Published on - 2/14/2008
VASANTHA RAJARATNAM was on her way from Hatton to Colombo after attending a wedding. She was expecting to see her son who had won a base ball match but not aware that her youngest son Radiswaran had been killed by a suicide bomb explosion at the Fort Railway Station.
Her son Radiswaran Rajaratnam arrived at the Fort Railway Station on February 3 after wining a match in Kandy. When they heard of the explosion, the family still hoped that Radiswaran would have got off the train at Maradana since it is the closest to their home at Dematagoda and he had nothing to do in Colombo.
Around 2.00 pm on the fateful day, the time that Radiswaran got down from the train, an LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up, killing fifteen civilians and injuring a hundred.
Radiswaran's mother Vasantha had not known what had happened until she reached home the same night.
\"I last spoke to my son on Friday night. He said they have reached Kandy and were having dinner,\" said the weeping mother who had not recovered from the shock of losing her son.
Life starts and ends by taking a breath but it is not simply inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, but including every bit of talent, hopes, expectations and expressions. For Radiswaran, apart from becoming a top base ball player, he wanted to become a high ranking police officer and emigrate to London. He would have dreamt of a job at the Scotland Yard or some such reputed place. But fate decreed otherwise. His budding future was snubed by a gruesome terrorist bomb.
Radiswaran, a GCE O/L student in the Tamil medium of D.S. Senannayake College in Borella, who died along with his team mates, excelled both in studies and sports. Apart from base ball he was good cricketer and tennis player. Radiswaran had always liked to eat Marie biscuits mixed with vanila flavoured milk and ice cream. He was also an artist and a singer. Family members said he was able to sing Sinhala songs just like their original singers. Radiswaran was a good stage actor too and has received awards for his acting and oratory talents. He, being a great fan of South Indian film star Vijay, was very naughty and talkative but was innocent as a child, Vasantha said.
When we visited Radiswaran's family living in an under- privileged area at Sri Dharmarama Road in Dematagoda, his brothers had gone to the cemetery to perform religious rituals. His mother and grandmother welcomed us inside the house which had a few plastic chairs to accommodate visitors who came to share their grief a day after the funeral. An oil lamp was burning and Radiswaran's cricket bat, another sport he was interested in, was lying aside in the sitting room. Vasantha being very proud of her son's achievements says that Radiswaran has brought her pride even after death. \"I lost my son for the country but we have got nothing from the country. Even if they try to give me everything, nothing can bring back my son,\" she said.
\"We don't ask anything from the government but an environment to live in safety. Here and there, on both sides the influential people and their children are safe. Only innocent people are paying with their lives,\" commented Vasantha.
She had brought up all her three sons with great difficulty on her husband's megre earnings. The family was forced to sell their house in Maligawatte to further educate the children. Vasantha claims that all her children are good in character and never had any complaints.
She said she had a bad dream about her two elder sons a week before the incident, and that the whole week she had gone to the kovil to pray for them. She also recalled that one day she had a fall before going to the Amman kovil, which she believes was a bad omen.
Vasantha introduced us to her neighbour Puvaneshwari who had looked after Radishwaran when he was a kid as the mother took the brothers to school. On the day he went Kandy, had gone to Puvaneshwari and worshiped her. She had blessed him with vivudi (holy ash). Puvaneshwari too had accompanied Radishwaran's mother from Hatton to Colombo Puvaneshwari had been the first to hear of Radishwaran's death but suppressing all the pain she had not conveyed the message to Vasantha.
For Rasidaran, Radishwaran's younger brother, he was a friend more than a brother. \"It is I who took him and brought him back,\" said his brother. He had taken Radiswaran from home on his bike and dropped him at the bus stand to board a bus to the school from where the Base Ball team had left to Kandy. It was Rasidaran who had identified his brother's body and brought it home.
Soon after watching the news about the bomb blast, Rasidaran called his brother 10 or 15 times while wondering what would have happened to his brother. Then somebody had called Rasidaran on his mobile after noticing the number. Rasidaran immediately asked the caller what had happened to the base ball players who had travelled from Kandy. The caller responded by saying that there were several base ball bats at the explosion site and that the injured would have been taken to hospital.
Rasidaran rushed to the hospital and waited at the Accident Ward for more than two hours. Later, his elder brother and father too had joined him and they went to each and every Ward to check for Radiswaran while Rasidaran checkd the list of name of the injured and found that his brother's name was not among the names.
Their father Rajaratnam decided to check at the mortuary, to which Rasidaran had been against, as he thought that nothing bad had happened to his brother. Instead he had asked the elder brother Rajeevan to check Ward 32 where most of the critically injured were admitted. However Rasidaran with his father walked into the mortuary, intoning prayers and hoping they wouldn't see Radiswaran lying there. When their father opened a drawer he did not want to see inside and Rasidaran had identified his brother.
Rasidaran's only wish is that no brother should experience what he is undergoing. His experience at D.S. Senanayake Vidyalaya, a multi-ethnic school, is very pleasant, he claims. \"We all three brothers studied at D.S. Senanayake College but never experienced any discrimination against us. My brother's classmates were Tamils, team mates were Sinhalese and even we live in a multi-ethic area. There were lots of Sinhala guys who helped us and shared our grief,\" he said.
Rasidaran said that people who claimed to be their guardians and fighters for the Tamils are doing nothing more than killing people and that his brother was yet another victim.
Radiswaran's father and brothers are employed, but they do not earn enough to meet the family's entire needs. His family was not able to buy him a blazer due to financial difficulties and that had even deprived him of receiving some certificates awarded for his achievements. His grieving mother said only his death made him dress a blazer in his favourite black and white colour.
Rasidaran introduced his brother's friends to us saying that their support and encouragement made him a winner. \"Radiswaran would have not achieved this much if not for these friends,\" he said proudly.
Radiswaran's four close friends Lanser, Crishan, Ketheeshwaran and Pushpakumar are still in shock like the family members. \"We still can't believe he is no more, it was like a nightmare. He always tells us before going outstations for matches and brings us gifts when he returns,\" said the friends.
However Radiswaran had a chat with his friends a day before the fatal trip and had not met them the day he had left. His friends claim it to be a strange coincidence and said it happened for the first time in their nine-year-old friendship. We also learnt from the friends that cupid had shot his arrow at Radiswaran only a week before his death. \"He spoke to a girl one week before,\" said his friends.
We left Radiswaran's home, realising that for them nothing would fill the gap created by the death and the memories will never die, as memories are precious no one can steal. But death leaves a heartache no one can heal. As we stepped out, Radiswaran's mother called us back and again said that her prayer is that no mother should face a situation similar to hers.
