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| Danigala Mahabandaralage Domba |
This
is Danigala Mahabandaralage Domba, Chief of the Polebedda Indigenous
Community, once a strong and proud man who fiercely guarded and
protected his people. But age has left him blind, and the move from the
jungle to the village in search of
greener pastures left him and his people bereft of their familiar
environment without the resources, capacity and more importantly without
the inherited or acquired mental state to till the land and make it
prosper. Their tale of woe is too long and tragic for me to narrate here
and Im still wondering what best way to make their voice heard in the
right places. What touched my heart was the way they provided us with a
load of information unasked but what they have been so used to dishing
out to those who periodically come their way to help. The typical
statistics that have filled many a dust filled box file in Government
and NGO offices. But I did pick up a tinge of weariness and cynicism in
the sons voice albeight faint almost as if too fearful to voice doubt
else his prayer would fail. Even sadder was on how they felt they had to
sing old tribal songs, recite poems and show off their old way of life
to keep us engaged and provoke our interest. It tore my heart that this
Proud Chief, a leader of our inheritance deemed it necessary to recite
his poems and told us many times that we could record it if we wanted
(again something which they think they had to succumb to) in thanks to a
few meager rupees we gave them. We found his hamlet about 11 Km off
Maha Oya Town. The turn off is the road to Rambakan Oya.. Please do
visit him and his people should you travel that way. He is old and
feeble but there is a sense of history and gentle dignity that warms the
heart. http://www.ripplesonwater.org/Docs/Asoka%27s%20Story.pdf I found a mention of the Chief in this article and was touched by the description of him compared to his state now.
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