Life of Silibiris 20

Silibiris and Ambarawa Temple Lokuhamuduruwo had arrived at Kolonnawe Temple as the resident old monk was having gilanpasa.
Kolonnawe Temple resident chief monk was a well built, imposing looking figure. The teacher and pupil monk chatted about the work being done by the latter in that area. The teacher monk seems pleased with the achievement and the fame of his pupil.
Later in the evening abiththiya offered some dinner he had prepared for himself. The elderly man was very curious about the village Silibiris had come from. He had come to this temple as a boy and never left. After dinner, Abiththiya showed Silibiris to his “room” at the back of the temple.
Lying on a narrow canvass booru anda in a back room of the temple, Silibiris tossed and turned restlessly.
He suspiciously looked around the room to see where the rustling sounds of rats as large as cats were coming from. He pulled his sarong over his head to protect himself from the attacking squadrons of mosquitos. Large brown cockroaches crawled over him.
He wondered why the hell he allowed himself to drift into a new life in the city.
He could hear the incessant sound of Radio Ceylon coming from the Pelihouses behind the temple parapet wall.
The noise of Tamil, Sinhala channels of Radio Ceylon competed against one another. He could hear the chattering of the dwellers drifting over the walls. Silibiris tried to make out what they were chatting, shouting about. Men shouted at their women. Women in turn shouted at their children. Older children shouted at their younger siblings. Men and women got together and shouted at the neighbours about something or the other. He was shocked to hear the colourful language of Kolonnawa!
Silibiris had not heard such vulgar words being spoken aloud in Ambarawa.
He already missed Ambarawa. He missed the familiar sounds of the jungle. He missed his mother and sisters.
He wondered where Kusumalatha might be and why things suddenly went so wrong between him and her. He was nervous about reporting to work to work at the Department of Irrigation and Agriculture in the morning.
Aided by the weariness of the long journey, Silibiris drifted into sleep.
He was awakened at 5am by the temple abiththiya whose name Silibiris could not recall. The abiththiya showed him the way to the well and the nearby toilet inviting Silibiris to the kitchen to have some tea after the morning ablution.
Silibiris was ready in his brand new clothes by the time Lokuhamuduruwo summoned him to the kutiya.
He worshiped the monk, received blessings and some last advice before setting off to office accompanied by the abiththiya who was to show him the way.
They walked silently down Kolonnawa road to the bus stop at the corner of Base Line road.
Silibiris felt anxious. The only familiar sight was men on bicycles dodging pot holes on the road peddling towards the city and an occasional bullock cart pulled by a skinny bull with sawn off horns slowly moving in the same direction as the bicycles, occupying half the road.
Double decker red busses with name boards of destinations Silibiris did not know over took the bullock carts blaring their horns. Men, women and children waited expectantly at the bus stop looking into the distance at the oncoming busses.
A row of shops along the side of the road was opening up for business. A tea shop right behind the bus stop with a name board bigger than the shop itself was doing a roaring breakfast trade making hot hot hoppers.
Silibiris breathed in the familiar aroma of the hoppers, to be tugged away by the abiththiya telling him to hurry up and get into the crowded bus that came to a grudging halt. Men women children pushed in. Abiththiya shoved Silibiris on to the crowded foot board while he himself managed to hang on to the foot board pole in the nick time as the red double decker bus pulled away.
Silibiris wasn't to know then that this was what his life will be for years to come.