BhadrajiJayatilaka.com

Suduhaminay wiped away her tears. “Yes, Appo, I also had a house and a family. Now I live near the temple. At night, I sleep on the porch of the village meeting hall. What can I do, dear daughter? It’s karma”

“Suduhaminay, you can come here any time you want to,” Thangamani said. “I will give you a little bit or rice.”

“Oh, great merit to you. There were no leftovers at the temple today after their almsgiving. Otherwise I would always get some burnt rice scraps from there. I will come again.”

Giving many thanks on the way, Suduhaminay got on to the road from the canal shore. After this incidence they did not see Suduhaminay for a long while.

Life went on as usual.

But everything happened with unbelievable speed.

There was a change in government. A new prime minister was elected and according to many, a new era was dawning under his leadership. Everything was nationalized. Sinhala became the official language.

Sundaram who came to the main road one morning, saw a brand new bus. How different was this from the old jalopies that resembled snake-gourd scaffolds? On the side of the red bus were written the letters CTB. The bus was empty of passengers. Probably it was on a learning route.

Then he noticed the letter “Sri” on the number plate of an automobile. Before this only letters such as CN and EN were on these number plates. There were signs of obvious changes. But Sundaram never dreamt how gravely this change would affect him.

At the Nugegoda junction a gang surrounded him.

“Hey you Tamil” one yelled out and yanked the wicker basket from the top of his head and threw it on the ground. “You alien Tamil.”

“Aiya, shaami.. oh, sir, don’t don’t beat me…oh!”

Though Sundaram rattled on and on, the gangsters did not hear any of this. The only thing they could see was a human form that was slightly different from them. “Don’t, don’t, don’t, oh, God.”

“Your people are killing our people.”

“We will kill all of you.”

“We will give you squashed rice.”

“Bring the bastard over here.”

“Hey, stop that bowser.”

The brakes of a huge oil truck screeched and it came to a halt. Sundaram closed his eyes for a moment. Deep in his lungs he could smell all the sweat of the gangsters pressing against him. Everything they said was only a great din.