Short Story

The encounter

by Lalitha Somathilaka

Upekkha Sil Mani was seated on a low stool. At her feet in a faded sari was Padma.

“You are refreshed?”
“Yes Mani.”

“So, what have you to tell me?” she asked again giving a kind but a scrutinising look at Padma.’

“Please, let me join your order. I am disgusted of life.”

“Many come here with that same request.” Padma was silent. “When once you enter this order you have to adhere to its rules and regulations. Then only they realise how hard it is. Then they wish to go back.”

“I have nowhere to go back. When you listen to my story you will realise it.”

“No. let your story come out little by little. Until then you stay here, help us and join in our meditating sessions. Then we’ll see.”

Monastery

Thus Padma’s new life began. She was happy. There was no one to shout at her. She had enough to fill her stomach.

The work at the monastery was no burden. She had a small bed to lie down at night. When once her head touched the pillow, her mind goes back to her sister and her four children. Nimalka, the eldest and Bandu the youngest touched her heart, especially Bandu.

“May all the gods bless and keep them safe,” she prayed. “I love them,” she soliloquised. “But how can I stay there any longer after what I heard?”

Padma and Neela were sisters. Their only brother, the youngest in the family was only five when he died of a serpent bite. Their father was so devastated that he moved to a far away village with his family. Yet, forever he was moaning for his only son.

After reaching the new place, he started a chena of his own. Unfortunately, nature hindered it. The weather changed making the sun burst out in its full force. The dry winds brought not only crisp, yellowish leaves but also gales of dry sand and dust.

The plants started withering. Sometimes he would sit on the door-step looking at the white clouds that gathered in the sky and then floated away, changing their shapes every minute. He would sigh deeply and walk about with no aim.

Horrible news

One day it was horrible news that reached home. Father was found dead at the river which had only a little water.

How he died was a mystery. Whether it was suicide or an accident, nobody knew.

The next day he was laid to rest in the village cemetery. The same night Padma became a big girl.

“You are a damned, unlucky girl,” shouted mother. “It was nothing but your wretched fate that brought father his death.” She used all the abusive, cruel words in her vocabulary as if Padma had purposely arranged these.

“Now tell me, where am I to find money to carry out the rituals?” she started pulling her hair and crying aloud. What a pitiful state?

The breadwinner of the family had just been buried. What can a lone woman do with no money in her hand?

It was the end of Padma’s schooling too. “Let Neela attend school another year or two,” said mother. She and Padma did whatever work they found to exist themselves.

By the end of the drought, they were just bones and skin. Yet it had not diminished the beauty of Padma. With the beginning of the rainy season Padma and mother started a small chena on their own.

Young girl

Mother found work at a farm about two miles away from home. The money she earned at the end of the week was more important than leaving an attractive young girl alone at home. Padma worked alone the whole day in her small chena.

The attractive village lass caught the eyes of Ariya, a handsome youth who was a labourer at the site where a new bridge was being built. Their friendship was a secret until symptoms of morning sickness revealed it one day.

It was a Sunday and Neela had already left to a friend’s place to study.

Mother started pulling her hair and abusing her elder daughter with all the foul words in her vocabulary.

She straight away went to meet Ariya. But ...... he had already left the site as his wife had given birth to a son. Mother came home in a frenzied mood and started beating the daughter with a dry coconut branch.

“You, you, you.....,” she shouted. “What are you going to do now with that ......?” Padma ran inside trying to evade her blows. She faltered, fell down and fainted. It was the end of the unborn child too. As advised by mother the whole incident was kept a secret between the mother and the daughter. Not even Neela knew about it.

Marriage

As time went on Padma was given in marriage. Unfortunately, he was a drunkard, a gambler. She was in hell. Whatever she did was wrong in his face. Beating her became a habit. For three long years she suffered. One day when mother visited her she was crying bitterly massaging the places swollen from the beatings.

That was the end of that marriage. She was forced to return home with mother. By this time, Neela too was married and living at home. Neela who knew that she was not as attractive as her sister resented Padma being brought home.

Padma worked hard at the chena as well as at home. She was the first to get up and the last to go to bed. Yet she could not escape the wrath of her own sister who found fault at everything she did.

After the death of the mother it became worse. Why her sister hated her, she was not sure; but she suspected the reason. Feeding her was no problem, she knew.

She wanted to protect her husband from an unwanted relationship with her beautiful sister. Sometimes Neela would comment, especially if Padma was close by, that to have barren woman at home was horrible, unlucky and also a curse. Padma had to bear up everything as she had nowhere to go. What cannot be cured has to be endured.

Neela’s two daughters got married. The elder son worked in the chena with his father. Bandu the youngest, whom Padma loved most, did not like to farming. He went in search of a job almost every day, but returned empty handed. That was Neela’s only problem.

Affection

One day Padma heard her sister scolding Bandu, which made her take a firm decision of her future. Neela was aware that Bandu’s affection for Padma was no less than the one he had for his own mother.

The others called Padma ‘Loku Amma’ while Bandu always addressed her as “Loku.” That too made her more aggressive towards her son.

“You always take the side of that cursed woman,” Padma heard Neela shouting at Bandu. “Do you know that she became a big girl on the day our father died? She was so damned unlucky. She is barren. As long as she is here, you’d never get a job.”

Padma was not barren, she knew. But, how can she reveal it? It was a secret that belonged to the past, only to her and her mother.

“I am cursed, no doubt,” she murmured. “Why should I let it fall on Bandu?”

She rummaged through her belongings and found the small paper cutting, the address of the monastery of ordained women. She waited until all were in bed. With all her belongings in a small bag she stepped on to the road.

Peaceful life

It is ten years now at the monastery. She is no more Padma, but Bhikkuni Nanda. She leads a peaceful life. Yet, she still could not overcome her worry about Bandu. Has he found a job? Still lingers this question in her mind.

One day some visitors came to the monastery with things for its inmates.

“Bandu!”

The familiar name made Bhikkuni Nanda automatically turn that way. At once her eyes met the eyes of a gentleman coming along with his wife and child. He stopped as if he saw a ghost.

“Ban... Ban..,” stammered Bhikkuni Nanda.
“Loku,” cried the newcomer hurrying towards her.
Both stood smiling at each other through overflowing eyes.
“Loku, why did you leave us? How much we searched for you!”
“Putha, I am Bhikkuni Nanda and not Loku any more,” she smiled.

“This is my wife and son,” he started. “At last I’ve found you. I could never get over your loss. We lost our mother last year. I came here with all these things to invoke blessings on her. She was bedridden for two long years. She never had a day without crying for you.

She told everyone that it was her cruelty that made you leave us. She said that you would have nursed her if you had been there.

In fact, she made us all promise to search for you and on her behalf to apologise for all her wrong doings.”