BEAUTY OF INNOCENCE

An expression of delight lit up Bernard's face while taking the wheel. Sandra tossed her head rhythmically to the melody of the English song being played in the CD player. Nandana Menike, being seated in the rear seat, took the new bank pass book to her hand and checked it again. In that, to her name, two hundred thousand rupees had been credited. She counted the number of zeros in that amount and wondered as to why such an amount was credited to her account. Even being born to a family of abject poverty, she began to think that she was one of their own family members. Hitherto the unseen father, who was called 'Hamu' by Sandra, was Sandra's brother. Actually, in terms of real kinship, Sandra was her aunty. Bernard was her husband, her uncle then. Uncle and aunt were affluent members belonging to the upper-class social circle. According to them, if the father came to Sri Lanka, it was obvious that her future would turn upside down. Nandana Menike was confronted with a puzzle. That was to know how her father would welcome her deserted and deformed mother. A subtle pain crept into her mind as Sandra's strong aversion had taken roots towards her mother.

Nandana Menike was called 'Duwa' (daughter) only once by Sandra. Afterwards she called her 'Nanda'. Bernard Hamu called her 'Kella' (lass / girl) or child. Nandana Menike contemplated as to why they continued calling her in that way without paying any consideration to the kinship, which they had been well aware of. The answer was crystal clear. Her grandma was their servant and the other reason was between two parties there was a distinct social gap.

"What are you thinking of… Nanda…?" Observing her silence, Sandra turned her head and asked.

She reacted to it with a smile and didn't try to say anything.

"How was the lunch…? Delicious…?"

She ran short of words to explain it as, in her life, she had never been to a huge hotel of that nature.

"That's called Nazi goring…"

Nandana Menike tried to pronounce that word, but she couldn't do so as she was not familiar with such terms and it was the first time she heard that name. Nodding her head, she indicated her positive reaction.

"It was an Indonesian food…"

Nandana Menike noted that she was being observed by Bernard through the rear-view mirror of the vehicle. Adjusting her posture, she tried to remember the location of Indonesia in the world map.

Koinmenika took away the cups and plates and cutleries that had been laid on the table for lunch. She had to clear everything when she got to know a bit later, that lunch had been brought from outside. Since dinner also was being prepared at that time, Periyavar was instructed by Sandra to send the prepared lunch to Koinmenika's house. Meanwhile, Koinmenika prepared some cool drinks for them and brought them to the second floor. She couldn't believe of what she saw with her own eyes. Being petrified, she looked at Nandana Menike's piano playing. Beside the niece Sandra was standing, but Bernard was not to be seen. As the servant of the bungalow, Koinmenika had no permission to come to the second floor. She had to confine herself with her work in the first floor. Usually Periyavar was allowed to enter the second floor. Sandra signaled Koinmenika to come closer quietly.

The niece continued playing the piano without knowing the presence of her grandma behind her. Koinmenika covered her nose by her hands with a sense of fear of potential involuntary sobs.

"She is playing beautifully…! Isn't she…? Koinamma…?"

"She hasn't told me anything of what you are teaching her…" Her words contained a sense of pride that derived from the sight of Nandana Menike's piano playing.

* * *

Yasawathi read the letter from top to bottom several times. Since she had gone only up to grade four, her reading ability was very poor. She couldn't get at the meaning of certain words. However, she finished reading the letter, in which Samantha had urged her daughter's love, before it reached the owner. Yasawathi was trembling with anger. She got a severer shock thinking that her daughter also would be embracing a similar fate to that of hers one day.

"How many times did you read that out…? Keep it inside the book as it was… and let's pretend as if nothing has happened… How do we know what Chuti Menike would do…?" Kapilasena suggested to yasawathi with the idea of allowing Nandana Menike to get that letter.

"Serves it right… I'll give her a real letter…!"

Yasawathi frowned at him. With her deformity, when she frowned, her appearance looked uglier and crueler. He heard the sound of gnashing her teeth, which provided sufficient evidence to prove the extent of her anger.

"No point of scolding Chuti Menike… According to that letter, that young boy has expressed his idea…" Kapilasena patiently put words together indirectly to cool down her temper.

"This one also should know it…"

Kapilasena was certain that she would never let Nandana Menike have the letter.

"What are you going to do with the letter…?" Kapilasena questioned her seeing the letter being hidden inside her blouse.

"I'll take and give it to his father…, to be delivered to our one by post itself…"

Kapilasena thought pacifying Yasawathi as things were going from bad to worse.

"It's not that way sister, listen to what I am telling you as well…, let's throw away the letter without giving it even to the daughter…"

"How can it be…? This should be given to his father himself…, and then he will get to know the vagabond's level…"

"Anyway, if you want to go to that extent, better to ask Punchi Amma too…" it is to me that young man gave the book…, If that young man's people get to know that I am the one who gave the letter to you, they may come against me…"

Kapilasena was an outsider. Yasawathi thought for a while with a sense of fear and admitted the potentiality of Samantha's and his friends' retaliation at some point.

"Then, let's ask mother also…" She tried to manage her fury to some extent.

"Even you brother..., do not even simply pass a hint to my daughter about the letter given by that boy…"

Gesturing his agreement, he repented of his imprudent decision for creating room for Yasawathi to have that letter. He had an ample opportunity to let that letter reach the hands of Nandana Menike without creating any confusion or fuss. And also he resentfully contemplated even if that letter turned out to be a source for initiating a love affair between them; he could have interfered to stop it giving some advice to Nandana Menike.

* * *

Bernard's mind was in turmoil over the paralysis of losing almost all the sources of income, lands and properties because of the construction of the reservoir and above all the compensation calculated being not enough to meet the total value of his losses. His frustration doubled and tripled upon the continuous bargaining he had with the assessors as everything turned out to be futile efforts. He took an action to make an appeal to the Project Head Office regarding the insufficient compensation, from which he could hardly regain and rebuild out of what he was going to lose. Through his appeal, he emphasized the necessity to re-assess and go for another valuation. Moreover, the loss of his employees' labour was another blow as the employees were going to be settled down providing new plots of land in Rajarata. He lost peace of mind because of these matters and to free his mind from all these issues, he was inclined to drink more.

The only consolation Sandra had to keep away from her monotonous daily routine was the companion she had with Nandana Menike. Sandra, almost every day, tried her best to take Nandana Menike to the three tiered building through Koinmenika.

"Nanda, Shall I ask you something personal…? Don't misunderstand me either... Ok…? That day…, can you remember…? The day went to the bank… there was a boy at your house… Who was that boy…?" Sandra was inquiring about her school friend.

"Samantha…, in my class…"

"Is he a special friend…?" She held a luscious glance at Nandana Menike.

The way Sandra asked that question made Nandana Menike be more vigilant.

"He is my best friend…"

"Only a friend…?"

"Why do you ask me like that…?" Sandra's inquisitiveness about Samantha seemed to be a puzzle for Nandana Menike.

"Is he your boyfriend…? Don't worry, I won't tell it to Koinamma…"

Nandana Menike heaved a long breath looking around. She thought that Sandra was under the impression that Samantha was her boyfriend.

"Handsome boy…, is he close by…?"

"We are only friends Nona Hamu…" An expression blended with fear cast on her face.

"No need to get scared of it Nanda…, usually boys prefer to come behind beautiful girls… I started my first love when I was in grade seven…" She recalled her past memories light-heartedly.

"At grade - seven…?" Nandana Menike looked at Sandra with her eyes wide open.

"Why child…? Yes…! At grade seven… That boy was the one and only child of a friend of my daddy… He was about four years older than me…"

"Same school…?" Nandana Menike inquired with more enthusiasm.

"No, I went to the Convent…, he from the Boy's College…, we went to school by the same vehicle…."

"Then Nona Hamu…?" Nandana Menike impatiently asked as to how she became the wife of him then.

"Bernard is my cousin…, he was proposed to me when I was in A/L class…"

"Then, what happened to that Hamu…?"

Nandana Menike's question made Sandra laugh.

"He was not a Hamu…, Shamal…, a very good boy indeed…, his father never looked for caste, class, creed of people… For him no matter either being rich or poor... That's why he had to leave the country…"

Shamal's father was an ardent communist. He had to leave the country in order to protect his life, because of the political atmosphere prevailed at that time in the country. Sandra was deeply worried about the unexpected break down of her maiden love under such circumstances. She got no information about him since the day he left the country. If not her father's untimely death, he would have inquired about Shamal's father. They were bosom friends indeed.

"Nona Hamu, do you still think of him and keep worrying…?"

Sandra was awakening from the sleep of past memories, when Nandana Menike asked that question from her. Those memories could never be buried under the layers of oblivion.

"Even now, I am thinking of him…, how nice it would have been, if he had been with me….? I wouldn't have been confined to a life of this nature…I could have flown in the sky of freedom like a free bird…"

Even though Nandana Menike sensed that Sandra was living not that much in good terms with Bernard, she didn't try to inquire about or ask questions.

Samantha reached the clay field down the water spout being a little late. Yet, he couldn't trace any clue of Kapilasena's presence there. Samantha was so impatient about the response he was going to get from Nandana Menike for his maiden love letter. For him, the previous night was rather a long one. He was dreaming of the kind of reply Nandana Menike would give him and that night sleep didn't come in search of him until dawn. The only motive he had in his mind was to get to know everything.

Since he broke rest last night, he couldn't get up early on the following the morning. He didn't even have an appetite to eat anything. He went near the Nandana Menike's house and stood behind some bushes. He peeped through the leaves to see at least Nandana Menike or Kapilasena would come out of the house. After a little while, he noticed Yasawathi stepping towards the old house. The conversation that took place between Yasawathi and Kapilasena convinced him that they were making pottery with the help of Pottery's wheel. Mustering courage, Samantha quietly tip toed towards the house. He was quite sure of their dog and its chase, if it sniffed him out. However, he continued up the open window and peeped through it. He could see two neatly arranged beds in that bed room. Then he went to the corner of the house and could observe Kapilasena was making pots while Yasawathi was providing him with side support. Since Yasawathi was facing the pottery's wheel, Samantha tried to take an advantage of it and tried to draw the attention of Kapilasena towards him.

The edges of the wet pots, which were being spun on the pottery's wheel, were checked and some of them were reshaped by Kapilasena with his fingers in a very skillful manner. While he was fully engrossed in that, he just took a mouthful of water from a jug close by, washed his mouth and spit it out as he had been chewing betel. Then he slightly saw the young man's face through the bushes. He got a shock suddenly as, if by chance Yasawathi noticed that young boy, Kapilasena couldn't imagine, what kind explosion would take place there. In no time Kapilasena got into action with a view to avoiding the impending disaster.

"Sister, you better keep an eye on this… spin it holding the handle like this, in this way… I'll come back soon with my betel pouch…"

Yasawathi being entrusted with that job, Kapilasena hurried towards the house leaving no room for suspicion. Samantha heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Kapilasena approaching towards him like a spy.

"If Yasawathi sees that you are playing the fool here, you don't know what will come of it…! Nandana Menike went to the bungalow…" whispering it to Samantha, he looked at Yasawathi.

Kapilasena sensed that Samantha was following him when he went inside the house to get his betel pouch.

"Child, listen to this…! Even I won't be able to stay here because of your non-sensual intrusion…"

Samantha noted an antipathetic look on Kapilasena's face.

"Uncle, did you give that letter…?" With an inaudible voice, Samantha asked.

"Ah, yes… yes…, I gave that book to Chuti Menike… may have seen the letter…" Kapilasena told him a lie with much difficulty.

Kapilasena realized that Samantha was waiting there to get some information about Nandana Menike, whereas Kapilasena wanted to send him off as soon as possible before Yasawathi could sniff him out.

"Almost every day she is going to the bungalow with Grandmother…, come back at dusk…"

Samantha understood that waiting there making Kapilasena rather uncomfortable was pointless. Meeting her on the way to the bungalow was thought to be more sensible. And also, he knew that her grandmother was a kind-hearted lady.

Early morning of the following day, telling a lie to his mother, Samantha left his home with the intention of meeting Nandana Menike on her way to the bungalow. Unfortunately, his dream world collapsed when he saw Koinmenika going alone to the bungalow. Samantha was somehow firmly determined to meet Nandana Menike on that day.