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.
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CHAPTER 5, PART I
When they woke up the following morning Heen Ridee was gone. It took but a few moments for agitational fires to engulf the entire household. The first task assigned to Nambu Henaya by Podina was to check the cesspit. Since this was about love, lust and separation, the possibility of suicide had spread like a potent tumour across their minds.
Little Baba Henaya was instructed to examine the trees around the house. He didn’t understand any of it. When he arrived at the plots between thicket and paddy field he saw thousands of butterflies flitting across the track and disappearing beyond Baddegewatte. A few of them brushed against Baba Henaya’s upper body. Baba Henaya knew from what his grandfather had told him that when butterflies in such vast numbers travel together it was to worship Siree Paada.
Little Baba Henaya remembered the way he had seen that wondrous mountain, Sri Paada. This was when he had accompanied his grandfather to collect clothes from the Masimbula Mahagedara. It was a bright morning. The sky was clear and blue. There it was. Siree Paada, the holy mountain etched upon the sky like a painting in deeper blue.
‘Look, raththarane, the Sun God has cast a glance at the Siree Paada kanda. Worship, boy…worship the Siree Paada to your heart’s content.’
Baba Henaya following the lead of his grandfather, brought his hands together, raised them to his forehead and worshipped the holy mountain. This was the day that the image of Siree Paada was indelibly branded into his memory.
‘Go safe, butterflies….’ Baba Henaya murmured to the butterflies passing him by.
When Baba Henaya returned home, Podina, Rambari and Nambu Henaya were all outside, their exhaustive efforts having yielded nothing.
‘No two words about it, she would have run away with that man at the crack of dawn,’ Rambari ventured. Podina was reluctant to entertain such a thought even in her dreams. She vented.
‘What on earth are you saying Loku Amme? And so easily too! The girl slept next to you. Before falling asleep she was kutukutufying with you. How am I to know what it was all about? I even heard her giggling at one point. And now you say she’s run off with that man, the words coming out without touching mouth or lips! And there I was, for once able to sleep in peace, just because you were near her.
‘What did you say, wench? Say it again. Just once. Say it! All I wanted to do was help you at a time when the old couple was away. Is this the thanks I get? Was she with me when she indulged in these vulgarities? No! She was with you! Is this the way you took care of her? We looked after your mother when she was at this age as though she was our own daughter, remember that!
Rambari was livid and loud. Podina was silenced by the volume alone. Baba Henaya moved closer to Nambu Henaya. Rambari was not done, not yet.
‘I tried every trick up my sleeve but she was not one to utter a single word. Well, that’s not surprising, she’s your sister after all. I was up all night and finally managed to slumber for a while when it was almost dawn. I couldn’t even sleep properly because of these vulgar ways. It’s your sister who has fled, remember! So I am not surprised at all, Podino!’
Podina figured that the first task is to calm down her Loku Amma.
‘I wasn’t thinking straight Loku Amme. The words slipped out of my mind. Don’t be angry with me. If you weren’t here I would have lost my head completely, this is the truth. It is a blessing that you are here with me now like a mother. Much merit would surely accrue to you. What should we do now, raththarane?’
Inflamed by a few words, Loku Amma was subdued too on account of these few words. As the next step she rushed into the house and checked the mat that Heen Ridee had slept on. The others followed her.
‘I knew it! She’s gone…she’s gone….and she’s essentially said she needs nothing, absolutely nothing, from you people. I knew it…..Look! Here are her earrings.’
It was true. Heen Ridee had removed the earrings and kept them under her pillow. That pair of earrings made of gold mixed with lesser metals, received from the Rideevita Walawwa during a puberty rites ceremony, had been put on Heen Ridee’s ears by Malma Ridee the day she attained age.
It was all over now. Rambari saw Podina’s hands tremble as she held the earrings. She knew that the full responsibility for all this was hers and therefore all blame would also be directed towards her. She looked at Rambari helplessly.
‘What do we do now, Loku Amme?’