28 February 2012

Avalokeshwara






A thousand dreams
he dreamt

spread across a life time
spread over many lives
many eons
While he waits for the sunrise
over samanala peak
While he watched the day die
on the shores of Gokanna
may be even in Jethawana
while the Thathagatha preached 

To reality
now he is waking up
from one dream at a time
peeling off samsara 
In the end he will realize
that reality is
nothing

25 February 2012

To be a Sri Lankan


His eyesight was not what it used to be and nowadays he can only make out almost shadows walking out from the door . People walking out , pushing their bags in trollies . Some visiting , some coming home . 
Somasiri has been here for about two hours . Up front , so that they would easily pick him. He is waiting for the familiar shadows to appear.

Shri must be taller now, his thoughts coagulate on his granddaughter, whom he last saw two years ago.
“Appachchi”  he hear the familiar voice of Maithri , his daughter-in-law  . “Appachchi loku Kalpanawanaka ( Appachchi in deep thought)
She says before giving him one of those  kisses that slightly brush the cheek. A whiff of some french perfumeenter his nostrils and end up somewhere between the eyes.
Should have shaved the stubble off , Somasiri notes to himself.
His eyes search for the little girl who played in the garden last time they were here.
“Shri , talk to Seeya” , a wiry frame peeps from behind her father,  in response to her mother’s command. .
“Shri , Kohamada Puthe, Usa gihilla  “ ( How are you Shri , you have grown tall)
The young girl just smiles as  her mother translate the comment for her benefit.
“ Sinhala kathakarannama baarida? “ ( Can’t speak Sinhalam at all?) Somasiri look quizzically  at his son , who draws a sheepish smile as his  defense.
 “ When Sri Lankan , You must speak Sinhala” Somasiri sounds almost like lawyer Silva who represented him in the land dispute case. “otherwise not Sri Lankan” he hammers one more blow for good measure , on a point already driven in.
There draws  heavy silence for what feels like eternity , or may be even a little bit longer .
Then  with the same smile , she looks deep in to his eyes
“ Seeyah , is speaking in Sinhala the only requirement to be Sri Lankan ?”  
The words pierce through the fog of her mixed accent.

“Shri , mind what you say please, we talked about this “  , as the parents try rectify an awkward moment , Somasiri plunge deep to find an answer.

10 February 2012

අත්තම්මා

මැටි කෝප්පේ පුරාවට
ගල් කැට කළු ඇට හොයන 
වක ගැහුණු සුරතැඟිලි
බිඟුන් සේ කලබලෙන්

එකසිය අටක් , එකින් එක 
ලොව්තුරු බුදු ගුණ ගනින 
බැති බරින සැදී  සිත 
අහස සේ 
නිසංසල

04 February 2012

ශ්‍රියානිගේ නිදහස

" අපගේ අනුප්‍රානේ,  
අප ශක්ති ඔබ වේ  "
මොරගසයි 

ලවුඩ් ඉස්පීකර දෙපළ පොල් ගසේ
දිවාකර පෙළත් දන 

පෙන්වමින් තම බලේ 
සියොලඟම තෙමා
 දා ගලා යයි පිට දිගේ 
නැව් නැගී සමු ගත්දී නවසිය හතලිස් අටේ 
සුද්දා ඉතිරි කර ගිය ටයි පටිය ,
 හිරවේ තවමත් ඇය ගෙලේ 
උදේ කෑ රොටි බාගේ
 දියාරුව ගොස් කුසේ
ගතවාරු නැති වෙච්චි , 
සීරුවෙන් සිටි නොහේ
දෙවටගහ හන්දියේ  සිරිරාජ විදුහලේ 
ශ්‍රියානි 
ක්ලාන්තව මිහිමතට ඇදවැටුණි 
නිදහසේ 

Four stories of independence / නිදහසේ අතුරු කතා


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