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.