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 7, Part 3
The first invitation for a kotahalu ceremony after the drama over Heen Ridee came from Werahera. It was the opportunity Podina had been waiting for. She convinced her mother that she would attend the ceremony and set off early in the morning taking Baba Henaya along with her.
She felt this was all fated. They managed to reach Werahera in a couple of hours. They had been instructed to come to the bend where there was a Na tree and ask for the school teacher Sugunasara.
She came to the bend and continued. There was still some ways to go. She remembered as though it had happened that very day how at this very Na tree she had got onto a bicycle for the first fated journey in her life. She was a girl when she first walked on this road but returned as a woman. Today she was a mother of an eight year old child. She remembered that it was this precious child who had kept her alive these eight years.
The child, unaware that he was on a journey to find his father, kept pace with her. He was just like Anagihamy, Podina felt. The eyes, nose and even the colour were the same. The only difference was the name ‘Baba Henaya.’ That name had changed the child’s future. The sin was upon her, she thought dejectedly. If she were to meet Anagihamy and obtain some justice for the boy that would be enough, she thought.
‘My darling, are you tired? Shall I carry you?’
‘No, Amma, I am fine. Do we have far to go?’
‘No baby, we are close now.’
A little while later, at a particular point, she felt something and her heart beat faster. It was that big rock where she had gifted her soul to an unknown young man, having placed it on a basket of flowers called love. Baba Henaya followed her as Podina made her way through nettles, trees and bushes.
‘Where are we going Amme?’
‘Let’s sit on this rock for a while and rest. You must be tired…’
They sat where there was some shade. Podina cuddled the boy, who was sweating. She kissed his face. She began to sob.
‘What’s wrong? Are you very tired, Amme?’
She said nothing and continued to sob.
‘You’ll be able to go to school very soon, my son.’
Baba Henaya was lost in thought. He feared the mothers and fathers of the children in the school.
Podina took out the towel from her bag and wiped Baba Henaya’s face, neck and shoulders. She wiped her face as well. They were close to Anagihamy’s house. She was impatient to see him and speak a few words. As she held the little one close she once again felt the faint fragrance she had experienced when the young man Anagihamy was embracing her. She looked around with a feeling of sorrow mixed with joy at the rocky outcrop which best knew the sighs she had sighed about her life. She took her son’s hand and stood up.
The mother-son duo resumed their journey. They turned right by a stream and started climbing the path laid with granite steps. The path to Anagihamy’s house hadn’t changed at all. Podina even remembered some of the rocks on either side. In a few moments the roof covered with Sinhala tiles became visible. The mother and son went right up to the fence.
‘Who is at home? Who is at home…?’ Podina was fearless and loud.
A woman carrying a child who would be three or four years old came out of the house after a few moments.
‘Yes?’
‘We are trying to locate a house. Would you know how we could get to Sugunusara Iskole Mahattaya’s house?’
‘From which direction did you two come?’
‘From Godakawela.’
‘Oh god! You’ve passed the place and come quite a distance…..mahattaya…mahattaya….’, the woman turned towards the house and shouted.
In an instant that image emerged. Podina recognised him immediately but it took him a while to recognise her in return. It was something he had never expected. He just looked at them with a blank expression. When gaze met gaze, both instantly travelled back eight years in time to that particular moment. The only difference was that Anagihamy now sported a mustache. His hair which was well combed in the image she had saved in her heart was dishevelled. It must be his child that the woman was carrying.
‘Mahattaya…these two have to go to Sugunasara Mahattaya’s house. They’ve passed the place and come a fair distance! You should retrace your steps. You’ll see a bend on the road with a Na tree. It’s called the Na Tree Bend. Ask someone once you get there.’
Podina turned with her son. Although there was no opportunity to exchange a few words, the meeting itself was something to be satisfied about. Maybe he was wondering if the son was his. Perhaps the past that he had forgotten was being refreshed in his mind. Podina was happy even though the entire episode had been brief. Now she had to think about the next step.
She didn’t need to think further. She saw him running along a niyara towards them and the road as they were passing a tract of paddy fields. The next moment he stood on the road, facing them. Podina stopped, holding Baba Henaya in front of her. Baba Henaya stood perplexed. Anagihamy himself seemed surprised.
‘You…after such a long time!’
She didn’t want to say anything as her son was with her. She saw a wild breadfruit tree in the thicket by the road and an idea came to her.
‘Son, go to that wild breadfruit tree and see if there are any seeds fallen under it. If you find any, fold your sarong and collect them while I talk to this unnehe.’
The little one ran towards the tree. Podina watched him and then turned towards Anagihamy and spoke sadly.
‘That’s our son. Do you know his name? Baba Henaya. Was that your one at home? Is it just one child, still?’ Podina spoke in a disenchanted tone.
‘It was a marriage that my parents wanted.’
‘I’ll go Anagihamy Unnehe. I came for a kotahalu ceremony.
‘What I want to tell you….rises up to the sky. Tell me how I could meet you.’
‘I don’t know. I’ll leave now. We have to go to the kotahalu house before dark. On the way here I went to that rock to see if there were any peacocks. It was just like that day unnehe. There wasn’t a single peacock.’
Anagihamy thought for a while. He couldn’t think of anything on account of his agitation. He felt himself soften somewhat when he saw the child. This however was not the moment for anything. No one should witness this encounter. He made a suggestion, not worrying whether it would be accepted or not.
‘Exactly one week from now, on a day like today, come to the rock in the morning….alone.’
He walked back and then jumped to the paddy fields and walked back along the niyara. Baba Henaya, who saw this, turned towards his mother.
‘Who is that unnehe, Amme?
‘Someone we know, my son. It’s after a long time that we met.’
Podina liked Anagihamy’s agitated behaviour. He hadn’t avoided her. Having come despite all obstacles, he had in fact completed the rest of the chapters of this story. Having spent eight years in anger with Nambu Henaya, a faint desire for a man had taken root within her. Wasn’t this what she had felt eight years ago as well, she wondered. Even though the encounter was brief, the most tender of her feelings were agitating to awaken.
It was as though the slab of rock had once again made a warm bed upon which she could feel alive. When she remembered this, she realised that there can be joy that cuts through something that once caused sadness.
‘I will return in a week,’ she told herself firmly.
At one point, Anagihamy turned and through the branches of a kumbuk tree saw the woman and child still looking at him. There was a person in Bulugahahene waadiya ideal to discuss this matter. He stepped out of the tract of paddy fields on to the Yayinnage property and thereafter walked thoughtfully on the path that led to Bulugahahene.