The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 29 (final chapter) - Another sunset

It was another depressingly sorrowful sunset. The bus was heading towards Shibly’s village. Shibly’s heart was heavy. For the first time, he stepped foot in Marudur at a similar sunsetting hour almost ten months ago.

There were so many differences between both of the travels.

It is a similar sunsetting hour. The scenes are still stunning. The weather is fine. The soothing evening wind of December is trying to calm down his mind.

But, deep down in his mind, the sadness and the worry are cloaking uncomfortably.

The Sri Lankan profession (Novel): Chapter - 28 - Before I close my eyes...

Hamdha Mohideen’s diary

“I wanted to see you getting married before I close my eyes, that’s what worries me”, my father repeated the same stanza three or four times this week. At first, I felt pity for him, but at last, I got angry at him today, “dada, stop this nonsense. You talk as if you are going to die tomorrow”.

Literally, my father sounded as if he was going to die. He did not take my anger seriously. I have never yelled at my father before. The feeling of pity towards him made me angry. But, he took my anger as a hilarious comedy, and he laughed loudly. He uttered to me with the same kind empathic tone: “I couldn’t save enough wealth for you, darling. But, you have a sound education to look after yourself. I am happy about it”, he said.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 27 - The hope of a winter sun

Minhaj Firdaws’ diary

Today is Friday.

I am spending my weekend holiday in Umm Salal Muhammedh, Qatar.

I am lucky. I came to Qatar at a time of the year closer to the winter. My main concern before I came here was about the climate. I could not even think of the tropical desert weather.

Sri Lanka, of course, being situated close to the equator, is a tropically hot country. However, the temperature in the hill country is somewhat lower than the average temperature of the rest of the country, and it is a cold place by national standards.

It is one of the main reasons many tourists prefer hill country in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Profession (novel) : Chapter 26 - Demise and Downfall

Mohideen Haajiyar’s Diary

Last time when I visited Marudur, there occurred the kidnapping drama and I got arrested. Afterwards, for several months I did not visit my native village ever again. Though I occasionally visited Vijayapura, I refrained from visiting Marudur which was situated within a kilometre of distance from Wijayapura. It felt like a spiritual vacuum for me. My chest often hurts when I suddenly wake up from deep sleep in the middle of the night. I find it difficult to fall asleep again if I wake up in half this way.

The Sri Lankan Profession (novel) : Chapter 25 - The collective forgetfulness

Minhaj’s Diary

It’s several months since it flooded Marudur. The fast pace of time frightens me. The thought only leads me to realise we have only a limited reserve of time left out in our earthly life.

Marudur people, who were directly affected by the flood, have almost forgotten the disaster. The agony of the flood has faded away from the folk's memory. Many people behaved as if the flood never occurred in the first place.

Over time, the flood will remain a distant memory that has nothing to do with the present. Is this what we call “collective dementia” or “collective forgetfulness”?

When I think of collective forgetfulness, I am unable to forget the fate of my geography teacher, Mujahid Sir. I was at my Advanced level at the time. I feel a collective guilt till this moment for what happened to him though I have no share in his fate.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel): Chapter 24 (Part 02 ): The Approaching Evil

Shibly’s Diary

Today is Wednesday. Not a rainy day. Sun shined for the first time in the week.

The school functioned as usual today.

"Usually" means that the staff and the students attended the school in the morning and left in the afternoon.

The school functioned as a matter of formality. Apart from this, nothing else was usual. Whenever teachers and students met each other, they talked about the Principal's disappearance.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 24 (Part 01) : The toy flood

Tuesday.

It was noon. The clock in the Vijayapura police station said 12.44 pm. Usually, a hot hour with blazingly burning sun. Yet, today there was no sunshine. The sky was elegantly wrapped with thick rainy clouds. The blowing wind was chilling the body as if sitting in front of an opened refrigerator.

Inspector Ajantha's mind was wandering around the case of the missing incident in Marudur. The missing school principal or his corpse has not yet been found.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 23 (Part 03) - The Arrests

The news of the Principal's disappearance had spread throughout the village by noon. The news had triggered different sorts of speculations.

Some people thought he might have been kidnapped.

Some others thought he could have drowned in the floodwater.

Some people thought that the Principal ran away from the village to save his face after his bitter argument with Engineer Rashadh.

The Profession (Novel): Chapter 23 (Part 02) - The Cousin Brother and The Elder Brother

Hamdha’s Diary

Life in Colombo was so different for us from our life in Marudur. In the evenings after attending lectures at the university, I was home . We had our privacy in our Colombo home, as my mother always wished to have.

This Colombo house of ours was my mother’s share of inheritance from her father.

My father did not have any community responsibility here, at least so far. He had plenty of time to fully concentrate on his business activities. For my mom’s joy, he had become a full-time businessman again.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 23 (Part 01) - The Disappearance

Monday early morning. The sun had just risen. But, it was invisible hiding behind the grey rain clouds in the morning sky. It was not raining, though. It looked like it could start raining again at any moment.

Shibly was travelling to Marudur. He was about to start a fresh new working week. He was not feeling well. This weather could make anyone lazy and sick. The sun had never shown up for the last few days.

The heavy showers and blowing wind had left behind their brutal crafts throughout Shibly’s journey to Marudur. There were fallen trees and occasional landslides of various sizes.

Shibly had no idea of Marudur-Flood. The power supply had disrupted in Shibly’s house, after the previous evening wind. His smartphone battery was dead and he was unable to plug it in for power. So he could not check any Marudur-related social media updates.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 22 (Part - 03) - A Grave Mistake

The rain poured seamlessly like a flowing river with squishing noise. The thickly brownish mud water had filled the Marudur streets and its tiny Bazar. Most of its landscape, especially the central part of the village, was flat unlike other parts of the hill country. So the water level was unlikely to drain rapidly. The Bazar looked like a lake, as the water remained still while it was still raining.

No one thought it was going to flood when it started raining. First, the water entered the Thajudeen tea store. Then, it slowly moved into other small shops and the nearby Thayqa mosque.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 22 (Part 02): Lion, not a lamb

Shibly's Diary

“Shibly, can you come to Mr Shareek’s house? Now immediately? This is something very serious. Mr Shareek has been attacked”.

“What? Attacked?” I was shocked. “Is he alright now?”

“Yeah, he is alright. But, we can’t leave it in this way, Shibly. It’s becoming a trend. Can you come to Mr Shareek’s house immediately? We have to change the content of the pamphlet”.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 22(1) - A Lonely Path

Minhaj's Diary 

It has been almost a week since those terrible things happened. The leaflet of Marudur-First changed everything in my life upside down. My dreams shattered in front of my own eyes before they blossom.

Mohideen Hajiyar was the only person in my life who came forward to help me. He wanted to take me to Saudi Arabia with him. He had planned to involve me in his business activities. Those things now forever seem to be impossible. He is broken-hearted as I am. He is likely to move to Colombo with his family, leaving this village.

I could not determine where I made the wrong step or where I slipped.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 21 - The darkness of guilt

Saturday, Afternoon.

This part of Marudur was called a “slum” for many generations. The new generation hated this name and preferred to call it “Firdaus Garden”.

The overwhelming majority of Marudurians used to live in this neighbourhood. It was densely populated. But, it wasn’t a slum in a real sense.

Firdaus Garden people were poor even by Marudurian standards. But, it was also a fairly safe neighbourhood just like other places in Marudur. If not for this slum, no one could say Marudur is backward.

_ _ _ _

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 20 - The solar system turned upside down

Shibly's Diary: 

I got back to my room after finishing the Marudur-First meeting. It was Tuesday, a full moon day.

I felt physically and mentally exhausted. I terribly wanted to take a long rest.

I felt lonely and empty.

Was it a correct decision to engage with Marudur-First?

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) : Chapter 19 - Can I lead the funeral prayer, Hazrath?

Tuesday, Morning

Full moon holiday

Mohideen Hajiyar’s dining hall. Mohideen Hajiyar and his wife Ziyana were having their breakfast. Hamdha had left for Colombo.

"I think you still want to take that boy with you, don’t you?", Ziyana asked her Husband.

"Which boy? Taking where?" asked Mohideen Hajiyar.

"You are talking like you have no idea of anything. I am talking about this boy Minhaj. About taking him with you to Saudi Arabia".

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 18 - The Age Difference

13th Day Since Shibly's arrival in Marudur. 

Saturday, Morning

Shibly couldn’t go back to his village this weekend. The principal had asked him to stay and work. Shibly had agreed. Even the new staff members had decided to stay in Marudur.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 17 - The Business Trip

Friday, Morning, 10.42 am. 

Shakira's phone was ringing. She had just now finished her lectures and was standing in the outside courtyard of the lecture hall.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel) - Chapter 16 : You will pay for this

It was Tuesday evening. In the partly constructed building upstairs of ‘Thajudeen Tea Store’, Minhaj finished his private tutorial class and got ready to leave.

The Sri Lankan Profession (Novel): Chapter 15 - “Cool water for my thirsty heart”

It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon. “Mammy, shall we visit Shakira’s house?” asked Hamdha, her mother. “Her father has been discharged from the hospital”.