A
new beginning
By Chandrani Fernando
It was 1983. The month was July. I was reading a book when Sumanawathi
asked me to put on the radio. The government had declared a curfew,
according to the radio broadcast. I closed the book and went outside.
There was a long queue of vehicles on the road. “Why?”
I asked Sumanawathi.
“All
the buses are turning back because of the curfew,” she said.
I walked along the path to get a better view. Everybody was getting
down from the buses. They started walking towards Moratuwa.
“Why is there a curfew?” I asked a passer-by.
“Bombing – bombing,” he hurried along.
“Bombing,
where?” I crossed the road and stood at the gate with my cousin.
“Bombing at Ratmalana. I saw the smoke,” a passer-by
said.
“Oh! Don’t know whether they are bombing Dehiwela also.
My sister and her family are there,” Jocelyn started crying.
At
this remark my nephew Isira and I could not help laughing.
“You are laughing. If anything happens to them? Aiyo! Aiyo!
What a destruction!” she started lamenting.
“It is not Dehiwela, it is Ratmalana,” Isira said to
console her.
“Are you sure it is Ratmalana?” Jocelyn asked.
“Yes, yes that is what I heard,” Isira said.
“Then
it is alright,” Jocelyn was satisfied.
It was a sort of mass exodus. Everybody was in a mad rush.
“Run to the boutique before it closes,” Lalitha told
her son Isira.
Isira hurried to the boutique at the junction.
“I’ll run to the cooperative store before it closes,
don’t know whether it is already closed.” So saying
Jocelyn vanished.
I
came back and stood at the entrance to our house.
Suddenly a young couple appeared in front of me. The girl was in
tears. The boy was consoling her.
“Please can she go to the toilet? She is about to faint,”
the boy explained.
“Of course,” I replied.
We
were about to turn in when a second youngster appeared.
“Machang the situation is terrible it seems,” he said.
This second youngster was tall and dark. The two boys seemed to
be friends. I asked them to make themselves comfortable. The girl,
who was quite pretty, was the girlfriend of the first boy. Even
after returning from the toilet she was crying. Her boyfriend consoled
her. The other boy went back out.
“From where are you,” I asked. “I am from Dehiwela,”
the first boy replied. “I am the son of the owner of a restaurant.”
He told me the name of a well-known establishment. “Really?”
I asked.
“She
is from Ratmalana,” he replied.
Now I was sure that she was crying for her dear ones.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” her boyfriend consoled
her.
“Don’t know what has happened to my parents,”
she cried.
“Why don’t you prepare some tea for them?” I asked
Sumanawathi. She went inside to prepare tea.
“Don’t
your people know where you are?” I asked the couple. They
blushed.
“Then the best thing is for the two of you to walk home as
soon as possible,” I advised them. Sumanawathi brought the
tea. Although she had prepared three cups of tea, the couple shared
one cup. They were obviously so much in love.
She
was quite concerned that her parents would worry about her. He was
trying to consoling her. The other boy hurried back from the road.
Sumanawathi served a cup of tea to him.
“From where are you?” I asked him.
“I
am from Beliatta,” true to his word he had a southern accent.
Sumanawathi went to the road again. Most probably to bring the latest
news. I was impatient to find out the truth. Sumanawathi hurried
back in a jiffy and she asked me to come outside. I hurried out.
“People
say that the dark boy did not travel with the couple. But he came
separately and he looks like a Tiger according to them,” Sumanawathi
conveyed the message sent by another neighbour of mine.
I laughed it off.
“Don’t
laugh. Most of the boys have noticed him,” Sumanawathi looked
serious. I went inside and sat down to converse with the couple.
“Shall we move along then?” The first boy looked at
his sweetheart.
“Are you fit enough to walk?”I asked.
“Yes,” the girl blushed.
“Thank
you very much,” the first boy said.
“Thank you very much,” the girl said.
“Thanks,” the second boy said.
“Visit our restaurant when you come that way.” The first
boy extended an invitation.
Sumanawathi
got ready to go to the boutique before it closed. I watched the
returning buses for some time and went back in search of my book.
I turned the page. To my amusement it was a new chapter.
The
time to take the stage draws near
The 18th Annual Inter School Drama Competition organised
by the Interact Club of Royal College is scheduled to be held on
March 2 (semi-finals) at 9 a.m. and on March 7 (finals) at 6.30
p.m. at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.
The
schools participating in the event are S. Thomas’ College,
Mount Lavinia, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Trinity College,
Kandy, Ladies’ College, Bishop’s College, Visakha Vidyalaya,
Girls’ High School, Kandy, Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda and
St. Joseph’s Convent, Nugegoda. Tickets are available at the
Lionel Wendt Theatre.
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