Somewhere in Lanka

Its a story about a Srilankan doctor ad a tamil liberation tiger

 

There was commotion everywhere. People screaming with pain, bloodstains, loud noise of bereaved civilians, and unshaped corpse, this was the work place of Dr. Simon in Mullaittivu. Dr. Simon was not much perturbed by all the noise that he heard in his work place. In his three years of experience as a surgeon he had heard so much of cries that he turned a deaf year to the atmosphere around him.

 

Dr. Muhandiramla GE Simon was born in Colombo, in Srilanka. He was a star student in his school. Simon’s parents were always happy and proud about his performance. They were sure that their son would achieve some thing big in his life. They wanted Simon to grow up to be a doctor. Simon’s dreams also coincided with his parents.

 

Simon was very much attached to his sister Soma. Soma was a very average student. Her only aim in life was to become a good housewife just like her mother. Like all obedient Srilankan daughters she spent most of her time in the kitchen and mastered the culinary arts. Very often Soma used to show her expertise in this field by cooking some new recipes and serving it to her dear brother.

 

The brother and sister used to share all their ideas and thoughts everyday in the evening. In fact they were great friends. Soma was sure that her brother would grow up to be a great doctor. She was scared of injections and the pain. So every now and then she gets assurance from her brother asking him,

 

“Simon, you will not pierce me with those syringe, when you become a doctor, isn’t it? You are my brother, my good brother.”

 

“Why should I pierce you with my syringe, Soma I will always be a good brother to you. I will take you to the animal husbandry.” Simon replied and they laughed.

 

Days rolled by and Simon’s dreams came true very soon with his hard work. He was now known as Dr. Simon, the famous Heart surgeon who worked with Apollo hospital in Colombo. Almost all his patients returned happily after his successful treatment. He was one of the best that the hospital had. Most of his colleagues envied him, as he was the only doctor who could rise up to fame in the initial stages of his career itself.

 

Simon’s life had become a monotonous routine. Every morning he woke up early for his walk. He walked for more than an hour. Almost all the people whom he met on his way were well acquainted with him. He walked everyday with a bright smile on his face.

 

Simon never realized that he was a handsome and most sort after, eligible bachelor in town. Few of his admirers used to follow him everyday just to see his bright smile and to hear him say “Good Morning”. After his walk and shower, Simon would dress up for work; have his breakfast at ease with a cup of coffee and newspaper in his hand. One can see him at ease only till this point. After he steps to the hospital he forgets the world outside and his mind is filled only about his patients and the surgeries that he had to conduct that day.

 

He knew his life was getting too monotonous. His only relief was his sister. When he got back home, Soma used to make good dinners, which made him forget his work tensions and his patients. Everyday they used to sit after dinners and they share the day’s happenings with each other.

 

One such evening, Simon had come home very late. After his shower he went straight to his bedroom not saying a word to Soma. Wondering at the strange behavior of her brother she went to his room.

 

“Simon aren’t you coming for dinner? I have made your favorite dish today Salmon fish fry”

 

Simon remained silent sitting in his study table. Soma was sure that something had gone wrong. Her brother was not a person who would maintain silence for more than five minutes. She went closer to him, to her surprise, she saw his eyes wet with tears. That was the first time that she saw her brother cry after setting his successful career.

 

“Simon what is wrong with you? Are you not keeping well? Should I call daddy or some one for your help?” as she said that she could not see her dear brother cry, tears rolled down her eyes. She quickly wiped it out and said, “Talk to me Simon what happened?”

 

Simon in a grave voice replied, “Today one of my patients died in the operation table itself. I tried my level best to save him but I could not. This is very common in my profession but today, when I saw his little children and young wife cry at his feet I felt that I haven’t done my duty well Soma. I feel guilty for it.” And tears rolled on his cheeks. “Leave me alone, I will be alright tomorrow,” he said and Soma left him alone.

 

But Simon could think only about that little kid, a dark little boy who would have hardly been three years old. He stood near the corpse of his dad and cried till he had no tears left in his little eyes. They were Tamilians and were from Mankullam. Mankullam is an area where the civil war was at its peek, the bloody war between the Tamil Elam and the Sinhalese. He knew many of them lost their lives in this war. A war for the land, he thought about all those people who would be suffering with no medical aids, and no proper treatments and doctors.

 

There was a loud knock on his door,

 

“Simon are you alright? Do you know what the time is? It’s going to be 8am. Aren’t you going to go to the hospital today?” that was Soma.

 

Simon had a headache when he woke up. He realized that he was awake the whole night thinking about the war and the people. But when he woke up he was sure of what he was going to do and what he should have done a long time back. He quickly took a shower and went to the hospital skipping his breakfast.

 

“Dr. Simon are you sure about your decision? Will your parents agree to this? Why don’t you think and tell me tomorrow?”

“No Dean there is nothing to think, I have made up my mind. I will be joining our team of rescue doctors at Mullaittivu. I should have done this long time back. Late than never dean, please inform the team that I will join them from day after tomorrow”.

 

“I am proud of you Dr. Simon. In this young age you are so dedicated to work. I am so proud of you Doctor,” said the dean.

 

As Simon walked out of his dean’s room he knew he had taken up a very difficult task. He could even lose his life in the process of his service. But he was sure that it was worth losing his life for the people who were suffering. He wanted his life to be meaningful and not monotonous. He was not sure how he was going to convince his parents and Soma.

 

That evening after seeing all his patients, he informed all his colleagues about his decision. Most of them were very proud of his decision and congratulated him. While many others were happy as he would be out of the hospital for few months. Few even thought that he might not return at all.

 

Convincing his parents was a Herculean task for Simon. On hearing the consent of his parents, after a long hour’s discussion, Soma ran up to her room and cried aloud. Simon knew that it was a very difficult task to convince his sister. He knew he was going to miss her a lot. But he had to give up few things in order to achieve few things in life. So he went back to his room and packed all the things that he would need for few months. His mother gave him some foodstuff, which could be stored for many days.

 

Once his packing was done he went back to see his sister. He saw her swollen eyes fast asleep. Without disturbing her he took her photograph, which was kept next to her bed and he walked out slowly.

 

“Simon, I will miss you a lot. Don’t leave me and go,” said Soma, in her sleep. Simon went closer to her and patted softly on her head and left.

 

The next day when he woke up he could smell some good food. He was surprised as it was early in the morning and wondered who could be cooking at that time. He walked slowly yawning to the kitchen. Soma was cooking for him; he could see her swollen eyes red in color.

 

“Since when have you been cooking?”

 

“From the time that you came to my room and took my photo” she said and smiled. “Simon I know I can’t stop you, but will you call me at least once in a week?” tears rolled down her cheeks as she said that. Quickly she turned away from Simon and wiped them away. “Will you Simon?”

 

Simon wiped her tears and said, “I will”

 

From that day Simon had been working in Mullaittivu camp. Everyday he gets to see different kinds of patients. Few gory ones with amputated legs and hands, few dead bodies with bullet mark tearing every part of their body, and few others with no eyes or some vital part of their body. In the beginning Simon could not take the scenes that he had to see everyday. But his perseverance and mind to serve fellow human beings made him stick on to that camp. His only relief was the one-hour talk with his sister every Saturday evening. He used to tell her all about his weird patients and what great respect he got from his recovering patients. Soma used to tell him about all that happened back in Colombo. She used to often update him about the grooms who visited her. But she always ended up teasing them and didn’t have any kind of liking for anyone.

 

Simon started liking the kind of life that he was living there. Every new day proved to be a challenge for him. One such day, it was pouring cats and dogs and he was in his little room searching for his jerkin. He heard a loud knock on his door. He was sure it would be the ward boy Ruwan. But when he opened the door, he was surprised to find a woman,

 

“Doctor please save my sister”, she said with tears rolling out of her eyes.

 

For a minute Simon saw the woman without even blinking his eyes. She was a tall, dark woman. Simon felt that God has created a perfect woman. He admired her beauty, she was fully drenched in the rain and her figure was perfectly seen in spite of her meager clothing.

 

“Doctor please save my sister, she is the only relation I have in this world” said the woman to Simon. It was only then Simon realized that he had to act quickly. They both walked to the camp, which was near by his house.

 

The woman’s sister was a little girl of twelve years. She had a bad, deep cut on her leg and she was bleeding badly. She had swooned because of the heavy blood loss. Simon had no time to spare he instructed nurse Lakmini, to bring all the things he required for the surgery. The little girl’s sister never moved from the place in spite of Simon asking her to wait outside. She kept watching Simon work. And when he was done, she went close to him and said,

 

“Doctor, you have saved my dreams. I would do anything for you in return.” And she wiped the blood, which was oozing out of her wound on her forehead. Simon noticed that she was not crying any more. She had a deep cut on her forehead but she was not much bothered about the pain that it was causing her.

 

“You are wounded badly, you need some stitches there, come and sit” said Simon showing her a chair. The woman sat down and tried to wipe the blood, which was oozing out.

“Stop, your hands are dirty don’t touch the open wound, it might become septic”, Simon took a syringe of chloroform, as it would be painful for the woman while stitching the wound.

 

“Doctor I don’t want any chloroform, you can stitch, I need to take care of my sister, I can’t afford to sleep beside her”. She said with a force.

 

Simon could see a strong courage in her eyes and so he kept away the syringe and started wiping the oozing wound. The woman sat straight without moving in spite of the pain. He noticed that there was not even a drop of tear in her eyes. He was stunned on seeing her courage according to him she was a woman, who was both brave and beautiful, a rare combination indeed he thought.

 

“What is your name? And how did the little one get wounded?” Simon asked as he finished his work.

 

“My name is Ponnambalam Vadivu and that’s my sister Shaama. We belong to Mankullam. All this happened because of the Srilankan army men’s shelling in our village. I lost my parents and all my relatives, my sister is the only person left in this world for me.” She said. That was the first time he heard her voice. It was a different voice. He knew that he liked it.

 

“Doctor, I have served your dinner in your room” said Ruwan.

 

Simon nodded his head in a way to acknowledge what Ruwan said and he looked back at Vadivu as she continued,

 

“I have nobody now, just my sister doctor. Thank you for saving her life” as she said her tried eyes closed and she fell asleep.

 

“She would have walked a long way carrying her little sister, that’s the reason she is so tried. I will take care of her; you can have your dinner doctor” Lakmini said and made Vadivu lie down on a bed near by.

 

As Simon had his dinner his thoughts went back to Vadivu and kept thinking about her courage and her voice. He knew that it was quite a long distance from Mankullam to Mullaittivu. It would have been a great struggle for a woman to walk all the way and that too when she was wounded. Lying on his bed he thought about Vadivu’s figure and suddenly he felt that it was not ethical to think about his patient in such a way and he forced himself to sleep.

 

Next morning when he woke up, he could remember that he had wild dreams about Vadivu last night. He thought about her name, Vadivu, which meant beauty in Tamil. He thought to himself her parents have named her correctly.

 

When he went to the camp he saw Vadivu sitting next to her sister, who was still asleep. On seeing Simon Vadivu stood up and said,

“Doctor my sister didn’t open her eyes till now. Is she alright?”

 

Simon checked the little girl and assured that the girl was doing fine. For the first time he saw Vadivu in daylight. She was really a stunning beauty, in fact a black beauty.

 

It was only then he heard Ruwan shouting,

 

“Doctor please come here, emergency” Simon went running. It was another case of amputation. This time a woman, she was screaming with pain, which disturbed the other patients. Her leg was almost into two, but just for a small portion of it sticking to her body. It was two separate parts. Simon asked Lakmini to sedate the woman. After which her screams came to an end. Simon tried his level best to save her leg, but with no choice he amputated her leg. As he walked back to his desk, he saw the blood stains all over the floor, which Ruwan was wiping, he thought why are people fighting ruthlessly just for a piece of land.

 

It was then Vadivu came to him and asked,

 

“Will she survive?”

 

Simon replied with a nod and said, “Yes, she will. I don’t know why these people fight for just a piece of land and kill innocent people, ruthless they are”

 

“They are not ruthless doctor, they are not.” Simon could see only anger in Vadivu’s eyes, while she continued,

 

“Doctor who do you like a lot in this whole wide world?” she asked Simon.

 

Simon promptly replied. “Soma, my sister but why are you asking this?”

 

 “What will you do if I ask my men to rape your sister and murder her? I also take away your land and belongings.” Simon could see Vadivu’s eyes read with anger.

 

“I would kill your men and you” Simon replied with a loud voice banging his fist on the table.

 

“Doctor that is what we are doing, we are taking a revenge on all those who had killed our dear and near ones, who have taken away our lands and belongings, now do you understand?” she said and walked away.

 

Simon could understand the pain that Vadivu had undergone. He knew it was a wrong question too. Suddenly she heard her scream,

“Doctor, please come here.”

He saw Shaama in an attack of epilepsy. He acted quickly and brought it in control. While, Vadivu kept looking at Simon.

“Is she alive? Will she live to see this land without bloodshed?” Simon nodded his head and left.

 

As he walked to his desk he saw a short dark man enter the camp. Simon noticed that he went very close to Vadivu and they both walked outside the tent.

 

“Vadivu you are forgetting that you are a trained Black tiger. You cannot afford to waste time in this camp with your sister. She is alright, now leave her here these people will take care of her” Prabakaran said with vigor.

 

“I can not leave my sister in this condition. After all I became a Black tiger for my sister to live happily in our land. I will come back in a week. You inform our leader that everything will go on as per plan” and she walked towards Shaama. When Prabakaran called her,

 

“I will not meet you again, you know that don’t you?” Without turning towards him she nodded and walked away from him.

 

This was nothing new to Vadivu, she had seen many of her friend’s corpse tattered into pieces. They were trained to die for their land. It was time for Prabakaran to go on his mission.

 

The next day she read the heading of the newspaper which read “Black Tiger blasts Colombo’s trade tower” She knew who was behind it and she knew very soon she would create history. She remembered his words “We should not become incidents, we should become history” so has he become history in the books of Tamil Elam.

 

Simon was a little doubtful that Vadivu belonged to some terrorist group, for the way that she had talked to him about the war. With these thoughts he went back to his room. When he opened the door, there he saw Vadivu half naked trying to wear Lakmini’s dress. Simon couldn’t take away his eyes from what he was seeing, while Vadivu stood in a shock trying to cover her. Suddenly, Simon heard Lakmini’s voice

 

“Doctor, Vadivu wanted to change her clothes, so I asked her to use you room” Simon nodded and walked back to his desk. He could not forget what he had seen. He could not concentrate in his treatment. He told Lakmini that he needed some rest and went back to his room. He instructed Ruwan not to bring his dinner, as he was not hungry.

 

When he rested on his bed, his thoughts went wild and he even thought of a happy family life with Vadivu and that they were blessed with two adorable children. It was almost midnight he called up Soma,

 

“Soma, I…I think I am in love with Vadivu”

 

“The lady, who brought her little sister for treatment, are you talking about her?” Simon had already updated Soma about Vadivu.

 

“Simon you don’t even know the girl well, how can you marry her? How will our parents accept her as a daughter in law?” Soma sounded very disturbed.

 

“I don’t know Soma, but I know I have fallen in love with this lady.” And the phone went dead.

 

When he went back to the camp, he saw Vadivu dressed in Lakmini’s dress. All he could remember was what he had seen the day before. As if she understood what was running in Simon’s mind, she turned away from him. That was the first time Simon saw her simile. He went closer to her; he realized that Shaama had gained her consciousness. She smiled at Simon. He went closer to her and asked,

 

“How are you feeling now? Did you have anything to eat?”

 

The kid just responded, “When can I leave? I hope I haven’t got my legs amputated” Simon could understand what kind of trauma the girl has undergone in her life.

 

All his romantic feelings vanished and he walked away. There were new patients and new tasks for him to handle. It was a busy day and he had no time to think of Vadivu. It was almost ten o’ clock, when he started towards his room.

 

He saw Vadivu standing near his room.

 

“Doctor, if I leave my sister here, what would happen to her? Will you take care of her?”

 

“I am a doctor I can’t give personal attention to all my patients, but Vadivu where are you going to go?”   

 

“Won’t you take care of her even if I say that I love you and I want to get married to you?” she looked straight into his eyes and asked him.

 

Simon felt that she could understand all his secret dreams. He felt so happy that he went and hugged her. But Vadivu stood like a statue without any reaction to his action. She said,

 

“I don’t believe in love at first sight. But I started believing it from the day I saw you in your room. I would like to get married to you, but my situation does not permit me to do it. If God blesses our land with freedom before next week then we can get married. But I know that will not happen.” She said wiping her tears.

 

“What are you saying Vadivu? Do you think that I would leave you after all this? I will not let you go off me. I love you and I want you to be my wife. Forget about your war and land, I have a lot of property we can live happily in Colombo. Come with me”

Vadivu walked away from Simon saying, “I know you will take care of my sister” That whole night she kept awake. She could hear only the words of Simon reverberating in her ears. She could not decide she was in a state of confusion. When she heard Lakmini call out for the doctor.

 

Simon came running from his room. Santhana was fighting for her life. She breathed hardly. She was struggling and Simon tried his best to save her. But couldn’t, Vadivu watched standing near her bed. She knew about Santhana. She was gang raped by few army men and from the day that she was brought in the camp, she had been bleeding heavily. Simon was expecting this to happen some day or the other. He closed her face with a cloth and asked Ruwan to send the body to mortuary.

 

This set Vadivu to think, she can’t give up the war for her happiness. She is a soldier. Major Vadivu trained to be a Black Tiger. She cannot give way for her selfish thoughts. She can’t afford to see any more Santhana’s die. She had to give a helping hand to fight the war.  

 

The next day Simon saw that Vadivu was not in her usual place near Shaama. He feared what would have happened.

 

“Lakmini did you see Vadivu anywhere?” he asked the nurse with fear.

 

“No, she has been missing from morning. I saw her awake till late night.”

 

Wondering where she would have gone, he walked towards his desk, where he saw a piece of paper. He was sure who would have written, it read,

 

“Dear husband,

 

                         Are you wondering why I have addressed you as my husband? I love you so much that if I had made up my mind to stay back, we would have been married by now. And may be we would have returned to Colombo. But I am unfortunate and unlucky that I can’t accept your love. I have my duty to perform towards my motherland. I am a Black Tiger, Major Vadivu. As a responsible officer, I cannot afford to see another Santhana die. I have to avenge her death.

 

I hope you would take care of Shaama and tell her that I have left for my mission.

 

                   I am leaving in the hope that one fine day my Shaama would live in a land, which has no blood thirst.  

                             Your wife,

                              Vadivu”

 

Simon could not accept the fact. He went back to his room and never came out for two days. He lived without food and water. On the third day he came out, with a newspaper in his hand, the heading read, “Female Black tiger destroys army camp”.   

 

 

Reviews

[annie lee]

This is very good. You use evocative and descriptive language to describe your characters and the scenarios in which they are living. It is also very poignant, that the terrible war should affect so many innocents in such cruel ways. The dedication and commitment to ideals that Major Vadivu and the Doctor show are very honorable. Now two sisters will suffer, Shaama without her sister and Soma because her brother will be heartbroken. Well done.