Funny Boy (9 page)

“Other people didn’t have a mother like mine or a father like yours.”

“I’m sure your mother is not as bad as you think. I know that my father will give in, despite all he has said.”

“Think about it,” he said after a moment. “If you really like me, together we can make our parents accept us.”

The waiter brought our bill at this moment and Anil took it from him. Radha Aunty protested but finally allowed him to pay for us.

As we left Green Cabin, I studied Radha Aunty and Anil. It was clear to me now that Anil wanted to marry Radha Aunty, but I couldn’t tell what she wanted. Besides, there was Rajan. How did he fit in?

When we got off the bus that evening and began to walk down Ramanaygam Road, I saw that Mala Aunty’s car was parked outside my grandparents’ gate, and my heart sank. As we neared the house, Radha Aunty gripped my hand tightly.

I had expected to find Ammachi and the aunts waiting for us in the garden or at least hear the sound of excited voices from the drawing room. Instead, a hush lay over the house and garden as if there was a funeral. The squeaking of the gate as we
opened it was loud in the stillness. Radha Aunty beckoned to me and we crept around the side of the house and entered by the kitchen.

Janaki saw us as we came in, and her eyes widened with apprehension. She looked towards the dining room and whispered, “They are at the table.”

Radha Aunty sighed. “How bad is it?” she asked Janaki.

Janaki made a face to show that it was not good.

Radha Aunty sighed again. “It was all so innocent, really. We were just having lunch together.”

Janaki didn’t say anything. After a moment, she went back to her work.

Radha Aunty left the kitchen and went into the main part of the house. At the sound of her footsteps in the corridor, Ammachi called out, “Who is that?”

“It’s me,” Radha Aunty said, unlocking her bedroom door.

“When did you come in?”

“Just now, through the back.”

“Like a thief,” Kanthi Aunty said.

Radha Aunty went inside her room without replying.

I remained out in the corridor. I heard the aunts and Ammachi discussing what they should do next. They decided to wait for her to join them at dinner. Janaki came out into the corridor and waved her hand, indicating for me to go to the dining room. When I entered, they all looked at me solemnly. I lowered my head and hurriedly took a seat next to Mala Aunty.

“Huh,” Kanthi Aunty said. “Imagine implicating a child and all.”

We heard Radha Aunty come out of her room.

“Now, Amma,” Mala Aunty cautioned. “Please remain calm. Nothing will be gained by shouting at her.”

Mala Aunty was a doctor, so her opinions were highly valued, even by Ammachi.

Radha Aunty came into the dining room briskly and took her seat. She looked around and smiled. “Well,” she said. “Here I am.”

They stared at her, nonplussed. She reached out and helped herself to some pittu.

“You think this is funny?” Ammachi said after a few moments. I could tell she was really trying to control herself.

“No,” she replied brightly. “I think it’s very serious.”

“Let’s see how serious it is when Amma puts an end to your acting in
The King and I
,” Kanthi Aunty said.

Radha Aunty paused and then put down the plate of pittu.

“Oh,” she said and waited.

“I’m going to call Doris this evening,” Ammachi said.

“Call,” Radha Aunty said. “I don’t give a damn.”

“Radha,” Mala Aunty appealed to her, “please!”

“What?” she said. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Haven’t done anything?” Ammachi cried, unable to control herself any longer. “You flaunt your illicit relations in public and you dare to say you haven’t done anything.”

“Illicit relations,” Radha Aunty said in an amused voice. “Honestly, Amma, you’d think I was a prostitute or something.”

Abruptly, Ammachi stood up, reached across the table, and slapped Radha Aunty.

We all gasped. Radha Aunty stared at Ammachi in astonishment, then her face crumpled and she began to cry. Ammachi sat down. Even she seemed a little shocked at what she had just done. I looked at my plate, but the sound of those agonized sobs prevented me from touching my food. Finally Radha Aunty became still. All the vivacity and spirit had gone out of her face.

“Now that you are calm, let me tell you what we plan to do,” Ammachi said, trying to sound stern again.

Radha Aunty turned her face away as if the sight of Ammachi was distasteful.

“We are sending you to Jaffna to stay with my cousin Nages. Hopefully, after a month you will come to your senses.”

Radha Aunty curled her lip in contempt. She pushed back her chair and stood up. Then, without a word, she left the dining room.

Once she had gone, the tension eased slightly.

“Really, Amma,” Mala Aunty said, “how could you?”

Ammachi said, “I did what was correct,” but she sounded unsure.

“To slap a grown woman like that. It was completely uncalled for.”

“I am a good mother and I challenge any of you to say otherwise.” Ammachi looked around the table, hoping someone would agree with her. No one said anything.

Mala Aunty got up and left the dining room. I heard her knocking on Radha Aunty’s door and calling out her name softly. Finally Radha Aunty opened the door.

I got up from the table.

“Where are you going?” Ammachi asked.

“To do pee pee,” I replied meekly.

She waved her hand, dismissing me. She couldn’t very well forbid me from using the toilet.

I hurried through the kitchen and into the side garden. I could hear the sound of voices as I approached Radha Aunty’s window. I stood under it and listened.

“She had no business to do that!” Radha Aunty cried.

“I know, I know,” Mala Aunty said softly.

“All this is ridiculous,” Radha Aunty said.

“Are you in love with this boy?” Mala Aunty asked after a moment.

“No … I don’t know,” Radha Aunty said. Then she laughed. “The funny thing is I never thought of him like that until Amma started to make a fuss. It was only after she went to speak to his parents that I began to see him differently.”

“So you are in love.”

Radha Aunty didn’t answer for a moment. “Until a few days ago I only thought of Rajan, but now I find myself thinking of Anil as well.”

Mala Aunty sighed. “It’ll never work.”

“But other Sinhalese and Tamil people get married.”

“I know,” Mala Aunty replied, “but they have their parents’ consent.”

“If two people love each other, the rest is unimportant.”

“No, it isn’t. Ultimately, you have to live in the real world. And without your family you are nothing.”

Radha Aunty was silent.

“And don’t forget,” Mala Aunty added, “things are getting worse between the Sinhalese and Tamils. These Tamil Tigers in Jaffna are very serious about a separate state. They’re determined to get this Eelam, even if they have to use violence to do it.”

“Rubbish,” Radha Aunty said, “utter rubbish. All this separation talk will come to nothing.”

“I hope you’re right,” Mala Aunty replied. “Otherwise, people in mixed marriages will find themselves in a terrible dilemma.”

Ammachi’s plan to keep Radha Aunty away from Anil received a setback when she phoned Aunty Doris. Aunty Doris refused to let Radha Aunty out of the play. “How can I find someone at this late date?” we heard her shouting over the phone. “You can’t let me down now.”

Finally, Ammachi had to give in and she and Aunty Doris reached a compromise. Radha Aunty would continue acting in
The King and I
and Appachi would drive her to and from rehearsals. In return, Aunty Doris would let Radha Aunty off for a few weeks so that Ammachi could send her to Jaffna.

The next rehearsal was for only the wives and children of the King of Siam, so Anil was not there. When we were leaving the hall after rehearsal, Aunty Doris called out to Radha Aunty to wait for her. She stood in the doorway as Aunty Doris collected her scripts and put them in her bag. By now the hall was
empty. Radha Aunty nudged me and pointed to Aunty Doris’s bag. I offered to carry it and she thanked me. She took Radha Aunty’s arm, and we began to walk slowly to the gate.

“So, what’s this I hear about you?” she said to Radha Aunty. Before Radha Aunty could speak, she continued, “Your mother was quite furious but I stuck to my guns.” She laughed conspiratorially.

Radha Aunty turned to look at her in surprise.

“Yes, my dear,” Aunty Doris said. “One less Siamese wife would have hardly affected the show.”

“Why, Aunty?” she asked after a moment.

Aunty Doris was silent. Then she said, “Because I want you to get to know this boy. To be sure you are making the right decision.” She turned to Radha Aunty. “Child, our families have been friends for a long time. I have known you since you were a baby.” She paused. “I want you to think about this carefully. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did.”

“But you and your husband …”

“Yes, we did fine. But sometimes I wonder. Paskaran was a lovely man. Kind and gentle and very handsome in his youth. We met on a ship, you know. He was returning from his studies in England and I, like any Burgher girl from a good family, was coming back from finishing school and a tour of Europe. I noticed him immediately. All the women did, even the British ones, although they pretended to be indifferent. Of course my father had a fit; called him a black Tamil bugger and everything. In those days, Burghers thought they were a cut above other Sri Lankans. His family was not too pleased either. With
a foreign education he was very eligible and could have got a Tamil girl with a big fat dowry. But in spite of all the fuss we married.”

Aunty Doris let go of Radha Aunty’s arm and they walked in silence for a moment. Then Aunty Doris continued. “My father never did forgive me and he forbade my mother and sisters to have anything to do with me. They emigrated to England without even telling me, left no address or anything. I was heartbroken, because I was very close to my mother and sisters.” She was silent again for a moment. “My mother passed away and I didn’t even know about it. Found out months later through a mutual friend. When my father finally died, my sisters and I were free to make contact again. But it was too late then. We had become strangers to each other. Now Paskaran is dead and I’m alone.” She shrugged. “Of course my sisters want me to come and settle in England with them. But what would I do there? I’m too old to start over again.… Anyway, this is my home. I am Sri Lankan.” She sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if it was all worth it in the end. To have made all those sacrifices. Life is a funny thing, you know. It goes on, whatever decisions you make. Ultimately you have children or don’t have children and then you grow old. Whether you married the person you loved or not seems to become less important as time passes. Sometimes I think that if I had gone to England with them maybe I would have met somebody else …” She clicked her tongue against her teeth and laughed. “Anyways, there’s no point in thinking about that – no?”

We had reached the gate, and Appachi was waiting for us in the car.

Aunty Doris took her bag from me. “These rehearsals are a good chance to make sure you really want to marry him. Promise me you’ll think about it carefully?”

Radha Aunty nodded.

On the way home that day, I found myself thinking about Aunty Doris’s story. I wondered what it would be like if I was forced to go away from Sonali or Amma for a long time, if I was only allowed to see them after many years had passed. Radha Aunty was staring out of the window, a brooding expression on her face. It was only then I realized that Aunty Doris’s story had been a warning to her of what the future might hold if she decided to marry Anil. Now it came to me that if she did marry Anil I would never see her again. This thought was unbearable. Radha Aunty had become a very important part of my life, she was my only friend. The thought of returning to being alone was terrible. I looked at Radha Aunty again and, for the first time, I saw that she was beautiful. Her dark skin and frizzy hair were attractive in their own way. She had noticed I was watching her and I took her hand.

In spite of the strict eye Ammachi kept on her, Radha Aunty still managed to see Anil outside of rehearsals. One of the times she met him was on my cousin Lakshmi’s birthday. Mala Aunty took all the cousins to the zoo that day, enlisting Janaki’s and Radha Aunty’s help to keep us under control.

Part of the zoo was built on a slope into which had been cut a number of terraces. As you descended the steps you could make little detours along the terraces to look at the animals in their various cages. When we got to the bottom, where the giant tortoises were, Radha Aunty grabbed my hand and said to Mala Aunty, “Our friend” – meaning me – “has to use the toilet.” She pressed my hand hard, warning me not to seem surprised.

“Oh dear, I guess he has to go,” Mala Aunty said, distressed at losing Radha Aunty’s help, even temporarily.

We climbed back up the steps until we were at the top, then we set out in the direction of the elephant-dance arena. Anil was waiting for us there. Radha Aunty bought me an ice palam and told me to sit in the arena and wait for her. She pressed some money into my hand so that I could buy some cashew nuts if I wished. I was there for quite a while and the arena had started to fill up for the next elephant dance when Radha Aunty returned. Anil was no longer with her. She hugged me and said, “You’re such a good boy, Arjie. I shall make you chief page boy at my wedding.”

I looked at her and knew that this time she was talking about her wedding to Anil and not to Rajan.

She took my hand and we hurried back to where we had said we would meet the other cousins.

We had been gone almost an hour and the cousins had grown quite unruly while waiting for us.

“Where have you been?” Mala Aunty cried out in annoyance.

“We got lost,” Radha Aunty said.

Mala Aunty stared at her and a look of alarm and suspicion crossed her face. “Hmmph,” she said and turned away to call the cousins, who were leaning dangerously close to the bear cage. As we began to walk around the zoo again, Radha Aunty whispered to Janaki, “Everything is set. When I come back from Jaffna we’re going to do it. I don’t care what his parents or my parents say.”