Sunburnt Home - an Australian-Sri Lankan novel

Chapter 16: Painted sky

By Sunil GOVINNAGE

Jayadeva got up late as it was a public holiday. It was Australia Day.

Jayadeva knew that the Australians celebrate on the 26 January to remember the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip.

Ever since Jayadeva's first experience of the Australia Day in 1989, he had a lot of unanswered questions about the origin of the Australian nation. Jayadeva's questions began when his family accompanied a few friends to see the Sky Show in Peth in 1989, the year after they had arrived in Australia. Though Jayadeva enjoyed the Sky Show, he was surprised to learn how white Australians had established their own traditions and festivals ignoring the Aboriginal culture.

Jayadeva, who was still lying in bed, reached for a book entitled Binan Goonj- Bridging Cultures in Australia, which was sitting on the bedside table. Malini had brought it home from the Aboriginal Medical Services in East Perth, where she worked. Though Jayadeva didn't know much about health, he had become interested in the subject after reading a poem and a phrase in the book.

It was by accident that he found the book. Just before he went to bed the night before, he saw, among Malini's medical books, one with an unusual cover showing a painting of the Bidjara Aborigines in South-Western Queensland. Jayadeva picked the book up and scanned through it until a quotation from Captain Cook's journal caught his interest:

"... in reality they are far more 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..."

Jayadeva was hooked on and re-read the section about the tranquillity of life among the native Australians, as noted by Captain Cook. He closed his eyes for a minute and attempted to recreate the landscapes of Perth without the white Australian landmarks: the City of Perth, major buildings (including the sick old building where he worked at St. Georges' Terrace), Mount's Bay Road, Narrows' Bridge and the freeway that looked like a large snake linking the Perth metropolitan area to the rest of the State. He could only visualise the Swan River, and still not without the boats and luxury yachts introduced by the white Australians.

Jayadeva felt hungry. He got out of the bed and went to the kitchen. The house was silent except for the noise coming from the television set. He saw Malini sitting in the living room surrounded by books. He entered the kitchen and switched on the kettle. Through the kitchen, Jayadeva could see Asela and Sunitha watching cricket on TV. Their eyes were glued onto the television.

"How are you children this morning?" He received a delayed response from Asela during an ad break.

"Dad, the West Indies are behind us and we'll win the Frank Worrel Trophy."

"I thought the Sri Lankan team wasn't playing the West Indies this summer," Jayadeva replied sarcastically although he knew that Asela was referring to the Australian cricket team. Ever since the Australian defeated the Sri Lankans, and above all, the way the Australian media treated them on and off the ground, including calling Muralidaran a 'chucker', Jayadeva had renounced his allegiance to the Aussie cricketers.

Malini, who heard the conversation, came and joined in.

"Sam Putha, it's great that we are going to win the Frank Worrel Trophy. It'll prove that we are the best test cricket team in the world, though we lost to Dad's team in the World Cup series. I think our team lost because we didn't play in Sri Lanka during the first round."

"The Aussies didn't want to play in Colombo because they knew they couldn't win against our cricket team in our soil!"

"What nonsense! Aussies didn't want to visit Sri Lanka due to security reasons."

"What are you talking about?! How can you support the bloody Aussie Team?"

Malini saw Jayadeva as an angry animal caged in a zoo, and changed the subject tactfully.

"Jay, you'd better take the kids to the Sky Show this evening. I can't come tonight as I've work to do. I need to finalise my tax return and hand it over to the accountant tomorrow. I also have to read a book on Aboriginal Health for a seminar this weekend. I was looking for the book this morning but it's gone missing!"

Jayadeva knew that she was referring to the book he had been reading that morning. He didn't bother to respond. Malini saw Jayadeva's angry face like a fossil carrying some evidence of extinct matter. She changed the subject again.

"I don't know what's wrong with these Aboriginal people! Despite all the welfare money they get, nothing has improved. Their illnesses are far worse than in a Third World country. Yesterday, we had to treat a group of Aboriginal kids who were poisoned by petrol sniffing. The kids are left on their own, and the adults are drunk all day long!"

Jayadeva felt sad when he heard Malini's remarks about the Aborigines, the Native Australians. He didn't want to get into an argument with Malini early in the morning about a subject that he was unfamiliar, like an unknown territory he had visited a few hours earlier. He wondered whether she had acquired the same values and ideas on the Aborigines as the majority of white Australians.

He asked, "What sky show? Where do you want me to take the kids?" Jayadeva acted as if he was totally unaware of Australia Day.

"Sky Show! There is only one Sky Show today! The only one to commemorate our Australia Day! Don't you know your history?" Malini snapped impatiently.

"Australia Day! What Australia Day? The country was here long before Captain Cook arrived. You must quickly read the book you brought. I was reading it this morning." Jayadeva replied with raised voice thinking that the kids would also get his message.

"Dad, we must see the Sky Show today! It's Australia Day today," Asela approached him.

"We'll help you to learn the words of 'Waltzing Matilda', so that you can sing with us. Last year you were looking at our faces when we were singing. Mum knows all the words, just like us!"

"Of course, your mother knows this country as much as the white Australians do! I think I've fallen behind with the Aboriginal people. I must try and catch up with the rest of the nation!"

With that, Jayadeva walked off into the backyard and looked at his araliya-frangipani- trees that were shedding leaves.

-- It is unusual for araliya trees to shed leaves in summer!

Jayadeva looked up and saw dark shadows gathering in the blue sky.

* * * * *

That evening, Jayadeva drove to the University of Western Australia and found a parking spot in the far corner of the car park. He got out slowly and followed the kids who were eager to reach the Crawley foreshore as quickly as possible.

"Dad, hurry up, otherwise we won't find a good spot!" Sunitha turned around suddenly and asked, "Did you bring the mozzie repellent, Dad?"

"No! Why not donate some blood to mosquitoes? You'll get the same pain that we had when we were bitten by mosquitoes in Sri Lanka."

"No Dad, these are Aussie Mozzies! They are not as bad as Sri Lankan mozzies!" Asela said sarcastically knowing that Jayadeva normally became irritable whenever someone made negative remarks about Sri Lanka.

Jayadeva walked slowly and silently without paying much attention to the noise and music floating from the foreshore which was packed with people from all walks of life. The majority of them were white Australians who were in good spirits.

There was a young group of teenagers who were drunk and shouting in the middle of the university grounds. There were throwing empty cans of beer at each other.

--Why are these children drunk and behaving like this? They must be less than fifteen or sixteen. Who would sell them beer? After all this is their National Day; The Australia Day!

Jayadeva looked at them as if they were alien beings from another planet who had just come for a wild party.

Jayadeva and the children found a vacant spot on the banks of the Swan River. He looked skywards and noticed a reddish tint above, like an old faded painting. There were a few helicopters and light planes flying over the Swan River as if they were competing to take over the sky as well.

When the sound of the radios and human noise faded, Jayadeva realised the Sky Show would soon begin.

He closed his eyes and visualised an Aboriginal family lying on the banks of the Swan River looking at the sky over two hundred years ago.

--If white people didn't come and take over their land and culture, the Aborigines would be in control of their country today. Unless you are an Aborigine, we all migrants in this country....!

After the last of the fireworks faded from the sky like a tired runner, Jayadeva started walking back. He compared the empty sky with reddish tints to a sorrowful and feeble Aboriginal person who had red eyes from drinking all day. Jayadeva was unhappy and angry. His mind was preoccupied by what he had read from Malini's book on Aboriginal Health that morning.

He walked with the kids towards the university where he had parked the car. The kids were very excited. Jayadeva heard Asela talking to his sister.

"Sue, it was a terrific show. Better than last year, wasn't it? Oh, I wish I could see the Sky Show every day. What a beauty!"

As Jayadeva plodded through the university buildings comparing them to a newly built fortress, he felt as if a great weight had been placed on his heart. When he passed a small shrub near the university's agriculture faculty buildings, he heard voices and smelt petrol. He saw a few Aboriginal children who are no bigger than Sunitha and Asela, carrying a few soft drink cans and empty beer bottles. He immediately realised that the kids were sniffing petrol.

-- Are these children going to celebrate their own deaths on Australia Day!

Jayadeva soon realised the Aboriginal kids were stealing petrol from the cars left behind by the spectators of the Sky Show. Jayadeva's heart sunk lower.

Sunitha lowered her voice and turned to her father and asked:

"What are they doing Dad?"

He didn't want his children to see what was going on, although he knew that they would never imitate such behaviour.

"Let's go home. Hurry up, I'm hungry." Jayadeva tried to divert their attention.

"Did you see what they were doing? They were sniffing petrol, Dad!" Sunitha said.

Jayadeva walked silently. The sky had turned dark. The dusk had disappeared and night had set in. The darkness had taken over the continent. The beauty of bursting fireworks they watched a few minutes ago had evaporated just as bright colours fade from a cheap painting.

(To be continued)

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Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.