Desperately seeking Hiruni, 16 years later
Hiruni’s mother
Hope springs eternal and a daughter and a mother in a home down Somadevi Place in Kirullapone have not allowed despair to replace hope for 16 long years, as they continue their heartrending search.
Pride of place right beside the main door, as one enters their beautiful home, has been assigned to a lovely photograph of their sister and daughter, while her small red toothbrush still hangs among theirs in the bathroom.
Sister Naduni
“We know in our heart of hearts that Hiruni Tharushika is alive,” says her one-and-only older sister, Naduni, with conviction, as their mother Latha lets out a sigh and the shadows of pain and sorrow pass over her face…….and they have never stopped looking for her.
Hiruni would be 23 years now, says Naduni who is 30, pulling out from her wallet the yellowed and tattered, much-folded ‘Missing’ notices that they put up long ago, soon after this family of four was caught up in the ferocious waves of the tsunami on that fateful day of December 26, 2004.
Even though life has moved on for Naduni, who is working at Unilever and is happily married, her unwavering belief is that Nangi is alive and is either in Sri Lanka or more likely abroad. This is why she has gone on social media with a powerful appeal not only to people but to her little sister to respond if she sees it.
At the time of the tsunami, Hiruni was small but now she is grown up and technology has also developed a lot and Naduni’s hope is that wherever she is she would know that her mother and sister are still looking for her and get in touch with them.
When people talk to Naduni after seeing her posts and want to know their tragic tale, she forwards the online version of the Sunday Times article ‘Living in hope that Hiruni is among the living’ of December 28, 2014.
“On Tuesday, a teacher called and told us about a little boy she found near the Meetiyagoda temple the day of the tsunami and how a man who followed her was insisting that he had rescued the little one and as such wanted him. She had not allowed that but taken him home and handed him over to a neighbour, who bathed, clothed and fed him, while the man hung around that house the whole night. They had then called the police and handed over the child to them,” says Naduni, sadly reliving their family train trip (very special because Hiruni had never been on a train before) to Hikkaduwa which turned into a nightmare with her seven-year-old sister, vanishing from their lives.
Hope springs eternal: Hiruni’s red toothbrush hangs among others. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Earlier, planning to leave on December 25, the Wanniarachchi family had put it off by a day (for Boxing Day which also happened to be Poya) on the urging of relatives who wished to join them. It would be an enjoyable trip, the train-ride followed by an exciting glass-bottomed boat-ride to see the corals, a tasty lunch and a train-ride back home.
It was never meant to be….and when they boarded Train No. 50 they would not have imagined the horror that would befall them at Peraliya.
They were not unduly disturbed when the first wave hit and seeing water outside their compartment, Latha had put Hiruni onto the luggage rack. Then the more vicious second wave hit, catching the train like a small toy in its relentless grip and throwing it down a mangled wreck, killing a large number and injuring lots more.
In their compartment, a teenage relative was dead and Hiruni was missing. They ran to higher ground and the Telwatte temple. They also searched for Hiruni but did not come across her body.
A photograph that takes pride of place: Hiruni would be 23 years now
Posters about the missing girl elicited a phone call from rice-mill owner, Sirithunga mudalali, of Aluthwela, who was insistent then and still calls them to tell them that he rescued Hiruni from a tree-branch and sent her along with his daughter to the temple, as he went looking for his wife. His wife had died in the tsunami and his daughter had lost Hiruni near the temple.
Other sightings of Hiruni had also been reported – those who had seen her and stories of a boatman in Matiwela taking her.
“I am hoping to make a YouTube video seeking Hiruni,” says Naduni, while she and Latha cling to hope and do good deeds to overcome their karma and find their long-lost Hiruni.
