T Malli – He heard his last whistle

I first met T Malli in the basketball court of St Sebastian’s College. I was the coach yet did not know how to tell him politely that he had no business playing basketball, being height challenged as he was. But then, he was T Malli, a determined man who bucked the odds all his life, won some, lost some but had the courage to get on with his life, undaunted.

He was mostly a bencher in the team, hardly getting on to the tarmac. But he was always there, the perfect teammate, to cheer, to give water and occasionally play too as a worrisome guard. The team won the All-Island Schools Basketball Championship and T Malli stood on the victory platform. They were then chosen to play in a tournament in India and T Malli went abroad to play basketball. That was some feat for a “short-man class” basketball player. But it was T Malli alias Theresius Silva aka Terry Silva whose odyssey was to battle the odds to achieve what he wanted in life.

His parents were expecting a girl when T Malli was conceived, and they picked the name Therese for the ‘to be born.’ Well, the one that popped out was a boy. The parents modified Therese and converted it to Theresius, like some Roman gladiator. It was Theresius who was known as Terry and finally became the lovable T Malli who was my life-long friend.

He, like most of us, loitered rudderless in life and finally went to work in a factory producing pharmaceuticals. That was the time he started playing club basketball at the Moratuwa YMCA. I was still his coach and I humbly say I am more qualified to talk about T Malli’s basketball than anyone else. I trained him and played with him for more than 50 years.

He was my totally reliable ‘firecracker’ guard who tormented the best of playmakers that came against us. Despite his stature, he had excellent footwork and when crouched he was almost at ground level and from there T Malli moved like a jackrabbit, diving and stealing the ball from the best of dribblers. He was undoubtedly the best ‘super stopper’ I had against the top cagers in Sri Lanka in the seventies.

In the attack, T Malli played the wing and had a clean jump-shot and a greased-lightening lay-up. He was excellent at fast breaks. More than anything else his greatest value was, he did exactly what he was told to do. T Malli at his best was a most valuable player in his own rights to any coach. The sincerest testimony to his excellence on the court was expressed by one Mrs Cooray, whose five children were all national level basketball players. She used to categorically state that she likes to come for matches only when T Malli was playing. T Malli certainly provided optimum entertainment for any basketball spectator.

The Moratuwa YMCA won multiple championships at club level and T Malli played in the first five – a far cry from his school day basketball where he mainly sat on the bench and cheered and gave water and received a ‘gnanakatha’ as a reward.

Then came the wedding bells, when T Malli found the love of his life, the wonderful Audrey, who would walk to the end of the world with him. Their’s was a hard road but they managed with faith and courage to trim their needs and get on with life. Next came the two children, Trionne and Romaine, chips of the old block, who to the day I write have been excellent children taking care of T Malli and Audrey supplying all their needs sparing none.

It was the 70s and T Malli went to Bahrain to earn a little more, that being a norm for most Sri Lankans, becoming Dick Whittingtons in the Middle East. I used to meet him when I flew to Bahrain. T Malli at that time was doing three jobs on any given day. He was thin as a desert sparrow and was strained to the limit. Bahrain was hot and humid and three jobs a day was taking the toll on even someone as tough as T Malli. But he carried on, the prototype ‘cork general’ the kind that could never be sunk. They would always pop up and float defying the worst circumstances.

T Malli slaved and sent his sweat-minted Dinars to Audrey who wisely used them to educate their son and daughter. The pure determination of the parents and their frugal living to support the children paid rich dividends. Trionne and Romaine did extremely well obtaining professional qualifications and settled abroad in Melbourne and Dubai with their own families. T Malli and Audrey became migratory birds flying between Dubai and Melbourne regularly. Life was kind to them, the children made sure the parents had everything they needed. That sure was a pure blessing from up above.

Once his children were educated and were moving fast in the corporate ladder, T Malli resettled in Sri Lanka. He was a Jack of All Trades and a master of some. He exported fertilizer and won a national award. He became a landscape expert and a horticulturist. T Malli did so many things to take care of his and Audrey’s needs, enough to keep his home fires burning always striving not to be a burden to his children.

We needed someone in CandleAid to supervise the construction of a 28 house village near Sigiriya. Off went T Malli to work as a volunteer and get the job done. No, he wasn’t paid for it, he just did it to help the poor. He never forgot his own hard times and how he survived on sambol and bread.

T Malli continued to play basketball at St Sebastian’s College. He could still run and hit a jump shot from the deep wing. Of course, the fire had simmered, yet the fighting heart was all intact even though the fancy footwork had faded a long time ago. He was still good. The fellow players called him Terry Uncle and I was the oldest and had the privilege to refer to him as T Malli and he became T Malli Aiya to my two children. In the year 2023, the two of us were the only ones left on the court from the old brigade, the last two Mohicans who still played. He was around 70 and I was much more. The final game we played was about a month ago and he told me he was leaving for Dubai in a few days.

T Malli died the same way he always lived, without much ado. I do not think he ever stayed a single day in a hospital. He was playing with his grandchildren in his daughter’s home in Dubai. He just collapsed and took one last look at his ‘soul mate’ Audrey and breathed his last. I am sure I can categorically say ‘he was called to Jesus’.

T Malli was simply a good man who deserved the best.

Yes, we heard of his sudden demise, and we cried. He did not just go, he made us all cry, that was T Malli who was loved by all who came to know him. He was a wonderful man, an all-round lovely man. Whichever way you looked at him he was in a class of his own. What he left behind was a legacy of love and simple living. Never spoke ill of anyone, never did anything to hurt anyone, just lived his day from sunrise to sunset being everyone’s friend.

It is only at the ‘going down of the sun’ that we would know how beautiful the day has been. The sun has set finally for our dearest friend T Malli and his day has been gloriously beautiful. The toll of the knell is over for Theresius Silva. Let us not ask for whom the bell will toll next. As sad as it may sound, it sure would toll for you and for me.

Capt Elmo

elmojay1@gmail.com