Mothers and sons

Prasadini Nugawela

Manel was back in Borella where she had lived around thirty years ago. She had come here today to withdraw money from her passbook. That was the last amount she could withdraw from that particular bank, as it would show a nil amount after that.

She had worked in an office in Borella at that time, but had found a job closer to her home after she had built her house.

She hardly ever came to this town now, as she lived about fifteen miles away. She was reaching her sixty eighth year, and was finding it difficult to travel so far by bus. But because she wanted to withdraw the remaining money from the passbook, she had shed her lethargy and come to this town, which had so many memories for her. Though the roads seemed to have been widened, the shops looked just the same. She could see that a few buildings had come up, but the town had not changed. The pavement hawkers were shouting out their wares vying with each other, as their whole life depended on the amount of items they would sell for the day. During Christmas and New Year seasons, they would each get on to little stages made with planks and would almost be covered knee-high with garments of vibrant colours.

Then they would shout out, “Laabai, Laabai, thunak seeyai!” (Cheap, cheap, three for hundred) aloud holding aloft the garment or throwing them into the air and catching them again. They reminded her of circus people who would juggle with a number of brilliant coloured balls, and would catch the falling balls with easy grace!

The pavement hawker who used to shout his voice hoarse with “Any item for thirty rupees? Had adjusted his jingle to “Any item for fifty rupees”. Manel was surprised that it was only to Rs 50 at the way cost of everything had gone up. The town was still dirty with piles of garbage at several spots, and the beggar community still existed. She wanted to go into the market to buy some fruits and was just nearing the entrance. She saw a beggar woman sitting on the ground and stretching her arm towards her.

At once her memory went back to about thirty-five years ago. She remembered the beggar woman as soon as she saw her. She thought that the beggar woman had not changed much. She was still the dirty, untidy, unkempt woman but her hair had many more streaks of grey.

Manel remembered that when she was shopping for baby items before her baby was born, she had seen the woman expecting a baby. After the birth of her son and when she was up and about and shopping in town for her baby son, she saw the beggar woman sitting at the same place near the market with a tiny baby on her lap. Manel's son too was small in size and the beggar woman's child too was tiny.

When Manel saw this baby near the market place with the mother, it reminded her of her baby. She had brought little baby frocks, coverlets, feeding bottles, and sometimes packets of milk powder and baby rusks for the beggar woman. Manel asked her whether it was a son or daughter but never asked the woman any other details about herself, because at that time Manel was a self-conscious young woman and was not in the habit of talking to strangers. Anyway she was always in a hurry to get back home to her baby, and did not have time to have long chats even with her friends.

When Manel's son was about three years old, she brought her son to the town with her. Then the beggar woman's child was also the same age and could be seen with her on the pavement. Manel was able to see how much the beggar woman loved her child, as she never allowed him to run far away from her on the pavement. She used to keep him on her lap and hug him.

She never hit him or shouted at him. Manel would ask her son to give some of the toys and storybooks he had, to the beggar's baby. Little Roshan too would give them without a fuss.

Manel was able to see the woman and the child in town till the child was about ten years. Then she had to change her residence, as she had built her house about fifteen miles away from this town. Then she lost track of the woman and her son. The present meeting was about thirty years after that.

She stopped near the woman and looked at her intently. The woman stared back. Then there was a flicker of recognition. The beggar woman started to speak excitedly “Lady, are you the same lady who used to give my son food, toys and books?” Manel smiled and said, “Yes, but it's nice to think that you can still remember me.”

The woman said, “I still remember you, lady, with immense gratitude, because the toys and books you gave my son, made him what he is today. He really got a liking for books and wanted to attend school because of the storybooks.

I too can read and write lady, as I had gone to school in my village. I had to end up on this pavement due to poverty, as I had to come to the city as a servant when I was just fifteen years. The wicked ways of the city put me into this plight. But let me ask you, where is your baby, lady? Now he too must be grown up.”

Manel answered, “Yes, yes, now he is a young man and married too. He is working in a company in Colombo. But where is your son now?”

The beggar woman explained, “Lady, as he wanted to go to school, I took him to the priest in the nearby temple and told him my problem. Then the priest found a solution. He contacted a school, which teaches children whose parents do not have an income. They said that either they could board him there, or he could go to school in the mornings and come back to me in the evenings. So we opted for the latter.

I used to send him to school in the mornings and collect him in the evenings. During the time he did his O/L examination he stayed the night in the school, as he said it was difficult for him to study with the dull pavement lights and also because of the mosquito menace. He did the O/L examination and passed it.

The boys were trained in welding and tinkering courses by the organization that ran the school, with the parents’ permission. As my son was very good at those, he was able to secure a job in a private company. He worked in the company for about three years and then he got a job in the Middle East. Now he is in the Middle East.”

Manel was surprised and at the same time very happy to think that in someway she had contributed to the success of this boy. Then she asked. “But why are you still begging on the pavement? Doesn't your son send you any money?”

The beggar woman gave a huge grin which showed stained teeth and said, ‘He sends me money every month lady. As soon as he got a job, he rented out a tiny room in this town. I still live there and pay the rent with the money he sends. Once in a while he telephones me. The calls come to that boutique over there. He has said that he will buy a small plot of land away from the city and build a house, so that both of us can live there.”

Manel could not help smiling as she asked the woman, “But why are you begging when your son looks after you so well?”

The beggar woman cast her eyes downwards and said, “That's what I cannot understand myself, lady. I am so used to the life on the pavement, watching the world go by! I just cannot stay inside that room doing nothing. This way I can save the money that my son sends. I have only to pay the room rent. I buy my food with the money I get from begging. Lady, I know I should not say this, but you were so pretty those days lady, but now you look so different though I did recognize you. Please look after yourself, lady, and may God bless you and your son.” Manel tried to give her fifty rupees, which the woman refused. She came to the bus halt in the blazing sun to get into the bus.

In the bus her thoughts ran over to her son. Her husband and she had given all the comforts they could afford to their only child. They had put him in the best private school in the city. He had been sent for all the extra-curricular activities such as tennis, scouting, cricket, music and swimming.

Her husband had died when her son was fifteen years of age and she had to carry on alone. But as she was working she had continued to give her son the same comforts. After his A/Ls he had done some foreign examinations held in Sri Lanka, and secured a good job in a private company. He had found himself a girl too. Manel had liked his girlfriend very much and looked forward to having her in the house as she had felt a bit lonely after her retirement. She had thought it would be nice to have a female in the house to talk to.

But Nisansala had not wanted to stay in their house. She had said that she could not travel to office from such a distance. Her son too had agreed and now both of them lived in the city renting out an apartment. They said that apartments were convenient and safe than separate houses, as there was a security point for apartments.

They would come to see her once a month on a Sunday, but would leave soon, as that was the only day which was a holiday for both of them. They were both studying for various examinations. Manel was very proud of their achievements, but she wished that they would stay in the house that she had built for them. But she always kept these thoughts to herself and never insisted that they stay with her.

The bus reached her destination and she quickly got up and tried to reach the door, because she was surer of the driver stopping the bus if he saw somebody reaching for the entrance.

He would not bother to stop even if he heard the bell sometimes. It was a very difficult task to walk inside the bus when it was hurtling down the road, but she knew she had to do it. She remembered the times when her son brought her to the town in his car, before he got married.

Manel got down from the bus and walked down the lane into her empty house. She was always scared to walk into her own house after being away from it even for half an hour. She reached her gate and put the key into the padlock and opened the gate and went into the garden. Then she put the key into the front door lock and opened the door slowly. She stepped into the gloomy house, looking around to see whether there was anybody around. She could not see anybody, but as soon as she reached her bedroom, she felt somebody clutching her and then a hand going over her mouth. Though she tried to scream; no noise emerged.

Many thoughts came to her head and foremost of these were about her son. She knew that this was the end. She remembered the beggar woman and wished the beggar woman would have better luck in her old age!

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