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Lionel hid his anger with the intention of taking revenge from all of his abusers one day. Did he study his books so hard and come here for such mockery and disrespect? This was an abuse he could not avoid.

One guy snipped off Lionel’s hair in places and rubbed toothpaste all over his face and his head. Another boy’s penis was rubbed with chili powder. When he screamed in pain, his mouth was stuffed with old rags. Lionel later found out that this newcomer’s name was Athula.

In reality, because of this ragging Lionel became closer to the other new students. There was a silent bondage between them as if they were all in a raging storm in the same boat.

The hazing did not stop in one day. Lionel did not get a room at the Akbar Hall. He found a small room in a boarding house some distance away from the campus. There were another dozen students in the same premises.

That night, a few second year students who came in search of newcomers, took them outdoors. Awakened this way in the middle of the night, the boys were stripped naked and made to march along the road. Near the bridge they were given another command. This was to open a “Milk Factory”. The newcomers had no clue as to what was meant by this. They were made to stand in a circle, and each one had to grab hold of the penis of the person to the right of them. Then followed a chain of masturbation. Lionel did not understand what satisfaction the raggers were getting by watching all this milking action. Everything happened very mechanically. In a little while the moans and groans were heard.

Lionel ambled back to his room as if walking in a dream. After this for about a week, Lionel had to face a variety of such abuses at the hands of the hazing second year students.

It was during this week that Lionel first saw Anula in the cafeteria known as the WUS canteen. As she was climbing the steps to the canteen with two other girls, Anula turned around and looked at Lionel who was walking up behind her. Both of them felt the attraction towards each other at that very moment.

Next day, they listened to the same lecture in the same room. Without a second thought, Lionel went and sat next to Anula, then they started to talk.

That noon they had their lunch together. Lionel came to know Anula’s friends – Mirana and Vinodani. Lionel also introduced his new friend Athula to the girls.

Most evenings after classes Lionel and Anula walked along the Lovers’ Lane. This ran along the Mahaveli River at a level below the Senate Building grounds. The two of them would sit under a shady tree, and look at the flowing muddy water of the river and talk to each other while holding each other’s hands.

Anula talked about her parents and about the village she came from. Her father who was a farmer had died three years ago. Anula was the eldest in the family. She revealed that her mother and her two younger brothers survived by growing vegetables and selling them. The tears that came to her eyes while she explained all this, was wiped away by Lionel.

He also told about his family. He was also the eldest in his family. Anula could feel the anger in his voice as he talked about how he lost his parents’ affection and love after his younger brother was born.

“It is best for me to stay away from that family,” Lionel said.

Their love grew and desires blossomed. But they controlled their emotions with a respect for each other. They dreamt about getting their degrees and living happily together in some far away village. Lionel revealed how he hated Colombo. When he said how he loved to live in Anula’s village and do farming, she was elated.

But by next year, Lionel turned into a completely different person. Most evenings he did not have enough time to be alone with Anula. He told her that he was attending some special classes.

But the love between them never waned. Yet Anula felt as if Lionel was hiding something from her. She was beginning to wonder whether he had other girl friends. But there was not even a scent of such another person in Lionel’s life.

He attended the special evening classes with Athula. One day Anula met a third person that came along with Athula and Lionel. He had a fully grown beard and his name was Rohana.

A few days after this meeting, Lionel also started to grow a beard.

“Why are you growing all that fuzz on your face” Anula asked him.

“I am not growing it. It is growing on its own,” was his reply. “Women don’t know anything about men’s beards.”

“That beard doesn’t suit you.”

“What can I do when it grows on its own, Anu? Not only that, it helps me save the money that I would otherwise spend on blades.”

“What would you do with all that money saved?”

“I can help the suffering masses with that money.”

‘Are you going to save the country with the money you save by not buying a blade?”

“Didn’t you know, Anu, that the ocean is filled by little drops of water. If each one of us saved a little bit that way, then it will become a large amount. With that we will be able to do something useful for the country.”

“How many are there that think like you?”

“There are more people than you can imagine that think like that, Anu.”

“I can’t argue with you, Lionel. All I can say is that the beard doesn’t suit you.”

“I always wondered why the men grew beards.”

“Why?”

“From a long time ago, it was the men who went out hunting. The women lived inside the caves. They did not burn in the sun and they did not get wet in the rain. That was how the womenfolk became fair and soft. The men burned in the sun and got soaked in the rain. To protect ourselves from such elements, the hair grew on our faces and our bodies.”

“Your argument could be correct. But I still say that the beard does not suit you.”

“I survive because of my beard,” Lionel said jokingly. “You will be able to see a lot of bearded people very soon.”

After sometime Anula began to see certain things that she had not seen before. On walls appeared a whole lot of new posters. On large white paper were messages such as “LIBERATION”, “DEATH”, “CAPITALISTS GO TO HELL”, “FREEDOM TO MOTHER LAND”, written in red and black letters. There messages became more and more prominent. “LIVING MEANS NOT DYING LIKE A SLAVE BUY DYING IN THE STRUGGLE.”

“THE MOTHER LAND COVERED IN CAPITALISTS’ BLACK PATCHES CAN BE CLEANSED ONLY BY THEIR BLOOD ALONE.”

When Anula saw such writings on the walls, a new kind of fear was born within her. In her heart she felt the forewarning of a great change.

Recently Lionel had been distancing himself from her. He would tell her that he was going to his parents’ house in Colombo, and would return to Peradeniya after several days. Once she had sent him a letter to his Nugegoda address and Lionel claimed that he never received it. Then he changed his story and said that he had spent his time at a friend’s house and not with his parents.

“To me, friends are better than my parents. My mother nor my father could ever see anything good about me,” Lionel said once. “I was born into that family because of a previous bad Karma.”

Lately, Lionel often talked with a frustration. At times, he was in deep thought. Once Anula inquired from Lionel about a “Liberation” poster on a wall. He did not answer. There was a strong belief within Anula that Lionel could never ever join such a cause. He did not show any great interest in his studies. “What can we do with an arts degree, Anu? In the end we will have to get into the fields and wallow in the mud.”

“So didn’t you say once that we will go to my village and work in the fields?”

“We should be able to do something more than that…We have only one life, Anu.”

“According to Buddhism, aren’t we born more than one lifetime? Lionel, don’t we die and are born again and again?”

“I don’t believe in all that nonsense. We have to do whatever while we can, right now.”

“By that do you mean it’s all right to murder someone?”

“I am not talking about murder! I am talking about things that will help mankind. If someone dies in the process I don’t think of that as a fault.”

“Then, you don’t believe in Karma – Pala, cause and effect?”

“I don’t know anything about that. Buddha said that we do not have anything called a soul. To be liberated we have to give up the selfish desires.”

“You are not talking about the Liberation that the Buddha talked about.”

Anula said this in hope of drawing Lionel into a lengthy conversation. But he went quiet.

Now Lionel and Anula did not walk together along the Lovers’ Lane, nor did they sit under a shady tree by the Mahaveli river holding hands. Lionel did not have the time for that anymore. Everyday he was attending classes. Special classes. Anula felt as if he had become an enigma.