How Shenuk Tissera made Mamdani laugh in America (video)

Zohran Mamdani, 34, who secured his historic victory in last year's New York mayoral election, has become a figure of intense interest among Sri Lankans these days. The reason for this is the entertaining and wonderful conversation he had on Instagram with Shenuk Tissera, a comedian who immigrated from Sri Lanka and resides in New York.

Tissera, in his usual comedic style, asked Mamdani, who achieved a victory that raised the expectations of South Asian parents at a young age, how to be a 'good Sri Lankan boy'. The mayor did not give a traditional answer to this question, which is on the minds of many Sri Lankan mothers.

Instead of talking about discipline or education, the mayor began his speech with a familiar address to many Sri Lankan homes: 'Hello Aunty'. He then stated that his main advice is, 'Don't let anyone know your next move'.

To demonstrate that this concept embodies a deep Sri Lankan character, he took the famous 'Doosra' delivery of Muttiah Muralitharan, the greatest spin bowler produced in Sri Lanka, as an example. He explained that the nature of the Doosra ball is that the batsman expects the ball to go in one direction, but it spins the other way, which perfectly represents the innate intuition of Sri Lankans.

This idea, where he connected the strategic thinking of a Sri Lankan sports hero to success in life, is currently being rapidly shared across social media. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of preparedness as the most valuable lesson he learned from the Sri Lankan community.

The accurate and affectionate appreciation of Sri Lankan culture by the mayor of one of the world's major cities has garnered praise from many. Zohran Mamdani's victory in last year's New York mayoral election was also backed by such a non-traditional, social media-centric successful campaign mechanism.

Watch the video related to this event ›