An Asian girl and Adolf Hitler

Born in the late 1930s, the Asian girl's circle of social awareness began to concretise only in the early '40s. Child psychologists using long laborious terms find the topic of this widening of a child's social circle very palatable. They will with pedantic vanity stress of the obvious.

The format of the Asian girl's social awareness was very peculiar. Sorry. I should have explained the genesis of the term. "The Asian Girl". It was very illogical term for almost all the girls around her were Asians. Even the structure of her class was 99 percent Asian oriented with only about two Euro Asians dames thrown in. The baptism was orchestrated at a long forgotten incident that nobody bothered to dig into, neighter in the family circle nor in the classroom.

If a census was taken the family comprised 12 in all, with domestic aids thrown in. So, the degree of attention meted to each individual was very meagre. The Asian girl headed the brood of children running loose here and there on hill tops and river basins and desert stretches.

The head of the family was leading them on across a little bit of Asia. Was he going in search of milk and honey as an ancient tribe emerging from the Nile valley did?

No. He cared the least for such commodities and was only propelled by a sense of adventure, pregnant with the fetish to boast "that in such and such a year, I was in.... Can you believe, it was red all around". Actually, the Asian Girl felt that his truthful father lied at times just to add colour to his narratives and hear those Ahs and Ooohs.

Fraternity

"Red? We have never seen a red part of this island", someone would say. The Asian Girl, rather ignored by others, watched it all and observed much including the fact that those who happened to be bracketed in the fraternity underwent much neglect. Even their very dates of birth were forgotten. One Saturday a census taker walked in and sat.

Adolph Hitler

"Loku Sir, we want the names and dates of birth of all your children. It is for the great census".

"Huh Huh I can give mine. And the Loku Nona there can give hers. But I just have no idea of the details regarding the children".

"They do not have certificates? "exclaims the officer horrified while the Loku Nona intervenes to inform that we have these strange documents that might take days to find.

"Seven, mind you and one already dead", she adds.

Then she gets into one of her boisterous fits, which is a psychological chute to ventilate all her frustrations.

"Census Nona, ask Loku Sir, the date of birth of Adolf Hitler and he would answer patas and give you a hundred more details."

"Good heavens and who is that? Never heard of him".

"You don't know him and you such an important officer. He is turning the world upside down. Everybody is now placing bets as to who would win, Whether it is Churchill or Adolf Hitler," bursts out the big gentleman.

Birth certificates

"See you later, Loku Sir and look for those birth certificates. When the children grow up they will need them". So, walks out the befuddled census Nona.

Sure enough Loku Sir brought in seven files next day of different colours. The names were written on each file and in the midst of much hullabaloo and grand parental fights, the birth certificates were hunted and inserted.

There was even a file allotted for the dead child on which was written. "Yasoma.... born 1941, dead 1943 as the Allies air planes flew over Hatara Korale". There was an addition, "A few months later I got a transfer to the Red Town.

"That erased somewhat the sad memories of a dead child, a sacrifice to the anopheles mosquito menace.

The Asian girl who had never experienced a show of open affection from her stern father felt that once dead, you can gain that affection.

A bout of measles attacked the Asian Girl's family and things turned topsy turvy. Loku Sir's preoccupation with the Second World War and the careers of the two war leaders brandishing their swords 1000s of miles away became an armour for him to get away from all that household misery and the hours he spent reading the newspapers grew longer and the morning assembly speeches too longer.

He knew exactly where the Allies Defence Forces were stationed and who was ambushed the previous night. The latest war strategies of the Axis party he knew by heart.

Despair

At one juncture the Nazis were winning and Loku Sir was in the depths of despair. Then the census officer informed that she was coming for a second survey. Orders were given to find the files. But this time the file covers were there and not the contents. The house was almost on fire.

Then the ever duty conscious Bala Menike rememebred a phase of the war. Hitler and Churchil were in a bad spot and the boys, the Baby Mahaththayas had made air planes out of the certificates and were throwing them at each other.

Finally, she rescued them and put them in her Trunka Pettiya, Loku Sir laughed and laughed as she brought out the documents not so much happy for their retrieval, but that this lass from Padiyapelella was aware of the names of the two leaders so correctly.

"What nonsense, said the Asian Girls mother in a fit of jealously, "she mispronounced both names". "Where were you when the children were engrossed in the war?" he asked his lady. Back came the reply, "I was in Poland where the Nazi movement was formed". She who had been only on Dambadiva trips answered without batting an eye lid. So everybody in the family had been following the War.

When the war was finally won a large flag was hoisted in the playground transforming the Mathurata sky line. Loku Sir sent a telegram to King George the sixth as follows, "Your Majesty. Congratulations on winning the war". But Loku Sir never even got an acknowledgement.

The Asiatic girl, his daughter kept up track record of Adolf Hitler to commemorate her father that she dearly loved despite all his idiosyncrasies.

He admired the guts of both parties and was even ready to join the Allies if summoned.

The ethnic factor was of zero value in the context of universal politics. The Asian Girl now in her 70s still reads titbits on the war monger.

The latest she read carries this bit of info, "Nazi was an insulting term. The opponents of Hitler's party seized on their official title nationalsocialistsche deutchearbeiterpartal and coined the world Nazi!