My Muththi, my hero

If my grandfather had lived, he would have been 80 on March 15. He was ‘Muththi to us and Rupa Karunatilaka to the rest of the world.

Muththi was bor n in Niyagama, Talgaswela in the south of Sri Lanka. He was educated at Ananda Vidyalaya, Elpitiya, Mahinda College, Galle and later at Nalanda Vidyalaya, Colombo.

He entered Parliament in 1977 from the Bentara Elpitiya electorate. He was a cabinet Minister in t he UNP Government. Retiring from politics in 2000, he was assigned a diplomatic posting as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Even if he was busy with his work he would always make time for his family. I remember how Muththi used to have dinner every Friday with his six grandchildren. He would get us any type of food we wanted and during the holidays he would take us to his home in the village. A special quality I have seen in him is that he treated everyone the same. Many poor people came to meet him with their grievances and he tried to help them all.

It was a privilege to have lived so close to him; in the evenings I used to go and see him and was always greeted with a warm hug and kiss. Now it’s very lonely without him, and when I go to his home I cherish those memories and the times we spent together, his warm hugs and all those things which made him so special. It is hard to accept that he is no longer in our lives.

It’s a little unreal that it’s been one year and five months since he died.

Although he is not with us any more we will never forget him. We have him with us He will live in our hearts forever Since I was a child In all that I have been through You have always been my hero No one stood as tall as you. We miss you …………….. More than you could ever imagine. May you attain Nirvana

Your loving grand daughter

Sajini Edirisooriya