Fracas after booze leads to death

By Ananda Agalakada

Malani was a comely damsel. Her beauty was enhanced because of the natural food she consumed. The Welimada climate also had an effect on her skin and her cheeks were a rosy pink. The skin on her hands had a special kind of sheen. Malani was not fat, but cut a beautiful figure as most upcountry women are won't to have. Malani maintained her comely looks. She would take a regular bath and apply coconut oil on her hair and comb it and tie it up in a knot. This gave her the extra height and when she wore the traditional redde and hatte, she was really beautiful.

Time went by but she had not found a suitable partner. Men in the village were eyeing her but she did not encourage any of them. One fine morning her mother suggested that they should go on a pilgrimage to Polonnaruwa. Malani readily agreed and they left for Polonnaruwa the next morning. They reached the sacred city by afternoon and engaged in religious observances at the Ruwanveli Seya and other temples around the area.

Malani was engrossed in religious activity. Little did she realise that she was being carefully observed by an onlooker. He was mesmerised by her beauty, he could not take his eyes off her. He discretely followed Malani and her mother.

Soul mate

He furtively looked around, then he caught the opportune moment and gave her a slip of paper with his name and contact number. Malani looked at him aghast but she thought that since the man had made known his love for her at a sacred precinct, he might be the ideal partner for her. The mother and daughter having completed their religious observances and decided to leave for home.

While on their way back home, Malani was preoccupied. Her thoughts were with the man who had given her his address. Once they got home, Malani was eager to get in touch with him.

Rajith was his name. She stealthily contacted him without her mother's knowledge. Rajith was over the moon that he had found a soul mate. They had an affair for a few months and then decided to get married. She broke the news to her mother. Her mother resisted at first because her sixth sense told her that the man was a scamp, but she later gave in and decided that Rajith might make a good husband for her daughter.

They had a simple wedding and decided to live on their own. Little did Malani imagine that Rajith was heavily addicted to liquor. Once they began living as man and wife the truth unfolded and Malani had to bear the brunt of a drunkard husband. Rajith as a habit would search the whole house turning it upside down looking for money to buy his fill. Rajith's only job was to steal money from Malani and go to the hooch den nearby, have his fill and then come back home and wreak havoc. He would assault his wife and at times even throw her out of the house. Malani had decided to suffer her lot and continue to live with Rajith.

In the meantime, Malani became pregnant with their first child and a little boy was born. Though Malani was in hospital due to a difficult delivery, Rajith never visited her.

He was in a hooch den nearby having a ‘drink’ with his friends and celebrating the birth of his first child. He did not sight the hospital to see his wife who was ailing. Malani however forgave him because she had delivered a chubby little boy.

Fateful day

The little boy was the apple of Malani's eye but Rajith had no time for the child. All he did was hit the bottle all day long. Then a second child was born. She was a cute little girl.

Malani sought solace in her children and continued to tolerate her husband's incorrigible behaviour. Her little girl was now a grown-up woman and married a decent man from the area. This marriage became a reality because of Malani's goodness of heart.

The new couple moved out and built a home in Welimada away from Malani's. They could not tolerate Rajith's behaviour. On that fateful day, Rajith returned home the worse for liqour. He did not know what he was saying or what he was doing. He began looking for his wife everywhere. He was shouting and screaming like a demon possessed. He was now all out to pick a quarrel with his wife. Because he could not find his wife, he now went to his daughter's house looking for Malani and calling out for her. Their daughter also was a beauty and was married to 27-year-old Weerakoon Arachchige Dhinusha Jayamal and lived on Nuwara Eliya Road, Welimada. They lived happily in their own three storeyed house.

Respectable

Malani's daughter led a respectable life with her husband and avoided her father because he was always after liquor and was waiting to pick a fight. Now, Rajith in his inebriated state rushed into the daughter's house.

A heated argument broke out between the son-in-law and father-in-law. Rajith was screaming his head off and blackguarding all and sundry. The son-in-law begged of him to leave the premises without further ado and without creating a rumpus.

He continued to insult the son-in-law and would not budge. This led to fisticuffs and a brawl broke out ending in bloodshed. Rajith was found with is hands and legs tied and his neck strangled with a belt. When the Welimada police rushed to the scene after receiving a tip-off on the Emergency number 119 they found Rajith dead.