1 January 2009

My story begins in Sri Lanka. I grew up in the suburbs of Colombo. I was born in Kolonnawa and, according to some photographic memories and my mother and father, we lived briefly in Athurugiriya.

Now, according to my parents, this was the first place they rented after they got married and had me, their first son. They must have lived there around 1969.

Mother

My mother was born on 22 June 1946 and passed away on 6 June 2024. She was born and grew up in Kolonnawa. Her mother, my grandmother, was a Buddhist from Kotikawatta, and my maternal grandfather was a Catholic from Hendala, Wattala. I do not know how they met, but I learned that it was quite a thing for a Catholic to get married to a Buddhist around those times. In fact, my grandmother's father had opposed this marriage, but my grandfather had presented himself as a strong man and threatened to kidnap my grandmother if permission was not granted for the marriage. That was the end of any resistance from the families. I heard that they rode on a cart with white horses after the wedding. My home in Sri Lanka still has an old black-and-white wedding picture of my maternal grandparents. And it is a classy picture, and it seems those days they must have had a very nice wedding, judging from their attire and setting in the picture.

My mother was one shy person, even then. She was the eldest among three girls in her family. She used to work at the British Ceylon Corporation (or BCC) when my father was introduced to her by a friend of hers called Anette. Anette lived in Welivita and knew my father. I remember Anette had a sister called Girlie. Anyway, I also remember Anette's funeral in Welivita. She passed away untimely during childbirth. My mother had studied until the Senior School Certificate examination, or SSC as they called it. It was the 10th-year public examination. I am not sure what happened to her results. But I think she did not do well. The only thing she was good at was home science, and I remember, throughout my childhood, she cooked curries, cakes, and various snacks.

Father

My father was born on 22 December 1935, though he thought he was born on the same day in 1934. He passed away on 19 February 2023. He was the sixth son of a nine-children family. His father was a farmer. My father joined the army when he was 18. He married my mother when he was 31, and my mother had just turned 20 then. My father was not an officer in the then Ceylon Army. He was just a soldier. He told me how he joined the army. He and a friend of his named Almeida rode bicycles to Colombo city and saw the line to join the army. They got two application forms according to the requirements. The forms needed to be signed by their parents to give consent. They filled the forms, and Almeida signed as my father's father, and my father signed as Almeida's father, and they were recruited immediately. According to my calculation, the year they joined the army must be 1953 or 1954. My father had studied until Grade 8. But his knowledge and ability were almost like those of a university graduate. He spoke English fluently. And speaking English was a sort of social status in the country for some time. Sri Lanka is a country where Sri Lankans themselves talk to each other in English, especially among Colombo urban educated people.

Maternal Grandparents ...

Paternal Grandparents ...