‘Sir!’
I looked around.
A girl, may be around eighteen, dressed in a skirt and a blouse, with a smiling face, was hurrying down the earth-cut steps on my left to the road. I couldn’t suddenly make out who she was. I stopped in my tracks on the hilly road and went on staring at her, when she approached me saying,
‘Sir, don’t you recognize me?’ She was smiling, with a wide grin, most playfully. I was still unable to recall my memory for the puzzlement that had overtaken my thinking power.
Then she introduced herself, perhaps because she felt it was wrong to trouble me further.
‘Sir, I’m Ruwineee.’
Her rhythmical voice persuaded me to think fast.
‘R – u – w – i – n – i-?!’
My mind went back some three years into the past when I taught Grade Eleven students in a Secondary School. Now with my reminiscence getting clearer I began to figure out the mischievous but friendly gal who always used to sit in the back row enabling her to interact with the whole class. She wasn’t a bright student, yet she was an interesting character; joyous and lively, always with a smile on her face. The same smile was now playing mischief before me!
‘Hi, Ruwini! Yes, I remember now. So, how are you? You live here? With the surprise revelation, I had many questions to ask her. My eyes roamed the immediate vicinity.
‘Yes, sir, I live here now... I’m alright, sir!’ Her voice pierced my ears and my eye caught the glimpse of a wattle and daub hut, roofed with cheap GI sheets, standing on the slope of the hill above the road. It looked recently built with still wet-looking mud daub between the fresh bamboo wattle visible in the absence of plastering. The rays of the morning sun was streaking across the misty scene. I thought I heard her voice clearly that she was alright!
Next, I caught sight of a small baby, may be about six months old, sitting in a plastic bath basin placed near the hut on the narrow compound. She was playing with some toy muttering and cooing happy noises. I then looked at Ruwini, with a note of inquiry.
She was still smiling that mischievous smile!
‘Yes, sir. I married Priyantha!’ Her eyes twinkled with happiness or something more than that!
‘Priyantha!’
That naughty brat who always had something to quarrel with others in the classroom, who made it difficult for the teachers to make him get good marks at term tests! I never believed he would make a responsible citizen of himself.
Some sort of dark cloud wrapped around my heart. My voice falling, I asked her, ‘Are you happy, my child?’
‘Why, sir? Yes, indeed! You shouldn’t worry, sir! Everything is okay. The three of us are keeping fine and we are happy as happy can be!’ Her smile supported her words.
I kept on looking at her eyes. There was no sign of treachery or falsehood. She had always been the same while in school, too. I couldn’t find any words to utter.
‘Priyantha cares for me very much. He never lets us starve. And he brings everything for the baby.’
She went on speaking with confidence.
‘Where is Priyantha now?’ I wanted to know what he was doing to earn their livelihood.
‘He’s gone out to work. He doesn’t have a proper job, sir. But he never likes to idle. Every day he finds some work to do.’ She went on smiling, and words flowed easily between her agile lips.
At this point the infant began to make some noises and was about to cry. Ruwini rushed up the steps calling soothing words. She took the baby in her arms stroking her head. Meanwhile I slowly climbed the slope to their small compound. I was somewhat reluctant to leave Ruwini, to mind my own business. I felt very much concerned; I wanted to wait a while, to comfort her with my fatherly acquaintance.
“Come in, sir. Please take a seat!’ She pointed inside the hut and took the lead to enter.
‘ No, no, child. That’s alright! I’ll wait outside.’ I assured her.
But my desire for learning made me peep in. It was dark inside for the lack of proper windows. However, in the dim-lit space of a twelve by twelve walled cell I could see a double bed, a table and two plastic chairs. A clothes rack stood along the wall. The baby’s clothes were hanging on a string tied to the rack and a rafter of the roof.
I stepped back, and looking around observed the hearth outside on the hill-side of the hut under the shade of some old GI sheets. Some new looking cooking pots and plastic utensils stood on a make shift wooden rack.
Ruwini came out holding the baby in one arm and a plastic chair in the other.
“Since you are not coming in, you may sit here, sir!’ she said, placing the chair on the compound.
I sat down willingly, and said, ‘Thank you, child!’, and it gave my weary legs some comfort after walking up the hilly road for about half an hour now.
‘Sir, are you going to visit the funeral house?’ She guessed correctly, may be for the white shirt I was wearing.
‘Yes, Ruwini. I have known Peter uncle for some time.’
‘You know, sir! He’s Priyantha’s grandfather!’ Ruwini was smiling; that same mischievous and playful smile with twinkling eyes.
‘Ah, really? Then why aren’t you there with Priyantha at this hour of family need?’
‘They don’t allow Priyantha to go back home since he married me!’ With the same twinkle, the same giggling, there was Ruwini unshaken! The infant was twisting in her arm and she patted her back rocking her whole self to calm her down.
‘Priyantha’s elder brother is very strict. He says, he’ll not allow their father to give anything to Priyantha!’ Ruwini was still smiling; no sighs, no tears!
Again I was dumbfounded. How could I say that both Ruwini and Priyantha are correct and his family wrong!
The baby was groping for her mother’s breasts. Ruwini sat down on a low stool beside me with the baby in her arms. Then she casually began nursing the baby, and started rocking her. I looked elsewhere.
“Whose is this land you now live on?” I asked searching the length and width of the plot. I think I was questioning out of pity.
‘A friend of Priyantha allowed this space temporarily until we settle in some decent place.’ She went on relating with her incessant smile. Ruwini displayed courage not to drop her voice to a lamenting or complaining level. She was telling me the things she knew and did not worry much about.
In a way I was happy that Ruwini could take everything in her stride, though in fact I was shocked deep down in my heart. It was interesting that I didn’t have to comfort or soothe her feelings; they were already set and serene. Some might say she would understand the harsh reality in the long run, when she would have to face severe difficulties in practical life. But it must be nearly two years since they had got together. Two years is more than enough to topple somebody down! Yet Ruwini was still sound and strong!
I felt my presence there was not going to make any difference. There wasn’t any need to comfort her. There was no gap to fill. It was food for thought that the viewer was pessimistic and disappointed while the victim was all optimistic and determined!
I got up.
‘Okay then, Ruwini! I have to go to the funeral house and, I must climb down before it rains in the afternoon.’
‘Oh, sir, please wait for a cup of tea! I just forgot it with the talking.’
‘No, no, Ruwini. It doesn’t matter. And you cannot trouble yourself with the baby in your arms! Thank you!’
‘Please, sir!’ She turned to keep the now sleeping baby in.
‘Don’t worry, child! I’ll leave now. Take care and I wish you a very happy future with your family!’
Still holding the baby in her arms she bent down and worshipped me. I felt my heart burning. ‘Everything will be alright with you, child, with the blessings of the Triple Gems!’
‘Thank you, sir, and I still remember what you used to tell us those days: ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way!’ Goodbye, sir!’