Harmony and unity

"Hemapala Master's" contribution to Vesak:

by Aditha Dissanayake

Now that Vesak is round the corner K. Hemapala, his wife and sixteen colleagues, in their thimble size workshop on Baseline Road, Dematagoda hardly have time to breath, or to be more accurate, to pause for a cup of plain tea.

The wheels of their sewing machines turn endlessly, almost like the circle of Samsara, while one cardboard box after the other gets filled with the most essential symbol of this season - the Buddhist flag.

Through these flags, seen fluttering under the bo trees of temples, hanging from the roofs of houses, fixed on the radio antennas of cars, vans, and buses, Hemapala says he aims to evoke a sense of harmony and unity in the world. Stitched by his wife and sixteen others with great reverence, for they believe the slightest disrespect would result in grave misfortunes, the flags meet the demands not only of local clients but of those in India as well.

Though he can easily pass off as a sixty year old, Hemapala confesses he will be turning eighty-five this year. Born in a small house on Dean's Road in 1912 he had dropped out of school after completing Grade 5. Reputed for his fighting skills, a one-time boxer who has trained over three-hundred students, sixteen of whom had won competitions at the national level, even today, he is still known as "Hemapala Master" in his neighbourhood.

Though his sense of history is vague and he is not quite sure that the flag he so assiduously manufactures was designed in 1880 by the Colombo Committee, was later modified according to the suggestions of Colonel Henry Steele Olcott and was first hoisted in 1885, Hempala is ready with the answer when it comes to the symbolism the flag denotes as a whole; "faith and peace".

Never having held a steady job most of his life, he believes it might be due to a good deed he must have committed in one of his previous births that set him on this line of earning a living. Having started with only one machine and a push-bike thirty years ago Hemapala is happy, that today, he earns enough to provide a comfortable living to his wife and his eight children as well as his sixteen employees.

Happy to be making a contribution to the Vesak celebrations Hemapala says "May my flags (which represent the colours of the aura that emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained Enlightenment) bring peace to everybody's hearts".

Here is wishing his wish comes true.