Waiting for Erandathi

He always waited .
He waited at the usual nook at the bus stop .
Holding  the  brown paper bag  carefully with two fingers , lest it gets crushed .
She liked Rata Kaju .
Many times he wondered whether she got late on purpose . Try to understand , try to see things from her perspective  , try to forgive , allow yourself to be forgiven…h,mm .
 Then,  she always came .
The dance of the curls in the  warm Colombo breeze, The beads of sweat glistening in the sun , That slight smell of eau de cologne , that follow her like a genteel aura …
She came.

...පීරා වරලස මල් ගවසාලා
නාග ලොවින් බැස
නා ලිය ගමනින්
වරඟන පිරිවරිනා ...
මතක සිනහවෙන් මුව සනසාලා 

...සිතක උපන් දොළ සන් සිඳුවාලා
හිරුට මුවා වෙන් සඳට මුවාවෙන් ……

They hid  from the sun , the moon  and all in between.
_______________________________________________________

He finds himself waiting again . This time an older man waiting for his wife  and the miracle that happened years ago. Miracles are not one time events , he makes a mental note .
May be I can use this somewhere .

කලේ පැන් ඇත 

නැවුම් රහ නැත
 මොකද මන්දා ලිඳට වුයේ ...

පුළුස්සා ගත් රොටිය කරවී 

මොකද මන්දා ලිපට වුයේ ....

හද ගත ලුණුමිරිස රහ නැත 

මොකද මන්දා දිවට වුයේ …

…පැලේ ගහ කොළ සුළඟ ඇත 

එද සිහිල කොයි අත ගියාදෝ 

කෝල බව මුසු සිනා හඬ නැත 

සවන් බිහිරිව ගියාදෝ ….

It is not the same without them.
13 and a half days more to go.

 _________________________________________________

“Leave , him alone.  Appachchi has his own way of handling these things “
He could hear her telling the young man.

Young men want to prove themselves , to take charge and do things . Old men are a different species  , most of the time they live in their minds, with eyelids closed  .

He is waiting yet again. He recognizes the  familiar stranger, grief. …Like the people who used to stand in the bus stand long time ago.. Not spoken a word,  yet familiar .

“The hearse  has arrived , they have brought the body “    Some one says .  


He opens his eyes to the ruffle.

Erandathi is here. and she is ...