 |
| Vije, Jerams and Anais |
Years ago Arjuna Parakrama explained a decision to dedicate
a masters’ thesis to his teachers thus: ‘We tend to think that we do everything
on our own but we rarely acknowledge the immense contribution by our teachers;
people often dedicate theses to our parents but they don’t remember
teachers.’
What is true about students and their tendency to by-pass
teachers in acknowledgment is true of others too, in many contexts. It is not that people are not aware of the
contribution of others of course. We
don’t put into words often. A lot of
‘not saying’ adds up, though. In the end
we find that some are visible and others are not, the latter kind easily
slipping into the unsaid but in many ways asserted ‘did nothing’ category.
Hold on to the thought.
Let us talk of three men.
Anais, Vije and Jerams. They are from Kalmunai, Bibile and Delft
Island Respectively. Anais is close to
fifty, Vije is in his late thirties and Jerams is in his early twenties. Anais is a Muslim, Vije a Buddhist and
Jerams a Catholic. Three lives. All epic in their own right.
Anais passed his A/Ls.
His subjects were Logic, Islamic Civilization, Tamil and Political
Science. He did well enough to enter
university. Poverty stopped him. He then joined the Police. He was happy enough. He succeeded, he says, in educating his
younger brother who is today a very successful educator and businessman with
political aspirations. Anais
married. The happy couple became parents
to three children, two boys and a girl.
Then came December 26, 2004. He lost his wife. He lost his younger daughter who was just
four years old. He was distraught. He lost his job.
And yet, Anais had courage.
He married again and became the father of three more children, two sons
and a daughter who are now in Grades 4, 3 and 1. His eldest daughter (the one from his first
marriage) is about to enter university.
It is a tough life, but Anais is tough enough to endure, fight and
secure a small victory now and then, here and there.
Then there is Wijeratne from Bibile, ‘Vije’ to friends. Poverty drove him to the Army. He was an
excellent marksman. He was called ‘Vedi
Vije’ or ‘Wije the Shooter’. He was occasionally
tasked to bring game to superior officers.
His skill was his downfall.
Someone ratted. The officers
passed the buck and Vije was dismissed.
Today he repents, ‘ඒ
කාලේ කරපු පවු à¶à¶¸à¶ºි මම මේ ගෙවන්නේ’ (I am paying for sins
I committed those days).
Vije’s
eldest son opted to join the Buddhist Order.
According to Vije ‘Podi Hamuduruwo’ is an excellent student and is a
good exponent of ‘කවි බණ’ (poetic sermons).
The other two children are young.
Vije works in Colombo but goes home every now and then to help his wife
grow corn. On at least two occasions
they lost most of the crop to heavy rains.
In fact, on one occasion floods left them without anything.
And
yet Vije sings. Literally. He has made it to the fourth or fifth round of
‘Sirasa Super Star’ on two occasions. He
has an amazing smile. It hides a lot.
Jerams is a young man with big dreams and a confidence to
match. He wanted to join the Navy. He failed.
He did not want to go back to his native Delft Island. He doesn’t like
to lose face. He looked around. Found job.
Saved money. He is still in
Colombo, but back in the island he’s ‘a big man’ now. He owns a three-wheeler and is only the third
islander to own one. He drives it around
with a big smile. He believes that he is
held in high esteem by girls his age. He
is probably correct.
Anais and Vije came into our family about three years
ago. Jeyaram, about a year ago. They were all security guards. The other day, a decision was taken to hand
over the security operation to a different company. Anais, Vije, Jerams and Fernando (who had
joined a few months ago) had to leave.
None of them have written a single word for ‘The Nation’. They are not alone in that respect; i.e. among
those associated with ‘The Nation’.
There was Ananda Thushara, Jack of many trades and master of quite a
few (see 'Thushara's Vesak'). There’s Chanaka who succeeded
Thushara when the latter was promoted and shifted to our sister paper
‘Rivira’. The accountants, marketing
executives, those who work at the press, distribution personnel, maintenance
personnel, administrative staff and so on.
Yes, there are drivers too.
Many. They come and go as per the
whims and fancies of those who own their vehicles. The same with the janitorial staff. The vendors too, let us not forget. Not a word have any of these people written
for ‘The Nation’. And yet, they are all their in some
indescribable way in all our stories, all the headlines, cartoons,
illustrations, graphics and in every design element.
Anais, Vije and Jerams are part of the story and they are
part of the team of crafts-persons who get together to produce something called
‘The Nation’. They don’t get
‘bylines’. Just like all the teachers
who ‘write’ much of the theses for which people are given postgraduate
degrees.
Read also:
0 comments:
Post a Comment