Long time no see?

By Ayesha R. Rafiq

Well, looks like this year around you just might be meeting many of those as yet unseen relations.

With the entire world being pulled into the millennium hype, families who haven't met in decades are frantically jet setting their way around the world to meet up in ancestral homes or fondly remembered places to see in the new year together. And in Sri Lanka too, the pull of family and roots is just as strong.

The Jayasundera clan is one who has special cause to celebrate.

The family that hasn't met for over eight years is back in their hometown Negombo to see in the day of all days together.

While most of them have visited Sri Lanka at some time since then, work and family schedules have made it near impossible for the brothers and sisters to all meet together.

But as Rita, the third of four daughter says, 'God has been kind this year. For us it's like a sign from heaven that the new millennium is going to be a joyous and prosperous one for all'.

The family unit consists of the mother and father, one son, four daughters, four spouses and eight children. While the two eldest daughters live in Australia, the third lives in Norway, the fourth in Sri Lanka and the son in Dubai.

Two of the spouses are meeting the whole family for the first time, despite being married for three and seven years respectively, and that the eighth grandchild has arrived one month before schedule to see in the new year is additional cause for them to celebrate.

Says the senior Mrs. Jayasundera, 'this is like the answer to a long asked for prayer, as my one wish was to see my family happy together for one last time before I leave this world'.

Mr. Annesley Perera is also a proud and happy father whose little girls have come home to celebrate Christmas for the first time in over ten years since they left the country.

Although the 'little girls' now have children of their own, a father's daughters never grow up and the pride and happiness is evident as he eagerly expounds their achievements to me. He is only sad that one of his daughters living in America couldn't make it for the celebration. But as he proudly tells me, 'she and her husband own a store dealing with computers and they have to be on standby for any Y2K bug problems that may crop up'.

But his eldest two have come back to the nest, Iromie from Australia and Dr. Nirmali, as he proudly tells me, from America. 'The children all met seven years ago when they came down to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary, but that's a long time and it's simply wonderful to have them and the grandkids here to celebrate the season, especially it being a special year because of the millennium', he beams.

The Seneviratnes who are another globally scattered family are meeting in Sri Lanka after five years and many will stay on until after the New Year.

For them however, the event is marked by sadness. While some of the family were planning on coming down to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary in the family, eventually the whole family turned up due to the deaths within a week of each other of the elderly mother and father.

But while here, they plan on making the most of the situation and enjoying the season as well as they can.

Shirley, his wife and two daughters Surani and Thilini are here from Canada, while his wife's sister who is a UK citizen but lives in Malaysia is here with her son Sanjee who lives in Britain. And the three Seneviratne brothers, from Sweden, Oman and Australia are also here with their children to celebrate the dawn of the New Year. And as Shirley puts it, 'while we are in the midst of a sad occasion, there's no use drowning ourselves in sorrow.

"We plan on making full use of having the whole family down and enjoying this year's celebrations'.

For many while family reunions is a great joy, for some it could be slightly nerve-wracking. Especially if it's family you've never met before. For Michael Ramsey this is a special reunion in a country his family adopted over two decades ago.

Sharon his wife says, 'I could hardly wait to meet my in laws whom I've heard so much about for the first time. I must admit I was more than a little nervous, with all the usual "will they like me" jitters, but everyone has been so great I really feel at home''. Michael is the grandson of British emigrants to Sri Lanka, who haven't visited their native country for the last 12 years.

Michael however is all British having been to boarding school and college in London and now working in Sussex. Having married Sharon four years ago, he has never until now been able to visit his parents and grandparents and introduce his wife to them.

Michael will also meet his brother Patrick, a missionary in Japan whom he hasn't seen since he left Sri Lanka 14 years ago. Patrick is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on December 28 and will be here for one week before duty calls, this time to Thailand.

Three of Michael's cousin's, from Canada, America and Angola are already here with their families while two more are to arrive from Botswana and Australia. 'I can remember my two cousins from Angola and America, but the three from Canada, Botswana and Australia I just have vague pictures of because they left the country when I was very young. They've been here twice since but I've been abroad both times, although I keep in touch via e-mail Sheryl in Angola and Damian in America' says Michael, who can hardly wait to meet his somewhat long lost cousins finally. The family plans on meeting at the ancestral home at Layards Road in Colombo. With almost 30 people who haven't met together for well over 20 years, the season holds a special meaning for them for that reason alone.

While many more large family get-togethers are being planned, using Christmas and the millennium night as an excuse to bring together long lost families, many smaller ones too are being planned with an equal amount of anticipation.

For instance, for the Ismail's who haven't seen their son in the States for the last two years, his coming home for even two weeks is all they could ever ask for. 'My one wish is to see my son as often as possible', says Mrs. Ismail, with shining eyes. 'We miss him so much, he lights up our world when he's here'. And while air-fare is even more expensive this year because of the holiday traffic, it didn't deter them from using the millennium as an excuse to spend two precious weeks with their beloved son.

And Mrs. Wickrama-singhe who hasn't seen her daughter for the past three years was anxiously making Kiribath when I met her to feed her daughter when she returned from the airport on Wednesday night, as she hasn't seen Shalini, who is a computer executive for IBM in America for the last three years. 'Being a widow, Shalini is all I have now, and she's here on one year. She's expecting her first baby and has got a transfer to Sri Lanka for a whole year', the fond mother says, hardly able to contain her double excitement at the arrival of her daughter and the expected grandchild in July this year'.

So while Santa's reindeer rest today after a frantic delivery of presents yesterday, the country's airlines will be kept busy till after the New Year ferrying loved ones back and forth across thousands of miles. And what better way to see the dawn of a new age than with those near and dear to your heart? 

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