The Silent Echo of Uncle Rambanda

Andonawa

A true story

As soon as I got home from work, I heard that Uncle Rambanda had fallen from a tree while he was mowing the lawn in the evening. Somehow, no one had seen him for hours. Since Uncle was late, my aunt had gone to look for him. Then she saw Uncle Rambanda lying at the base of the Kitul tree. When she looked closer, her head had split in two. He had hit his head on the rock at the base of the tree.

"Oh, innocent man"

That's what everyone said.

Since Uncle Rambanda's daughter was married off to Matara, Uncle Rambanda's eldest son, Pala, had decided to keep him in the funeral home for three days without ending it. It was a very harmonious family.

Uncle Rambanda was a man who was very attached to his environment. Who would have thought that that man's fate would be decided by that.

After washing our bodies, my father and I got ready to get on the road to the funeral home. It was not an easy journey. We had to go to the funeral home on a road that had not even seen a single stone-strewn tarmac road in the middle of a large rubber forest. It is not customary in villages like ours to have bodies in funeral homes like Colombo.

We had to get on the road and go through the graves. With difficulty, we reached Uncle Rambanda's house, barely able to see the light of the patrol match in the distance. As soon as we entered the garden, we covered our ears and a cold breeze brushed our faces, knowing that something strange was happening in the environment.

Since we were women in the villages, we did not care about it. Perhaps it was because of the difficulty of the journey that there were not even twenty people at the funeral home. Even though we both came, no one likes to come on a road like this at night, even as a stranger. As soon as we got into the house, I felt like a stranger I had never met. As soon as I walked near the door, I felt like someone had bumped into me. There was no one there, so to speak.

When my mother said in the morning, "Even the squirrels cried, son. Who should I discipline?" I didn't listen to her because I didn't believe her very much. But it seemed like it wasn't true. Anyway, when I went, the people from the flower shop came and did the embalming work inside the house. Because my uncle's house is in a place where even a vehicle can't get there.

Even though he was close to seventy years old, Uncle Rambanda had a good body, and even we, who are now boys, can't do what Uncle Rambanda did. Uncle Rambanda was an iron man with such great strength. That personality was evident even in the coffin. When I saw the head wrapped in cloth until it reached the forehead, I remembered how Uncle Rambanda used to tie the Sumbare in the past.

While the betel was being cut, we started talking with the villagers about what had happened to Uncle. The people below were saying that strange things were happening in that garden where the tree was. No matter how much I told Uncle not to, he never let me set foot in that garden. Because Uncle's heart was stronger than all that.

With a cold breeze, I heard a sound from the garden below, "Ah... oh..." I thought it was something I heard only. No.. Everyone else there, except Sumanasiri Basunna, heard it. But I heard it only once. As I listened, I heard it again, "Ah.. oh..." A sound that echoed a little. It sounded strange and terrifying, and even my body started to shiver. Brother Veera took the five-piece torch and went down to see the sound. Since he couldn't wait to go alone, about five people started going down.

He started hearing the sound from near the telambu tree in the middle of the garden. As we slowly approached with the torch, we realized that the sound was coming from inside the bene. But no one was afraid to go near that bene. Brother Veera, who was a bit of a tough guy in the village, slowly approached and looked. At the same time, we who were behind also slowly looked.

A large swarm of ants called ambalayo is pulling a rice grain into the bene. They cannot climb the rice grain near their mouths. Therefore, two people place the rice grain near their mouths and push it. The person on top shouts that the rice has come to the top. "Come on."

Now you have a problem, why can't you hear Sumanasiri Basunnahe? The man's ears are not good enough, so the batteries in the hearing aid are dead.

Going, Going