This is the story
of a girl called Amutha. She was 8 years old in 2003. I am her dad, Ragu. I am
an author who writes many famous novels. One of my favourite novels is about a
baby girl who was forced to be abandoned by her mother who was a Sri Lankan
refugee. Amutha’s mom is a homemaker. She has a grandfather, Mr. Soomu who is
comitee member in the Rameshwaram refugee camp. She has two younger brothers
Nickillen and Suresh. Well, this seems to be a happy family, but only until the
truth was hidden.
It was 2004. Half a year flew by so
fast. It was Amutha’s 9th birthday. Her mom asked me if it was okay
to let her know the truth. Wasn’t she a bit too young? I took Amutha to the temple
that day, then to Marina Beach. Amutha was running in circles around me on the
fine sand of the beach. The sun shone so bright, making the sand particles
shine like diamonds.
Finally the truth was out. I plucked
all my courage to say that Amutha was adopted. At first she laughed in
disbelief and then tears started to roll down her soft cheecks. She ran far
away from me. I brought her home. She was moody the whole day. As dawn was
coming to an end, Priya was preparing dinner. Nickillen and Suresh were in
their room. Grandpa was on his rocking chair browsing through some books.
Amutha was on my lap as I was swinging on the built in home swing. It was a very
quiet and dull environment when out of the blue Amutha asked, “Who are my real
parents Appa?”
I was silent. My dad then explained,
“I don’t know who your dad was but your mom was a refugee at my Rameshwaram
camp. All the refugees that came in tiny boats from Lanka were in total
despair. Your mom was conceiving then. As I was explaining to them some of the
rules, your mom suddenly had her labour pain. A few weeks after that she had to
go back to Ceylon
because that was her homeland. Therefore, she left you at the Rameshwaram Kids
Care Centre. Her name was…….M.D.S….Ah, yes! M.D. Shyama.” I then said, “It was
only her one finger that touched you through that window. The only form of bond
the mother could have with the child. With tears in her eyes and cuts in her
heart she ran away from the innocent infant.” Amutha knew in a moment that
those lines were from my novel. My favourite one. The following day was a
Monday. Amutha went to school but did not come back. My sister Laxmi came to my
house looking worried saying that Damendran, her son, was missing too. True
enough Amutha and Damen were on a bus to Chennai in search of her mother,
Shyama. I managed to find them and Amutha got some serious firing from her mom.
From that day onwards, Amutha was
being rude to her mom. Amutha was begging me and Priya to take her to Sri Lanka.
Finally, I came home with three tickets to Lanka. Amutha hugged both of us.
Nickel and Suresh did not know our purpose to Lanka.
Upon our arrival at Colombo we met a friend who was going to help
us. He was a Singhales man. His name was Nimarande, also known as Niran. Amutha
went sight seeing everywhere. After two days we went to Jaffna. Unfortunately, that day the troops
asked everyone to evacuate the area because they were going to put a bomb
there. As everyone was walking in a line, some driving trucks, I, Priya, Amutha
and Niran were in the search of Shyama. We found a lady by the name of Shyama. At
that moment the bomb blasting started. The lady said she too had a daughter but
it was not Amutha and she was not M.D. Shyama. Then the lady quickly ran away.
Then we went to Kandy. We went to Niran’s house a bit deep in
the village. Amutha went exploring the village when she saw some girls in army
wear pointing a gun at her. She ran back home, crying. The same time I and
Niran went for a walk and some Tamil soldiers caught us and almost shot us.
Luckily I shouted some of my poetry lines in Tamil to make the soldiers believe
that we were Tamils. The leader of the troop realized that I was a well known
poet. The troop leader, Selvam, said that it was not save for me to hang out
with Niran who was a Singhales. I explained that Niran was nice and that Niran
understood Tamil. I then told Selvam my purpose to Sri Lanka. Selvam looked surprised
and said that M.D. Shyama was his sister. She was now in the army. Selvam
promised to bring his sister one day to meet me. I and Niran went home and
broke the good news to Amutha. She was excited.
I am a good author. Niran then
recomended to me that I have a small show. My fans in Kandy would love it. So on Tuesday it was my
speech at a hall. Amutha and her mom went out across the street to the bench
because they found my speech kind of boring. Amutha then saw a man on a wheel
chair reading a book. She went to talk to him and they started to have a
conversation about the book he was reading. Then he left to go across the
street but he forgot his book. Amutha took his book and ran to give it to him
when suddenly he blasted. He was a suicide bomber. She had a few scares and was
in a state of shock. Her mother grabbed her and everyone started to scatter.
The next day, Amutha, I, Priya and
Niran went to a street at Kandy
to finally meet Shyama. We were waiting but no one came. It was about time to
leave but Amutha was reluctant to leave. Suddenly, some soldiers came and
started hiding. Priya called her to leave but she was stubborn. A gun was shot
and bombs started to explode. I took my family to hide. As they we running a
stone cracked my glasses. Priya got a gunshot in her arm. Amutha had many
terrible scares and a huge one on her forehead. She was terrified. She hated
the place. Niran quickly came in his car and fetched us home. Amutha had 3
stiches on her head.
The next day we were leaving for India. We
thanked Niran for his help and bid goodbye. As we were leaving for the airport,
Amutha asked me to just stop by the street again. We got down and waited. As we
were about to leave, an auto came there and stopped. Selvam got down. After him
was a lady. It was Shyama. She came nearer to us. It started to rain. Amutha
looked at her and said, “I have got a few questions for you.” “Can I start?”
Shyama said okay.
“Why did you leave
me?” asked Amutha. Shyama started to tear, “the situation was such.” Then
Amutha continued, “do you love me?” Shyama cried and grabbed Amutha. She kissed
Amutha and said “Yes of course, of course!” Amutha too started to cry and asked
Shyama to come to India
with her. “It is so much more peaceful there,” she said. Shyama just could not
go. Shyama turned to go back to the auto. “Amma!” Amutha shouted. “Amma, don’t
go!” Shyama turned and said, “don’t call me that, I can’t go.” She the ran back
to Amutha and gave her a hug and kiss. Amutha gave her a scrapbook she made for
her. Shyama took it and ran back to the auto. Amutha could only watch the auto
go out of sight.
I then hugged Amutha and said, “Never
mind Amutha. We still love you equally.” Priya kissed Amutha and asked, “You do
love us right?” Amutha smiled and said yes. We looked at each other and smiled.
KANNATHIL MUTHAMITTAL