Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Thank You තාත්තේ !

A text message received from my daughter during the recent Father's Day celebrations made me rethink my father.

How do I start the main question?

He was a man of a few words.

I got more of his physical appearance than my other siblings, but this quality of a few words, I was not endowed with.

My younger brother has received it in abundance from him. 

And as we know, creation has very mysterious ways of working and assembling things.

He showed us the world literally by taking us to various places, but his world was not just confined to within our shores only.

By introducing and encouraging us to read early, he managed to take us far beyond his physically confined shores.

He has enjoyed his only overseas trip to Singapore immensely.

He used to bring at least two books from the library every week, and we devoured them like vultures on a carcass.

He wanted us to think freely and never to be afraid of asking questions.

Though he was a man of few words, his political allegiance was no secret to anyone with Das Capital prominently placed on the bookshelf.

With a rear show of emotions, he clenched his fist and held it up in solidarity when the Nine o’clock News announced the departure of the last American helicopter from Vietnam.

We were having dinner at Badulla that day.

His other message, though conveyed in a very subtle way but not in words, was "Never to come home by getting beaten up by another".

He was a southerner and his words and deeds truly reflected the enterprising spirit of the south.

His two messages, "Think Freely" and "Never Come Home by Getting Beaten Up," came in really handy in our later lives, but I do not think that any of us got around to telling him how much we benefitted from those two messages. 



At least now we have such celebrations like "Father's Day", which we had never heard of when we were growing up, which gives me an opportunity to at least say 

“Thank You තාත්තේ ! " even though it is a bit too late now.


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