Darling we aren't too old, though we pass the Jubilee Gold

He wrote his address on a piece of paper...

The love story of Sunil and Saro:

by Lakmal Welabada

'Who will take up my duties?'

Asked the setting sun

'I shall do what I can, master'

Said the earthen lamp....

Rabindranath Thagore

Sunil faintly heard the birds singing.Since he didn't want to miss a half second of his stay he got off the bed. Although he had gone to bed late on the previous nigh he was not feeling lethargic to get up.

He wondered why, but didn't bother to think further. His intention of visiting Rambukkana was to enjoy the ecstatic beauty of the scenery in the village. Sunil opened the window. The cool breeze of the morning asailed him. He looked through the window. Sarojini was sweeping the garden.

It was interesting to see her actively engaged with her eekle broom. After collecting the dried leaves to a corner of the garden, she started sweeping the sandy ground to the pattern of a coconut leaf.

'Aruna Udaye Pipunu Mala se

Nagita Malikam durarala...'

A popular song of the famous singer Milton Perera came to Sunil's mind. The song describes how a village damsel gets up early in the morning and actively starts the daily house chores with an extremely delightful way just like a fresh flower which blooms with the sun rise.

Sunil smiles to himself. There was some untold feeling tickling him since he saw this girl who was said to be still schooling. Sarojini was in the A/Ls class.

Sunil came to her place with her elder brother's family. He was her sister-in-law's brother's friend. When they were playing 'Pancha' (village indoor game like 'Ludo') on the previous night Sunil got a chance to exchange a few words with the mischievous young woman who sat on the mat with the others.

Sunil : Nangi, what are you studying for your A/Ls?

Sarojini: I am doing Arts subjects.

Sunil : Is there any subject that you find difficult?

Saro : Buddhist Civilization.

Sunil : I think I have some books with me. I will try to send them to you. In fact at the moment, I am having a novel 'Handapaya Kandakapa' written by the famous author Madawala S. Ratnayaka. If you want I can give that to you to read as it would help you to improve your Sinhala Literature.

Saro : Thank you, Aiya. Godak Pin Oyata (bless you with lots of merit)

That night Saro just opened the book to go through it, and found a piece of paper neatly written with an address.., the address of Sunil Sarath Perera, No.133, Maya Avenue, Colombo. She was bewildered.

But decided to keep quiet.

However, Saro didn't want to forget the thin medium complexioned and extremely innocent looking guy either. His innocent looks were engraved in her mind deeply. The determination inculcated in her mind quickly rekindled back in her thoughts.

She always wanted to marry a man who had never had an affair before. She thought Sunil looked as if he had never spoken to a girl. "But It was revealed I was wrong when he wrote the song 'Peradinayaka' sung by maestro Pundit Amaradeva," says Sarojini.

'Pera dinayaka Ma pem kala yuwathiya, Siya puthu nalawanawa, Magema geeyak nelawili swarayen Aethin mathu wenawa...' (the girl whom I was once in love is lulling her son to the song I once composed during the time when I was in love with her).

Even after many decades the fame that this song earned has not faded away as it was written through the experience of the composer Sunil Sarath.

Sarojini never knew that the thin innocent looking guy who seemed to be a great reader was also a great poet, song composer and a writer; and also never dreamt that he would one day be an excellent administrator, a creative mass communicator and an opinion leader who would render an immense service to Sri Lanka by arranging every possible way to protect the natural resources and the environment of the motherland.

Dear readers, you have just read the most interesting episode of another love story.. The love story of Sunil Sarath Perera, the present Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and his wife Sarojini Ilangathilaka.

Sunil and Sarojini were just like 'Piyal' and 'Nanda', the two main characters in Martin Wickremasinghe's 'Gamperaliya'. Just after one week of the departure from his stay at Saro's Rambukkana home, Sunil re-visited her.

The excuse he gave was he wanted to hand over the 'books' he promised her. He posed as he didn't like to waste time since she was a student. However, Saro's mother suspected about this, but kept quiet.

But when she caught the first ever love letter sent to her daughter she patiently inquired about it, just like 'Matara Hamine' did in 'Gamperaliya'.... "It must be Sunil Aiya who came with Ape Aiya the other day. But Amma, I've never replied to him," murmured Saro while watching her mother's facial impressions from the corner of her eye.

On his third visit, Sunil confirmed to Saro's elders that he had determined to marry her. After a brief hesitation her home people also gave their consent. And thereafter Saro's mother never bothered to open any letter that was sent to her daughter. Saro and Sunil exchanged letters until she sat for the A/L exam.

Sarojini was born on February 11 in 1946 as the fourth of the seven children in her family. Her father Grabrielle Ilangathilaka was in the clerical staff of the Public Works Department. Saro's mother Wimalawathi Rajapakse was a dutiful house wife and a loving mother.

Unlike the other two girls in the family it was Sarojini who was educated in a better school like Baptist Mission School (presently Sangamitta Balika Maha Vidyalaya), Matale. "We really enjoyed the hostel life.

I was good in sports, so whenever my home people visited me during the weekend I was found in the school ground playing hockey. This provoked them to think that I would only play and wouldn't do any studies. As a result of this I was sent to the Pinnawala Maha Vidyalaya which was closer to my place for my A/Ls," reminisces Sarojini.

She got through the A/Ls and was selected to the university. And it was the most crucial point in her life. But!!! She couldn't realise why her 'heart throb' was extremely silent over it. When she asked he smiled painfully. He didn't want to loose her too.

Now Saro knew the reason why he composed for veteran singer Visharada Sanath Nandasiri 'Sarasaviyata varam laba - eya yanawa nawathenata Mage dukata numba naadan - Paan kiriththo...' the song he once wrote about a 'girl friend' who deserted her lover after she entered the campus...

Sunil and Sarojini entered wedded life on January 8 in 1969. "I sacrificed my higher education for his love. But as a compensation for it I have been having an extremely happy married life. He has held many high ranking posts through out.

But at home, for me and for our children he has been a dutiful husband and a caring father. And I still see the innocent gentleman I saw in him just as I first met him at my maiden home at Rambukkana," smiles Sarojini throwing a loving glimpse at her husband.

"When I was married I was still almost a playful 'school girl'. It was Sunil's gentle mother who looked after me well. She was a mother more than a mother-in-law to me," says Saro. "Saro looked after my mother when she was bed ridden, and I am really grateful to her for that," butts in Sunil.

Saro's gentleman, Meemanage Sunil Sarath Perera was born on March 5 in 1943 to Meemanage Albert Perera, a Senior Executive at the Galle Face Hotel and Susien Waidyaratne of Colombo 6 as the eldest to two younger sisters. He learnt his alphabet at St.Clares College and then Aruthusa College, Wellawatta, and then entered Lumbini Maha Vidyalaya which moulded him into a man of art.

After his A/Ls Sunil Sarath got a job as a Junior Executive at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. While continuing his hobby as a song composer and a radio artiste Sunil Sarath climbed a step up as the Saving Promotion Officer at the National Savings Bank in Ampara in 1972.

Since he was a man of novel creation, for the first time in the history Sunil organised a Buddhist 'Bhakthi Gee' recital at the Galle Face Green for the Vesak Full Moon Poya. But all that he did was not taken into recognition, and he lost his job.

"I tried to prove my innocence. But I was not allowed even to come closer to the main door of the room of the Chairman at the time at the SLBC.

I still remember it when I pass that passage every now and then, now as the present Chairman of the same institution. But I have nothing against them other than a deep merciful feeling towards what they did and what they would plan to do against me," he smiles.

The gigantic shadow that has been protecting him with three strong arms - morally, mutually and emotionally ware none else, but Saro...his beloved wife. "We encountered difficulties economically.

But the love and harmony among us helped us to strengthen ourselves to face any situation says Saro, an iron woman with benevolent, compassionate and humane qualities.

Sunil Sarath and Sarojini are blessed with four daughters. The midle two are twins. "All are married now. Earlier I regretted that we were not gifted with a son. It was just like getting through O/Ls with an 'F' for Maths. But now it have been compensated with four grandsons," says Saro.

'Sanda kaluwara gala halenavita\Senehasa dalvunu nivasa soya emi\Obe sina sanda madala muvaven\Jeevithaye duka vehesa niva gami'

(When the sun sets in the West, after a heavy day of work I too head towards home with many hopes to see your beautiful warm smile which consoles and soothes my life throughout...)

Sunil Sarath wrote this song for Saro, and is today one of the most popular songs sung by Visharada Sanath Nandasiri.

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