The bitter taste of ice cream

Twelve-year-old little Rashmi Lakshika’s love for ice cream made her pay a terrible price last Sunday. Rashmi who hoped to be a lawyer one day, lost her life in the bomb blast at the Fort Railway Station as she, her aunt and cousin had paused a while to have an ice cream. Rashmi's mother Niranjala Perera said she was a talented girl whose ambition was to become a lawyer.

"And she would have become one too. She had the gift of speech," she said and added that her daughter was a member of Channa Upuli dancing group. Rashmi who had attended an International School for her primary education, had been admitted to Holy Family Convent because of her mother's wish for the child to be fluent in Sinhala. But Rashmi found learning in Sinhala not as much interesting as the language which she was used to. However, the language barrier had made Rashmi's parents decide to admit her back to an International School.

"We applied to several International Schools in Kandy as the security situation in Colombo is not that good. She passed the written exams and the interviews at all the schools with high marks. They asked us to bring her on Monday", she said adding that Rashmi was to live at her aunt's place and go to school from there. After the interviews, Niranjala had returned home on Friday but Rashmi had pleaded to stay with her aunt for some more days. "They said they would come on Saturday but then decided to return on Sunday", she said. Recalling her daughters good qualities she added that Rashmi was a disciplined child who never hurt anyone. "But she got hurt very easily", her mother added. "We were like friends. She used to tell me everything and was very close to me", Niranjala said "I used to bathe her every day when she comes back home and my main business had been to maintain her hair which was very long and lovely." She said that more than her son, Rashmi had been very close to her. "We were planning to go abroad soon after my son completes his O/L examination this year as Rashmi too had a lot of friends abroad", she said the whole family would leave the country next year with their only remaining child.

"Terrorism should be wiped out from the country and from the world. Had it not been for terrorism, my child would still be alive," Niranjala said tearfully.