath Jayasuriya filed action requesting fora divorce In the process, though Sanath's marriage problems and about his children took a new turn in the form of news over the media; Sanath refrained from coming forward to answer those issues. However, he spoke about his family and children today to the Sunday Lankadeepa.

Though he had spoken about various aspects, he made it a point not to discuss anything about his wife. Following are some extracts about the discussion:
 *Your first marriage ends in divorce. And now various issues regarding your life has begun to spread around. Why does such a thing happen in your life?
   For a person ... everything doesn't come right. One side of my life came right perfectly well. In some aspects my life collapsed. My life has had ups and downs. But I think .... I have 3 children ... a wife ... and still I am in the house. So I don't know. As a Buddhist I believe that we get everything according to good or bad merit. I got a chance to rise right to the top in cricket. There were occasions when I fell down. That of course can't happen every day .... sometime or other I'll come up.

 *What are your 3 children doing now?
   Actually .... I am really happy ... they are studying well. My son Ranuka can play cricket well ... he's 7 years old. I am not going to teach him things very much ... because then he might think he'll be able to play like the father. He must be given the chance to play cricket the way he wants. Like I ... he too is a right-handed batsman. Really ... he is capable of playing cricket well. The 2 daughters are studying well. The elder daughter attends Stafford International College and she's in grade 5 while my son too is in the same school. The youngest goes to Overseas School.My only desire is to send my son to a cricket school.  

 *Can your 3 children always be proud of you?  
   Yes .... certainly. They watch when the crowd approaches me .... and when they ask for my autograph. The children ask, "Why thaththi ... this?" That's because some say, "that's a legend" .... so they can't understand why people call me that way. Anyway they like it. These 3 children are my life. Whatever I possess ... what will be left for me will be these 3 children.


Discussion -- Prasanna Sanjeewa Tennakoon