Short story

My lovely yellow shirt...

It's early morning the plaintive call of the koha is loud and clear but little Tikiri was very sad. “Tomorrow is Aluth Avurudu and I don't have any new clothes to wear when Avurudu dawns. Piyum will look at me and snigger if I wear my old clothes”. These were the thoughts that were running in little Tikir's head. His father was a farmer but he could not reap a good harvest this season because the rains did not come down and all the seed went to waste.

Tikiri did not want to make his mother and father sad by asking for new clothes for the Avurudu. He pretended to be happy and went about his normal work.

His mother and father were also sad because they could not buy new clothes or for that matter do anything to celebrate the Avurudu as usual because it turned out to be a lean period for them.

Avurudu day dawned and Tikiri peeped from the window in their house. He could see Sita , Ruwan , Piyum and Menike wearing colourful yellow clothes. Piyum was dressed in a black pair of trousers with a pale yellow striped shirt while his sister Sita was wearing a yellow polka-dotted dress. Yellow was the auspicious colour that year.

Tikiri closed the window and went inside feeling dejected. He did not want to show his amma and thaththa that he was sad. He began walking around the house and then took his ball out and went to the backyard to play. They were observing the nonagathe and they were not eating any food during that time. Anyway there was barely any food to eat in the house. Tikiri's mother had just managed to make some milk rice for the family so that they will have some food when the nonagathe was over and it was neketh time for them to eat.

Time was moving very slowly for little Tikiri.

He was hungry but he did not show it to his parents. What was bothering him most was the clothes that he was wearing. They looked old and faded.

Suddenly while he was contemplating on what he should do next, he heard Piyum at the door calling out to him.

Tikiri did not want to answer the door because Piyum was sure to ridicule him looking at his clothes. He ran to his mother and told her not to open the door. Piyum then went away after tapping at the door for a while.

Just as they were about to partake the kiribath, there was a commotion outside.

A trishaw had halted outside the house and the whirr of the engine was making a loud noise. Then he saw his uncle, Loku Maama get off the trishaw. His arms were loaded with neat parcels wrapped in brown paper. He was out of the country and had arrived in Sri Lanka on that day.”'Loku Maama, how nice to see you” , cried Tikiri and hugged him. Tikiri for a moment forgot his troubles.

His uncle looked at the table and saw that the spread was very sparse and he felt sorry for his little nephew. Loku Maama then opened some of the parcels and gave them all the food he had brought with him. There was kevum, kokis, asmee which was Tikiri's favourite and enough of other sweetmeats too.

The table was now laden with food. There was so much of it.

Loku Maama had already found out that the auspicious colour was yellow. He had brought two lovely sets of clothes for Tikiri. One set was a lovely dark yellow shirt with black pin stripes and a black pair of trousers while the other set was a plain pair of grey trousers and a lovely printed cream silk shirt.

Loku Maama told Tikiri to change his clothes and wear the first set of clothes immediately. He had bought beautiful clothes for his mother and father as well, Tikiri lost no time in making a beeline to Piyum's house to show off his new clothes.

They played together and when evening came Tikiri returned home. He took a quick wash and changed into the next set of new clothes and went with Loku Maama and his mother and father to visit his relations. Piyum saw Tikiri in his new clothes and asked him from where he got the beautiful clothes .

Tikiri did not reply as he was overcome with emotion because he knew Piyum was waiting to ridicule him but providence was on his side and Little Tikiri was now very happy.

He had got two sets of beautiful clothes and many more gifts. This Avurudu was the best he had celebrated so far.

- F.F