FULFILLED CHILDHOOD DREAM
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
Picture Credit : Google.
She lived far away, in a remote
town, hundreds of miles away from the city of Colombo. He was born in London to
Sri Lankan parents. But when flower buds opened into beautiful blooms in her
garden, their fragrance reached his olfactory glands, all the way across the
miles.
Cool breezes
that swept across her garden travelled through continents, across the oceans
and thousands of miles bringing him love letters from her. Neither she had seen
him, nor had he seen her, but the only bond between them was that both had
heard about each other, from his infant days, quite often from his parents.
Many
professionals, doctors, lawyers, intellectuals, scholars, poets, renowned
authors, journalists, and internationally reputed broadcasters fell in love
with her. Artists did beautiful portraits of her, and the cameramen were eager
to catch her splendour through their lenses. Poets wrote amorous stanzas about
her, while and songwriters did compose romantic lyrics, which the singers
echoed in a most heart-rending manner, describing
her mesmerising beauty. When he heard about it all, he became more and more
attracted to her, each day.
The metamorphosis of the sand grain turned it into a whole world. The drop of water turned into a mighty ocean. The infant child grew up to be an adult, and the innocent heart transformed into a complex organ with full of feelings!
“My dear, although you and I live thousands of miles apart, your heart beats always together with mine”. She sent a message to him once. In response, overcome by emotion, he once sent an amorous message to her: “ My dearest, I am willing to travel up to the seventh heaven in search of you”.
The tropical birds when migrated to other parts of the world, brought him information about her to London. When the moon shone on her in Sri Lanka, it shone on him as well in London, and when the sun went down for her, so did it for him as well.
He did, ultimately, plan a complex itinerary for a long awaited journey. You (reader) might have thought he went on that journey alone! No, he went with a group of others, naturally, who in their own minds had fallen in love with her. The leader of the group was a good friend of his, who knew where she lived. He was the one who told him about her a lot in fact, and encouraged him and organised the long journey to meet with her.
Days turned into weeks, weeks transformed into months, and finally they were inside a SriLankan aircraft. He did not come into contact with any Sri Lankan Government Ministers, Politicians, Prime Minister, or even the President inside the plane! After direct flying time from London, they needed about eleven long hours, to reach the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayaka. Inside the aircraft was like a wedding without the bride. Lights were dim inside the plane, and he could hear thunder and lightning outside, in God’s land, a few thousand kilometers above the clouds.
Finally, he landed at the Bandaranaike International airport in the thick of night, yet a few hundred miles still short of, where she was. Even that seemed much longer than the last twenty-five years of waiting to meet with her! Without paying much heed to the time or darkness around him, he started his journey to find her, guided by his friend who stayed with others in Colombo. Except for bright stars in the sky, the main road to where she lived, the side streets were completely dark and empty. From time to time, he expected to see at least a person or two, but he could see fireflies in the dark.
He braved this night journey alone with excitement. His best friend, who was supposed to accompany him of course was very familiar with the places like London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne and Chicago. This was the first time he had to visit Sri Lanka for some time, and found everything had changed completely what he had seen before.
The young
chap from London, decided to travel by road without his best friend, in pitch
darkness with the aid of a hired vehicle and driver. After travelling two
hundred miles or so, he expected at least to see
someone on the road. At times he came across an odd person or two, from whom the
made enquiries about her. Locals’ Sinhala appeared Greek to him, equally, his sign
language was worse than Greek to the odd villager he came across.
In that dark night, at various points of his journey, he
aimlessly walked after getting down from the car. It was like, he was going in
search of the horizon! Once he came across a
young man and used a couple of Sinhala words to him and indicated he had come from London.
A smile dawned on the native having heard the word ‘London’. From his facial
expressions he gathered that the local fellow exactly knew where he was heading
for. He got into his car and acted as a
guide. The word ‘ London’ seemed to have done the trick, he thought to himself.After
a short drive with this young man’s help, they approached where she lived.
The young man from London called her name, yelled, and shouted, in order to wake her up. She seemed to be deep in sleep. There were preservations of old castles, ruins of various buildings around him. Then the native too yelled in ecstasy calling her name, indicating that a young man had come all the way from London! Londoner was wondering, for a moment, whether it would be proper to disturb the whole neighborhood in such a manner during such unsocial hours. But no door opened, no window got unlocked and not a single gate unfastened.
Finally he called aloud her name with ecstasy, to let her know that he was there at her door step, and to tell her that he had come all the way from London to see and appreciate her beauty. At long last, similar to one magnet attracts another, their vibrations merged with each other.
The door finally opened to the one who kept on knocking! A cold breeze constantly blew. When the moon shone, it shone on both him and her simultaneously. She cried and shed happy tears and welcomed him
Who was she? She was the one, he had fallen in love with, and from the days he was a toddler. She was the one; his parents used to tell him about, and described her as unsophisticated, rural, and healthy looking! Now, of course, she has transformed into a sophisticated beautiful lady!
In ecstasy, he simply looked up at the sky and yelled:
“ My darling, sweetheart, the amount of trouble my friend and I had
to undergo to find you in the night! The other
group of members, with my friend, is fast asleep in a Colombo hotel, trying to
get rid of their jet lag. Sure, they will also come to see you tomorrow. But
the difference between them and me is that I have fallen in love with you,
since I was a toddler, and finally found you after all these years.
I am now in your lap, please hug me and
welcome me darling. The dream I had from my childhood, having born in London to
Sri Lankan parents, from the early ages of life, has now come true. Others,
like the authors, photographers, poets, and songwriters will come, appreciate
your beauty, and perhaps write flattering episodes about you. But, dear Anuradhapura, once the hub and the
Capital of Ceylon, where hospitable, innocent, unsophisticated and harmless
people used to live, along with my parents, who
were born and bread here, I have finally reached you with full hopes of getting
married to you my darling, and spend the
rest of my life in your lap in happiness.
tilakfernando@gmail.com
Sri Express - 2013
Sri Express - 2013