Making a sincere attempt to bring an unimagined and unexplored treasure trove of modern Sinhala literature to the English reading community, Montage is bringing Mahinda Prasad Masimbula’s award winning novel ‘Senkottan’ translated by
Malinda Seneviratne, veteran journalist, writer and poet.
‘Senkottan’ (The Indelible), a remarkable creation of literature by Mahinda Prasad Masimbula was his debut effort in his literary career for which he won the State Literary Award in 2013 and short-listed in Swarna Pusthaka Literary Awards and many other Literary Award Festivals in the same year. The book has been published by Santhawa Publishers and ‘Senkottan’ has blazed the trail in the self-publishing industry as one of the best-selling books in Sinhala literature.
CHAPTER 2, PART 6
In half an hour, after everything had happened, she wanted to speak a few words. She was even then by his side, her head resting on his chest as they lay stretched out upon the rock. There were no peacocks to be seen anywhere.
‘All I have to say is that it is you, unnehe, who resides in every drop of my blood…’
The place, surrounded by thick bushes, seemed to have been specially designed for this very moment.
They got ready to leave amid the golden rays of a sun about to set. She folded and put in her bag the unsullied chintz she had worn when she set out from home and wore the extra one she had brought with her. The blood stains made her think of her mother. She postponed thinking about this for the night. Instead she asked him, for the first time, ‘Unnehe, what is your name?’
‘Anagihamy.’
‘Anagihamy Unnehe, I’ve lost everything now, but it is something I consented to. When I looked upon your face I could not resist. I would like to laugh with you the rest of the way, even though I know I will have to weep tonight. I can’t say, “please, marry me…” but this moment with you is the most precious I’ve experienced all my life. I cry because I remember what my ailing mother told me when I left home.
She told me to be with the womenfolk. She said that since it is a celebration there will be men under the influence of toddy. She wanted me to be alert even if I fell asleep. She even slipped a small knife into my bag. It was not for me to stab anyone but because she felt the knife would provide the protection I would have had if she’d been with me. I forgot about it Anagihamy Unnehe. I saw your face. I felt that I had done the best I could for a man. I didn’t want to be a foolish woman by grabbing that knife. I searched for my man all my life.
It was a handsome man like you, Unnehe, that was etched in my heart. I met that man today. What more should I ask for? I left home with an empty heart but I will go back with my heart saturated with you, Unnehe. I know that one thing will stand in the way even if you, Unnehe, fell in love with me. Unnehe, you might be wondering at this washerwoman unburdening her entire mind to a govigama man, straight to his face. I have such strength.
The day I attained age, my mother spent an entire night by my side, drilling into my mind the things I should protect. And this, upon this slab of rock, in a very short time, to you I gifted, Unnehe. I have no regrets. But Anagihamy Unnehe, look at me once more and smile. That’s all I ask. I seek no other dream. My memory of you, Anagihamy Unnehe, like a senkottan mark on a white cloth will remain indelible upon my heart until the day I die.’
The young man was not listening to the long tirade of the most important encounter in her life.
‘We are close to home now. It might not be good to be on the bicycle. Let’s continue on foot.’
She slept not a wink that night. Her thoughts strayed to her mother again and again. She spent the night on a mat in a corner of the room with windows covered to shield the girl who had attained age. He was at that time hanging a Petromax lamp in the small hut outside the house.
That face, made bright by this light, she would see eight years later on the face of her son on which the light of the oil lamp had fallen. The feeling was a mix of joy and sorrow in equal parts and it did not leave her mind that night.
She was lost in reverie thus for a long time and when she emerged from it, Podina rolled up the half woven mat and heard Nambu Henaya snoring in the front room. Her mother and father were still chatting in the Wellaa hut. As she was putting away the half woven mat in a corner she noticed her sister Seen Ridee huddled in another corner with an expression of fear on her face.
‘What’s it?’
She looked at her older sister helplessly. She lifted Heen Ridee and cast a glance at her back and realized what had happened. She placed the knife in her hand.
‘You wait here, Nangi,’ she said and ran towards the Wellaa hut to break the news.