A Brahmi script inscription states that King Gajabahu I
issued an edict that customs duties obtained at the port be credited to the
Buddhist monastery, Godapavata (Gota Pabbata) Vihara. The port, according to archaeologists,
probably pre-dates this inscription. The
harbour town is said to be have been an entrepot on the maritime silk route
from at least the 2nd Century CE.
Nestled in the crook where the Walawe falls into the sea
courtesy the tsunami of 2004, in this place so pregnant with history, a
different kind of history is unfolding, I noticed. Last Saturday, my friend Renton De Alwis took
me to Godavaya. Accompanying us was that gentle and accomplished lady Iranganie
Serasinghe.
As we entered what proved to be a spotlessly clean facility,
Renton greeted
people with his trade mark ‘Ayubowanda’, followed by ‘dannavada kawda
kiyala?’ (do you know who I am?). ‘Alvis
mahattaya ne!’ (It has to be Mr. Alwis) was the constant response. We were greeted by a lady called Dharmalatha,
who invited us to sit down.
Before we could sit, we heard a threewheeler coming up to
the entrance. Dharmalatha or ‘Latha’ as
everyone called her, rushed out. A few minutes later she came inside. She was carrying an old lady. Ivy Regina is 82 years old and very ill. She
is on an exclusively liquid diet. She
had been taken to hospital to dress some wounds that had broken out on her
feet. Latha Akka carried her inside and
to the toilet, upon the request of the patient.
Ivy Regina is blind. Just like
the 30 other residents of the ‘Sarana Home for the Aged Blind’, set up and run
by the Sri Lanka Federation of the Blind.
Dharmalatha Karandana, the only person who is not visually
handicapped at this facility, has been working as the Deputy Project Director
for the past 20 years. She hails from
Karandana, Ingiriya and had been drawn to this place on account of a personal
tragedy. She takes care of all 31
residents, 10 male and 21 female, ranging from the age of 40 to 82. She said
that a resident had passed away recently at the age of 102.
The Federation provides a small sum of money which is not
enough even to provide meals for a couple of days. The facility depends on the alms offered by
various individuals. Food, Latha Akka
said, has never been a problem. Food
however is not the only thing required.
I asked her how she manged.
‘We depend on pin vee. When the paddy is harvested, the residents go
out seeking alms. Farmers give them paddy.
This is what we’ve used to build most of our structures, the budu
medura (image house), the perimeter wall and so on. We used pin vee to paint the buildings
recently.’
She told me that health clinics are conducted regularly at
the ‘Home’. The medicines prescribed are
paid for by some good-hearted people working at the Hambantota Salterns.
There was order in the place. A time table that was strictly
adhered to. The residents were clean and
orderly. They knew how to smile. They knew how to sing. Mallika, a woman who had gone blind at the
age of 45, sang Nanda Malini’s ‘Buddhanu Bhavena’ and followed this with a kavi
pela consisting of stanzas expressing gratitude (to those who offer
alms). There was control, modulation and
feeling in the rendition, the kind of which one does not find in the various
talent shows that are telecast nowadays.
She is from Anuradhapura. She wanted to sing a bhakthi geethaya
(devotional song) she had sung while at school (Mahamewnaavata sisila genena
samaadhi pilimaya – The Samadhi Buddha statue that cools the Mahamewna Gardens). We were mesmerized.
She was not the only talented individual. A woman in her seventies gifted Aunty
Iranganie with some pieces of lace she herself had knitted. A man in his late seventies, hunched with
age, a student of Sunil Shantha, entertained us with some of the master’s
songs. His voice was not what it must
have once been, but he was true to melody and beat and had not lost his sense
of nuance.
In the middle of all this, a young family arrived to
celebrate their 2 year old son’s birthday by offering sweets and tea to the
residents. Malindu Rasanga is probably
too young to understand the magnitude of that act of kindness. There are many ways to celebrate birthdays.
This was different, however.
There is something about ‘Sarana’ that makes one want to
visit and re-visit. Whatever it is, I am
convinced it has a lot to do with this remarkable lady Latha Akka. She keeps things in order, keeps things
clean, has won the love and respect of all the residents. She keeps them smiling.
The residents know the sea is not far away. They can’t see it. Some were almost swept away by the tsunami,
but Latha and some others had saved everyone who was at risk. It was after the tsunami that walls were
built around the facility, complemented by some retaining structures at
different levels.
‘What do you need?’ I asked.
‘We don’t need food,’ she answered.
She pointed out that there are hundreds of visually handicapped people
who are abandoned by their families.
They all grow old and need to be taken care of. There just isn’t enough space. There is enough room for another
building. She has enough heart to take
care of twice or thrice the number of people currently in residence.
Dharmalatha has dedicated her life to taking care of the 'aged blind'. I don’t know which paramitas she was
fulfilling. This bodhisattva will
take care of all these people and whoever else takes up residence during her
tenure with the same love, dedication and strength of character, I am
sure. With or without the help of anyone
else. It won’t hurt to give for there
are those who can give and those who cannot.
In any event, if ever you go to Godavaya, drop in and say hello to
her. It might give you a better
perspective on things. I came away
empowered. Sighted.
msenevira@gmail.com
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