ජීවිතය ඇරඹෙන තැන රහසක්, විශ්මයාර්ථයක් වුව ද, ජීවිතය අවසන් වන්නේ අපට දැනෙන පෙනෙන අයුරින්ම ය. ඇරඹුම කෙසේ වුවත් අවසානය නියතය.
කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ දී මුණ ගැසුණු, සහෝදරත්වයෙන් බැඳුණු, තවත් කෙනෙක් යන්නට ගියේ ය.
මල් පැසක තැන්පත්ව මේ මුහුදට පහත් වන්නේ පාලිත අබේවර්ධන ගේ භෂ්මාවශේෂය. ඒ මොහොතේ එතැන සිටි ගුණපාල ලියා ඇති අයුරින්, දිය මත පාවෙන මල් පෙති ඉතිරිකර පාලිතගේ සිරුර සයුරට මුසුව ගියේය.
පාලිත ගැන අවුරුදු කීපයකට කලින් කොළඹ 75 ජාල අඩවියට මා ලියූ සටහනක් පහත ඇවිණෙයි. ලියා ඇති ඉංග්‍රීසියේ වැරදිත්, සිංහලට පෙරලන්නට නොහැකි වීම ගැනත් කමන්න.
දෙදාස් දහය අවුරුද්ද ලබද්දීම වාගේ සිද්ධ වූ අයියාගේ මලගමට පැමිණි ඉස්කෝල පංති යාළුවන් පිරිස අතර සිටි එකෙක්,
"මචං පිත්තා ගියා නං ඉතින් අපේ ටර්න් තමයි ඊලඟට..."
කියා සිනාසුණු මොහොත ආයෙ ආයෙත් සිහිපත් වෙයි.
ජීවිතය කියන්නේ මැද කොටස ය.
Ransirimal's Babblings 2
Most of us came to lectures and went to our homes or boarding places on our own, in those early days. Those of us who were not from
Colombo, and these there were many because of 'distric basis' selection
process, felt some sort of an emptyness and at the same time a
frightning feeling of freedom. There was a difference between us and
those who came to campus from 'home'.
Soon after first classes, as I remember a week or two later, we are to
write the 'English Test'. This is a test to check our abilities in
manhandling this elite language and to lump us and brand us into groups
who are well endowed and not so well developed. Nobody worried about the
exam, since we all knew that it will not change anything in the
academic front. However a new fear loomed in the horizon, with the news
that 'art faculty seniors' are planning to rag us on this day.
For most of the first few weeks, we were told to avoid the arts faculty
side. That is not to go beyond the main building. Much of the time the
student union, 'present' and 'future', were making sure that none of the
science fresha's were subjected to 'high intensity' ragging that was
prevalent (as we were told) in the arts side. All this is going to
change on the english exam day and there was a scare that spread among
all. Stories were told by freshers and seniors alike, about what happend
to this guy and that guy on this year and that year. A movement was
born, mainly consisting of boys from colombo schools, ananda and nalanda
as I remember, to do something about this.
They had a leader, who one afternoon walked bravely to the deans office
to lodge a complaint and seek help from the faculty. A skinny fellow
with a skinny looking beard and sharp eyes with gentle manners but a
strong determination. His name was Palitha, Palitha Abeywardena.
I vividly remember the group walking to deans office and watching all
this from the side lines. We got the assurance that it would be a group
rag and no individual rags will be tolerated.
Well, the english test was just a test. If I am recalling right, there
was no single word in english for us to write. Sure there were passages
in english that we have to read and comprehend. Then there were
questions we had to answer in Sinhala. There were some multiple choice
questions where we have to select the most correct answer. Towards the
end of the exam, which was held in King George hall, arts seniors were
walking along the corridors. Hootings and shoutings scared the girls to
tears.
I remember watching the faces of my friends sitting around me trying to
empty my mind of all feelings. There was no path to escape but to get
out and face the thing.
Face we did. Today it may not look much of a thing at all. Swimming in
the grassy lawn with mud and blue ink being sprayed on us, and the
merry-go-round (spinning around with your right hand thumb to your mouth
and the pinky to your belly button) plus several push ups and other
stuff as I remember. Palitha of course was wearing a 'mal maala' made
out of some vines and was getting the 'royal treatment' in the very
front of the group. He did very well and stood up to it showing the
qualities of a brave leader.
I got cornered by few fellows. Much later I got to know that they
cornered me because few old boys from my school wanted to make sure that
I went through the ritual at an appropriate level.
Remember the face of Prof. Samaranayake watching the whole incident and
putting an end to the show once it seem to be getting beyond permissable
or tolerable level.
We all escorted Palitha to our side, Thurstan road side. Vaguely
remember him getting into a car near Salgaha. A yellow Volkswagen? That
is the picture that seeps into my mind. Some one carried his shoes for
him, I remember. Then we, Jerome and me, got into the first bus that
came along and ended up in Town Hall.
We went to Bake House. Had some short eats and tea. I got into a 120 to
go home, to my uncle's place. Somewhere close to Pamankada, some one
wishpered into my ear that my shirt is soiled. I peeked over my shoulder
and saw blue ink patches across the back.
"Mee theentha vagayak halila"
I answered and turned around.
"Ado, umbalawa anduna ganna thamiyi api theenth gahala mark keruwe..."
Well we became friends and often met in the bus. Sadly I do not remember
the names or the faces that well. There were too too many to remember.
English exam, was a big event as I wrote in the last post. Sure it
brought many of us together and new friendship's flourished. We, Jerome
and myself were joined by Titus Vimalasiri, who was from Maravila area,
and who taught for a short time at Joseph Vaz. Titus was a good friend
of Palitha and we quickly made inroads in friendships. We were feeling
home at the thurstan canteen and the boys common room.
