Wickramasinghe
was perturbed by Lalani’s yelling.
“මේ ඇහුනද ? අදවත් මේ
තණකොළ ටික එලිකරලා දාන්නකෝ, කැලෑවක් වගේ වත්ත ” (Here, please could clean
up the garden atleast today. Garden is like a forest)
Wickremasinghe waited as if he did not hear. Which brought Lalani to the
garden to repeat her planned itinerary for her husband. Wickramasinghe was annoyed that he was
disturbed from his favorite weekend pastime . Reading the Sunday’s paper ,
Saturday morning under the Pihibiya tree .
“හරි හරි ” (Ok, Ok), he dare not show his annoyance too much , lest it
will put Lalani on a full rampage .
අද නිවාඩු දවසේ ඕක කියව කියව
ඉන්නේ නැතුව මූණ හෝදන්
එන්න කන්න
. (Will you please wash your
face and come for breakfast , without reading that thing) Lalani’s voice is now
coming from the sitting room.
නිදහස් දවසේ
නිදහසේ පත්තරයක්වත් බලන්න නිදහසක් නෑනේ මට ” ,
( even on the independence day I do not have the freedom to read the newspaper
freely ) Wickramasinghe muttered as he folded the news paper.
************************************************************************************************************************
It was even before 7 am when
Sujani’s mobile phone rang. She quickly picked it up before all
others in her small boarding room was woken up by the annoying Nokia ring tone.
Sujani worked at a garment factory as a seamstress and shared a small room with
six others like her. They laid mats on the floor and slept. Normally only about
4 girls were in the room at any given time as they worked on different shifts .
But today was 04 Feb and everybody got a day off. .
She kept her ear to the phone . “මේ මම, ඔයා
නිදාගෙනද හිටියේ ? “ ( It’s me, were you
sleeping) .
" මම මේ
ඩියුටි ඕෆ් වෙලා
යන ගමන් " .(I am just going home after
signing off).
It was Ravi.
They first met, when he ,a security guard at a nearby factory,
once whistled at two girls passing by. After a nervous proposal,
a reluctant “yes” , Gifts of a
box of Kandos Chocolate balls , a T shirt , a bottle of Goya day dream were
exchanged , they took their relationship to the next level .
In to the world of non judgmental darkness . While the white skinned men and women on the giant
screen, in a film that they never watched
, looked on , their hands, lips and
minds explored uncharted nooks.
“අද මොකද කරන්නේ “ (What
shall we today) He asked
“ අද නිවාඩු ” (Today is a holiday)
“ එහෙනම් යමුද ගෝල්ෆේස් පැත්තේ
, මතක ඇතුව කුඩේ අරන් එන්න ” ( Then shall we go to Galleface ,
remember to bring your umbrella)
Ravi was blunt
කුඩේ මොකටද ? , වහින පාටක් නෑ නේ ( Why do we need an umbrella , it does not look as if it is
going to rain ). Sujani acted ignorant.. “හැබැයි අද නිදහස් උත්සවේ හින්ද
, ගෝල්ෆේස් වහල ඇති ”
(But today Galleface green might be inaccessible today , due to independence
day celebrations)
“හුටා , ඇත්ත නේන්නම් මේ බම්බු නිදහස් දවසක් හින්ද අපිට නිදහසේ හම්බු වෙන්නවත් බෑ නේ ”
( Because of this freaking Independence day we
can not even meet freely)
Ravi turned his frustration to words.
************************************************************************************************************************
Samanmali
could feel the late morning sun burning on her head . It is around ten o clock
in the morning . The national anthem was playing over a loud speaker .Samanmali
from , Sri Thivankara vidyala , Devatagahamula was representing her school in
the Independence day function, stood straight.
This was not the main celebration in the
main city attended by the main people. This was a parallel one organized by the
provincial council where the provincial council members preceded over.
Kalu Gune , Raju mahaththaya , Nickson mudalali, members of the PC , big names
in a small town, all were there .
Samanmali
looked straight towards the stage,. On the flagpole hung a lion flag .The
breeze was not sufficient for the flag to fly. The hot sun was shining right in
her face , making her squint her eyes .
Beads of sweat were rolling down her spine . The back of her white
uniform was getting drenched ,she could feel her self melting.
The school tie felt like a serpent ,
tightening it’s grip around her neck.
The she
heard Lalith behind her
“කියල වැඩක් නෑ
නේද මාලි අව්ව ? , නිදහසේ පන යන්න එනවා “
************************************************************************************************************************
Place :
A small apartment in a city far away
,from Sri Lanka
Date :
02Feb
A
telephone receiver is picked on the fourth ring
Shan : Machan
4th February come for Dinner at our place , හරිද ?. මම බෝලේටය් , ගනේෂ්ටයි කිව්වා
Me : ඇයි මොකද්ද occasion එක (What is the occasion)
Shan: ඇයි බං Independence day එක නේ . අපි සමරමු නිදහස .
මම ලංකාට කිව්වා කළු පෝක් කරි එකයි . අල තෙල් දාලයි
හඳන්න කියල .
(
Why it is the independence day . We should celebrate . I told Lanka to make a
Pork curry and
potato
.
Me : ශා මරුනේ මෙනු එක
, හරි අපි බටු මෝජු
හදන් එන්නම් . අනික මං ගාව ඕල්ඩ් රිසේර්වේ Bottles දෙකක්
තියෙනවා
(OK
we will bring a Batu moju . And I have two bottles of Old reserve Arrack)
Shan : ඔව් ඔව් ඒවා නැතුව
කොහොමද නිදහස්
සමරන්න (Yes we need that for the celebrations)
“ එක පාරක් සමරලා මට උදේ පාන්දර කාමරේ මොප් කරන්න උනා . සැමරුවට කමක් නෑ පස්සේ නිදහස වමාරන්නේ නැතුව ”. I could hear Lanka adding
her side comments from the background
PS :
The value of freedom and independence to
a society or a country is unquestionable .It is a concept, a value , a mindset or even an ideology. This post is
just a prompt for thought and does not intend to in any means undermine the
value of independence or freedom.
PPS:
නිදහස සමරුවට කමක් නෑ ඇඟේ ගා
ගන්නේ නැතුව
