The Black Australian

Chapter 16 (Part I)

Floating clouds

By Sunil GOVINNAGE

After his plane landed in the Brisbane airport, Siri checked his travel itinerary for Brisbane:

Wooloowin Lodge, Wooloowin - Three nights

A single air-condition room. Meals are not provided.

When Siri reached the motel, he wondered whether it was a ghost hotel. It reminded him of a ghostly motel he had seen in a Hollywood movie. An old woman at the reception desk carefully looked at Siri's room reservation document and asked for his passport.

"Well, I thought you only needed an ID card for Australians! Anyway, I've my passport with me!"

The woman looked at his passport and asked, "Where the heck is Ratnapura?" Siri was born in Sri Lanka's gem city where his father worked as a schoolteacher.

"What do these letters LKA stand for?" the woman questioned him again.

"Well you wanted my passport! Now you are interrogating me about my place of birth!"

"Oh young man! Don't get angry. I'm interested in people, and where they come from. My parents are Polish immigrants," she smiled and Siri's anger melted.

"For Australian Immigration Department, the letters LKA stands for Sri Lanka! I was born there."

"Oh, you were born in Sri Lanka! We had some great people here from your country, last week. I think they were from Melbourne. Our motel is like a United Nations' Refugee Centre. Right now, I've you from Sri Lanka and a few fellows from Papua New Guinea. I'm Polish and my hubby is a true blue Aussie! Here's your passport, luv. You can come over here and have breakfast in the morning. It's on the house for a young Sri Lankan man! I'll give you a good room. But you have to cross the road to use the swimming pool."

"Why?"

"Because your room is on the other side of the road. But you can come through the side gate, next to my Acacia plants." She gave him the key to the room and said: "See ya later!" Siri crossed the narrow road and entered a new square building with several blocks of rooms. The garden in front of the rooms had a large Acacia bush. He could breathe fresh exotic scent emanating from small yellow flowers, but the sea breeze that came across the road chased away that nice scent instantly.

After a short nap, Siri woke up around two o'clock. He made a cup of tea and ate a few complementary biscuits left on the table. A copy of the Brisbane telephone directory sat innocently next to the TV. He wondered whether he had any friends in this city. He remembered some Sri Lankan students who studied with him at the Asian Institute of Technology talking about migrating to Queensland. Siri was not sure whether his friends had arrived and settled down in Brisbane. He tried to recall the face of Ananda Abeydeera who was planning to migrate to Queensland. He browsed the telephone directory and looked for the name. There were no names listed under Abeydeera. He looked for other familiar Sri Lankan names.

There was only one name listed under Abeysinghe.

- Well I must ring these people and ask for Abeydeera. Sri Lankans know each other wherever they live!

He rang the Abeysinghe residence but no one answered the phone. Siri looked for more Sri Lankan names such as Samaratunga, Dissanayake; unquestionably Sri Lankan family names!

He rang the number listed under Samaratunga. At the other end of the line, a recorded voice played back: "You rang the Samaratunga family. We are unable to come to the phone right now. If you have messages for Hemamali, Alex or Natasha, please leave a message! We shall return your call soon. Have a G'day," a young Aussie voice mixed with a distinct Sri Lankan accent invaded his eardrums. After a few more attempts, Siri gave up locating his old Sri Lankan friend and decided to explore the city instead.

When Siri looked at the map, he discovered a nearby railway station, Wooloowin. The station was just around the corner and he decided to walk. After he reached a cross road, Siri walked up the hill which ran in parallel to the rail track. The road, Railway Parade reminded him of a similar road elsewhere.

Then it registered that the Railway Parade road in Brisbane looked the same as the one in Maylands, Perth.

- There are so many similar places in Australia with same name!

When Siri approached the tourist information centre in the city, a friendly woman at the counter asked where he wanted to visit.

"I dunno! I've come from Perth. I'm exploring your city!"

"Okay, here are a few brochures. Take your pick and then travel. If you need further information please feel free to ask me!" and invited the next customer behind him.

Siri thought that she had an artificial smile. Siri realised that it was a standard sentence that the receptionist had mastered. "I wonder whether she knew the meaning behind the words?"

"Anyway she was courteous!" he thought.

He sat at a nearby cafe, ordered a cold drink and a sandwich and browsed through the tourist brochures. One brochure about the city read:

Brisbane. The State capital of Queensland. A modern city characterised by parks and dominated by the Brisbane River.

"Well it was a good description.

Just like Perth, then! But we never market Swan River that way! But we use the Swan River to divide the city: North and South. What does it matter whether you live on the north or south of the river? How did this city get its name?"

Gradually Siri learnt that the city had been named after the Scottish astronomer and administrator, Sir Thomas Brisbane, and that the city was an expansion of the penal colony set up in Sydney. He also learnt that the Ngundanbi and Yagara Aborigines lived along the banks of the Brisbane River before the European expansion took place.

- It's all over the same in Australia. Sydney, Brisbane and even Perth. Except we did not start as a penal colony!

Siri gave up the idea of exploring the city and started walking in the City Mall. As he walked towards the east end of the Mall he heard a melody. He walked, looking for the origin of the music, and saw a young woman playing a violin. People passed by the young musician as if they were deaf. Occasionally, someone threw twenty cents or fifty-cent coins but the girl continued to play without being concerned with the collection in her empty violin case. Siri stood away and watched the young woman playing the violin.

There was a small hand written notice in front of her, but Siri could not read it from where he stood. After about a few minutes, he realised that not many people were interested in giving money to the woman. He approached her but she continued to play the violin without looking at him. The notice in front of the empty violin cover read:

I love music! It's my life! I've been selected to travel to Europe with a group of young musicians from Australia and NZ. But I need a ticket! My parents don't have money! Any donation would be much appreciated. -- Melody.

Siri's heart sank.

- Why would people not help this young person to achieve her dream?

He said "Hello," opened his wallet and left two twenty dollar notes on the empty violin case and put a few coins on top of it to prevent the notes from flying away. When Siri bent and deposited the money, the woman stopped playing her instrument. She stopped all her actions for a few seconds when she saw the notes. Siri turned back and continued his stroll. He heard someone behind him and saw the young woman calling him.

"Sir! I forgot to thank you for your donation. Thank you very much. It's very kind of you," and she smiled like a fresh flower.

"That's my little contribution for your dream!" said Siri and continued his journey. At the end of the mall, a bookshop carried a sale notice and Siri dropped in to see whether there were any good books to buy. The books had been classified under various categories. Australiana, Fiction, Poetry, Travel and many other headings.

When Siri browsed through the Australiana Section, he found a title: AUSTRALIA - A Nation of Immigrants. Siri browsed through the book with the blue jacket cover with nine small photos and an artwork on the cover page. The artwork portrayed a naked Aborigine, with a sad look. He browsed through the pages. The first chapter described the First Australians. Siri was impressed as most of the nation's history books began with the visit of Captain Cook, which he had described to his Australian friends as a journey without a visa to enter the country!

In another book, he read extracts from Cook's diary, which changed his image of Captain Cook all together:

"In reality they are far happier than we Europeans: being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous but the necessary Conveniences so much sought after in Europe... They live in a Tranquillity which is not disturbed by the Inequality of Conditions..."

Siri picked up both the books, paid at the counter and walked back towards the railway station through the mall again. There was no sign of the young musician. The day had shown the signs of aging and the dusk had just begun to settle.

For feedback and readers' response: - [email protected] Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, places characters, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.