Achintha who had a curly hair and some arrogant look on his face was not an educated person. By looking at his face, anyone could judge what kind of a person Achintha was. Achintha was a violent, hot- headed man who got angry very quickly. Hailing from a poor family, Achintha was 35 years old. Because of his uneducatedness, he was unable to find a good job and a good partner. Therefore, he spent most of his time in search of a beautiful woman to marry. He always dreamed of leading a luxurious life with a beautiful woman and spent his time in places where he could spot beautiful women.
One fine day, he was waiting to catch a bus heading to Hanguranketha in order to visit one of his relatives. Quite by accident, while he was standing in the bus halt, he was lucky to spot a beautiful girl clad in a white saree. The saree fit tightly around her beautiful curves and now there was no turning back for Achintha. He was glued to this beautiful lady. Achintha kept on looking at the lady for a little while. He somehow wanted to begin a friendship with the girl who was in the company of her mother. Achintha was determined, come hell or high water, that he would somehow marry her.
Achintha boarded the same bus that the girl and her mother boarded and kept a close eye on the girl. He thought of visiting his relative later because he gave priority to this matter. He was fortunate enough to sit next to the girl. After a little while, he started to grab a conversation with this beauty. “What is your name?” was his first question but she stonewalled him and turned her head the other way. Achintha did not upset his mood by the negative responses he got because his only objective was to get accquaintained with the beauty.
The more he looked at her, the more he wanted to get closer to her. Her beautiful red lips were like rose petals. She was little embarrassed but Achintha fathomed that the girl was in favor of getting familiar with the stranger. This was a golden opportunity for Achintha as he struck up a cordial conversation with her. He found that her name is Sadamali and that she was the only child in the family. Achintha was overjoyed because the girl spoke with him. Sadamali’s mother who was seated in the center of the bus was not aware as to what was going on between her daughter and Achintha. Then, they came to the end of their journey and were just about to alight when Achintha realized that he had not got her contact number. Sadamali was not prepared to communicate with Achintha in the presence of her mother and pretended to ignore him but discreetly gave her phone number. Achintha treasured it like gold as soon as he got it. He was impatient to speak to Sadamali over the phone and begin a romantic relationship unknown to her mother.
As time went by her mother understood that Sadamali was in a relationship. Unlike earlier, her behavior was different. She used to be using her phone all the time and going out more often. She asked her daughter to tell the truth. Sadamali hesitated at the beginning but later divulged the truth and said that she wanted to marry the man with whom she was having a relationship. She revealed that his name was Achintha.
Her mother then made arrangements to meet Achintha to know whether he was a good man. Achintha then visited Sadamali’s home with his mother and spoke to her parents. However, Sadamali’s parents did not like this affair because Achintha did not have a good family background and they were afraid that their daughter would suffer after her marriage.
“Amma, Thattha, let me marry Achintha. He is a village man brought up with good moral values. I am sure that he would be a good husband to me. He will definitely look after me with love and care.”
“No. How can we give you to a man who is uneducated? Remember you are girl who is literate. Just think!! You have a good job. He does not even have a proper job. He is totally a wretched man. He does not suit you at all. My daughter, don’tworry. We will find you a suitable partner.”
And a heated argument began between Sadamali and her parents. Sadamali always thought that Achintha was her soul-mate and her mother was obstructing their relationship. No matter how much her mother told her to stop continuing the affair, Sadamali could not do it because she was blinded with love. After few years, Sadamali’s mother reluctantly agreed to the marriage. It was because Sadamali always troubled her mother by asking permission to marry Achintha.
As Sadamali hailed from a respectable family, her parents thought of taking a grand wedding. Days passed away soon. The wedding day of Achintha and Sadamali approached. They arranged a reception after the poruwa ceremony. At the reception, liquor was served and Achintha could not stop himself from drinking. He drank like a fish and was the worse for liquor by the time the reception was halfway through. Sadamali’s mother felt that it was a bad sight but she could do nothing at this point.
After the wedding, the couple moved away and lived far away from the family. Sadamali soon conceived and Achintha began to physically abuse her. She even had to stay in the hospital because Achintha had hit her stomach.
“You bitch, you should leave my house soon or else, I am going to chase you. If you can’t cook what I want, just stay away from me. I do not want to be with a woman who does not obey my orders.”
Achintha always came home drunk. He used to blame Sadamali using filthy words for not preparing the meals he wanted. As Sadamali was pregnant, she could not spend time in cooking delicious meals that he wanted. But Achintha failed to look into the needs of Sadamali during her pregnancy. He always wanted to harass Sadamali because he now began to see her as a burden.
It was too late for Sadamali to realize that Achintha did not have a good job. He had lied to Sadamali saying that he was holding a good position in a reputed company but actually he was a security officer in the company.
Sadamali did not inform her mother about the turn of events. She suffered a lot mentally and hoped that this man would change after the birth of the child. Days passed away and Sadamali’s labour day came but Achintha was not at home to take her to the hospital. A neighbor took her to the hospital because Achintha was drinking with his friends in his workplace. Sadamali delivered a beautiful girl who looked so much like Sadamali. Achintha did not even know about where Sadamali was. When her mother came to see her new born granddaughter, she inquired about Achintha and Sadamali gave an evasive reply. Her mother felt that all was not hunky dory and that her daughter was hiding something from her. But she did not want to pursue the matter and thought to herself that with time, everything will come out in the wash. She left home after showering the baby with gifts.
Sadamali came home with her baby and had to do all the household work all by herself because Achintha was mad for liquor day in and day out. He was not concerned about his duties as a father now. As a husband, he had not at least given a cent to Sadamali up to now. His rude behavior of attacking Sadamali had not stooped. Sadamali then realized that it was useless to stay with Achintha anymore and she packed her bags to go back to her parents.
A few days later, Achintha found that his wife and child missing. He made his way to his mother in law’s house in Polgahawela. He was sure that his wife had gone to her mother’s place. He left the place by his motorbike carrying a bottle of acid with him. He entered the house calling for Sadamali but she did not want to come out. Instead, her mother came out. Her mother noted that Achintha was in a foul mood.
“Where is Sadamali? Why did she come without informing me? I want to talk to her.”
Achintha tried to enter into the room forcefully where Sadamali and child were but her mother did not allow him to do so. Achintha took the bottle of acid from his pocket and tried to throw it to Sadamali’s mother but fortunately she could take her face away. Powerfully fighting with Achintha, she got the bottle of acid into her hands and threw it on his face instead. Achintha’s face was severely burnt and his vision got impaired. He left the place saying “ubalaadataberunakiyalahithaganin”. He was utterly disappointed.
After Achintha left the place, Sadamali came out to see what happened. Her mother’s eyes were filled with tears. She started telling everything. She was totally in an upset mood.
“Do you now realize the bad consequences of an arbitrary marriage? You took unanimous decisions without listening to your mother and father. This is a good lesson for your life. At least now listen to your parents.”
“Yes amma. I accept my fault. I will never go against your will here after. If I had obeyed your decision earlier, I would have not faced such a terrible fate. Achintha ruined my whole life. I was in a hurry to get married and ultimately he cheated me.”
Sadamali could not stop crying in front of her mother. She now repented and understood that the decision that she took without listening to her parents was nasty.
After few months, Sadamali came to know that Achintha had met with an accident and died on his way back home after visiting them. Hearing about his demise, Sadamali did not feel much sorrow, because by now she did not have any sweet memories left with him. Widowed Sadamali had to bear all the responsibilities of the child. She happened to play two roles, as a mother and father. No matter how much her mother tried to arrange another marriage, Sadamali did not like it because she was scared of getting married again. What Sadamali finally told her mother was that after their death, she would go abroad with the child and settled down there; because she was afraid of living in Srilanka all alone. She thought that Srilanka would not be a safe country for a lone woman to live with her children.
Writer: D.M Navoda Dissanayake
Artist: Sunanda Basu Mallik
Clips and Pages 