Deep waters run still

“I’ll be with you right away,” Sachi whispered into his mobile. He was occupied unearthing facts about Sesha Palihakkara at the library when he received a call from his mates.

“Where were you?” both his mates chorused.

“Why Ruwi, we are writing that story about Sesha Palihakkara, right?”

“Oh yes, I completely forgot that. My head is full of assignments. We have to find pictures too.”

“Ok dokes. Now let’s have lunch. Don’t you guys see that I’m famished, ah?” Shaz pouted.

Demi who had finished her pages tagged along with V3. They settled themselves in their favourite lunch hangout; Sachi with his plate of rice, Ruwi with a cup of tea and Demi and Shaz with Vadei. It was just the right time for Sachi to table his thoughts.

“You know I was thinking about something I learnt at school. Can you remember that proverb ‘deep waters run still’?”

“It is ‘still waters run deep’, isn’t it?” Sachi chuckled. He is always fond of capsizing the proverbs. He, however, meant something serious at this point.

“I know, but look. You can still say it both ways. I have seen people who are not publicity hunters. They engage in their work silently and contribute a lot to the industry. Tragically over the time, or more probably only when they die, you get to know what they had done.”

The modern generation is hardly familiar with Sesha Palihakkara, mainly because he is an artiste of yesteryear.

Shaz piped in “Yeah, now take Tissa Abeysekara. He was a well read person.”

“But Shaz, at least people knew who Tissa was,” Sachi reminded her.

“Yeah, I have seen him in many events. They mostly select him to address gatherings during these functions,” Ruwi agreed.

Suddenly, Ruwi and Sachi were struck by a thought. They both knew two high-ups in a different workplace.

One was a former BSc holder with a long career, while the other one had neither been in the field for long nor did he have academic qualifications. When they were installed in two different high positions, the former had only a two-line news item in the office notice board, while the other took a good amount of space from the notice board to publish the news item (with references to all the minor posts he held from his school days) coupled with his picture.

“At the same time”, said Ruwi, “we had people like Senerath Paranavithana who outshone the academics but they never took it into their heads. They are evergreen figures in the scene while others, with little knowledge, make such a huge fuss over the tiniest duties they handle.”

“Exactly!?”exclaimed Sachi who can cite many a good example.

“Mr. G calls them liars,” Shaz said. “He can well distinguish liars from genuine people. He says he can clock them by face.”

“Yes. I remember once a guy came to our office. He is a number one showman. I told Mr G. what I knew about him. He said he had already concluded that the guy is a first class liar,” Sachi recalled.

“Some people are full of talk. They like to drone on their responsibilities and powers at work with others,” Ruwi added with a shrug.

“I think we can add a clause to the proverb: ‘shallow waters make a noise’ but it goes better when you say ‘deep waters run still’.”

“True, shallow waters make noise when still waters run deep,” That was Shaz.

“I think we should make use of deep waters since we have to work with shallow waters quite a lot,” Ruwi hinted.

“Parents are the best source. Every parent has something to say like my father who talks about World War II experiences. Good part is that you get to know something you are very much unfamiliar,” Sachi said.

“The problem is do we have time to listen to them? Life is a battle with time at some stages,” Ruwi noted.

“That’s the problem. Most young people find elderly people boring. True, some grown-ups are really boring and they try to implant their policies in our heads. We should strike a balance there,” Sachi enlightened. “Remember you will also become old some day,” Shaz added with a wink.

“By the way” wondering why you are silent, Demi.” Sachi inquired.

“No, I was just thinking what kind of stories I will be able to relate to my children. I am going to tell them how the V3 uncle and aunts spent their salad days.” Demi chirped attracting a laugh from V3.

“Perhaps you can say how the V3 uncle and aunties had kept one whole table for themselves when others stood on queue. Here, they look jolly mad. We’d better move on.”

Sachi cast a look around and jumped to his feet. The moment they stood up, three guys made a dash for the table. They cast a look at Shaz but Sachi has yet to make up his mind whether it was a glare or something else!

www.thev3column.blogspot.com [email protected]