When Selvan lost his 'Identity' in the City..

The old clock which was kept on the nearest bench rang the early morning alarm which reminded Chaminda that it is time for him to get ready. This four o’clock siren which regularly woke him up, was the reminder of the Yaal Dhevi Express coming from the northern city of Jaffna. The train reaches Colombo Fort Station at five in the morning.

Among the so many colorful auto-rickshaws which line-up at the railway station to pick up passengers in the chilling mornings, Chaminda usually finds him well placed among the early birds who could give a try at an expensive early morning hire. The early birds get to catch those who rush out of the station in a hurry, in order to be prepared early in the day, for whatever work that has brought them to the capital city.

Unlike the auto-rickshaws found in the neighboring countries, the auto-rickshaws in this capital city were coated in all different colours; at least the selected colours in a primary school book. All the auto-rickshaws look like chariots, with colourful bulbs fixed all around them. The sound system fixed in these chariots to play some Sri Lankan Baila pieces, with double woofers on both the sides of the passenger’s seat, will be more than enough for a road side party to take place. Usually there will a tall aerial behind, which dances to every move the vehicle makes and on the top of it you find a blinking bulb. It reminds you of the Red-Cross and United Nation’s vehicles used for serious relief work with tall aerials fixed in them for communication purposes. 

The passengers’ seats are samples of the best cushion works in the city. The driver’s portion is almost a pilot’s cockpit. There are so many lights blinking and meters working, about which you have no clue. There will be all kinds of ornaments kept in front of the driver; the things which usually we find in only in the show cases of small houses, at times you can find an ‘hour glass’ too. The side mirrors look like two long ears and of course earrings-like stuff hanging from them. Chaminda’s three-wheeler was one of this kind. It had all the essential qualifiers in it, to be recognized as a trendy auto-rickshaw of a young fellow in the city of Colombo.

That morning he was indeed lucky. A young fellow named Selvan who had come to the city for an interview, had to rush from the station to his Mami’s (father’s sister) house in that early morning, for him to take a wash, get dressed in ‘formals’ and rush to the office where this interview was to take place. Chaminda was that lucky person, according to the turn, to get this jack-pot prize passenger who was ready to pay any amount. As the three wheeler moved towards the destination, Chaminda started his usual conversation.

“Thambi, are you from Jaffna town?” questioned Chaminda looking at Selvan through the mirror in front of him.

“Om Annan, studying in Jaffna University” answered Selvan, with a big ‘yes’ in the typical Jaffna dialect.

“Oh, Jaffna campus? What course?” asked Chaminda.

“BSc Physics, final year, Annan” replied Selvan. “Having an interview in Sri Lanka Telecom, trying for a job there”.

“Oh, sari sari” said Chaminda.

It was indeed a good early morning hire for him. It was worth getting up early in that chilling morning and making himself to the station. Chaminda was returning back home, while he looked at one of the side mirrors and smiled with the pride of being the early bird which had caught a worthy worm.

The king-coconut sellers were already out there, selling the natural medicine for the citizens in that morning. The king-coconuts were a special kind of tender coconuts which are in an attractive orange colour than the regular green. On both the sides of the road Chaminda observed the carts being loaded with fresh king-coconuts. He stopped his ‘auto’, got down and wanted to have one of them. The vendor who was busy loading his cart paused and smiled. He knew that his day’s business is starting with an early bird. He took that sharp knife which was tied to the cart with a rope and cut one of the best king-coconuts. The juice which was packed inside the coconut shell with so much pressure splashed out through the first cut which gave way to it. That was the symbol of a fresh and good king-coconut, at least by habit. Chaminda enjoyed the early morning medicinal drink. 

He was able to feel a climate change inside his already heated stomach. The drink cooled down all the issues related to global warming. Chaminda paid the money and noticed how carefully the vendor handled the first earning of the day. The ten rupee currency note and the five rupee coin touched the vendor’s fore-head, his eyes, his lips and was carefully kept inside his hands and Chaminda heard the ‘tick tick’ sounds from the vendor’s fingers. Some ten sounds in two sets of five.

Chaminda set out from his house after having breakfast. He had his daily school hire to take care of. Eight children to be dropped both at St. Joseph’s College and at Holy Family Convent. Those children passionately called him “Ahil Mama”. When those children are on board, his auto-rickshaw looks like the military tankers at the battle-front. Fully loaded with arms such as drink bottles of all kinds on both the sides of the ‘auto’ hanging and the carrier fully loaded with school bags which looks like the goods for the next three weeks being carried by a military truck. The energetic laughter and screams inside the auto by the warriors add to the fun.

“Oai Oai, everyone keep quiet, if traffic mama catches us, all of you will be in police station”. Chaminda would repeat his usual warning message, every day.

The children knew that this was part of their daily life. They will blast into a bigger laughter, except that little fellow who started schooling recently. That small fellow who just joined St. Joseph’s was scared of police mama and had great concern over all these fantasy tales of children being arrested for making noise inside the auto-rickshaw. All what he does is to blink his eyes every alternate second and sit quietly noticing everything happening around him inside this mini military tanker, with his mouth wide open, showing that he needs his two front teeth as the next Christmas gift.

After dropping the last three children at St. Joseph’s, Chaminda moved towards the parking allocated for him by the Auto-rickshaw Drivers Welfare Association. It was just near the Cargills Millers building, which is situated next to one of the many gates to Colombo harbor. This huge building still stands as a reminder of the colonial rule from which the country got independence in 1948. With the building being dominated by the colour of red, and the white indicating the curves with the designs carved on the walls, it is part of the city’s important land marks which have the colonial architectural influences.

If you stand opposite to that building and try to take a photograph, you cannot avoid the fusion of past and the present. The colonial and the post-colonial. The old and the new. As you focus, you would observe another two symbolic landmarks of the city of Colombo falling into your frame. Just behind the British-time building, there are two tall buildings which would disturb the clear blue sky which falls as the background. The Bank of Ceylon HQ and the World Trade Center are two landmarks which have helped Colombo to remember that there is progress in the city. Proof of the competition to go higher and higher. The frame through which your camera is focusing now would be a combination of both the reminder of the past and the reminder of the progress in the recent past.

When Chaminda reached his allocated parking place, he wanted to take rest after the interesting chat with his colleagues who were also tired after their morning school hires. It was the only time they got to discuss about the island-nation’s politics. The auto-rickshaw drivers are indeed influential in the politics of the country. They have the ability to spread their opinions through their customers. They are the ones directly involved with the middle class. Thus, the discussion goes on throughout the day. 

All different subjects such as the annual budget, weather report, the modern scientific inventions mentioned in the newspapers, the recent accidents and the latest robberies would be taken as the topic of discussion. Some of the detailed descriptions about the beautiful young girls they had in their passenger seats and those girls’ idiotic Romeos, would drive close attention. These drivers would know where the city’s steaming romantic spots are, in a particular season. It may be behind the little umbrellas at Galle-Face beach or under the giant trees at Vihara Mahadevi Park near the Town hall. Tea and cigarettes were served in plenty in the nearest petty shop, whenever requested. The chats usually got disturbed when a request for a hire was made. If the topic being discussed is such an interesting one, even the hire was refused and the discussion continued.

 As Chaminda was about to lean on the passenger’s seat and take a rest, he found an identity card lying on the passenger’s seat. Able to guess whose it would be, he instantly recognized the staring face in the card. It is a universal law that you are not allowed to smile in photos for such serious matters, thus that stare. It was that campus boy’s. He had left it behind when he got his purse to pay for the hire. Chaminda flipped the card and checked the name and address. ‘Selvan Rajasingam, Point Pedro, Jaffna’. He did not care to read the date of birth or any other information provided. The first thing to do was to ensure that this card reaches this fellow as soon as possible.

He began imagining Selvan standing at one of the mushrooming security check points in the city, searching for his “identity”. The nation’s security has been tightened up so much, that anyone being questioned by the military forces at any time, suspected to be a threat, and adding to that Selvan not having his card to identify himself, was a hint that he is in possible danger. The place where Selvan is going to attend the interview is situated in one of the most high security zones in the country.

“Finding Nemo” was the next challenge. One of the best options to catch the fellow was to be near the place where he would come for the interview. That day, Chaminda waited at the Telecom Head Quarters gate until lunch time. Could not even find the hint of Selvan’s face. Decided to move towards where he dropped him in the morning; his Mami’s place.

Days have passed. Now Chaminda, the auto driver in the city, is a regular visitor and a close friend of that Selvan’s family, for something which he felt so much for the young boy made him visit regularly that Mami’s place and inquire “Any news about Selvan? It has been months.”

The answer would always be “No”.

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