• About

Rajiva Wijesinha – Creative Writing

~ Just another WordPress.com site

Rajiva Wijesinha – Creative Writing

Tag Archives: Tennekoon

Travels with Ena: Yala and other travels – Part 2

24 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by rajivawijesinha in The Moonemalle Inheritance

≈ Comments Off on Travels with Ena: Yala and other travels – Part 2

Tags

Aluwihare, Ambepitiya, Anuradhapura, Dundee Cake, Ena de Silva, JVP, Kadirana, Lalith Athulathmudali, LTTE, Manorani de Zoysa, Puttalam Road, Richard de Zoysa, Tennekoon, Wilpattu, Yala

There were several more trips to Yala that year, and one to Wilpattu for the April New Year holidays. Richard was meant to come with us, but we also asked his mother Manorani, at which point he declared that he had too much work and could not get away. Like many markedly self aware people, he was determined to keep the various aspects of his life apart. I had realized this the previous year, when he had asked me to spend some time with him and Manorani at Kadirana, at a small estate bungalow not too far from Colombo which was owned by a cousin of his father. The first evening was delightful, but the next day he decided that he had to get back to Colombo for work, and we did not see very much of him in the days that followed. Manorani and I had a great time together, me writing, she sleeping most of the time and reading trashy novels, but it was always fun to have Richard back, even if late at night, with time only for a hasty breakfast next morning.

While we were at Wilpattu, typically, he turned up on his motor-bike, which he had bought in the days we taught together at 8th Lane, falling off regularly and cultivating spectacular bruises, but ploughing on with his efforts to master the monster. He spent a few hours with us, claiming he was en route to some assignment. In fact this was true, for it was in those days that he had begun doing propaganda work for Lalith Athulathmudali who had recently taken up the position of Minister of National Security. Lalith had been a great friend of Manorani, and then of Richard, who saw him as a sort of mentor. He was very fond of him, and described him as Tigger incarnate, from the Winnie-the-Pooh books, full of enthusiasms that he did not think through properly. This was not quite accurate I think, for Lalith was ambitious and planned carefully, but Richard, while not entirely disagreeing, saw him as nevertheless comparatively innocent, and a tool in the hands of President Jayewardene.

Continue reading →

Advertisements

Pages

  • About

Categories

  • A Final Educational Fling
  • A Time of Gifts
  • Acts of Faith
  • Book Reviews
  • Bridging Connections
  • Colombo Changes
  • Interviews
  • Lakmahal
  • Mirrored Images
  • New Horizons
  • Poets and their visions
  • Post-Colonial Perspectives
  • The Moonemalle Inheritance
  • Uncategorized
April 2018
M T W T F S S
« Nov    
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  

Archives

  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
Advertisements

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 295 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.