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| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Living on the fringe: His mother's keeper by Umangi de Mel Forty-six-year-old A.J.S. Laxman leans against a crumbling wall opposite the Kochchikade Church in Kotahena.
Having been on the streets for quite a long time, Laxman says it's definitely a battle against poverty and helplessness, "I used to work as a cook at many in-house catering services. I resigned when I was at the Ceylon Electricity Board Canteen because of my mother. She is 89 and quite feeble. I quit because I couldn't leave her alone after she fell ill. And now she can't walk at all, I've got to be there whenever she has to do something..." he Laxman says none wants to call them their relations, mother and son had lived in a rented place where Laxman paid Rs. 1,500 per month. Later on, when the mother couldn't look after herself, the neighbours had begun complaining. "The landlord asked us to leave forcing us to pack our bags and move on to the streets as we couldn't find an affordable place at that time," he says. Laxman resigned from his job in order to look after his mother. "I used to earn Rs. 500 per day but now it has come down to nothing at all. We've found shelter outside one of the shops along Lotus Road to spend the nights. I'm ashamed of the fact that I've come to depend on other people for a living. People misunderstand when I take my mother around. They think that I'm trying to eke out a living through her. Only a few understood the reality...I'd love to go back as a cook and have a proper living but I just can't leave my mother in the street, all by herself," he says. The mother and son go to the Kochchikade Church every Tuesday and to the Infant Jesus Church on Fridays. "To be frank, those are the only days we get something. The rest of the week, the two of us go to the Viharamahadevi Park. I used to take my mother around in a wooden cart which was almost broken," he says, his voice cracking with emotion. However, a kind hearted person who saw the sorry plight got them a wheelchair with the help of the Lion's Club. "Everyday I walk about 12 to 15 kilometres with my mother. 'Whenever she has to answer a call of nature, I've to take her to the park because we're not allowed to go anywhere else. After I resigned, I started selling lottery tickets but I couldn't continue as I had to attend to my mother every ten minutes," he says, revealing he could sell enough lottery tickets and was running at a loss after a while. Their lives seems to have come to an abrupt halt where they struggle to move on. Eighty nine year old Elizabeth Perera, too old to be in the street, covers her weak eyes from the scorching sun. "It's only fair if people feel that I should be working and not begging in the streets. but if only they could understand that I can't leave my mother who's like a vegetable. All I need is a place where I can keep her at least for a few hours. So that I can go back to work and be on my feet," says Laxman. |
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News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Besides him, sitting in a wheelchair is an old woman in ragged
clothing. They look at the passers-by with anticipation, hope written all
over their faces, "Please write about us, we need all the help we can
get," he says smiling humbly.
