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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
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Life with William : Celebrating Vesak by Carol Aloysius During the past week William had got into the habit of suddenly disappearing from the house. He would disappear on some secret errand even when he was in the middle of cooking or some other chore, and re-appears after an hour or so.
I didn't have to wait too long. The day before Vesak the entire lane was getting a thorough clean up by civic minded residents who planned to hold a dansala on the premises of a vacant garden near the temple close to my house. William, along with his friends Dias, Simon, Piyasena and Gamage had readily volunteered their services in the shramadana campaign. After toiling in the sun the entire morning, the five of them retired to the kopi kade for a well earned cup of tea. When William returned home that evening he was armed with several oil lamps, bucket lamps and candles. These he hung up carefully on trees, poles and wherever he could, even using the clothes line to string a line of colourful lanterns. Then he disappeared into the garage where his friends were waiting for him. In a few minutes he emerged carefully balancing a huge lantern, shaped like a peacock, which he proudly told me he had made with the help of his friends. The five of them carried their very colourful peacock lantern to the middle of the garden and with a large ball of string , they carefully hung it up for the whole neighbourhood to behold. And what a splendid sight it was! Using blue, yellow and green tissue paper they had managed to make a life sized beautiful peacock which when lighted with candles gave the entire garden a wonderful glow. " It is the nicest peacock lantern I have seen", I told him , a sentiment echoed by my family and our neighbours who hearing the news had come into the garden to gawk at the magnificent lantern. "Whose idea was it in the first place?," I asked the creators of this exquisite work of art." Mine of course," was William's modest reply. "I sketched the diagram on this exercise book first," he said showing me a tattered exercise book with a pencil drawing of a peacock. "We wanted to give everyone a surprise. Me vesak kuduwa haduwa nisa api loku pinak keruwa. Nonage watte elluwe nisa, nonatath loku pinak veva!" (This lantern is a meritorious deed by my friends and me. Lady too will be blessed because we have hung it in your garden). William's path to Nirvana and the attempt to gain merit on the way by various acts of merit, did not end with the making of the peacock lantern. He and his friends decided to set up a small drink stall next to the dansala near the temple. They brought a large kettle and a makeshift stove, tea leaves and sugar to make kahata tea for thirsty passersby. They also made a flavoured drink which they distributed free of charge. "Ikmanin nivandakinna mata mewa upakari vevi" (Perhaps we shall be able to attain Nirvana quickly by these meritorious deeds", he solemnly repeated several times a day, even when Vesak was over. Many days have passed since Vesak, and William is still pursuing his mission on attaining nirvana, the instant way. Today, instead of making a bee line to the kopi kade or loafing the streets aimlessly in the evenings in the name of 'viyayama' (exercise), he has taken to sitting on his mat reciting gathas. If you look hard you may even see a halo around his head!! |
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"Where have you been?", I would ask him. His reply was to put
his finger across his lips, a gesture that clearly forbade further
questioning. On my part, I assumed these unexplained disappearances had
something to do with the kopi kade next door where he would exchange the
latest gossip. But, when he disappeared from the house for an entire
morning two days before Vesak, and then again at late evening, I decided
to find out his secret.
