Short story

Class Struggle

It had been still raining. Waradatta was sitting in a stone bench near corridor of Kannangara building. He was waiting for Ruchira, his fiancee. He anxiously looked at his watch. Ruchira promised him to be here before one. What would have happened her to be so late?

The corridor was crowded with the students who had finished their lectures. One of them, he observed, looking at him whispered something to his friends ear. "I'm no longer a student," he thought. "It is not suitable to sit like this."

He guessed that the students would have spoken about his first class degree. Waradatta was extremely proud of his achievement. One can get a first class for political science, once in a blue moon. But he could not make up his mind about the way professor Gajendrathilaka spoke to him, few minutes ago. Waradatta could not recall his words without angry thoughts.

When Gajendrathilaka came out of the building after a lecture, Waradatta was still sitting in the same place because of the rain.

"Ah! don't you have lectures today?"

"I had one at eleven sir. I'm waiting for a friend. Forgot to bring an umbrella."

"My umbrella is in the car. I want to go to the Arts Theatre. Can you bring my umbrella?

Gajendrathilaka's car was parked few metres away from the building. Despite the heavy rain, Waradtta ran towards the car to fetch the umbrella. Although he turned the key the lock did not open. He tried several times and pulled the handle without any success.

"Sir, it can't be opened" Wardatta said aloud.

Gajendrathilaka looked at him with contempt.

"Ah, you don't know how to open the door of a car? If you are asked to do so in an interview, you will be dismissed at once."

Waradatta felt the words of Gajendrathilaka as his words pierced through his heart. "You are an unsuitable chap for our community" was that what he was trying to say? Waradatta thought that Gajendrathilaka who was once in intimate terms with him would have aimed his sour words of disgrace due to his jealousy towards his first class, degree.

"Did he mention about an interview, for they could not tolerate my staying here?" Waradatta came to the university with the firm assertion that one day he would become a lecturer.

He knew even at that time that to gain a class the good favour of lecturers was utmost necessary. Gajendrathilaka was not in good terms with the students. There was a rumour that he had no first class and he knew no English.

The only strength he had was the political power. For he was an intimate of the powerful minister Mahisha, no one dare speak against him.

In addition to lecturing he was a director of a government organisation. Even the head of the department, therefore, fear to meddle with his affairs. All the lecturers in the department spoke to him, with reverence. If there was an election it was his custom to collect signatures of lecturers and publish them in newspapers in favour of his political party.

Although the students union considered Gajendrathilaka a disgrace, any kind of connection with him would lead one to prosperity, thought Waradatta! he used to visit Gajendrathilaka quite often, pretending to ask his help to write his assignments. But Waradatta had actually been subjected to the attention of Gajendrathilaka, after an article writ ten by him appeared in the Political Science Journal.

It was a composition written with Marxist points of view to show how certain radical parties had gone astray betraying their original Marxist stances. Waradatta could not help feeling astonished at seeing a rightist like Gajendrathilaka appreciate his article.

"There should be more students like your" he said. "See these Union fellow, they have nothing but their beards! They are shouting like parrots. As a student, I had never participated in their pickets. Those fools don't know the new trends of the world. They are mere puppets, dancing to the tune of their party."

"Some fellows warned me not to visit you sir "Waradatta said using his presence of mind.

"Don't be afraid", Gajendrathilaka said. "You are here only for four years no? I'll make you meet the minister."

It was an election time. As was promised Gajendrathilaka accompanied Waradatta to meet the minister Mahisha.

"We are having our meeting in Kandy tomorrow, can you make a speech there? asked the minister Waradatta accepted his invitation without thinking twice. His agreeing was applauded by the minister and after that he was often invited to make speeches in his rallies.

Although all these were done in utmost secrecy, soon all sort of stories regarding his connections with the minister, had spread all over the university like wildfire. He came to know about this from one of his room mates called 'some.'

"You are far better than so called socialists of this university." He spoke in contempt. "We can learn about their true nature only after they get through the university. You made a speech in Maheesha's rally! Now you have no right to appear as a Marxist. 'Proletariat', 'Bourgeoisie', all these are nice words to cover your sycophancy!"

"Have I ever been a true Marxist?" reflected Waradatta. He could well remember, when he had an argument with 'some' about Marxism, how he stated that those who had accepted Marxism were not completely or partly modelled according to our culture. He explained this fact by showing how social climbers, exposed people and those who were without a good family background often entered radical politics to cover-up their true nature.

"What he said was completely correct" thought Waradatta. "So far I have acted as a practical man I should have behaved in this society, not as a Marxist. I acted as a Marxist to attract the attention of Gajendrathilaka?"

He remembered an article he had sent two years ago to a Sinhala journal. it was a Marxist analysis on love. "What is Love?" so it started. There he revealed how the true nature of love was shrouded in economic and social factors.

After reading that article Ruchira could not help laughing. "You have crowded your head with unpractical thing," she said.

The ideas he brought out in the article he thought, stood wide in contrast to his deeds. Almost all his friends could not believe their eyes when he fell in love with Ruchira. She was little bit taller than him. she did not read a lot as Waradatta did.

"Did I like her because her father was a rich jeweller?" Her father used to visit her once a month in his Bensz car. Perhaps in his inner thoughts, he reflected, he might have wished to live in a stable position, if by chance he missed the first class degree.

Waradatta's attention was suddenly attracted by one solitary that tree stood in the lawn. The tree bloomed only once in the year. He came to know the name of the tree as 'Roberosia', as someone had mentioned it.

Two or three days ago the tree had been full of flowers. Owing to heavy rains the surrounding lawn around the tree looked like a pink colour carpet. The remnents of flowers hanging from tree branches looked like fish caught in a net. The tree which stood there without a single leaf seemed to him like a monster.

This tree, as well as other trees in the lawn, may have been planted by the English who established this university, he thought. He was suddenly awoken from his day-dreaming when a whitish new car darted in crushing the flowers scattered on the drive way Waradatta recognised him as Samarajeewa.

Samarajeewa who was senior to Waradatta works in the Political Science department as a lecturer. When he was a student he led a student movement based on Sinhala Nationalism. Waradatta suspected he would have done it to attract his lecturers' attention.

How much had he changed after receiving his degree? He often preached that Sinhala Nationalism should be remodelled according to Liberalism. Samarajeewa had fallen in love with a student who was following English Literature. Waradatta was told that he was attending ballroom dancing classes with his fiancee. Has he remodelled his views according to the new lifestyle he led with her?

"While people lived hypocritically there was no need of being dissappointed of such things he thought.

Waradatta stood there observing Ruchira getting off her car and approaching him. He felt his legs were numb. A thin drizzle was still falling. Waradatta's attention was suddenly attracted by three new cars parked outside the university building. The rain drops fell upon those cars and glided down from their shiny surface. The cars were shining so bright as sunlight fell upon them, that it dazzled his eyes.

Buddhika Karunarathne,
University of Peradeniya