THE STORY OF A CRIC-COUNTANT !
My nickname at school, Ananda College Colombo, Sri Lanka, was "Little Marvan"...I was looked at as a promising future Cricketer until one fateful day changed my destiny...
Fellow Toastmasters & distinguished guests, Good evening ! My name is Suranga Fernando and now it's my turn to break the ice...
So...what changed my destiny ? One day after cricket practises our coach told me that "you'll be scoring so many runs in your career that even you yourself will "FAIL" to keep a count how many you scored"......I wanted to prove my coach wrong ! I hate to 'FAIL', so from that moment onwards I laid more emphasis on developing my 'counting skills' ...."If there is a will, there is always a way". I developed an ardour to Accounting and here I am today, an Accountant by profession, keeping good count of not just runs but the wealth of a Group of companies.
Over to my family life....my wife is Pradeepa, a housewife, and we are blessed with 2 beautiful daughters - Seyara & Nuyara....I am the only son of the family with two younger sisters. My mother is a housewife and my father was a very successful entrepreneur, being the owner of a reputed construction company in Sri Lanka. My mentor -in life-, is my beloved father. Not because he was a wealthy businessman but because of the respect he earned from the society for his noble human values, and for his humble and content life style. He built a fortune of his own, and being the only son of the family though I inherited that legacy, I wanted to follow my father and build a fortress of my own. So I launched a career in Accountancy, and by now, academically I have earned a Bachelors degree in Business Management in addition to being a finalist in Chartered Accountancy. My professional career has been equally successful. I have held many key positions in various reputed companies in Sri Lanka before getting an offer from Saudi. The offer presented a fresh challenge which excited me. So I set my feet here 5 years back and started a new life. I don't want to go in to detail on my achievements in Saudi, though they are many, because the time is not in my side...
If I recall the most memorable moment in my life....it is of course my wedding....but in a 'very different way'. My father passed away just 3 months before my wedding during a Bypass surgery. By then he had got us promised that the wedding plans would go ahead regardless of the outcome of the surgery. It was an ironic co-incidence that when we searched for a reception hall for the wedding, -that was after the funeral-, the only place available was the exact same hall of Hotel Taj Samudra, where my father & mother got married 30 years earlier. It was a very emotional & touching moment, not just for me but for my whole family...
Now, let's visit the more lighter sides of my life....I will allow you a quick peak in to my secret life ! Firstly, do you know that I am a DJ for a popular online radio station in Sri Lanka, even now ? Secondly, I'm a popular commenter and a well known personality among the 'sinhala blogging community' all around the world. Thirdly, I'm a very active investor and an online trader at Sri Lanka stock exchange. I'm also a very good squash & table tennis player, in addition to my ardour to cricket...My talent with Squash/(Scotch), I feel, needs special mention, because I'm equally good at the sport as well as consuming the liquid... :D
So, before I conclude, I always tell my children to emulate their grand father when they grow up. But if someday they tell me that they found their father in the same mould as their grand father or even a step ahead, I consider myself to have achieved the ultimate goal in my life !
Thank you...
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