Houses wrecked, the intravenous drips of blood coming from soldiers and civilians alike. The town was history. The city of Colombo that was once filled with awe and wonders is now cries and thunders. Jet planes tears the sky and little boy Blake is staring at a dead soldier. It is in the mid of the year 1990 and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government is in the middle of a dispute. A dispute so cruel that is only filled with gun shots, grenades and cries of the unfortunate. With the only memory of the last sentence his mom has spoken, “Don’t you ever let go of my hands Blake, you hold on tight now and whatever happens, I want you to take cover anywhere possible. Do you hear me, son?” and he crouches in agony next to a dead body behind a building that was once his pre-school.
The days of Blake’s life are not so pleasant to say. Their family that includes Dinesh Muthu, his dad and Darshini Paramasivam his mom works hard every day at the plantations sites. He was only 10, therefore every morning at 4.30 in the break of dawn Dinesh will wake him up and cycle him to school that is about 9 miles away. That is proportional to about 15 kilometers. Dinesh will then go home, have breakfast and with Darshini he will cycle to work. Sometimes when the season produce is good Dinesh brings home fresh vegetables and rice. Those were times when Blake never let a grain of rice out of his sight once it was on his plate. Their family was happy the way we are but Dinesh always thinks that he could do better for his family. He was thinking to buy a new house to meliorate his family’s accommodations. Darshini does not feel the need to. But Dinesh does as he has been saving ever since Blake was born. He finally went to appeal for a new house went Darshini has to stay at home and take care of Blake as he was sick.
Blake was sleeping when Dinesh speaks to Darshini infuriatingly and while Darshini was trying to calm him, he paces up and down in absolute impatience. Later that week Blake see walls being vandalised with the phrases ‘Our contributions are worth more than your citizenship’ and ‘Why are we singled out’ in Tamil all over the neighbourhood. By then he was eleven the only thing he knew and heard of was that the Singhalese were very prejudice. He never knew the meanings to the word Singhalese and prejudice until about three weeks ago, when his teacher read the newspaper aloud in class. He never knew what happened to Dinesh’s dream of a new house since then.
His friend, his only friend, Sasikumar Pandren seven years older than Blake wanted to go to a university. He is 21 and he is, to Blake, the smartest boy in Colombo. Sasikumar asked his mother for blessings but she never did want him to go and apply for a university entrance. When he walks Blake home from school one day, he surreptitiously went for the application. He did not come home till the next afternoon and that was the only day since Blake was 9 that he walked home alone. He comes home and see him sleeping on the makeshift couch his dad made in his spare time. Sasikumar told Blake that if only he studied harder. If only he scored more marks on his final examinations he could have gotten in. Sasikumar’s marks were wonderful to Blake, he scored 373 out of 425 but Blake never knew how high the standard of the college was that they expected him to score higher. Sasikumar gave up hope after three trials at the university with three different professors.
Dinesh brought Blake to the nearby empty field with Darshini on Blake’s 15th birthday as he just bought Blake a brand new bike. The things is, Blake has to learn how to exactly ride it. It has been long since the family was at the field. When Dinesh came running beside Blake to support him, his face contorts and Dinesh falls on his back. Blake got off his bike immediately and yelled for his mother only to find her already wheeling to where Dinesh lies on his back. She just closed Dinesh’s eyes and mumbled a few words that Blake could not hear and pulls Blake’s arm. He tried to tug away and thought of retrieving his bike. His only recent memory of Dinesh’s smiling face. And that was the very first time Darshini ever raised her voice at 15 year-old Blake. They were, at first, walking fast then slowly they started running. Blake does not know what is going on until he saw, right in front of his eyes, the gas station two miles away from their home blow up in disastrous flames and fumes. And Blake realises that he is seeing neighbours he has never seen before.
As he crouches at that little blind spot, he thought to himself, this is the worst birthday ever. Then slowly he felt the urge to lay down his head. He falls asleep in the middle of a civil war that is happening exactly around 2 mile radius of where he is. It was when a kind soldier woke him up and brought him to a truck occupied with 50 plus other kids including Sasikumar. He was relieved to the point that he thinks to himself, I will remember daddy’s face until forever. The kids ranging from Sasikumar’s age to kids as young as 5 were brought to this building in the city where the situation was a little bit more controlled. There, they were given clothes and food. Blake stayed there till now.
As the war goes on, every single bomb he hears, he saw the flashes of him mother’s and father’s faces. And he told Sasikumar, “Even if this war ends, Prabakaran will never be dead, many other people wants to take his spot and that includes me.” Sasikumar grins and started shouting ‘Tigers, Tigers, Tigers’ and soon enough the whole building was cheering on with him.
well this is basically the first darft . but i think its te wrong format uhs .
cos its like more of story than history. but hell , let mrs.lee check it .
: DDDD
Labels: essays