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He had to wait quite till a van showed up to take him to Anuradhapura with someone he had known during his army days. He had not revealed to that family his real reason for being here. He had only told them that he was going to see a Buddhist monk who had written an impressive article to a newspaper.

When he returned that night to one at his lodging asked any curious questions. Though he had dinner with the family and talked about various matters, the subject of reincarnation was well kept within him. Mostly they talked the problem with the Tigers and about their friends who had died because of the war.

The night Ajith felt that life is a sorrowful cascade that brought up happy bubbles once in a while. The stars that were shining in the sky were all part of this illusion.

He had a good night’s sleep. Thought he expected to see them in his dreams he did see Janaki or Sundaram. Early next morning, he woke up refreshed. He had the urge to go and find Janaki in Niveli. But these days even the thought of going towards Jaffna was a mere fantasy. In the north was one fiery chaos. Confident that reverend suitable would keep his promise, Ajith came back to his home in Nugegoda.

The last few years of Ajith’s life were spent in a depression and a frustration. After the unfortunate incident in Jaffna he was thoroughly disappointed with the whole of life and the world. Since he could not carry a weapon and go to the front any longer he ended up working in an army office in Colombo, but he could not concentrate well at the job. That man burning in the middle of fire haunted his mind all the time. He had no courage to tell about this to anybody. In reality he had no close friend who was willing to sit and listen to him. After his best friend Buddhi had died in the fiery explosion, he felt very much alone in the world. Gradually he became a snail that had crawled into its shell. The only thing that shed some light to his life was article that reverend Subuthi had written about rebirth to a newspaper. This article explained how dreams could carry memories from life experiences. It also told about western scientists and doctors who were using hypnosis as a means to pull out previous life memories. As soon as Ajith read this article he decided to go and meet reverend Subuthi. He wrote to the monk and when an invitation came with a reply, Ajith traveled to north of Anuradhapura to meet the monk.

After the hypnosis session with reverend Subuthi, Ajith felt as if a circle was getting completed. The only missing link was Janaki. He felt if only he could see her one more time and talk to her, he could go back to his old way of living. But who could he tell all this to? Who would believe all this?

When he home, his mother Mallike Henegame saw her son’s long drawn face and asked him what was the matter. She only knew that he to see some friends in Anuradhapura.

“What are you thinking about, son? How are things in Anuradhapura?”

“People are just living, mother. Some have a lot of fear about the coming to attack.”

“You are worried about something?”

Ajith forced a smile.

“Tell me what happened?” Mallika sat near Ajith in the veranda.

“I met a monk, named Subuthi of Thisarawewa. He hypnotized me to find out about my previous life.”

“So what did you see?”

When Ajith explained what he saw under hypnosis, Mallika listened without much belief. “So, you think that you are that Tamil man?”

“I don’t just think. I can feel certain things. Don’t you remember you say that when I was very young I had blisters all over me and that I had a all around my mouth? All that is memory from my burning in a fire.”

“When you were very young you did mutter some words which I could not understand.”

“I understand now. In Niveli I saw the daughter from my previous life.”

Mallika remember something. The trip that she had taken to Kataragama with Ajith…….

“You may not remember, son, we went to Kataragama to release a vow when you were very young. At that time we saw a Tamil family by the bridge. You went running to them. If I remember right, the man who was there called his daughter by the name Janaki.”

“I don’t remember any of that, mother.”

“I remember, I remember quite well. Sister said later that you ran towards the van that were in.”

Ajith let out a deep sigh.

“When you were little, you got scared by a truck carrying petrol, then had high fever. Brother told about it later.” Remembering her eldest son, Lionel who had faced an untimely death, Mallika felt a burning pang in her heart. She also let out a deep sigh.

“Do you think that broughtis a good place, mother?”

“How can we know, son? your brother was always stubborn. Why else would he join a revolution like that?”

“He may have done what he thought was right at the time.”

Knowing of the dislike mother had about talking about older brother, Ajith changed the subject.

“What I would like to do, mother is to meet with that girl one more time and talk to her. The reverend told me that he know a doctor who lives in Niveli. He will find out and let know.”

“Oh, I don’t know……”