In the 80’s, My mother, father and I lived here. I wasn’t married then. IN the evenings, it was usually just my mother and me. We were not allowed to light a lamp. When there was curfew, there was a shortage of food. We couldn’t go to the shops. Life was very difficult then. But we had no other problems, or thievery, or trouble from anyone. Everyone experienced this at that time.

අසුව කාලෙ අම්මයි මායි තමයි හිටියේ, එතකොට මම බැදලා නෑ. ඉතිං රෑ වෙනකොට අම්මයි මායි විතරයි නේ. පහනක් ලාම්පුවක් පත්තු කරේ නෑ. ඇදිරිනීතිය ආවහම කෑම එහෙම ඉතිං හරි අඩුයි. කඩවල් වලට යන්න ඒවා කරන්න බෑ. ඉතිං බොහොම අමාරුවෙන් තමයි ඒ දවස් වල අපි ගත කරේ ජිවිතේ. එහෙම ඉතිං අපි එහෙම හිටියට වෙන ඉතිං අපිට බල කිරීමක්, අරකක් මේකක් හොරකං කිරීමක් අර ඒවා නෑ. අපිට කාගෙන්වත් අවහිරයක් කරදරයක් තිබුන්නෑ. අරව ඉතිං ස්වභාවිකයිනේ, හැමෝටම කියපු නීතිනේ.

80ல், என் அம்மாவும் அப்பாவும் இங்கே வாழ்ந்தோம். நான் திருமணம் செய்து கொள்ளவில்லை. மாலை நேரங்களில் அம்மாவும் நானும் தான் இருப்போம் . ஒரு விளக்கு வெளிச்சம் வைக்கக்கூட அனுமதி இல்லை. ஊரடங்கு ஏற்படும் காலங்களில் உணவு பற்றாக்குறை இருந்தது. நாங்கள் கடைக்கு போக முடியவில்லை. வாழ்க்கை மிகவும் கடினம். ஆனால் எங்களுக்கு வேறு எந்த பிரச்சினையும் இல்லை. திருட்டு அல்லது வேறு தொந்தரவுகள் இல்லை. எல்லோருக்கும் ஒரேவிதமான அனுபவம் தான்.

The Tsunami became our most powerful experience. about 18 to 20 people died here - people that were at the temple, people at the market particularly. This is my ancestral home. It was a big house, but it was destroyed in the tsunami. My son was about 2.5 to 3 and my daughter was about 7 years old. She was watching TV. My son was at the gate carried by his father. I was in the kitchen when the big wave came. My husband shouted “hey, the wave has come to the road, we can’t stay here, let’s go”. I said, “wait, I’ll close the doors and come”.

සුනාමිය තමයි ඉතිං අපිට ලොකු අත්දැකීම වුනේ. 18ක් ද, 20ක් ද නැති වුනා මයි හිතේ. පන්සලේ සිල් අරගෙන හිටපු කට්ටිය, මාකට් එකේ අය එහෙම හුගක් අය නැති වුනා. මේ මගේ මහගෙදර. ලොකු ගෙයක් තිබුනේ මෙතන. එක සුනාමියට තමයි කැඩුනේ. මේ පුතාට එතකොට අවුරුදු දෙකහමාරක්, තුනක් විතර ඇති. දුවට අවුරුදු හතක් විතර ඇති. දුව ටීවී එක බල බලා හිටියා. පුතා ගේට්ටුව ලග මහත්තයා වඩාගෙන හිටියා. මම කුස්සියේ හිටියේ. මට කතා කරලා කිවුව “ඒයි, ලොකු රැලක් ගහනවා පාරටම ඇවිල්ලා. මෙතන ඉන්න බයයි, එන්න එලියට කියල”. මම කිවුව “ඉන්න මම දොර වහල එනකම්” කියල.

சுனாமியானது எங்களுடைய ஆழமான ஆனுபவமாக அமைகின்றது. கோவிலில் இருந்தவர்கள் மற்றும் குறிப்பாக சந்தையில் இருந்தவர்கள் இங்கு சுமார் 18-20 பேர் வரை உயிரிழந்தனர். இது எனது மூதாதையர் வீடாகும். ஒரு பெரிய வீடாகவிருந்தது. எனது மகனுக்கு அப்போது 2.5 -3 வயதிருக்கும், மகளுக்கு 7 வயது. ஆழிப்பேரலை வந்தபோது மகன் அப்பாவின் கையிலிருந்தார். மகள் டிவி பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருந்தார். நான் சமையலறையில் இருந்தேன். என் கணவர் "ஏய் அலை வீதிக்கு வந்துவிட்டது நாங்கள் இங்கே தங்க முடியாது நாங்கள் போகலாம்" என்று கூச்சலிட்டார்.

There were two girls crying outside, who had come on a pilgrimage. I took them by the hand and went to the house. 3 others from the group followed us. When I closed the windows at front and went towards the kitchen the house filled with about 10 feet of water. The others started drying in fear. I lost consciousness. The old doorframe from the house, fell on my back and onto their heads. The house fell. When the house fell, my family saw it. My daughter fainted. Their father had shouted…”The fell on your mother”.

එතකොට වන්දනාවේ ආපු ගෑනු ළමයි දෙන්නෙක් පාරේ අඩනවා - ඒ ඔක්කොම අල්ලාගෙන මෙහෙට එනකොට තවත් තුන්දෙනෙක් මගේ පස්සෙන් මේ අපේ ගෙදෙට්ට ආවා. ඊට පස්සේ ඉස්සරහ ජනෙල් දොරවල් ඔක්කොම වහගෙන මම ගෙටයි කුස්සියටයි අතරේ මේ හරියේ එතෙන්ට ආව විතරයි මෙහෙම ගේ පිරුනා. අඩි 10 ක විතර වතුර පාරක් ඇවිල්ලා ගේ පිරිලා. ඒගොල්ලෝ අඩාගත්ත භය වෙලා. මට සිහිය නැති වුනා, පරණ ගෙදර ලොකු උළුවස්ස ඇතුලට වැටුන මගේ පිටට, ඔලුව උඩට ඒ ඉන්න අයගෙ. එතකොටම ගේ මෙහේම පහත් වුනා. පහත වෙනකොට මහත්තයා ළමයි දෙන්න අතන බලාගෙන ඉදල තියෙනවා. දුව කලන්තේ හැදිලා වැටිලා. තාත්ත කිව්වලු ආ.. අම්ම ගෙට යට වුනා තමයි කියලා කෑ ගැහුවලු,

யாத்திரை வந்திருந்த இரண்டு பெண்கள் வெளியே அழுதுகொண்டிருந்தார்கள். நான் அவர்களின் கையை பிடித்து உள்ளே கூட்டி சென்றேன்.மேலும் மூன்று பேர் எங்களை பின்தொடர்ந்தனர். வீட்டுக்குள் 10 அடிக்கு தண்ணீர் நிரம்பியிருந்ததை கண்டதும் அனைவருக்கும் பீதி ஏற்பட்டது. நான் சுயநினைவை இழந்து விட்டேன். வீடுகள் விழுவதை கண்டு என் மகளும் மயங்கினாள்.

I was like that for about 15-20 minutes. I saw some people swimming far away. I shouted but they didn’t hear. After about 20 minutes, they saw me and came and rescued me. It was a miracle. I later found out that the people with me - the two girls, the two mothers and the baby had all died. Their rotting bodies are discovered later. They were people from Ambalangoda, on pilgrimage to Kataragama and had stopped here for lunch when the incident happened.

ඊට පස්සේ එහෙම ඉදලා ඉදලා විනාඩි 15-20 ක් විතර ඉදලා එහා පාරේ කට්ටිය පීනනවා දැක්ක. මම කතා කරාට ඒගොල්ලොන්ට ඇහුනේ නෑ. ඊට පස්සේ විනාඩි 20 ක් විතර යනකොට ඒගොල්ලො කොහොම හරි අත මෙහෙම කරනවා දැක්කා.පුදුමයි, ඊට පස්සේ මාත් එක්ක හිටිය පස්දෙනාම මැරිලා. ළමයි දෙන්නයි, අම්මල දෙන්නයි, පොඩි දරුවයි ඔක්කොම මැරිලා දවස් පහකට විතර පස්සේ කුණු වෙලා මිනී ගත්තේ. ඒ කට්ටිය අම්බලන්ගොඩ කට්ටියක්. කතරගම යන්න ඇවිල්ල මෙතන වාහනේ නවත්තලා කෑම කාලා තියෙන්නේ. ඒ අතරට තමයි මේ සිද්දිය වුනේ.

நான் சுமார் 15-20 நிமிடங்கள் அப்படியே இருந்தேன். சிலர் தூரத்திலிருந்து நீந்துவதை நான் பார்த்தேன். நான் கத்தினேன் ஆனால் அவர்கள் கேட்கவில்லை. சுமார் 20 நிமிடங்கள் கழித்து அவர்கள் என்னைக் கண்டார்கள் வந்து என்னை மீட்டனர். அது ஒரு அதிசயம். என்னுடன் இருக்கும் மக்கள் - இரண்டு பெண்கள், இரு தாய்மார்களும் குழந்தைகளும் இறந்துவிட்டதாக நான் பின்னர் அறிந்தேன். அழுகும் உடல்கள் பின்னர் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டன . அவர்கள் அம்பலாங்கொட இருந்து கதிர்காமம் வரை புனித யாத்திரை செல்ல வந்திருந்தவர்கள்.

We lost everything. About three generations of possessions - gold, bronze, cutlery - all lost. To be honest, people took a lot of things. The walls were half gone, so people, yes people, came in and took everything, not the sea. Sometimes people we knew, would float around in the water, looking for gold.

ඉතිං අපේ ගොඩාක් දේවල් නැති වුනා. පරම්පරා තුනක විතර බඩුමුට්ටු තිබුණු ගෙදරක්. රත්තරන් බඩු, පිත්තල බඩු, පිගන් කෝප්ප පරණ බඩු හරියට තිබුනා. මිනිස්සු ඉතිං ඒ ඔක්කොම පැනලා අහුලගත්තා. ඔව්. ඔක්කොම ගත්තා. ඉතිං මම එහෙම බොරුවක් මුසාවක් කියනවා නෙමෙයි, ගෙදර බාගෙට බිත්ති කැඩිලා, ඔක්කොම මිනිස්සු අරගෙන. මොනවාවත් තිබුනේ නෑ. මිනිස්සු, ඔව් ඉතිං, ඔක්කොම ගත්තා. නැත්නම් මුහුදට ගියේ නෑ. අපි දන්න මිනිස්සු තමයි, පා වෙවී කාල් ගගා රත්තරං බඩු හොයනවා.

எல்லாவற்றையும் இழந்தோம். மூன்று தலைமுறைகளாக தேடிய தங்கம் வெண்கலம் என அனைத்தையும். உண்மையை சொல்லப்போனால் ஆட்கள் நிறையவைகளை எடுத்து சென்றுவிட்டார்கள். வீட்டு சுவர்கள் உடைந்தமையினால் உள்ளே சென்று எடுக்க வாய்ப்புக்கள் காணப்பட்டது. ஆம் ஆட்கள் தான் எடுத்து சென்றுள்ளார்கள் கடல் இல்லை. சிலவைகள் கடலில் அடித்து செல்லப்பட்டிருக்கும்.

So, we had nothing. We picked up a few pieces of wood, tin sheets and made a simple hut and lived there for years. We got some support from the AG’s office. We got support from foreigners. Finally, we made this foundation and the slab. All of this, we do little by little with difficulty while we try to educate our children.

ඉතිංඅපිට මොකවත් තිබුනේ නෑ. අපිට ලෑලි අනං මනං ටකරං හම්බවුනා. ඊටපස්සේ ලෑලි ගෙයක් හදාගෙන එකෙත් හිටියා අවුරුදු ගානක්. ඉදල ඊට පස්සේ ඒජී ඔෆිස් එක මාර්ගයෙන් අපිට සුළු ගානක් හම්බවුනා මේක හදන්න. පිටරට සුද්දෝ වගයක් ආධාර කරලා හම්බවුනා. ඊටපස්සේ තමයි මේ ගේ අඩිතාලම දාල ස්ලැබ් එක දාගත්තේ. අනිත් වියදම් අපේ අතින් තමයි ටික ටික කරගන්නේ මේගොල්ලන්ට උගන්නන ගමන්.

எங்களுக்கு எதுவும் மிஞ்சவில்லை. கொஞ்சம் மரக்குற்றிகளை மட்டும் எடுத்துக்கொண்டோம். சிறிய கொட்டிலொன்றை அமைத்து அதில் வாழ்ந்து வந்தோம்.ஏ.ஜி. அலுவலகத்திலிருந்து எங்களுக்கு சில உதவி கிடைத்தது. நாங்கள் வெளிநாட்டினரின் ஆதரவைப் பெற்றுள்ளோம். இறுதியாக, நாம் இந்த அடித்தளத்தையும் ஸ்தலத்தையும் செய்தோம். இவை அனைத்தும், நம் குழந்தைகளுக்கு கல்வி கற்பிக்க முயலுகையில் நாம் சற்று சிரமப்படுகிறோம்.