How do I start describing him was the main dilemma.
He was a man of a few words.
I have more of his physical appearance than my other siblings but this quality of few words, I was not endowed with.
My younger brother has received it from him (the universe has very mysterious ways of working and assembling things around).
He showed us the world literally by taking us to various places during school holidays and breaks in between but his world was just confined to within our shores only.
By introducing and encouraging us to read early in our life, he managed to take us far beyond his physically confined shores.
Every week he used to bring at least two books from the Library and we were on them like the 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, where his political allegiance was no secret with Das Capital prominently in the Bookshelf.
With a rear show of emotions, he clenched his fist and held up in solidarity with his unseen brothers in some part of the world, when the Nine o’clock SLBC News announced the departure of the last US helicopter from Vietnam.
We were having dinner in Badulla that day.
His message though conveyed in a very subtle way but not in words was “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else and the rest of the complications if any, I can take care".
My younger brother has received it from him (the universe has very mysterious ways of working and assembling things around).
He showed us the world literally by taking us to various places during school holidays and breaks in between but his world was just confined to within our shores only.
By introducing and encouraging us to read early in our life, he managed to take us far beyond his physically confined shores.
Every week he used to bring at least two books from the Library and we were on them like the 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, where his political allegiance was no secret with Das Capital prominently in the Bookshelf.
With a rear show of emotions, he clenched his fist and held up in solidarity with his unseen brothers in some part of the world, when the Nine o’clock SLBC News announced the departure of the last US helicopter from Vietnam.
We were having dinner in Badulla that day.
His message though conveyed in a very subtle way but not in words was “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else and the rest of the complications if any, I can take care".
In simple words, it says " Beat the hell out of anyone who tries to intimidate you ! ".
He was a southerner and his words and deeds have truly reflected the enterprising southerners’ spirit always.
His two messages “Think Freely” & “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else” came in really handy in our later lives but I do not think that none of us got around telling him that how much we were benefitted from those two messages.
At least now we have such celebrations like “Father's Day”, which we have never heard of when we were growing up, gives me an opportunity to at least say “Thank You තාත්තේ ! "
He was a southerner and his words and deeds have truly reflected the enterprising southerners’ spirit always.
His two messages “Think Freely” & “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else” came in really handy in our later lives but I do not think that none of us got around telling him that how much we were benefitted from those two messages.
At least now we have such celebrations like “Father's Day”, which we have never heard of when we were growing up, gives me an opportunity to at least say “Thank You තාත්තේ ! "
(This was published a few years ago on another site and I thought of reposting after I got a greeting from an unexpected corner in the world a little while ago - Thanks Leo). 🙋
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