Itipahan (Burly Lamp) Chapter - 32

By Sumithra RAHUBADDE

(Translated by Ranga Chandrarathne and edited by Indeewara Thilakarathne)

“I am a lamp burning on both ends
Known well that I cannot pass the night
Yet
See my friends
Foes
How powerful light
Burnt
To dispel the darkness”

Soome looked at the newly thatched roof under the shade of coconut trees. Though the orchid that mother planted on a coconut shell and hung on a coconut tree, had a lot of leaves; only a few flowers had blossomed from it. A breeze came from the ovita.

The elder son was playing in the courtyard. Soome felt sad seeing him in the courtyard, pushing happily a toy-lorry which Niyathapala had made using aluminium sheets. Neither she nor Niyathapala had sufficient income to buy a toy for the boy.

"I boiled jak and made a dried fish curry. I feed the children. You will have your meals now," Duleena said. Niyathapala was making a spin for the boy.

"You'd better feed the children since you are at home," said Niyathapala.

"Mother feeds them," Soome said in an irritable tone.

"In other households, it is the mother who bear the children feed them. My mother fed and bathed us. But these two boys could never say that. They are big sinners," Niyathapala said controlling his anger.

"What is important is not whether the one who bore the children feed them but what the children are fed with. We always feed the children with rice and dried fish curry," said Soome.

Niyathapala got up. He was angry thinking of the reason as to why Soome insults him despite the fact that he always thought of the welfare of the family.

"I could hardly tell you this. You won't let me avoid it. It is all because of a defect in your genealogy. You devil, even dogs treat their offsprings well," said Niyathapala and gazed at Duleena who came into the courtyard.

"You old whore! I will, one day, finish off the little curse that you bore after roaming around. You have taught the daughter your dirty tricks. I will line up and shoot you all and then shoot myself," shouted Niyathapala and grabbed Duleena by the hair.

"Budu Ammo," Duleena screamed. Soome pounced on Niyathapala. But he pushed her with a kick and she fell on the ground. Soome, who could not get up following the attack, looked at the elder son crying and mother who was screaming. Duleena could not bear up the excruciating pain due to the blows she received. She felt as if her head had been smashed as a result of several blows striking her head.

"Let those hands that raised to hit her be broken. You bloody rascal. You ruined me. You hit an innocent woman who bore me and fed your children?" Soome who was on the ground and literally eating the soil yelled out so that the entire village could hear her scream. Niyathapala yelled hysterically.

"Have you had a life to be ruined bloody whore?" That's my sin. The sin that followed me from one life to another. I will, today, finish off my sins," Niyathapala shouted. Suddenly Duleena who had fallen on the ground saw Niyathapala running somewhere while screaming at Soome. The elder son was screaming while running along the ovita. The younger son was shrieking. Nanawathi Hamine came up to Duleena tidying her hair.

"Oh, you innocent Duleena! Your face has turned blue. A tooth is broken. Let me help you to stand up," said Nanawathi Hamine helping Duleena without even waiting to wipe out tears in her eyes.

"Duleena let's go home. I cannot treat you here," Nanawathi Hamine wanted to accompany Duleena to her place.

"Hamine, I can't go. That wretched guy will kill them off. Hamine, we are suffering because of our sins," Duleena cried out feebly and sat on the ground. All of a sudden Niyathapala stood in the courtyard like a provoked Nalagiri, the tusker. The three women sensed an strange change in his mood.

"Everything is over. I swallowed acid. Soome you lead your life. Now, you can do anything you want," shouted Niyathapala and turned on Duleena.

"Forgive me, mother-in-law. You are a person who aspires for Buddha hood. Mother-in-law, say that there is no sin for your son-in-law," shouted Niyathapala and sat under the coconut tree. Soome who was kneeling down came up to Niyathapala. She smelled the foul odour of acid coming from Niyathapala.

"What have you done? What is the future of these two children?" Asked Soome and looked at Nanawathi Hamine and Duleena.

"Now, take him to hospital," said Nanawathi Hamine.

"Let me die peacefully. I will die in a few seconds. I did not swallow acid to save myself," said Niyathapala and summoned his elder son.

"Puthe, you grow up well," he said and patted him. Niyathapala after being taken to hospital, shouted in filth. Soome looked from a distance without even being able to go up to Niyathapala. She thought that he must be in a frantic mood. That mood had given his mouth hateful words. She understood that this hatred was not only aimed at her but also at the entire society.

Niyathapala's elder brother Karunapala undertook to bring Niyathapala's body home.

"This man had swallowed poison for an unwarranted thing. He had this mad rush from the beginning. He had never concentrated on anything in peace," Karunapala said after the body had been brought into the house. Comrades of the party had come after learning the news of Niyathapala's death.

"Since he had died after swallowing poison, Niyathapala Aiyya would not receive any party honours. But please let us know if there is anything to do," a comrade said.

"Malli, it is okay, not to have party honours. Is there any honour for him now? Malli, don't worry about the honouring part," Soome said.

Comrades undertook the burial. Since Niyathapala got involved in the party activities because of Soome and he was her husband, Soome thought that he should be given last respect by the party. Red flags along with white flags were hoisted at the funeral.

Four members wearing the party's red uniform stood near the coffin. Soome walked up and down and spoke with those who had visited and others who came to help with the funeral. Duleena sat on a mat in the kitchen with the two children.

"Oh, my son, didn't I tell you not to shoulder this sin? You didn't listen. You swallowed poison not now but on the day you got involved with this sin," Niyathapala's mother cried embracing the body. Soome was furious. Duleena's eyes were filled with tears.

"Now, what happened has happened. Don't spit while looking up, as it will fall on your face. Try to get rid of the sadness by crying but don't blame that wretched woman," said Nanawathi Hamine who tried to make Niyathapala's mother to sit on a chair. Karunapala came up to her and advised her.

"Mother, our fellow was not a good man. Besides, now what had happened had happened. Let Soome attend to the final arrangements. We all suffer due to Karma," said Karunapala approaching Soome.

"Sister, there may be many issues on an occasion like this. Let's work prudently. Think that I am with you," said Karunapala Aiyya with a compassionate tone. Soome nodded in agreement. Everyone considered Niyathapala's death as a murder. With a firm heart, she ignored this sentiment.

"This woman insults the body. See those, red flags. The body is covered in red. Have we ever seen such nonsense? The man's body should be kept properly?" Soome heard a woman among the crowd speaking. "My husband's funeral should be done the way I want, she thought.

"Sister, we regret of what had happened to you." Sister Bernadette who disrobed recently said. Soome understood that she had married comrade Lionel, was happier than before.

"Nangi, what have we got to do?" comrade Lionel said holding Soome's hands.

Soome thought that the night following the funeral was a wretched and lonely one. For the first time, Soome felt that Niyathapala who had not gone out of the house after they got married, had been really left, abandoning everything.

She thought, however unpleasant the time she spent with him, darkness had gathered in the hut without him. He would have loved her. Niyathapala, who followed her, though could not win her heart, won her body. The life she spent with him was in physical union and not one with a union of hearts.

Soome felt that she had a great sympathy for Niyathapala than ever before. Love is not a frame of mind that could be forced upon and could easily get rooted in the mind. If it was so, she would have been tempted to love her husband, Niyathapala Weeraratne struggled to take her out of the mess and to love her throughout his life. Duleena poured a cup of tea on seeing Soome was still awake.

"However, cruel he was, I felt a great void of his absence," Duleena said, offering the cup of tea to Soome who did not utter anything. She meditated on how she had spent the past couple of years. She thought that had Niyathapala not married her, both their lives would have changed. Meanwhile, from time to time, she thought of the speech by Karunapala Aiyya addressing the relations at the funeral.

"Brother-in-law praising the sister-in-law, would he be thinking of an affair with her? If that happens, it would be like entering the mouth of death," Magilin Nanda told mother who heard village women's talk following Karunapala Aiyya's speech. Soome did not take note of that remark. Soome thought that village women would tell what they want. Soome felt that she had a real admiration for Karunapala Aiyya.

"Niyathapala took his life because of Daisy. Daisy had not paid much attention to family life," Soome learnt that some of the comrades in the party had entertained such views. Soome felt a great burden. Soome always thought whether she was the person to be blamed for Niyathapala's death.

"Subha, I can bear up everything. But I cannot tolerate the idea that I was the reason behind Niyathapala's death. I have to be at the receiving end of village rumours for his stubbornness," Soome said sadly. Subha spoke a lot to console her.

"Don't take everything into your head. Take what you want and discard the rest into the waste bin. You know how many things that people had spoken about me. But I don't take any of them into my head. I dump them into the waste bin and try to live happily," said Subha and smiled. Soome knew that Subha led an easy-going lifestyle. Soome thought how Subha tolerated when she insulted her at the outset of their association.

"Middle class women could not understand women's problems. They know only to lead a certain ludicrous and luxurious lives," Soome recalled what she told Subha once.

"Though, Daisy says so, I have Thosai or Wadai for lunch and wear cheap dresses made out of cotton," Subha said smiling.

"Your goldware is in the bank."

"Dear girl, I don't have gold! It's a fallacy. There will be a day when you realise that I am right!"

Soome did not know what conclusion that she could give about Subha. However, Soome thought that she should appreciate the charming life's style of Subha.

Now, a new life had to be built. Like mother, she also had to live without a husband. Soome thought, in a way, it is better to live in peace without a husband than living with mountains of troubles with a husband.

Footnotes

Ovita - A piece of land in the middle of a paddy field.
"Budu Ammo" - A common Sinhala phrase in which Buddha was associated with reverence and normally used in an emergency or awkward situation.
"My God!" is an equivalent English phrase.
Nalagiri: a ferocious tusker that lived during the Buddha's time.
Karma: A law of moral causation according to Buddhism.
Nangi: Younger sister.