LALITHAS WRITING FROM 2009

INTRODUCTION
I am very happy to write this introduction for
this fifth book / Blog of mine containing my
creations in English and Tamil. I recently found
a prayer that I had written almost three decades
ago in 1987, which fits in here perfectly.
Dear Supreme Power That Is God,
Please guide and show me the way.
I am bursting with urge, the urge
to realise my full potential,
and feel fulfilled, content and happy.
I am afraid that I am getting nowhere and I
dont want to spend
my time doing nothing like this
when I can, and I do want
to accomplish so much in life.
Thank you very much for all what
you have given me so far I am most grateful
for every single one of your countless blessings
and am proud to be what I am today do please
continue to guide and help me, so that I shall be
as proud when the time arrives for me to step
across proud of myself and my
achievements.
1

My gratitude, praise and adoration to your

Divine Guidance for granting me the passion,
skill and opportunities and leading me to
successfully achieve more than what I longed
for in my spiritual as well as material life.
Lalitha Indranee Brodie
lalitha.brodie7@hotmail.com
Tel: 905 270 1214
Bilingual Writer, Tamil TV & ITR Radio
Broadcaster www.itr.fm
Blog: www.lalithabrodie.weebly.com
Artist, Counselor & Pranic Healer
PREFACE
Lalitha was born in Sri Lanka eightythree years
ago, where she grew up in a traditional family.
She then entered into an arranged marriage and
raised five children. Yet she has made many
extraordinary transitions in her life and truly
exemplifies the idea of "metamorphosis".
Lalitha has become a modern, open minded,
adventurous woman. Above all, she is
determined to express herself, no matter what
the obstacles. She has manifested her talents,
and they are many. I know her best through her
2

writing ability that she capably demonstrates in

our Older Women's Network Writers Group.
She is a naturally fluent, poetic writer. As she
says, "Writing comes easily as words simply
tumble forth pell-mell when I start typing on my
computer in English or write in Tamil."
While much of her writing addresses political
and spiritual global issues, she also has a
delightful knack of remembering small details
of her childhood: "The lovely smell of fresh cut
mounds of golden hay drawn home in carts by
trotting bulls with tinkling bells from fields."
She is philosophical and reflective:
"Aren't we all artists busy painting our own
pictures on the vast canvas of the universe?"
My instinct confirms the presence of God
like the pervasive power of the unseen wind.
She also comes back repeatedly to her
prolonged spiritual search.
Lalitha is well aware of
the "insatiable ego" and says
"Desires of our untamed mind run wild,
breaking every rein and bridle to gallop free."
Still she brings to life an acceptance. Despite
challenges ("my flesh is now faltering") as well
3

as losses in life, she does not look back with

bitterness, but appreciates and is grateful for
what is. "I prefer to look at all the positives that
are evident, as there is never good without bad,
or light without darkness." Lalitha's writings
show her struggle between accepting what is,
and her anguish over "My people languishing in
camps in Sri Lanka." Still she comes back to
the simple appreciation of the beauty of the
past: "When I cultivated my own carnations on
estates in the tea carpeted verdant hills" and
remembers: "The famous honey laden Kurinji
flower blooms only once every twelve years. It
blossomed in 1970 in the Agrapatna hills, the
bees building hives all over our balcony and
workers jungle trekked to collect honey."
Our fellow writer Wendy Ounpuu once told
Lalitha "You are a pioneer". Laitha looked up
the actual dictionary meaning: "An explorer, an
originator, a leader who prepares a way for
others to advance." That describes Lalitha very
well. She has always been forward looking,
embracing the internet and social media, and
even now is urging us on, saying, "Let's start a
blog for the writers group". It's hard to keep up
with Lalitha!
Lalitha takes Wheel Trans to come to our
group, an effort that can take hours. She wrote a
4

beautiful story based on her observations in

transit. Despite the difficulty of attending, she
appears determined to come and we appreciate
her for that effort.
Aside from her writing of course, Lalitha is a
noted Tamil broadcaster, a counselor, and she
has artistic ability. She has great energy and
enthusiasm, and she finds that her spiritual path
sustains her as she explores new avenues
fearlessly. Who else but Lalitha, after
publishing several books, would be ready to
launch a blog at 81? I sincerely admire Lalitha
and am grateful to know her.
Shawne Macdonald M.S.W
Facilitator, "In Our Own Words" Writing Group
The Older Women's Network
PRELUDE
Lalitha is a member of our Older Womens
Network Writers' Group. She is a Canadian
award-winning writer who has been in Canada
for almost 25 years. Born and educated in
Jaffna, Sri Lanka, her work has not only been
published in book form, she also still goes on
the air and broadcasts over ITR - International

Tamil Radio. It includes poetry as well as prose,

written in Tamil.
Her productive life embraces her role as mother
as well as that of a bi-lingual writer as she has
five children, eleven grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
Although raised in the Hindu faith, Lalitha
continues her spiritual search for what she
believes to be the Truth. She has travelled
extensively, sharing some of her experiences on
Tamil radio as well as through the printed
word.
Its five years since Lalitha joined our writers
Group, contributingher ownview of the
world.Both as a person and as a writer,
Lalithasinput s always unique andher ability to
shareher perspectiveprovides our group with
itsown special flavor.
Not forgetting
Lalithashospitality that provides our group with
tasty morsels to eat as well as her own words to
ponder on.
Ann Farrell
Ann Farrell, 92, has been a wruter for much of
her life starting in 1941 in the London office of
The Calcutta Statesman as a trainee reporter.
6

After serving as a radar operator during World

War 2, she worked as a reporter in England and
Germany before emigrating to Canada in 1949.
In Canada, she worked as reporter and editor in
British Columbia , Ontario, and New
Brunswick with nine years on the Toronto Star.
She has published ( Fitzhenry &Whiteside) a
biography of the CCF/NDP federal politician
Grace MacInnis and her memoirs with a New
Brunswick publisher - contact
peace2you@hotmail.com for details. Her poems
have appeared in several editions of The
National Library of Poetry. Mother of five
children and grandmother to six, along with
several other positions. Ann Farrell has been
chair of The Older Womens Network and of the
board of the OWN Co-op, where now she lives
in downtown Toronto.

FORWARD
LALITHA BRODIE THE LADY WITH
THE PEN
My acquaintance with Lalitha goes back nearly
20 years. I met her in Toronto for the first time
at Radio Asia, at a program recording, if my
7

memory is correct. She may remember this

incident vividly, since she has a very powerful
memory even at her age. She is a woman of
many talents and skills. This collection of her
articles and poems reveals her creative ability,
the smooth flow of words, her versatility and in
depth knowledge in English. I have a feeling
that she is a born writer with blessings from the
Creator. Some are born rich and some become
rich by their hard work and determination. She
belongs to the first category, endowed with rich
talents and skills for writing. I really admire her
choice of words in English and Tamil. She has
developed a rare talent for close observation of
things and events around her and remembers
them vividly even at her age. Maybe this is
possible because of her constant spiritual search
and meditation. As per our elders, meditation
helps our mind in clear thinking power and
creative ability. So there is no doubt that Lalitha
is empowered with all these abilities and skills.
I am amazed at her will power to move around
the city, attend meetings, weddings other
ceremonies and birthdays, not only of her
relatives but also of her friends despite her
infirmities. The vivid descriptions of her
childhood days in Srilanka in her memoirs,
bring nostalgic memories of my own childhood
days. Even though she is older than me by a few
8

years, the experiences she had are very similar,

since she lived just a few miles east of my
hometown Columbuthurai west. She had her
early Tamil education at the same school where
I studied. This school presently known as
Columbuthurai Hindu Mahavidyalam is right in
front of our famous Guru Sivayoga Swamigal's
Ashram. I still remember him with his white,
flowing beard and vesdhdi standing in front of
the gate of his abode, looking into our eyes,
which we feared to look at. This I feel was his
way of blessing some of us. Lalitha later joined
Chundikuli Girls College for her secondary
education and I joined St.John's College Jaffna.
Lalthas poems and essays of various subjects
reveal her lucid thinking and a peaceful mind,
filled with love and kindness. A peaceful mind
could produce excellent and worth while
literary works. She is a classic example. She
has the uncanny ability to write in Tamil and
English, which is slowly declining in our
community. The present generation is not
paying attention to learnTamil, their mother
tongue. We Tamils have a very ancient and rich
tradition of literature dating back to over five
thousand years, older than many world
languages. Lalitha is a social worker, counselor,
pranic healer and a Tamil broadcaster. I am sure
that many members of our community, who
9

received her help in overcoming their

challenges will bear testimony to her
volunteerism. She has received many awards
and accolades for her volunteer and literary
works. This collection of her writings since
2009 reveals a high standard of writing and her
vast knowledge.
I wish her well in her future endeavors and pray
to the Almighty to bless her with good health
and longevity.
Sivanesan Sinniah (Thuraiyuraan).
Bi-lingual Wrriter, Emeritus Principal Kopay
Christian College, Jaffna Sri-Lanka, Retired
School Community Advisor Toronto District
School Board
FOREWARD
MY FRIEND LALITHA BRODIE
I feel I know Lalitha from my heart. Its been
nearly twenty years now that weve shared our
writing and poetry with each other mine in
English, hers in both English and Tamil. I think
our writing has changed and progressed as we
have worked together on it. We are almost
exactly the same age and do share many of the
10

same physical problems which is one of the

liabilities of our being near to the end of our
eighth decade, but we both keep going. Our
minds seem not to have clouded so far.
Lalitha had five children, raised them, is a
grandmother to eleven, a greatgrandmother too
to seven and is now a widow. She has travelled
all over the world in her passionate search for
the Truth. Meanwhile, she settled in Canada,
which was a bonus for our country, but one can
tell from her writing that she still loves and
misses her native Sri Lanka.
Lalitha is multitalented having worked as an
artist, a published writer in Tamil and English, a
counsellor and Tamil Telcaster / Broadcaster on
a Tamil radio weekly call-in programme on
Radio Asia / Internationl Tamil Radio for over
twenty years. All this she did after finishing her
lifes obligation of family responsibilities. She
remains modern in her thought I believe. In the
year 2000, the Ontario Government conferred
an award to her for her extensive volunteer
social work.
She has also, in the past few years, investigated
her spirituality with her usual passion and still
continues to do so to this day. I feel Lalitha is
truly a member of the cultural mosaic of Canada

11

and in so being enriches us all. I am honoured

to count her as my friend.
Wendy Ounpuu
8.10.2013
Wendy Ounpu retired from nursing early and is
a well-recognized Fabric Artist, Poet/Writer, an
ardent member of The First Unitarian Assembly
Church and is an active volunteer in the
community.

12

TABLE OF CONTENT
1. AFFIRMATION
2. GOD
3. LALITHA
4. BEGINNINGS
5. PEACE
6. FATHER
7. MOTHER
8. MORALS
9. DEMAND
10. BEAUTY
11. THE REAPER
12. WANT
13. DEPENDENT 1 & 2
14. DOORS
15. REGRET
16. READING
17. DEMAND
18. BEDS
19. COMPUTERS
20. PIONEER
21. ARTISTS
22. BOARDING SCHOOL
23. WORLD
24. SCHOOL
25. TRADITION
13

26. VIGNETTES
27. CHASTITY
28. DILEMMA
29. ACCIDENT
30. CONFESSION
31. WAITING
32. SAILING
33. DR.RAJINI THIRANAGAMA
34. THANKS TTC EMPLOYEES
35.. MY LIFE
36. OUVAHKELLIE
37. SHANTHIHAM
38. FAREWELL RAJAH
39. THE STORY OF TAMILS
40. KARMA
41. FAREWELL CHANDRA
42. THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE.
43. CHANGE
44. LOSS
45. WHEELTRANS
46. LANGUAGE
47. COMFORT
48. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
49. REFLECTIONS
50. ADDICTION
51. MY BIRTHDAY PARTY
52. SPRINKLES
53. SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF MY LIFE
54. COMPASSION
55. SELF PITY
14

56. EUTHANASIA
57. CELEBRATION OF LIFE- CHANDRA
58. CELEBRATON OF LIFE - RAJAH
59. MUSINGS
60. CELEBRATION OF LIFE- LEELA
61. EIGHT DECADES
62. FRIENDS
63. REFUGEES
64. BHARATHANATYAM
65. INSPIRATIONAL MOTHER AWARD
66. SEXUAL ABUSE & INCEST
67. SAVING LIVES

1. AFFIRMATION
As a spiritual seeker, though Hindu by birth, I
delved into
Several faiths and religions
15

and my instinct confirms the presence of God,

like the pervasive power of the unseen wind.
Man-made religions, surging rivers seeking
to merge into the common sea of bliss,
The Divine, that One Omnipotent Power
that is God who so skillfully orchestrates
this vast kaleidoscope of the whole cosmos
with such precision and glorious grandeur
and I realize that I too am a tiny part
of that magnificent Whole. I have no
name or form for my creator now and
believe that when in tune, God's power
and grace always envelops and guides me.
However, I cannot understand why my
people languishing in camps in Sri Lanka
along with similar others worldwide,
continue to be oppressed by heartless Powers?
Even if it is karma, surely there
should be some peace with justice!
Where is Almighty God? How can
He/She permit such atrocities?
I know some atheists who are most caring
and lead exemplary lives.
At times this makes me ponder whether
I am just blindly following the flock with my
belief
in the existence of the Power that is God!
16

But when I retrospect and scan my life,

memory pictures flash forth,
vivid as ever in my minds eye. . .
From age 26 to 46, twenty years of Venus rule
-Velli Thisai-in my horoscope did elevate,
bestowing me with a better life on Demodera
Group,
the 3000 acre largest tea estate in Sri Lanka.
My daughter married well, our sons went
abroad
one by one, my burdens were eased
and material me,
miraculously gained free access to books
quite unexpectedly in the seventies,
to nurture my spirituality which led
to the first of my nine Sai Baba Puttaparthi
pilgrimages
when we were quite broke!
On another trip, I lost my handbag with
all essentials,
help arrived from every corner,
restoring my confidence and faith in God.
However, I could not still my mind to meditate
though I tried so hard, but in 1983
started my trek with the mantra of Mahesh
Yogi's
TM meditation. I who loved meat
and fish became a total vegetarian,
17

broke all rules and tasted different

methods of meditation.
As I progressed, I received all what
I needed and could always feel
God's guiding hand on my shoulder.
I almost died and was unconscious for three
days
in the Colombo Accident Ward Intensive
Care with
swollen head, arm plus eight ribs fractured
and a collapsed lung, when a minivan
knocked me down at a crossing in 1991,
but I did arise with all my faculties intact!
From 1992 in Canada, I grasped opportunities,
broadened my vistas and am grateful to be
what I am today. Though I am five inches
shorter with severe osteoporosis,
a crooked spine with both shoulders
and wrists fractured, I have minimal pain,
my mind is sharp and I still manage
to cope pretty well at seventy-five!
I am ashamed of my floundering fickle faith
and this reluctance to accept life
as it unfolds around me
that from time to time, I seem
to need this affirmation
that the You do exist
18

and reign supreme my dear God!

October 2009

2. GOD
Ancients first thought God was the elements,
then nature
and worshipped Him through fear, but
concepts of God
are so different now. Atheists contend that God
is absolutely
non-existent, and question why God permits all
the violent
atrocities if He is so powerful. Nobody knows
the answers
so they maintain the universe evolved from the
Big Bang.
However,born a Hindu andith conditioned at a
Christian College,
I daily marvel at how great that One
Omnipotent Power
called God must be, to orchestrate the vast
kaleidoscope
of this universe with such precision and
glorious grandeur,

19

to know and weave together the intricacies of

every single
thing in creation, and thus reign uncontested
and supreme.
Instinct confirms God's presence like the unseen
wind,
while religions contest each other like surging
rivers
seeking to merge into the sea of the Divine. I
have my
questions too about the mysteries of life and
creation.
Who am I? From where do I come, why am I
here now
and why is the purpose and goal of life so
obscure?
Surely we are not born with all our faculties to
only eat,
drink, make merry, amass wealth, then wither
and die?
At the last lap of my life now, I too have
changed a lot.
Recent emergence of the negative sides of holy
Gurus
has shaken the foundation of faith of devotees
worldwide.
However, I prefer to look at all the positives
that are evident

20

as there is never good without bad or light

without darkness.
My God now has no name or form, but is a
Universal Power
with whom I daily commune without asking for
anything.
I am aware, have learned to accept life as it
unfolds, and feel
His/Her help to fulfill my passion to help others
as best as I can.
I am content, fear vanished and I hold my head
high with elation !
July 13, 2011

21

3. LALITHA
I am grateful that I Lalitha, with just a Grade
Ten education, grasped opportunities to blossom
to become all that I am today. My parents
V.A.Nadarajah and Nallammah ( Saras), eldest
first cousin neighbors in Ariyalai, Jaffna, Sri
Lanka fell in love, married and had me, their
first-born ten pound baby in 1934, followed
by Chandra, Ranji and Leela. Audit
Superintendent Nadarajah, gave up university
education after a disagreement with his father
and started as a clerk shouldering the burden of
my mothers widowed mother and six siblings.
Appah* worked in Colombo while
ammah* lived with granny Sinnammah
Nagalingam, so they met only during appahs
fleeting monthly visits. They were an
exceptionally devoted couple and I never saw
them having cross words. Ammah was the boss
and openly favored Chandra who helped her
with housework, while I just curled up and read
away voraciously!
I remember my carefree childhood with
Chandra in Grannys cozy thatched three piece
mud house, petted and pampered by ammahs
22

siblings. When we heard the morning mail train

puff and coo, we raced to collect the candy
Appah threw from the train. Once, a train spark
ignited a blaze burning down a thatched house
in minutes as we watched awestruck! We lived
well, not missing electricity, piped-water, a
fridge, radio etc. People drew water from their
own twenty foot deep wells with the now
extinct coconut palm well-sweeps*and had
paddy-fields, cows, goats and poultry.
Everyone walked. There were very few
bicycles on the roads but no girls rode them.
The rickshaws, bullock-carts, Austin hiring cars
and infrequent buses were soon outnumbered by
truckloads of mainly African soldiers during
The Second World war 1939 - 1945.
The war brought occasional
airplanes to our empty skies, black-outs,
rationing of food and fuel, and introduced
wheat-flour into our staple rice only diet. We
were wary, but didnt suffer any major
calamities, although bunkers were cut, where
we played house along with mango seed
hopscotch! The rope swing from the mango tree
for every child. Heaps of white sand heaped in
the courtyard in every home. The lovely scent
of fresh cut mounds of golden hay drawn home.
in carts, by trotting bulls with tinkling bells

23

from paddy fields, for us to tumble in and play,

before heaped as fodder for cattle.
The fun we had with playmates cooking rice,
curry and pittu with twig firewood and real fire
in small earthen pots and pans in the tiny hut
appa h made for us under the large neem tree.
How, stick in hand, we watched over the hen
proudly strutting her chicks around, when
sometimes a hovering kite would surprise us,
suddenly swooping down from the sky to fly
away with a squeaking chick. The daily visit of
our fishmonger friend Valli, the bicycle bell of
the Sinhalese baker, the regular visits of the
sesame oil vendor, the sewing machine master
and the metal craftsmen who mended worn out
metal pots and pans with an inside coating. The
now extinct annual goat sacrifice at the Amman
temple along with the ancient folklore
Nartukoothu.
The smell of the first rainfall, on thirsty ground
after nine months of drought. The speeding
flood waters during the three month monsoon
from October. My pup Top and kid-goat always
trailing behind me, all the fresh eggs, milk and
curd we daily enjoyed. Uncle Thurairajahs
daily ritual at dusk lighting kerosene hurricane
and hand lamps. How we sat every other day
chatting in a circle after dinner listening to
24

lilting gramophone melodies, and split fresh-cut

stiff fronds from tall palmyrah palms, so
relished by our cows and goats. Trips in hired
cars to watch black and white films like
Prahalada and Thiruneelakandar were indeed
rare treats!
I was lucky that my skills were stimulated early
at age three, when I joined uncle Gunaratnam,
teacher at Parwathy Vidhyasalai Tamil school
near the Ariyalai Hindu Pillaiyar Temple. I
studied Grade Four and Five Tamil at The
Columbuthurai Chettiatheru School too and
these institutions instilled piety and love of
Tamil language amidst our youth. This passion
now consumes me and also burns bright
globally, in hearts of most students. I recall the
kind faces of my teachers, except for one who
believed in not sparing the rod! After Grade
five, when I was nine, I joined Grade three at
Chundikuli Girls' College to learn in English in
1943. I first went by rickshaw barefoot Suppan
racing, later walked barefoot myself and then
went by school bus. We shifted to our new
spacious upstairs house Appah built nearer
College in 1946.
Come August and it was temple
festival time in Jaffna. Appah, took us on
temple pilgrimages which were like picnics,
25

with the breakfast earthen chatty (pan) of kali

and mangoes! I recollect our annual,
dawn bullock cart ride to worship at Madduvil
temple with the big drums and sweet rice. Oh!
How lovely it was, to cross the choppy sea on a
sail boat to worship our beloved deity at her
chariot festival at Nainathevu island,
staying overnight with friends, comparing how
lucky we were, to live so comfortably in the
mainland!
How Ammah hurried us to don long skirts,
silver/gold waist-bands then in fashion, gold
jewels, a definite must at that time, as people
would borrow a chain from someone rather than
go with a bare neck! We joined the swarming
crowds at the temple, and met everyone at these
carnival-like festivals, to mingle, chat, shop,
enjoy listening to spiritual speeches, songs and
the occasional female dancers from India.
Very few women worked outside homes, but
shopped at the market daily, while menbought
fish fresh from the lagoon. Thaipongal, New
Year and Deepavali festivals were joyfully
celebrated with new clothes and special
sweetmeats. I recall the popular New Year
Sports Meets / Fancy Dress Parades at the
Community Centre followed by open air theatre
stage shows loudspeakers blaring, with
26

nostalgia. We sat on the sand and watched

programs spellbound till morning!
Out of the blue in 1951 came an arranged
marriage and love to me. I married Tea Planter
Rajah Brodie before I was eighteen. We started
a comfortable life first on Panilkande Estate
Deniyaya and then on Rajah's father's small tea
estate down South in Pitabeddara near
Akuressa. After the first communal troubles in
1958, the family Rajah Estate was handed over
to be managed by a British Company Whittal
Bousteads, who gave Rajah and an excellent job
on Demodera Group, the 3500 acre largest tea
estate in Sri Lanka. We lived in palatial
bungalows then with all amenities - we had an
estate car with a chauffer, free petrol ( but with
with no leave which restricted travel ), four
servants allowances and were transferred
around and worked on several large estates in
the central hill country for thirty years.
Rajah and I are absolute opposites like the
North and South poles, but traditional culture
helped me to accept, fall head over heels in love
and I managed to carry on. Family-planning
was, unknown those days and I had five
children in quick succession within nine years!
Of-course I never appreciated it then, and
longed for unbroken sleep, rest and leisure.
27

Only later did I realize how lucky I am to be

thus blest with this gift of five fine children and
what a precious time of giving it was, as those
years were definitely some of my best.
Estate life was excellent, but children had to go
to boarding schools from Grade One which both
they and I resented. Rajah did very well and in
1964, like the British planters we too
enjoyed four months paid furlough leave with a
first class sea passage to London, the high
watermark of my material life. I won the second
prize at the Fancydress competition of 1000
First class passengers dressed as an Indian
dancer and people did not believe that Iwas
thirty and had five children! We joined
Sinhalese friends Jagathsena and Srini, toured
the continent by car for a month and had a
wonderful holiday driving through Paris,
Germany, Switzerland, Rome, The Vatican and
Venice in Italy! We cooked rice and curry on
two tiny stoves near roadside taps and really
enjoyed ourselves.
On swift wings flew time. Daughter Nirmala
married surgeon Dr.Ganesh, our four boys
went to UK and USA for higher education and
qualified. We built two large houses and retired
to Jaffna in 1983 to run Brodie Guest House for
tourists, till the internal Ethnic conflict started.
28

I then started volunteer social service, was

elected President, Mothers Front Chundikuli
and The Selva Refugee Camp. We started the
Jaffna Jaipur Artificial Foot Project to help
landmine victims with the help of Colombo
Friend In Need Society. I joined Professionals
and was a Founder member to start
Shanthiham Counseling Centre where I gained a
Diploma in Psychological Counseling.
I hate war and violence as I have lived
amidst its terror! Life for life! Limb for limb!
Eye for eye the opponents continue to cry! Will
the conflict never cease till everyone turns
cripple or blind? While wailing for their lost
sons, they gloat over victory, after killing
similar sons of the other! Running into bunkers
escaping aerial bombings and shellings, hiding
under beds to avoid wall-pelting gunfire from
soldiers, who herded us 10 000 civilians into a
school as refugee prisoners for a week. We had
a horrible time surrounded by the stench of
rotting corpses till they permitted the burning of
those bodies! These frightening experiences
reveal that we can endure anything when the
need arises - otherwise how did we manage to
cope without power, fuel, and forty other
essentials prohibited by the Government during
those days?

29

Benefactor Canada welcomed us as

Landed Immigrants in 1992. This new climate
and lifestyle were so different from our earlier
challenges. Rajah, found work only as security
guard and I couldnt get a job at all. However I
became the first Asian volunteer at Humber
River Regional Hospital in 1992. I was a
Support Counselor in 1993 under
Professor/Psychiatrist Dr.Ted Lo in the Mental
Health Multicultural Program at this hospital
and counseled Tamil clients till the program was
scrapped due to lack of funds.
In 1994 Music Maestro Konesh, invited me into
Radio Asia / International Tamil Radio, where I
learned TV & Radio program production and
started broadcasting my weekly two hour TalkShows. The Trillium Foundation and The
Womens Directorate gave our Radio Asia /
Asian Multicultural Centrum grants of $ 15
000 for my history creating first ever
Tamil Health Digest with Psychiatrist
Dr.Sooriyapalan and $ 10 000 for Violence
Against Women Tamil Radio Programs in the
early nineties.
Born a Hindu, I am a Sai Baba devotee from
1972, my God now has no name or form and I
accept all religions as surging rivers seeking to
merge in the sea of bliss, The Divine.. Daily
30

meditation from 1983 has helped me to pave my

own path with help from spiritual teachers SriVasudeva, Guru-Maharaji, Yogi-Satyam and
Pranic Healing Master Choa-Kok-Sui. .
I am grateful that Rajah and I celebrated sixtythree years of marriage recently and it is a
blessing that Rajah passed away peacefully at
home on 25.1.2013 a few months before his
90th birthday without any suffering.
I am also grateful to The Senior Tamil Centre,
Older Womens Network and The Tamil Media
for their encouragement and support. It is
rewarding that I am now a recognized Tamil
Broadcaster - www.itr.fm ( Saturdays 6.00
6.30 pm ), Published Bi-lingual writer PEACE
WITH JUSTICE, METAMORPHOSIS written
along with three Canadian OWN writers, My
third book in English is in my Blog
www.lalithabrodie.weebly.com along with my
Tamil book on Personal Growth AALUMAI
VALARCHIKKU PIRAARTHANAIKAL
which is being serialized in
www.vlambaram.com from 2006.
The 2004 Sri-Lankan Tsunami attracted global
empathy, which seemed to create empathy
between the Sinhalese and Tamil opponents in
the thirty year internal conflict.. Unfortunately
31

the situation deteriorated and climaxed in 2009

when the Sri Lankan Government annihilated
the leaders and Tamil Freedom Fighters along
with well over 100 000 thousand innocent
civilians.
My goal is Global Peace With Justice and
I passionately focus all my efforts on attaining
it. How constructive it would be if Schools
Worldwide inculcate Education In Human
Values in their agendas - Love, Truth, Rightconduct, Non-violence and Peace - to aid
Personal Growth and raise individual selfesteem. This would dispel the need for violence
to exert power over others in order to feel
happy. It will be great if everyone starts
nurturing Individual Personal Growth from
childhood as that is definitely the best
foundation to eradicate all negativity and
violence, help to create healthy families,
progressive communities, united nations and a
harmonious humanity.
*Appah - Father
*Ammah - Mother
* Well-sweep - A coconut palm suspended seesaw like near well to help draw water easily.
Lalitha Indrannee Brodie

32

Bi-lingual Writer, Tamil TV & ITR Radio

Broadcaster,
Psychological Counselor, Artist, Pranic Healer
Lalitha.brodie7@hotmail.com
Blog: www.lalthabrodie.weebly.com
Tel: 905 270 1214/ 416 907 6897

4. BEGINNING
Voratious reading
filled my mind up
with words, which
tumble out pell-mell
when I begin to write!
Everything we know
has a beginning
and an end with
a dash in-between
Life - Birth - Death
33

What matters most

is what happens
iin the dash in-between
one's birth and death!

5. PEACE
Hi Peace! You elusive peace!
Where? Oh where are you?
Everyone talks about you,
the hottest topic worldwide.
Along with Global Awareness day,
The Dalai Lama talks World Peace
this Fall 2010 in Multicultural Toronto
and here I am, adding my thoughts too.
Ever since I can remember,
and more so these last twenty years
in Canada, I have always endeavored
to spread love, harmony and peace
everywhere through bi-lingual written
and spoken words to the best of my ability . . .
Beloved Peace! We seek and yearn for you!
Why are you so difficult to find?
Is it because you want to first ensure
that everyone of us should change,
look within and learn to be at peace
34

with our very own turbulent selves?

Innocent babies are peace personified
beings, born embodying the eternal
human values, Love, Truth Right-Conduct,
and Non-Violence which beget Peace.
However, slowly things do start to change
and go awry. Our ego of the me and the mine
plus the insatiable desires of our fickle minds
instigate every individual to ignore
and neglect the eternal spirit, pamper
only the transient body and every whim
of the restless mind and emotions.
We spend so much of time, energy and money
on the Olympics and the Nobel Prize
to encourage, recognize, admire and applaud
excellence of the body and the mind
without placing any ceiling on our desires,
while sadly neglected, pines the spirit . . .
Negative thoughts when un-harnessed
spawn negative emotions and actions.
Seeking selfish pleasure, money,
material possessions and power have
become the one and only goal of life
of every single human being. Sin multiplied,
righteousness declined, evil prospered
and now we are daily confronted with the
result as the negative holocausts of envy,
malice, anger, hatred, robbery, rape,
35

revenge, murder and war, that roam

hand in hand inside every single human heart
and despite every possible precaution
no place in the world seems safe now,
The multi-media tries to hurdle censorship
to report the un-ending headline holocausts.
We gasp in horror only for the moment
manage to don masks, push our feelings aside
and uncaring continue, trying to cope
with the trivialities of our own selfish lives.
It is said,"Though it may not be clear to you,
the world is unfolding as it should".
But is it really? It is indeed frightening
to see this lack of unconditional love,
genuineness, empathy and two-way
communication in all manners of
human relationships and the futile
misery of endless wars and destruction
that plague and torment our globe today!
What can and what should everyone of us do
to prevent the birth, growth and spread
of this traumatic terror that is violence?
If we can only introvert, become aware,
accept, rectify our mistakes and ensure
that our spirit, mind and body are nurtured
simultaneously from childhood to grow
and blossom together in balanced harmony
will not that be the first step to ensure
36

that even at this stage, all the misery

besetting human life and relationships
will vanish and peace and joy
on earth will prevail once again?
I wish to reiterate that self analysis, awareness
and change to boost the basic human values
Love, Truth, Right Conduct, Non-Violence
and Peace will aid everyone's personal growth,
raise individual self esteem, which will in turn
dispel the need for abuse and violence to exert
power and control over the other, to feel
content.
I feel that nurturing Individual Personal Growth
from childhood in every home and school
curriculum,
is the best way to build a solid foundation
to eradicate all negativity and help to
universally create joyous individuals,
healthy families, progressive communities,
united nations and a harmonious humanity.
October 2010

37

6. FATHER
A father is really God personified
who always provides and protects
just like our heavenly Father.
Your father may not be all
what you wanted him to be
but remember to always love
and be grateful to your father,
whether or not he said and did
all the right things at the right times,
and gave you all what you wanted.
Whether or not he spent the right
amount of time and energy with you.
and treated you and siblings as you
wished, without any favoration.
Learn to accept your father as he is,
as you cannot change him and also
learn to forgive him and forgive yourself
too, for holding judgements against him,
as these are those heartfelt feelings
that cause all your guilt and pain
in your relationship with him.
Please be kind to him when he is old
and feeble. Show him your love and care
with empathy every day, and not just
only on Father's Day with a card or call!
38

June 2012

7. MOTHER
A mother is like no other
and precious motherhood
is sacred beyond measure.
It is the greatest gift given
to women, as they almost
become one with the
One Omnipotent Power
that is God, when they
actively participate
in that marvelous miracle
so unselfishly, with care
and unconditional love,
wholeheartedly giving of their
39

body, mind and spirit during

those tedious nine long months
with such joy, to create their
very own brand new baby!
A mother's love shines bright
universally amidst all forms in sight
be it reptile, bird, animal or mite,
and it is the most precious thing in life.
Oh come! Dear friends, one and all
Let us be grateful to our mothers
and instead of only yearly on Mothers Day
learn to love and celebrate them every day.
May 7, 2012
8. MORALS
Living with ethical morals is the basis
for contentment and joy in life. It is essential
that every individual learns from childhood, to
observe the basic human values. Elders should
lead exemplery lives so that children can follow
suit, but this is more easily said than
done. Several Spiritual Organizations
worldwide, teach these ethics every weekend
and it will be great if all countries make this
study of human values compulsory, to make
morality a lifelong habit.
40

I have always tried to live truthfully from

childhood. When I realized that it is a sin to
kill, I became a vegetarian, but my father
coaxed me to give it up. I became a total
vegetarian again my from my fifties for
twentythree years 1983 - 2006, but I am again
unashamedly enjoying non-veg food these
lasr few years making me wonder whether I am
morally sliding down!
In 1943 when I was nine, I joined Special Class
Grade 3 to study in English at Chundikuli Girls
College Sri Lanka. Our Class teacher Miss
Saraswatht Walton, a maestro in Maths and
English, ( Later The famous Principal
Mrs.G.E.S.Chelliah ) skillfully imparted her
love for these two subjects to us. She made us
read our good essays out to class to encourage
us and I remember reading several of my
essays out with nostalgia.. However Maths was
my Achilles heel and I always had to struggle to
get pass marks.
Once I did not know how to correct a sum that I
had got wrong in the monthly test. My
neighbour had got it correct, so I copied
her sum wholesale and took it up for
correction. Miss Walton looked at it and was
furious, as my answer was correct, but the steps
41

were all wrong - she shouted at me, "How did

you get this answer"? She wrote, "This is what
you call Dishonesty! Deceit!', across the page
of my excercise book. Flabbergasted at this
unexpected turn of events, I ran back crying and
put my head down on my desk. Later friends
explained to Miss Walton what had transpired
and she warned us both not to do this again.
I feel that this was a real blessing in disguise as
after that I always tried to be truthful and
live with high morals. I tried to
always synchronize my thought, word and deed
and my younger sister Chandra used
to reprimand me, "As soon as you think of
something has it got to pop out of your mouth at
once? But I continued, my inside and outside
always matched and I am happy I made this a
lifelong habit of mine. I believe that it is
this habit of mine, that attracted so many
positive opportunities to come my way, which I
gratefully grasped to blossom out to become
who I am now. I am just a Grade 10 educated
Great-grandmother, who utilised opportunities
to move forward to become all what I am today
- Bi-lingual writer, Counselor, Volunteer Social
worker, Tamil TV & ITR Radio Broadcaster.
Reading voraciously in both English and Tamil
from childhood sharpened my intellect and
widened my horizons. A steady torrent of words
42

flows out easily, when I sit down to write or to

broadcast my weekly two hour ITR
International Tamil Radio Talk Shows.
April 2012

9. DEMAND
Our Eastern culture, conditions us to feel
that we are so lucky to be thus blessed,
with more than what we will ever need.
So why fan our desire for more and more
as we cannot take anything with us at death?
Desires of our untamed mind running wild,
breaking every rein and bridle to gallop free,
demanding this or that at every whim and fancy,
without placing a ceiling to curb our thoughts
I believe, are the reasons which precipitate
so many different types of conflicts and wars,
that destroy peace to plague our life today.
It is the insatiable ego of the me and the mine
without empathy, thinking only of the victory
that starts the revenge seeking conflict
that continues demanding the eternal tit for tat.
However see what is happening now?
43

The Channel Four 2 Broadcast, documents

the pathetic plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka again,
making me bristle with anger and dismay!
Forgetting principles, I join Tamils world-wide
to demand in anguish, "Justice! Where are you?
Why is the world still so silent when Tamils
continue to suffer so much as refugees
in their own land and crowded State camps,
even after the war ended two years ago.
Thousands of innocent children and adult
civilians have been killed or still missing
and are not accounted for! Who will heal
the trauma and pain of those left behind
all injured and broken physically and mentally?
I feel so sad that I do nothing else but write . . .
Oh you, The United Nations, World Leaders,
the International Mass-media! Please hasten
to come forward at least now, even at this stage
to intervene and initiate all what is essential
to demand negotiations for justice and harmony
between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.
March 2012

10. BEAUTY
44

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever!

Beauty does emanate from
such different facets of life.
Fluttering butterflies, frolicking lambs
fields of flowers, flitting fireflies,
the glint in a loved ones eyes,
a baby's smile, sunset painted skies
the passion of the orator,
the lithesome grace of the dancer
the piety that springs forth
from the melodious singer's voice
gently invading and captivating me. . .
However, why is beauty is so fleeting?
Why does change always distort and destroy
every single material thing in the cosmos?
Isn't there anything that can remain
beautiful perpetually to spread eternal joy?
Why not? Our emotions can imprint
moments of infinite beauty
in our mind's eye and immortalize
them in numerous multifaceted ways.
The outpouring of unconditional, selfless
love in the spoken and written word,
the lilting melody of an instrument,
the soul stirring voice of the singer,
the vivid portrayal of an actor, an artist
the superb performance of a maestro
45

do etch lovely memories in our minds.

The Sathya Sai Global 'Ahandanama Bhajan',
the annual 24 hours of devotional singing
heralding Guru Sai Baba's 84 th birthday,
was on Nov. 7, 2009 Sat. 6 pm to Sun. 6 pm.
As I entered the Toronto Mandhir that Sunday
the throb of the pulsing spiritual vibrations
created by the fervent faith and devotion
of so many singers both young and old
did engulf and envelop me with such force,
nurturing and elevating my awareness
that I literally staggered under this experience
as I felt God's love, grace and guidance.
November 2009

11. THE REAPER

Oh Death! How heartless can you be?
Isn't your desire sated after reaping thousands
in wars and natural disasters around the globe?
Especially in Sri Lanka, by tsunami and ethnic carnage?
You chased us as refugees into every nook and corner!
While we endeavor to renew our lives in Canada,
our folks continue the struggle for freedom
and peace with justice. Peace talks
46

are at a standstill, daily massacres escalate

and the threat of war looms heavy in the horizon.
The strict Mass-media censorship from despotic Sri Lanka
seems to have successfully hooked the Western world too.
In-spite of the TTC strike, 35 000 Tamils converged
on 5.6.2006 to protest against branding our legitimate struggle for
independence as terrorism, pledge
our solidarity and create global awareness
of our pathetic plight at Mel Lastman Square Toronto,
the officially permitted five day fast with water in Parliament Square
London, plus protests in other European countries.
Is it fair that all these events were
totally blacked out by the mass-media?
Please listen Death! I know you have duties to perform
and of-course have to remove the old and the infirm.
However, I just cannot fathom what makes you to blindly
harvest innocent babies and youth in their prime too.
Somehow wily you did manage to cruelly claim two
promising young lives, so suddenly last week-end
on June 2nd & 3rd 2006, and it is totally unfair!
So many of us prayed fervently with faith and hope
but couldn't save the soul of twenty-two year old
Weston undergraduate, well built sportsman,
gentle and loving poet, Phillip Parthipan Coomarasamy.
He managed to slip off with you, after a week
of intense struggle at Mt.Sinai Hospital, Toronto.
Tall and stately, 46 year old Jayanthan Chellappah
47

seemed to have it all, talent, health, wealth and joy

with his handsome face wreathed in a perpetual smile.
But he too stepped across so suddenly and swiftly
leaving his loving wife Kumutha behind to pine all alone.
June 2006
Lalitha Brodie
12. WANT
In retrospect, I realize that
almost every wish of mine
in life has mostly come true.
In arid Jaffna, when I was nine
how thrilled I was to pick up
a tiny pink carnation bud
from the discards of flowers
received for the College Prize-giving.
It was fulfilled, this want of mine
decades later, when I cultivated
my own carnations on estates
in the tea carpeted verdant hills
for sale to expensive Colombo florists.
In Grade Five, I map-marked
North-America's great lakes
never realizing that I will live
near lake Ontario now.
I admired many English and Tamil writers.
48

and in my old age, I am

a bi-lingual published writer.
The famous honey-laden Kurinji flower
blooms only once every twelve years.
It blossomed in 1970 in Agrapatna hills,
the bees built hives all over our balcony
and workers jungle trekked to collect honey.
I always regretted that I never got down
the rare Kurinji flowers for me to see them.
As I write these lines, I just googled
and Internet reveals the bell-shaped blue Kurinji
in all its glory, satiating that want of mine too
Our life does unfurl according to our thoughts
and our heartfelt wishes usually materialize.
However, some things do remain inexplicable.
It is indeed tough to change the norms
of our Sri Lankan lifestyle inbred in my veins!
I find that I am yet rather reluctant to confess
that I want to heal the cracks in close relationships
and hope I will succeed before my departure.
I really want to know the truth and answers
for the eternal unanswered questions of the
mystery and real purpose of our life on earth.
I do also want to know why my Tamil community
that lost thousands of innocent civilians
plus a whole generation of our youth
49

these three decades in the ethnic conflict

continues to still suffer so much
even after the war is over, persecuted
ruthlessly as displaced refugees
in their own land and imprisoned
without trial in crowded camps
by the despotic State of Sri Lanka,
without even a glance from World Leaders.
During this multicultural week in Toronto
global media blares loud about the need
to close zoos and set captive animals free!
What about this urgent need to set free
the human captives languishing so long
without freedom in State camps of Sri Lanka?
Lalitha Brodie THIS POEM WAS Published in OYE
TIMES, THE MONSOON JOURNAL & THE
MISSISSAUGA TIMES
March 16, 2010
13-1. DEPENDENT
Old age does thrive on dependency. Now that I am
almost eighty, I realize what an addicted dependent
I have become to so many things in life - lifestyle,
habits, medicines, activities etc. Acceptance is always
difficult but it is more so when you are old and start to
slowly lose your faculties. Losing height and getting
shorter, starting to wear spectacles and the cataract
50

operation were not too bad. But one day I suddenly

lost my front tooth, had to extract the
adjoining two, reluctantly becoming denture
dependent!
As life proceeds, roles change. We become dependent on our
children who turn to be our masters. I am glad to have the
satisfaction that I did my best for my family, kith and kin when
they depended on me. However, at times some of them find fault
with me now for things I did or did not do, though I try hard to
please them. I know I am not perfect and must have made genuine
mistakes and do feel sad when there is no effort to accept me as I
am, forgive and reconcile.
It is great to be aware that life is always
interdependent. Nothing lives alone, whether it be animate or
inanimate. Every being is connected and does need another for
companionship and procreation. We are all infinitesimal particles
composing the great cosmic Whole, that great power that is God,
who so brilliantly commands and miraculously weaves together this
vast kaleidoscopic mosaic of the universe with vibrant grandeur
and such perfect precision. I wonder why the answer to the
eternal question, as to why we get this opportunity of life, is such a
mystery. Is the goal of life really attaining heaven? But heaven is
not an exalted abode flowing with ambrosia, bliss and immortality.
Heaven is really an awareness of the enlightened state of the human
mind, brimming with selfless love, sans the ego of the me and the
mine. God and heaven are really within us, and within the reach of
every one of us, depending on our passion and genuine outreach. So
let us introvert, nurture our link to the Whole, learn to watch our
51

minds
and start our trek to the state of mind that is heaven.
July 3, 2012

13-2 DEPENDENT
Old age does thrive on dependency.
Now that I am almost eighty,
I realize what an addicted dependent
I have become to so many things in life.
Acceptance is always difficult
but it is more so when you are old
and start to slowly lose your faculties.
Losing height and getting shorter,
starting to wear spectacles and the
Cataract operation was not too bad.
But one day I suddenly lost my front tooth,
had to extract the adjoining two,
reluctantly becoming denture dependent!
As life proceeds roles change.
Children, who were dependents
become our exacting masters.
I am glad to have the satisfaction
that I did my best for my family,
kith and kin when they depended on me.
However, at times some of them
find fault with me now for things
52

I did or did not do, though I try hard

to please them. I know I am not perfect
and must have made genuine mistakes
and do feel sad when there is no effort
to accept me as I am, forgive and reconcile.
It is great to be aware that life
is always interdependent.
Nothing lives alone, whether it be
animate or inanimate. Every being
is connected and does need another
for companionship and procreation.
We are all infinitesimal particles
composing the great cosmic Whole,
that great power that is God,
Who so brilliantly commands
and miraculously weaves together
this vast kaleidoscopic mosaic
of the universe with such vibrant
grandeur and perfect precision.
I wonder why the answer to the
eternal question, why we get this
opportunity of life is such a mystery.
Is the goal of life attaining heaven?
Heaven is not an exalted abode flowing
with ambrosia, bliss and immortality.
Heaven is really an awareness of the
enlightened state of the human mind,
brimming with selfless love, sans the ego
53

of the me and the mine. God and heaven

are really within us, and within the reach of
every one of us, depending on our genuine
outreach. So let us introvert, nurture our link
to the Whole, learn to watch our minds and
start our trek to the state of mind that is heaven.
July 3, 2012
14. DOORS
I have seen countless doors in my life
and each one is different. The first one
I vividly remember is the door of my
Granny Sinnammah Nagalingam's main
bedroom in her thatched mud walled
house. You had to bend your head to
enter the room as that door
was short, thick and carved with six
large squares. It had an iron key, about
six inches long and finger thick which
was also used to ward off the 'Evil
eye' of envious people from us
children, by being heated in the kitchen
hearth, then put in a pan of cold water
in front of us to make the
sizzling sound!
I started to read voraciously from
childhood in both Tamil and
English and this habit opened the door
54

of knowledge, from which I greedily

gathered a lot to nurture my intellect
and character. When I was eight my
father arranged vocal and violin music
lessons which opened another door to
the wonderful world of
Classical Carnatic music which my
sister Chandra and I loved. I could
immediately pick up and sing any song
I heard but did not have the gift of ear
music to play it on the violin or
harmonium. However, I memorized the
notes and played in the College
orchestra on stage and also acted in all
the annual Tamil plays like Sakuntala
and The Ramayanam during my time.
I loved to draw from the time I can remember and was
always sketching faces on the back pages of my school
exercise books, a habit that still persists even when I
broadcast my radio talk shows.. I now feel sorry that
I never took any lessons to nurture this artistic talent of
mine. Another door opened when I was taught to sew in
Grade Six at Chundikuli Girls College under Miss
Annal Lawrence and Miss Yogam Muthiah. I was
not too good at plain sewing like darning, hemming and
machine stitching, but was excellent in smocking and
creative hand embroidery. My daughter Nirmala was
the handy mannequin who paraded all the pretty frocks
I embroidered for her. I wish I had saved at least some
55

of them - especially that yellow frock with the tree full

of blooms in different shades of red in a garden and the
green one with the basket of roses, the petals making
the uneven neckline.
I did well at school and was good in all the subjects
except for Math, which seemed scared of me and
simply refused to enter my brain! I got excellent grades
in every subject in my Senior School Certificate Grade
10 exam but was referred in Math. A proposal arrived,
I married at seventeen, was a mother before eighteen
and had five children within nine years in quick
succession. I used to long for leisure as I never had time
to call my own and relax then, but I now realize what
a blessed time of giving it was as those years are some
of the best in my life.
My husband was the superintendent, so we
roamed several large British Company tea estates,
and had a comfortable life in big bungalows
with vehicle and driver, four servant allowances, large
flower and vegetable gardens, three dogs, cat, poultry
as well as three cows. This opened another door
and I became a veritable farmer, selling buckets of milk
to the plying milk van, broilers and eggs in
town, vegetables on the estate and sending anthuriums,
carnations, chrysanthemums and madonna lilies to
Colombo florists via the lorries that transported the
tea. Oouvakellie estate had a large castle-like bungalow
with a pentagon shaped turret, mahogany wooden
56

floors, a large vegetable and flower garden plus five

marmalade orange trees. I learned to make
lovely marmalade but could not market it and just gave
it away. Our English predecessor had left behind his
lovely collection of orchids which I really enjoyed!
Bringing up our children opened the door to
the delightful but difficult task of parenting. Five
children in boarding schools cost a lot of money and we
had financial difficulties despite the big job, so another
door opened and we learned to be thrifty. We cut down
expenses by entertaining less and curtailed our weekend
travel in the estate car. I now feel sad that we taught
piano music only to daughter Nirmala and the boys had
to do without any other extra-curricular activities.
I faced some challenges, and God bore witness for me
making me turn spiritual. The door to spirituality was
really revealed to me in 1972 when I gained access to
our Bank Manager's spiritual library full of Swami
Vivekananda's. Sivananda's and other religious
books. The words of Sri Sathiya Sai Baba, the living
saint inspired me, I was able to miraculously meet
him in 1974 at Puttaparthi India, when we were really
broke, making me his devotee. His message, ' Take one
step towards me and I will take ten to help you,' is true
as we managed to overcome several
difficulties. We sent the boys abroad for higher
education, our daughter married well and I gained
peace of mind.
57

We retired in 1983 to live in our hometown Jaffna

where we ran The Brodie Guesthouse for foreign
tourists. I was unable to learn meditation from
books though I tried hard, but in 1983 learned TM
meditation from Mahesh Yogi's disciples which
changed me completely. I realized that service to
humanity is service to God. I, who loved meat and fish
lost that desire, became a complete vegetarian, and
made nine trips to meet Guru Sai Baba. I became
President of Mothers Front, Chundikuli, was a Founder
member of Shanthiham Counseling Centre in 1989
and obtained a Diploma in Psychological
Counseling. The internal ethnic war was raging with
indiscriminate bombs and shells, there were no buses or
cars as fuel, electricity and forty other essentials were
denied to the North and East by the Government. I
walked to our Counseling Centre but went for
my volunteer counseling to the Jafffna Teaching
Hospital on the bar of a hired bicycle in the midst
of bombs and shells!
In 1992 we emigrated to Canada as landed immigrants,
where doors opened to an entirely new way of life. I
had absolutely no experience and could not find any
work, so became a multi faceted volunteer. I focused
all my activities to promote my goal to nurture
individual personal growth by teaching Sai Baba's basic
human values of love, truth, right-conduct, nonviolence and peace, to raise self-esteem which dispelled
58

the need for violence to exert power and control

over others to feel happy.
My service opened the door to opportunities and I
blossomed to become a well known bilingual writer,
volunteer counselor, telecaster and broadcaster. I am
grateful to OWN for helping me to integrate
successfully with the mainstream and polishing my
writing skills. I thank my family for their love and
support and my grandchildren and great-grand children
do bring me a lot of pleasure. Thanks to Canada, I now
get a pension and have money of my own for the first
time in my life. Though short of stature due to
osteoporosis, my health is not too bad, I am happy to be
still mobile and my cup overflows. I have accepted my
allotted life and always lived well to the best of my
ability. I know I have come to my last lap of life and am
ready for the final door to open so that my spirit can
step beyond with joy.
June 5, 2012

15. REGRET

59

I was the eldest of four daughters of Auditor Nadarajah

and Saras in Jaffna, Northern Sri Lanka. I married
early when I was seventeen and my tea planter husband
Rajah Brodie and I Iived on several tea estates in the
central hills. Life was comfortable though I was very
busy, as I had five children within nine years. My
parents and sisters Chandra, Ranji and Leela enjoyed
the school holidays with us but we went to Jaffna only
once a year as Rajah had the problem of leave. Our
children really enjoyed the temple festivals and all the
favorite foods Ammah made for us, as she was a
splendid cook. Our children stayed with Ammah to go
to school and she took good care of them. Time sped
fast and in no time our boys settled in Canada and
Rajah and I joined them as landed immigrants in 1992.
Ammah stayed with my sisters and we went to Sri
Lanka to see her whenever we could.
As usual it was lovely to come home to Sri Lanka once
again on holiday from Toronto in 2001. Of-course I did
not expect Ammah to look very good at eighty-seven,
but I was shocked that she had changed so much since I
saw her two years ago. However, ammah was really
happy to see me and when I hugged her tight, both of us
started to cry. Ammah had been such a busybody in her
time, but was now frail and had become bedridden. Her
body had shrunk and her food had to be ground and
spoon-fed to her like a baby. I could not bear it to see
her like this and realized that she was unaware that the
quality of her life had deteriorated so much. She
wished to be cared for at home and was just
60

instinctively clinging to life.

Her life with Appah had been a continuous love story
and I never ever heard or saw them get angry with each
other, as he worked in far away Colombo and came
home only for fleeting monthly week-ends. They wrote
to each other daily and correspondence kept their love
alive. Appah lived a mere five years with her after his
retirement and died suddenly on the operating table of
colon cancer at sixty-five in 1971. Ammah was
devastated, reeled under this sudden unexpected blow
and changed totally. She never got out anywhere after
that and became a recluse cook and housekeeper for my
sisters and sons when they lived with her.
As I sat with her in her weakened condition, I did not
know what to do and found it really difficult to accept
that she had become a veritable vegetable and was
clinging to her worn-out body. I knew that we are
spiritual beings in the physical experience of life, but
ammah was not too spiritual and may have been scared
of death. After caring for her a few days one day after
feeding her lunch, I mustered strength, started stroking
her head and spoke to her tenderly. Ammah! You are
suffering so much here now. Dont you like to go and
meet Appah who must be waiting for you so eagerly? I
managed to get it across and Ammah understood what I
as trying to tell her. Her face changed and I can never
forget the way she looked at me then, which said So
Baba, you dont want me to live and are asking me to
die. Her silence and look of pain said that I had hurt
61

her terribly, and created a rift which made me sad too. I

did not speak to her about this again.
I helped my sisters to look after her with love and care,
but Ammahs look of pain was always there whenever
her eyes met mine. I left for Canada after a month with
her, her condition deteriorated and she died after two
months. I may have helped her to become aware that
she had to let go and prepare herself to step across.
However, that accusing look of hers still haunts me and
I regret that I intervened and spoke those words to her
which must have hurt her such a lot. Though I sincerely
believed I was helping, I feel that I made a mistake. I
feel guilty and sad that I hurt Ammahs feelings during
her last days, and this still bothers me even after eleven
years. Who am I to thus intervene and try to change the
process of life, without accepting and letting it unfold
as it is meant to be or maybe it was destined that I had
to say those words to make Ammah become aware that
instead of lingering, she should step across and join
Appah. Mistakes are really learning experiences to
correct and improve ourselves, I believe I learnt a
valuable lesson and I feel better now that I have got it
off my chest.
June 7, 2013
For OWN Writers Group on given word REGRET

16. READING

62

I am just a Grade 10 educated Great-grandmother, who

grasped opportunities to move forward to become all
what I am today - Bi-lingual writer, Counselor,
Volunteer Social worker, Tamil TV & ITR Radio
Broadcaster and Artist. Reading voraciously in English
and Tamil from childhood sharpened my intellect and
widened my horizons. A steady torrent of words flows
out easily, when I sit down to write or to broadcast my
weekly two hour ITR International Tamil Radio Talk
Shows.
I started reading Tamil and story books very early by
seven or eight and remember the thick tattered copy of
Mahabharataha written in the old style, adorned with
thick-line etchings of characters in the fashion of that
era. I also remember reading the magazine Kalki and
longing to see a photo of Kalki Krishnamoorthy who
could write like that. My aunts thought I was too young
to read Unusual FamilyTales, but somehow I managed
to read that. I studied in Tamul till grade 5 and by that
time whenever I had time I read Tamil story books.
In 1943 when I was nine, I joined
Special Class Grade 3 to study in English at Chundikuli
Girls College Sri Lanka. We had a beloved British
Miss.Edith Kelk as our Grade 4 class teacher, who
instilled the love of the English language into us, and I
still remember how she made us act out plays from our
reader. My sister Chandra and I were walking to The
School Prize Giving wearing gold chains, when a man
with a big knife tried to chase away our teen-aged uncle
63

accompanying us. I remember getting A Childs Garden

of Verses by R.L.Stevenson at the Prize Giving when I
won the grade 4 Class prize ad those lovely verses won
my heart. This prize was an incentive that improved
my skill in writing poetry. I wrote,
Up into the mango tree
who should climb but little me- when we made a
handwritten Class magazine in Grade 6!
My English and Tamil articles were always selected and
published in the school magazine. However my early
marriage at seventeen and five children within nine
years made my writing dormant, though I continued
with my reading habit.
I was so overcome with emotion after watching the
funeral of a young freedom fighter in early 1980 s, I
sat down and wrote my first Tamil poem. I was elated
to find that I could write good poems easily when my
emotions were aroused and these were published in the
Jaffna newspapers. We arrived in Canada in 1992 and
after settling down, I attended the Scarborough Senior
Tamil Centre Creative writing Class conducted by a
Canadian teacher. This teacher encouraged my writing
skills and I joined the Writers Group of OWN Older
Womens Network in 1994. I am most grateful to
OWN for electing me into their Executive Council for
four years as that was a wonderful experience. When
Wendy was the head of the Writers Group, she helped
me to print, cut and paste and make up my first book
of poems, OUR OWN WORDS, ready for publication.
64

I will always remember how both of us sat together to

make up this book with a yellow cover.
I published my second book of poems Peace With Justice in 2005
and my first Tamil Persoanl Growth book in 2009, which is being
serialized in Vlambaram nowwww.vlambaram.com & also Blog
www.worldTamilWritersForum.org. Now I seem to write more than
read and my latest passion is to write My Story.
17. BEDS
What a variety of beds have I seen!
I remember Granny Sinnammah,
relaxing on a spotted deer skin
on the cow-dunged lime green 'thinnai'
as I massaged her aching feet.
During my childhood, my favorite bed
was a rattaned antique settee,
adorned with artistic carvings
where I curled up whenever I could,
to read away to my hearts content!
My sister Chandra and I shared a bed
till we shifted to our new upstairs house
where we shared a room, but enjoyed
our own beds .. February 8, 2012
18. COMPUTERS

65

Canadian technology did amaze me

when I arrived wide-eyed in 1992,
from war ravaged motherland Sri Lanka.
After a decade sans power, fuel, piped water
and forty other essentials. This entirely
new lifestyle was quite different, but I quickly
learnt to adapt to the welcome change.
Computers in homes were then rare
and so very expensive. But lucky me got
to sit next to one at ITR Radio Asia where
I deft
ly picked up skills and blossomed
to be computer literate all on my own.
I loved browsing the internet, the e mails
and quickly became a voracious addict,
when my son bought a beloved computer.
and I typed away to my hearts content !
The collection of my passionate poems,
of the plight of Tamils in our ethnic conflict,
read monthly to OWN Writers Group,
honed my writing skills, to emerge
as etchings adorned OUR OWN WORDS
in 1998, PEACE WITH JUSTICE in 2005,
to be followed by well acclaimed
Prayers For Personal Growth in Tamil
making me join the very few Bi-lingual
Tamil women writers in the world.

66

Computers have truly shrunk the world

providing all essentials at our fingertips,
with free instant E mail communication.
The handy Internet the largest library,
answers every possible question
increasing our knowledge and skills.
However, there is the negative side too!
I felt so lost when my computer crashed,
but it made me realize the time I wasted
on Facebook and sending lots of e mails.
sitting immoblile in front of a machine!
I also know young computer game addicts
turning to crime to get easy money,
getting jailed and spoiling their entire lives.
It is used in perverted, abusive, violent ways
too, so parents should always be aware
of the dangerous pitfalls in the Online world.
I am grateful that my interaction with OWN
helped to nurture my multifaceted growth,
especially during my tenure in Council
for four years till 2000. I really enjoy our
Writers Group meetings and here I am today,
first time on Wheel-Trans from Mississauga
though I was in Emergency at Trillium Hospital
feeling dizzy with high pressure ten days ago!
December 14, 2011
19. PIONEER

67

My good friend Wendy and I

from two different cultures
are similar in several ways.
We are the same age, share
osteoporosis, short stature,
similar outlooks and attitudes.
She once said 'You are a pioneer
Lalitha', making me look it up.
The dictionary says,
'A pioneer is an explorer
originator, a leader
who prepares the way
for others to advance'.
So humanity would never
have progressed to this extent
without the prophetic foresight
of enthusiastic pioneers.
Their names worldwide
in every field are recognized
and immortalized in history.
Apart from space rockets, health,
medical and genetic discoveries
just think of the pioneer architect
who engineered high rise skyscrapers
that changed the face of the earth.
Did you read in the Sunday Star
Oct, 9 nth. 2011 about the pioneer
Earth-scraper project in Mexico?
68

Since rules forbid building on the Zocalo,

Mexico's vast Central Square,
the next best alternative is to dig deep
to build an inverted skyscraper tunneling
into the bowels of the earth-A 65 storey
pyramid that tips out 300 meters below
the ground!! So far this earth-scraper
is only an idea - there are yet no plans
to build - but this is creating a real buzz!
Our Motherland in Sri Lanka is also so tiny
that we too have to build underground
creating networks like what I described
in the poem, 'The Dawn of Tamil Eelam',
in my book, Peace With Justice', in 1995.
I feel that we are all pioneer directors
of our own lives. At times we try to
artfully show the way for our progeny
to follow in our footsteps, trying to
realize our dreams through them.
We forget that we must give them
a chance to be pioneers, so that
they can pave their way themselves.
OWN Writers Group October 2011
20. ARTISTS

69

Aren't we all artists, busy

painting our own pictures
on the vast canvas of the universe
while struggling to navigate our lives
to merge with that Powerful Source,
The Omnipresent Whole,
that orchestrates this vast cosmos?
I hear the snicker, 'What about atheists'?
However, if we aren't sparks of the Divine,
what then can be the real goal
and purpose of human life?
Artists are blessed with multifaceted talent,
excel as sculptors, singers, poets, musicians
and dancers passing their skills down the line.
My teenaged grandson Gobi remarked,
'Artists are unique, have different
perspectives on life, and are inspired
by daily events, that seem ordinary
to most people and do manage add
many a silver lining to creations
to make them enjoyable and eternal
like the Pieta and The Mona Lisa!
I know that I am a Jack of all trades
but master of none! I am a self taught
artist, love to doodle and paint not only
with colors, but also with etching adorned
bi-lingual words. I am busy with so
many other things too, have no time
70

to pamper myself and have postponed

my artistry, to maybe await my next birth!.
However, it is great that my progeny
is intelligent, talented with music, song,
dance and budding artist Priyanka
has such fine print-like handwriting!
My spirit and mind are as vibrant as ever
though at 77 my flesh is now faltering.
I may not be able to completely finish
all what I wish to accomplish before my exit
but I do have the satisfaction that I always tried
to do my best in all my manifold endeavors.
September 2011

21. BOARDING SCHOOL SCHOOL

I was never in Boarding school
but know lots about them
as my husband and five children
started their school life as boarders.
My husband Rajah Brodie
lost his mother to Typhoid
when he was just six months old..
and I am sad that he never did enjoy
his mother's love and care.
Rajah started school first
at The Matara Convent as a day-scholar
71

but soon went Jaffna College Boarding

and later transferred to St.Johns' College
coming to Brodie House for weekends.
He had a healthy physique,
was an excellent swimmer,
cricketer and football goalie,..
but was a rebel, smoking and drinking
and defensive to ward off all criticism
which trait he carries even today.
He was not academic at all,
so became a planter, did very well,
had an excellent career,
with a luxurious life on estates.
We had no other option those days
and had to send our five children direct
to boarding schools at tender ages.
Nirmala went first before she was five
to St.Bridgets' Convent, Colombo.
Ignorance is bliss and I remember
how thrilled she was to go the first day.
But after her first weekend out
she cried so much hugging me,
little Niranjan too hugged her bawling!
However, Nirmala got used to boarding life
though she must have definitely envied
the weekend outings her brothers
from St.Thomas Bandarawela had with us
while they envied her attending all the parties.
72

Time flew and the children grew

more at boarding school than at home!
Only when Nirmala got the school music prize
did we realize her talent and gifted her with a piano.
Having an estate vehicle with chauffeur and free petrol
holidays were joyous occasions with weekend trips to Kalkudah
Kataragama or to Jaffna during Temple festivals.
However, I also remember my hassle, matching twelve pairs of
socks
and shorts each, mending and packing clothes
in the five large metal trunks to send them off to boarding school.

22. WORLD
Though the frenzied fury of the elements,
the recent earth quakes, tsunamis, tornadoes
floods, whirlpools and fires along with wars
nuclear leaks and oil spills batter our world
spreading so much of death, destruction,
and pain, isnt it great that the miracle of life
unfailingly continues to unfold as usual
with all its hopes, aspirations and joys?
Jehovah's witnesses with their ardent faith
visit, give magazines and talk about the disasters
proclaiming that the end of the world is near.
73

However, though the end of the world

was prophesied time and time again
after The Great Floods and Noah's Ark
by Nostradamus, Christian, Hindu
and other Scriptures, isn't it great that
people even in multi-quake battered Japan
along with all of us, do continue to cope
alright with challenges that daily confront us?
I may have made several genuine mistakes
but have coped okay for seventy-seven years
and lived true to my conscience as best as I can
without willfully hurting or harming anyone,
and the end of the world does not worry me.
I will accept life as it daily unfolds around me
and continue with my passion to help others
nurture Individual Personal Growth, to raise
self esteem which will negate the need
for abuse and violence to exert power
and control over significant others to feel happy.
Isnt this the best way to build a foundation
to eradicate all negativity and violence
and help to create peace and joy in the world ?
April 2011
www.World Tamil Writers Forum.org publishes poems so please
visit / contact
Shan Nalliah shanmugaprabunalliah@hotmail.com from
Norway who does this.
74

Lalitha Brodie
4132 Starlight Crescent
Mississauga
ON L4W 4R3
905 270 1214
Editor Gerry Timbers
The Mississauga News

March 23, 2010

Hello Julia,
How are you? I am happy that you are publishing my poem with a
write-up too.
I am still the only Asian writer with the Older Womens Network
- OWN Writers Group and I read this poem written on their
chosen random word 'WANT' to them this Tuesday March 16 nth. I
am herewith attaching my biography and other poems on the random
word The Accident, The Reaper, 'Affirmation' & Beauty too for your
information.
At 76, I am a veteran bi-lingual writer www.vlambaram.com and
still broadcast over 24 hours ITR- International Tamil Radio
-www.itr.fm and my program starts every Saturday at 6.00 pm.
With best wishes
Yours Sincerely
Lalitha Brodie
22. SCHOOL

75

Scientists like Stephen Hawkins

steadfastly confirm there is no proof
that a creator God and so many Galaxies
exist, while theologians reiterate
that without faith, science can never
prove or disprove the truth
about the existence of God.
I have my queries about these
inexplicable mysteries too.
But I think that life is a school,
where birth gives us the opportunity
to learn lessons and correct our mistakes.
Only the belief in Karma explains
how every individual is born
in an appropriate time and place
to suitable parents and siblings
to fulfill the plan of one's destiny.
However, we can control our destiny
as we are blessed with freewill,
and can start with choices
that make or mar our lives.
Once we become aware
that we have learned our lessons
and change our inner attitude,
the challenge is usually resolved,
our outside circumstances changes too,
we pass and move on to the next level
in our quest in the pilgrimage of life.
76

Some may find this difficult to believe

but I speak from experience, so listen.
If you observe the basic human values
of love, truth, non-violence and peace
right conduct will be the result
and it will be easy to accept yourself
and your life, which is essential for progress.
Please do try to introvert,
touch your core with self analysis,
and start watching your mind
and then you will realize this eternal truth.
Schools in ancient days were different
There was no written word
and what the teacher spoke
was memorized and etched
in the minds of the students
The Vedas were supposed to be
handed down by word of mouth
to the students in this manner.
who flocked around the teacher,
lived with, and learned from him.
I was lucky that my intellect
was stimulated early, starting
school at three, when I walked
with my teacher uncle Gunam
to Ariyalai Sri Parwathy Tamil school.
This village school instilled the love
77

of Tamil language deep inside me

and it still glows bright within,
rewarding me in abundance.
When uncle lost his job,
all of us relative children were
pulled out of school in protest
and we had to walk far away
to Columbuthurai Tamil school
for two years, till Grade Five.
I remember those long treks
munching picked up 'Illupie' fruits
and playing hopscotch with the seeds.
!943 saw me change school
to study in English from Grade Three
at prestigious Chundikuli Girls' College.
I did well and got 'A Garden of Verses'
by Robert Louis Stevenson
as the Grade Four Class prize.
By Grade Five I became a voracious
bi-lingual reader, always with a book .
I fell ill with Rheumatic fever at eleven
and missed a full term of school.
Fractions had been taught in my absence,
and though my father tried to teach me
during his monthly visits from Colombo,
I could not understand head or tail
and Math became my Achilles heel,
those tuition-free nineteen forties.

78

I was a good writer then, remember

reading out my essays in class
and writing my first English poem
for our grade Six Class magazine.
I neglected my studies and went down
but picked up in grade nine
and chose to study Arts, which I loved.
I worked hard, did well and always
vied for the top ranks among
that brilliant thirty student class,
despite getting poor marks in arithmetic.
I was not athletic at all and was good
only in badminton. I was a Girl Guide,
learned violin and vocal Carnatic music,
performed at school functions
and acted in the College annual plays
Kannaki and The Ramayana.
I was an excellent orator in Tamil
and won prizes which must have
laid the foundation for my present
Radio & TV broadcasting skills.
I sat for Grade Ten O levels in 1950
got excellent grades but referred in Maths
and dreamed of going to university.
However, destiny decreed it otherwise
unexpectedly ended my school education,
and a proposed marriage to an unknown
young man changed my life. I got engaged
79

at seventeen, fell head over heels in love

with Rajah, married at eighteen, was mother
before nineteen and had five kids in nine years!
Though I just had ten years as a student
at school, I am happy and proud to be
what I am today. Destiny has been kind
and I have gathered a lot of practical
knowledge and experience in the school of life.
I have kept my mind sharp with introversion,
contemplation and meditation, have learned
to accept and cope with the challenges
that I continue to encounter every day.
I am aware that my physical sheath
is deteriorating fast, but my mind
and spirit are as vibrant as ever
and my vessel overflows with gratitude.
September 8, 2010

24. TRADITION

80

Different facets, has tradition

both the good and the bad,
and it does differ in diverse ways
in each and every nation worldwide.
However, nurturing tradition
is indeed absolutely essential
to preserve the authentic identity
and progress of each community..
Ancient Tamil tradition
extols equality of both sexes.
Hinduism depicts Lord Siva
as 'Arthanareeswarar', half man
half woman, with consort
Paewathy as His Sakthi or power.
However, this equality did vanish
and despotic male chauvinism
long reigned supreme among us
like in every other community..
It is great that with the dawn
of heightened awareness
appropriate action and change,
women have regained their status .
and adorn every possible venue now.
I question some age old traditions
but mainly in my mind, as I
don't want to raise a hornets nest!
We Tamils are no exception to the rule!
We are so steeped and pickled
in our Sri Lankan tradition
81

that it literally oozes and drips

from the hearts.of everyone of us.
Our cultural zeal turns
every single week-end in GTA
into a traditional Tamil carnival,
abounding with many jam-packed
events, where we garland each other,
praising and patting our own backs,
unwittingly segregating ourselves
from rewarding integration into
the tapestry of the multicultural
mosaic of the Canadian mainstream..
25. VIGNETTES
Pathma is an example of
the old-fashioned Tamil wife,
daubed unmistakably by subservience.
She married her chosen husband,
learned to accept, love and be a chaste
partner to suit his every whim and and fancy
.
Ancient tradition decreed that she eats less,
sleeps last, but awakens first, to worship
her husband before her daily chores.
When the husband died the wives
to continue with him in afterlife!
Even after the British abolished this suttee
and the customary child marriages
Hindu widows suffered shaven heads,
82

and lonely lives, while the husbands

were free to marry again and again.
.Chastity played a big role for women
but the men could have other women
with no questions asked!
26. CHASTITY
Eastern epics extol
the virtues of women
in hard to believe tales . .
Ancient Nalayini carried
her crippled husband
in a basket on her head
to the prostitute
to fulfill his wish!
Kannaki, furious
that the king unjustly
beheaded her errant
husband Kovalan,
burnt the city of Madura!
Her chastity and fidelity
bestowed on her
the power to command
the elements in retaliation . . .
Savithri's chastity gave her
83

the ability to follow

and gain back the life
of her husband Sathyavan
from the Lord of Death,Yama!
But, wait a minute please!
What about chastity
for the men too!
August 2010
27. DILEMMA
At three score and sixteen
I have had hosts of dilemmas.
My dilemma now is
'With which dilemma do I begin?'
I am of-course well aware
that though my aged physique
is deteriorating rapidly
I still vehemently maintain
that I am quite alright
and pride myself
that my spirit and mind
are as vibrant as ever!
Dilemma bewildered me
when names started to play
hide and seek with my memory
from quite some time ago.
I now cope and tell the truth
84

'I am sorry I can't remember'.

Though I am rather messy
I love to cook and enjoy
making thosai, hoppers
kali, kool and kolukkattais . . .
However this cooking dilemma
really bothers me a lot now
as I must forget my culinary skills
since I cannot stand for long.
I do have a Messiah Complex
and recently learned Pranic-Healing,
deciding never to touch-heal again
as I absorb pain from others
which may have bent me crooked
to become six inches shorter.
However, when I see the needy
I still am tempted to help.
Last week I laid hands
on two and did suffer lots of pain
creating a new dilemma, 'Who am I
to thus interfere with karma of others.
I know that I am nearing my end
and am curious about stepping across.
I have no dilemma or fear of death
as I know that my spirit is eternal.
Last month, as I dined one night
I felt something hard in my mouth.
85

What a surprise! It was my front tooth!

It was alright and I never expected it
to fall now without my knowledge,
or prior warning, so easily and painlessly!
Oh Death! When my time does arrive
will you please similarly embrace me ?
June 9, 2010

28. ACCIDENT!
It was a 1991 full moon 'Poya' holday
iin Colombo, Sri Lanka! Late for lunch,
I hurried across at the crossing
and that is all I remember. . .
I regained consciousness after three days!
The mini-van driver who knocked me down
had admitted me to Accident Services
with swollen head, a collapsed lung,
an arm and eight fractured ribs
and nobody thought I would survive. . .
However, here I am in Canada,
with all my faculties intact
and though my aged flesh is now weaker,
my mind and spirit are as vibrant as ever
86

If Karma, that law of cause and effect is true,

maybe I must have made many a mistake
for me to break both shoulders and wrists
in different falls, plus get scoliosis too
to curve my spine to become five inches
shorter with severe osteoporosis.
Else I muse, though I am devoid of pain
how is it that I evolved to become
such an accident prone person?
However, from another angle
my experiences also denote the fact
that there are no co-incidences
or accidents in life. Just think!
How can creation continue
and life unfold as it does,
unless it is meticulously predestined
by an Omnipotent, Omnipresent Power
that so skillfully weaves this mysterious
multifaceted tapestry of the vast cosmos
with such splendor and precision?
After starting to explore my inner self
I learned to accept my allotted ups and downs
and paved my own unique path to reach
my potential to the best of my ability.
Sure I made many accidental mistakes,
but my inside and outside match,
fear has flown away and I am grateful
87

that I grasped all opportunities

that came my way and am truly happy
and proud to be what I am today.
I do fully realize that it is no accident
that I am here where I am today,
even reading this to you all, basking
in your rapt attention - giving and receiving
love and understanding from every relationship
so that I can absorb what I have to learn
before continuing my pilgrimage of life.
20.4.2010
29. CONFESSION
Words usually flow from me with ease
when I write, but here I am now
at a complete loss about what to confess . . .
My Messiah Complex bristles and is up in arms!
Confession? What sin have I committed
to admit it, feel guilty and confess?
You know how transparent I am.
and are the same inside and outside!
However, I am aware that I have a shadow.
and do fervently deny my blind-spots
ignoring them, though I know they are there.
It is tough to own up and admit mistakes.
as it is so much easier to point a finger
88

at another, forgetting that the other

four fingers are pointing at you!
Is this what I am trying to do?
Some outsiders appreciate me,
but my immediate family,
especially my husband, is very critical.
I did confess in the Introduction to my book
that, though we are as different as two poles,
my husband and I have managed to cope
these last sixty years, but relented
when a friend made me change it to
'despite differences' so that is that!
Sometimes self-doubt engulfs me
when my children, at times find fault with me
though I did the best I could for all of them.
Understanding dawns when I realize
that I need to be their handy scapegoat
for all their woes, so I accept that role too.
Yes, I confess that I have always accepted
the ups and downs of my allotted life,
and am aware of my limitations.
I may have made genuine mistakes
but I have no regrets in life
as I have always tried to do
the very best I can in all my endeavors
and I am at peace with myself,
and I feel the guiding hand
of that great Omnipotent Power
89

that is God on my shoulder.

Things happen to me time and time again
like how the pleasant Canadian teacher
I asked for help walked with me far out
of her way, to carry my bags and escort me
to The Tamil Conference May 15, 2010
although she was late for work, confirming
that God's help is always there for me.
I may stumble and wander
but I have faith that He/She will not let me fall
as I am in tune with Him/Her
and I feel His/Her strength perennial
filling me up with eternal grace
and my vessel overflows with gratitude . . .
OWN Writers Group May 18, 2010
30. WAITING . . .
Entry into human life starts slowly, the exit is faster.
I have experienced lots of different facets of life
and am aware that what I do know is only a fistful,
while what I have to learn is limitless, though.
I am near my last lap now after 77 rounds.
As I mature more and more, my mind
and spirit are more tuned and as vibrant
as ever, but my body gets frailer and frailer.
I still try to offer the best I can to everyone
90

and to all my endeavors. Recognition,

appreciation, awards and applause come
from outsiders, but my immediate family
remains reticent and are as critical as ever.
It maybe that my busy outside activities
ignoring work at home, plus my attempts
to overly please everyone has put them off
and I will never get that appreciation
that I am waiting for, in my lifetime.
I am so curious to know what lies ahead
when I step across as I await my exit.
I know that a ceiling on desires is essential
for any progress, but find that this is more
easily said than done. I believed that I have
my mind in control but my desires for family
members welfare stubbornly persist. I am
waiting patiently for several things to happen,
in my circle, but at times the unexpected
arrives, not what I was so eagerly waiting for.
So, I suppose I have to accept that my desires
and this game of waiting is never going to end.
February 9, 2011

31. SAILING

91

History confirms that from the ancient times

of the Floods and Noah's Ark, sailing was the first
mode of travel. Columbus and Magallan made
their discoveries in sail ships, to change the map
of the world.. British fleets sailed worldwide
to conquer and rule its vast empire of colonies.
However, though cruises are common as car trips
now in 2011, very few had this experience earlier
during those air traffic-less days of the empty skies.
As a British Company employed tea estate planter,
in 1964 it was Rajah and Lalitha's four months
overseas leave when we two, out of a chosen few,
first went a-sailing a-sailing First Class from Colombo
to London for eighteen days on the choppy blue seas.
A tall slim mother of five was I at thirty
with Rajah in his prime at forty. Luckily
we were not seasick and were the only
Asians in First Class on the luxury liner
Chusan, a gigantic hotel afloat, till an Indian
Diplomat family joined us in Bombay.
The wealthy first classers were old and cold
so we went down to tourist class, made friends
and had a lovely time together, going up
to enjoy games and gourmet meals in casuals,
dress up for dinner and dance to live music.
We touched Aden but did minimal shopping
and stingily counted pennies as we were then
92

permitted to take only 500 pounds out of Sri Lanka.

I still regret that we did not join the Egyptian
tour and missed the Pyramids and the Sphinx
though it was thrilling to cross the Suez Canal
with the waving crowds lining both shores.
The high watermark of my material life
arrived after touch down at Naples, when
I participated in The First Class Fancy Dress
Competition. Friends teamed up to deck me up
all well-adorned and be-jeweled as an
Indian dancer and I won the second prize.
Everyone said that I looked lovely and if I
had danced a few steps I would have won
the first prize. Hosts of cameras clicked away
as I walked around and nobody believed
that I was thirty and had five children!.
(I feel sad that we lost that photograph
when the despotic Sri Lankan army swiped
our Jaffna house clean before occupying it.)
Four ladies in white and four gents in black
laid down with the placard 'Level Crossing',
and a funeral procession complete with coffin
with placard 'Saw Naples & Died', won prizes.
Towards the end of the journey I longed
for land and our staple spicy rice and curry.
We were happy to land at Tilbury, had a good
time in London and joined Sinhalese Jagath and Srini,
to drive around Europe sharing expenses for a month.
93

We returned to Colombo on a smaller ship Chitraal

and I cannot recall even all the ports we touched
though I remember shopping for sarees in Bombay.
How true it is that too much of anything is a bore
and a long voyage sailing the seas is the same.
I missed my five children aged eleven to two
and felt so guilty that I had to leave them behind
in school boardings and with my parents during holidays.
I still recall my anguish, to find that my two year-old
youngest, had forgotten me completely when I returned.
June 8, 2011

32.TRIBUTE TO DR.RAJINI
THIRANAGAMA 23.2.1959 - 21.9.1989
At her Commemmoration on 6.10.1989
By Lalitha Brodie
Rajini, an illustrious old girl of Chundikuli
Girls College, was the daughter of an ardent old
girl Mahila and her husband Mr.Rajasingham.
We at Chundikuli are sad that the icy hand of
death has so unexpectedly and cruelly
extinguished the lustrous flame of young
Rajini's life in her prime, and we join her kith
94

and kin to grieve for her.

However, we are also proud that one such as
she walked the portals of Chundikuli Girls
College- proud of her ahievements and all that
she managed to accomplish during her intense
though short span of life. The quality of life is
never measured by time and the quality
of Rajini's life is a shining beacon which
illustrates this truth.
Rajini was different. She was the brilliant coauthor of the controversial book, 'The Broken
Palmyrah', an outspoken feminist and a nonconformist with a multifaceted personality. She
really cared for the welfare of humanity, and
was one who selflessly worked for the progress
of her people. She dared to show that love
fearlessly during these turbulent times of our
beloved land, especially when Jaffna shuddered
under siege - she tried to put her love and
concern into action tirelessly and paid the
supreme penalty for it with her life.
Rajini was a self-actualizer who realized her
full potential with ease at an ealy age with never
a stumble. Her varied intersts touched life at
several points, in the academic, religious and
social fields - Medicine, Anatomy, Writing,
Womens Liberaton, Human Rights, Drama,
95

Sports, Music, Literature, Oratory, Cultural and

Social activities - she participated and excelled
in them all, won many distinctions and much
acclaim both here and abroad.
Rajini was an outstanding personality with her
large luminous eyes and long dangling
earrings. I feel honored that I got the
opportunity to get friendly and interact with her,
during the Tamil ' Aduppadi Arattai' ( Kitchen
Gossip ) play practices for two months till the
time we staged it for the first and last time at
The University of Jaffna Auditorium on
29.4 1989. Five young university women along
with me as an elderly woman acted out the
travails of war and the pathetic plight of raped
women in Jaffna in this play. Rajini
superbly portrayed the role of a raped woman
with her eloquent body language and deep
resonant voice, and I marveled at her
expertise. We acted out this controversial drama
to a packed audience which witnessed it
spellbound and I am sad that we did
not video and perpectuate it.
She was most concerned about the plight of
down- trodden women and was a
founder member of the Poorani Home For
Women. I remember her indignant and vexed
outburst one day when she vehemently
96

exclaimed in exasperation, "If we don't change

our thinking and attitudes now, our women will
continue to remain static like this, even 25 years
hence in the year 2015"!
Some day some gun will silence me and it will
not be held by an outsider but by the son born in
the womb of this very society, from a woman
with whom my history is shared, wrote Rajini in
1989, a few months before she was killed.
She was loyal to her church and in-spite of her
mixed marriage she had the commitment to
have her daughters Narmatha and Sarika
babtized. Despite her busy schedule of work at
home and University, she took time for worship
and Mass at Church the Sunday before her
death too.
Tragedies such as Rajini's unexplained
assassination are difficult to understand and
accept, but try and accept it we must, for what
else can we do? As the fabric of life weaves on
unceasingly and the threads fall in place one by
one, sometimes we are at a loss to understand.
However,the Great Weaver - that omnipotent
Power that is God whatever one may call
Him/Her, is aware of the design of the tapestry.
"Whether it is clear to us or not, no doubt, the
Universe is unfolding as it should" Let us bow
97

our heads to God's wisdom but with pain and

anguish and reluctant acceptamce.
Tribute delivered by Lalitha Brodie at The
Chundikuli Girls College Commemoration on
6.10.1989.

33.THOUGHTS
Fall has arrived once again,
with that fresh cold nip in the air
as fast fading blossoms
and brightly painted foliage
all red, russet and yellow
blaze alluring autumn mellow
into my life in beloved Ontario
Vegetation will soon become bare
and trees will be stark naked, I muse
98

to accommodate the winter freeze.

But when the first bright crocus peeps,
heralding the dawn of yet another spring
nature springs pell-mell into action,
to swiftly bud, blossom, fruit and seed
to ensure propagation of every species
before winter comes round once again.
Every single thing on earth including
humanity, ensures propagation of
of its species as its top priority in life.
I recollect reading long ago about
a Russian experiment, where a frozen
youth's girl friend was ordered to save him.
Frantic, she stripped herself, slept on him
and tried her best to revive him with her
99

body heat. He responded and his body began

to slowly thaw. But as soon as he recovered
he raped his love brutally, despite her pleas
and resistance, proving life's instinct to ensure
propagation of the species before its demise.
At eighty, I have experienced most of my
desires and now realize the insignificance
of every one of them. I wanted to read more
and more, but now I prefer to rather write.
I dreamt of money to travel around the world,
now I have the cash but with poor health,
do not like to travel anywhere. I was so proud
of the different estate houses and my
possessions
but realize that they do not make a happy home.
100

Experiences in life seem similar - once you get

it,
the need vanishes, or addiction and
accumulation
set in. What is the real purpose of our life?
Why has God, created us with all our faculties
and given us this great opportunity called life?
From ages past seers have tried to find answers
but life's goal is still such a mystery. It is said
that
we are born to realize our full potential and
reach
self-realization / heaven to be with God. But I
now realize that God is a power like the unseen
wind, heaven is a state of mind without the ego
and if we persevere we can all attain that state

101

of mind that is heaven. Words of piety,

devotional music and song melt our hearts,
to kindle our own piety confirming the
existence
of God's glory, love and care. Man-made
religions
are all surging rivers seeking to merge
in the sea of bliss that is God. My God now
has no name or form but I can always feel
His / Her loving hand on my shoulder and my
vessel overflows with gratitude
and devotion.
September 11, 2013

34. THANKS TTC EMPLOYEES

10 AM - 5 PM ON JULY 9, 2013
People often write to complain
102

about the travails of travelling

by TTC, but I write today
to commend and place on record
how several TTC Employees helped me,,
an eighty year old Sri Lankan Tamil
grandma in many ways on July 9, 2013,
on my way to The Older Women's
Network Writers Group meeting at
115 the Esplanade, The OWN Co-op
near The St. Lawrence Market.
The doors of the train at Finch subway
were closing as I attempted to board
it with my walker, as the driver
watched from the next carriage.
Lo and behold! He re-opened the doors
and started the train after I boarded it.
Passengers always helped to carry
my walker up and down. A TTC
student volunteer and security guard
escorted me to washrooms.
When I floundered as my 72 Pape bus
was not stopping near Union station
due to construction, a very kind TTC
employee took me back to St.Andrews
with its lifts and even crossed the street
to put me on the correct streetcar!
Hey Presto! Thus I managed to skip
the long Wheel-Trans transfer waits
103

from Mississauga and went downtown

independently on my own this summer.
I'm sorry that I procrastinated without
writing this immediately as I have now
forgotten the names of all the kind
TTC employees who helped me that day.
I hope that they will see this on facebook
(Lalitha Indranee Brodie) and
accept my gratitude and well wishes.

35.MY LIFE
Time tarries not and flies by so swiftly!
I know that in 2014 I will be eighty
and I often catch myself contemplating
how and what I should change in order
to wrap up my life in the best possible way,
to make the most of my last few years.
My Eastern culture instilled in me
that I must subdue my ego and overcome
the needs of the 'me and the mine', accept
my lot and surrender to the will of God.
Starting meditation in 1983 made me
a vegetarian and I, who loved fish
and meat, stopped eating them totally
104

for 23 years. When I lost 46% of my

bone density due to severe osteoporosis
in 2006, my Doctor prescribed Forteo injections
costing $800 per month. I am hurting myself
as I dont want to hurt other beings I mused
and became a non-vegetarian once again
and am unashamedly enjoying fish and meat.
As I evolved spiritually, I realized
that all religions are man-made
and that we are all infinitesimal
particles of The Great Whole,
that One Omnipotent Power that is God.
I have managed to place a ceiling
on most of my desires, but I still wish
to fulfill this need of mine
and finish all that I have to do
to wrap up everything before I exit.
I am the only one who knows myself best,
and I wish to chronicle
all that I learnt for posterity.
I am endowed with a sharp intellect,
a positive attitude and abundant
enthusiasm to try to do my best
in all that I attempt. My body is
all twisted, bent and grotesque
but my mind is alert, creative and
is as vibrant as ever. I am 100%
105

true to myself, my thought

word and deed always match
and I am the same inside and out.
But I'm very impulsive and at times
am unfortunately totally misunderstood as
manipulative, as I at once bring out what I am
thinking. However, I am not too bothered about
opinions of others and I'm content and happy to
be what I am today. I have a few regrets but
absolutely no fear
about anything. Though I'm curious
about what lies ahead, I'll continue
to accept my allotted destiny as life
continues to daily unfold around me.
August 12, 2013

36. OUVAHKELLIE
Rajah & Lalitha Brodie married in Jaffna on
May 1952, when he was an assistant
superintendent on Panilkande estate Deniyaya,
Southern Sri Lanka, adjoining Hayes Group
where his father, Rajah Brodie Senior was the
106

superintendent ( Gunam Thambipillai

succeeded him on Hayes ). During the latter
part of 1953, Rajah started looking after his
fathers Tea & Rubber called Rajah Estate,
Pitabeddara. After the 1958 communal troubles
Rajah estate was handed over to British Whittal
Bousteads Company, who. gave Rajah a job in
the Uva. He did very well for 9 years as
assistant superintendent on the 3, 200 acre
Demodera Group, largest Tea Estate in Sri
Lanka, on Rossett,( Ajantha and Aravindhs were
born when we were in Rossett) Weyvelhena &
Southam Divisions. In 1969 he was transferred
out as assistant supdt & Rajah & Lalitha Brodie,
Nirmala, Niranjan, Ravindran, Ajantha &
Aravindha lived in the Ouvahkellie Division
Bungalow of Glasgow Group Agrapatna, near
Talawakelle from 1969 to 1971.
The Sunday Times Newspaper Sri Lanka,
November 3, 1996 published this article about
The Ouvahkellie Bungalow. I pulled this out
when I was searching for photographs of places
where we lived for Arjuna Brodies paternal
Family Tree for a school assignment.
Lalitha Brodie 13.7.2007
OUVAHKELLIE
The Plantation Home
107

Clouds drifted low over the hills as we drove to

Ouvahkellie. The tea bushes were damp with
drizzle and the atmosphere was strangely
foreboding. Not the best weather in which to
see the Ouvahkellie bungalow for the first time.
It loomed out of the swirling mist like a haunted
turreted mansion, more likely to be found in
Transylvania than 11 miles from Talawakelle.
To add to the air of desolation, no-one stirred
when we smote on the door. We tried again and
then the cook appu from a neighbouring
plantation who was our guide, disappeared to
find the back entrance of the house.
Minutes later we heard shuffling sounds and
another appu heaved open the door. As we
stepped inside, the mist billowed in after us and
the electricity failed. We found ourselves
peering in the darkness around a medieval hall.
The impression of Tudor times inspired by the
mansions eccentric exterior is continued inside
the house. The entrance hall has a floor of
polished wooden boards and the walls faced
with boards to waist height. The ceiling is of
cream-painted wood.

108

The Elizabethan atmosphere is created by the

central split level wood-boarded staircase. With
banisters like carved pivots, it dominates the
room, the impression of medieval times being
enhanced by the prints hanging on the walls. A
poster of the Mona Lisa there too, and it seems
appropriate.
The electricity returned and threw light on the
traditional planters furniture in the lobby: a
verandah chair with long swing-out arms, and a
rickety rotating magazine trolley used for
ornaments.
There is no doubt about when this mansion was
built. The date 1907, is carved into a prettily
decorated granite block set into the entrance
steps. This date is confirmed by the list of
planters displayed in the plantation office.
It is recorded there that the Ouvahkellie
plantation was purchased as jungle by George
Smith in 1871. It was first planted with coffee
and chincona. Tea was introduced in 1880 and
and the plantation became company ownedin
1895.
The first resident of the house was G.F.Hughes
who remained there for nearly 20 years. He was
replaced by H.O.Spronks until in 1946,
109

H.C.Patterson became the resident planter. It

was probably Patterson who began the many
adornments and additions to the building which
have been made over the years. He is reputed
to have had a fondness for turrets and probably
adapted the wing with its spired tower.
Judging by the evidence of the building
exterior, it was once red- brick and not heavily
stuccoed as at present.. The outline of several
bricked up arches can be seen, and there is a
recent addition of a single storey annex with
balcony roof.
Perhaps it was a mistake to look too closely as it
dissipates the impact of this inspired mansion
built in the hills at 4,800 feet above sea level.
Its interior is a tribute to the care lavished upon
it by its present planter occupants.
Off the lobby with its symphony of warm hues
of wood, is the lounge also with a wooden floor
and a painted embossed ceiling.
Banquette style seating has been installed in the
curve of the turreted bay window which makes
a setting of casual elegance for afternoon tea
with a garden view.

110

The dining room is simply furnished and

distinguished with a fireplace that has an
elaborate carved wooden frieze under the
wooden mantel piece. The grate, in black, is
also adorned with emblems and the period
effect is emphasised by the white tiles and
subtle colours of the fender.
Upstairs, this wonderful manor house succumbs
to its past. The bedrooms, including the fivesided one in the turret, are large but eerie: the
bathrooms have the plumbing of the old.
We left Ouvahkellie as the mist was enticing
dusk to assist in shrouding the mansion with
gloom. At the peak of the turret we caught a
glimpse of the silhouette of an old hunched
man. It was the emblem astride an ancient
weathervane, the guardian of the gothic fantasy
that is Ouvahkellie. .
Connect to the next generation of MSN
Messenger

111

37. Silver Jubilee Celebrations of

Shanthiham
To:
The Executive Director Shanthiham
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Dear Mr.Sankarapillai,
It is a pleasure to congratulate Shanthiham's
team and send my felicitation during this epic
Silver Jubilee Celebration. Nostalgic memories
flood my mind as I recollect how blessed I am
to have had the wonderful opportunity to serve
on Shanthiham's Executive Board of Directors,
as one of its twelve Founding Members.
My connection with Shanthiham started in 1987
while visiting Colombo, when a Newspaper
published a plea from a Jaffna undergraduate. "I
was raped, tried to commit suicide and my
parents saved me, but they are arranging a
marriage for me now and I am on the brink of
suicide once again - please help me!" I was so
upset after reading this story as I felt it
highlighted our great need for counselling
services in Jaffna. To address this issue, I took
the article to Sri Lanka Sumithrayo Counselling
Centre and met its Founder the English lady,
Joan de Mel to request her help. As the
112

President of Jaffna Mothers Front Chundikuli

Branch, I invited her to join me to Jaffna as a
special guest for our First Anniversary
Celebration of The Jaffna Jaipur Artificial Foot
Project and to help us start a Counselling Centre
in Jaffna. Joan de Mel liked to help, but was
reluctant to join me to Jaffna by bus as she was
elderly and none of the other Directors wanted
to come because of the political situation.
Joan suggested that I write to Befrienders
International UK requesting for help to set up a
counselling centre in Jaffna. They promptly
replied, sending me all essentials such as the
Constitution etc. in a large thick envelope,
which I gave to my neighbor Dr.Theivendram
who was then President of Red Cross. At the
same time, Rev. Dr. F.M.Selvaratnam, Rev.
Damian and a host of doctors and professionals
were trying to start a Counselling Centre and
my package from Befrienders International was
used as a valuable resource to help formulate
Shanthiham - that was how a non-professional
like me was incorporated as one of its Founder
members.
At the beginning, Shanthiham functioned at the
junction of Hospital Road and First Cross
Street, but that large house was completely
destroyed by bombs and we then moved to
113

No.15 Kachcheri Nallur Road, just opposite the

Jaffna Secretariat. Once Shanthiham Centre was
established, the continuing cycle of training of
psychological counsellors was initiated. I really
enjoyed learning the intricacies of counselling
along with the first batch of twenty-one selected
professionals comprising of members of clergy,
medical students and teachers. We listened
spellbound to the vibrant lectures of Rev.
Dr.Selvaratnam, Rev. Damian, Psychiatrist
Dr.Daya Somasunderam and Anna Doney. We
marvelled at the healing that was possible by
interacting speech therapy which was new to us.
Father Selvam was very strict during his
verbatim workshops where we had to present
our cases; but he expertly polished our ability as
counsellors. This training nurtured our personal
growth abundantly and I am certain that my
colleagues are all making their mark wherever
they are now. Some medical students who were
trained are successful medical specialists in Sri
Lanka. Dr. Lambotharan and his wife Dr. Aruna
are popular family doctors in Toronto now and
he is also busy with his dedicated spiritual
service, nurturing Hinduism with his astounding
knowledge.
>
> It was great to meet Psychiatrist Dr.Daya
Somasundera and take him around to meet our
Tamil media, when he was invited to Toronto by
114

WHO, to report on his services with the

Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. It was nice to
meet Sister Victorine and Stephen Leonard too
when they visited Toronto some years ago.
When I visited Jaffna in 2004 and 2006, I did
not know anyone at Shanthiham except for
Stephen and Shiromi Leonard, who were
coming up despite the war situation. It was
rewarding to meet selfless Dr.Daya
Somasunderam at his teaching hospital clinic
and caring Father Damian at his Holistic Centre
for afflicted single women. These are some
glimpses into the dedication and love of service
instilled in us by our wonderful training and I
am happy that this spirit of service continues
today at Shanthiham with its multifaceted
expanded services helping those in need in
Northern Sri Lanka.
With Best Wishes
Lalitha Brodie
Counselor, Bi-lingual Writer, Broadcaster
lalitha.brodie7@hotmail.com>
Tel: 416 907 6897 / 905 270 1214

38. FAREWELL DEAR HUSBAND MINE

115

January 25, 2013

Farewell! Farewell dear husband mine,
farewell! How suddenly and swiftly you have
stepped across into the unknown after just two
weeks of ill-health. You would have been
ninety this August and I had already bought
your 90th birthday card too in advance when I
came across it. Of-course your arrogance and
control had diminished with age, you had
gradually slowed down and didnt like to
exercise or walk even inside the house, but you
did manage your baths and daily routine alone,
though your memory started playing up. You
enjoyed your brandy, your meals, the Tamil TV,
the BBC and as usual bragged about your
health, wealth and your children.
You and I are as different as the two
poles but even with all our frailties and ups and
downs, we managed to pull along together to
walk through life for sixty-two long years from
1951 - 2013! We are blessed with five fine
children, eleven devoted grandchildren and
seven lovely great-grandchildren. I am sure that
you knew in your heart that you were the one
and only man in my life and that I was always
true to you in thought, word and deed. I am
grateful to you for giving me the freedom to
achieve all what I wanted to do so that I am
proud to be what I am today. I am not sad that
116

you are no more, as you went in good time

without lingering to suffer. I am glad that you
repeated the Gayathri Mantra after me and
received Pranic Healing the last few days of
your life. I feel guilty that I was not with you
when you died as I didnt realize that your end
was so imminent But I am happy that I cared
for you and did all what I could for you to the
best of my ability. You are very lucky to have
lived so well and died in this manner and I am
sure that you will be better off wherever you are
now. May your soul rest in peace.
With All My Love.
Lalitha
February 2013
39. THE STORY OF TAMILS IN SRI
LANKA
Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka from around the
2nd century BC, mainly in the North and the
East in a separate kingdom, ruled by their own
king and also throughout the island as a
minority, along with the Muslims, Malays and
Burghers.
The Portugese conquered spice rich Sri Lanka
in 1505, followed by the Dutch from 1638
1776. The British started their

117

rule from 1776 till 1948 when they granted

independence to Sri Lanka as a single country.
Eminent Tamils like Sir Ponnampalam
Ramanathan, Sir Ponnampalam Arunachalam,
and international scholar Ananda Coomarasamy
adorned the Tamil community during preindependent days and they worked for the
welfare of the entire Sri Lankan nation. After
independence there were two Tamil minister
representatives and a Muslim minister in
parliament.
However, after Independence relations between
Sinhalese and Tamils became strained as the
Tamils felt oppressed. The Tamil leaders tried
all the nonviolent means like Satyagraha, Sit
down fasts etc. to get their demands, but they
were assaulted and dispersed. The Sinhala Only
Act with Sinhalese as the only official language
was passed in 1956 amidst rising political
oppression and ethnic tension
President Bandaranayake signed a pact with
Tamil leader Chelvanayagam in 1957 giving a
level of autonomy to Tamils, but tore it up when
it met with stiff opposition from the radicals.
This started the string of state aided ethnic riots
killing Tamils and destroying their property all
over the island started in 1956, 1958, 1977,
1981 and 1983. This unjust oppression literally
forced the Tamil youth to rebel and led to the

118

formation and strengthening of militant groups

advocating independence for the Tamils.
The rebels rose against the 1948
Disenfranchisement of a million uneducated
Indian Tamil estate workers soon after
independence, the suppression of our mother
tongue Tamil in1956 when Sinhalese was made
the only official language, the unjust
standardisation of university entrance on no
merit but area basis, resulting in the never
ending Tamil brain drain. The blatant state aided
colonization of the fringes of the North and the
East. The 1981 preplanned burning of the best
in the East Jaffna Public Library. The
destruction of ancient temples, churches,
schools, hospitals and civilian homes by
indiscriminate aerial bombs and artillery shells
from over 250 army camps surrounding Jaffna.
The tyranny of multi-media censorship and
murder of media personnel, the systematic
denial of our basic human rights along with
forty other essentials like electricity, fuel,
medicine, food, paper, matches, batteries etc.
This started the internal ethnic war, which has
resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and
massive destruction by aerial bombs and shells
in the Tamil areas. More than 1/3 of the Tamils
have left their homeland and fled seeking refuge
in every nook and corner of the world.

119

This three decade Sri Lankan Government

ethnic war against the Tamils was not only
physical murder and elimination, but cultural
and economic annihilation as well. When this
ethnic strife neared its bitter end in May 2009
where Government armed forces surrounded the
civilians trapped in the narrow beach of
Mullivaikal, the Freedom Fighter leaders chose
to surrender. Tamils around the
world, desperately tried to appeal to the
International Powers to intervene and prevent
the genocide. A passionate Diaspora lobbied in
front of Ottawa Parliament and when feelings of
despair ran high, citizens were moved to take
matters in their own hands and even stormed the
Gardiner Highway in an attempt to capture the
countrys attention towards the plight of Tamil
civilians caught in the midst of the conflict in
Mullivaikal. However their pleas for help fell
on deaf ears, the international community did
not intervene, nothing was done and well over
70 000 civilians were heartlessly annihilated
along with the surrendering rebel leaders
carrying white flags.
The Sri Lankan President Rajapakse, celebrated
that he had annihilated the rebels, arrested
civilians as prisoners of war, confined them into
Internment camps amidst continuing
interrogation and torture while white van
kidnappings and murder of media personnel
120

continued. However, President Rajapakse

painted a rosy picture that he had liberated the
Tamils from the rebels, though the army is still
in Tamil areas in full force, though he has
improved the roads, transport, living conditions
and organized the elections too.
Therefore the Tamils rejoiced with the election
of the Tamil National Alliance because the
voice of Tamil Citizens would be now heard
and their opinions addressed. Tamils
worldwide, joyfully celebrated the victory
of The TNA which won 30 of the 36 contested
seats in the north & east on Sept. 21, 2013 in
the provincial elections in Sri Lanka, heavily
defeating the ruling party of despotic President
Mahinda Rajapakse. After the three decade
internal war ended with the defeat of Freedom
Fighters in 2009 Local & Municipal elections
had been held, but this was the biggest poll, a
test of northern Tamil's unity and perception of
their place in the country.
Canadian Premier Hon. Stephen Harper chose
to boycott The Commonwealth Summit held in
November 2013 in Sri Lanka to express his
discontent about the violation of Human Rights
of Tamils there. However, UK Premier Hon.
David Cameron, not only attended this Summit,
but visited Jaffna, met the press, parents of the
missing and everyone concerned made the real
situation of the Tamils known worldwide. We
121

are most grateful to the Premiers of UK and

Canada and also to The Channel 4 team for
their valuable documentation of alleged war
crimes in Sri Lanka which helped to capture the
attention of the world at least now.
Tamils in Sri Lanka must now get together to
nurture healing, work towards an enduring
reconciliation process to bring peace in Sri
Lanka which will come only when the truth is
known about what happened in the past. I do
hope that truth, harmony and and peace with
justice will prevail soon in Sri Lanka.
December 2013

40. KARMA
The Hindus believe in the law of Cause and
Effect, Karma. According to the unwritten
Hindu scriptures The Vedas, which came down
by word of mouth from ancient seers, nothing
happens without a reason in creation. This
karma always determines the type of life of
every animatend inanimate being in the
universe. The law of karma explains the
mystery of every being's life, which is tailored
to suit the outcome of its past actions
122

even from its previous births. For example, a

person who abused or killed someone in his
previous birth, is born amidst circumstances
where he will be abused or killed in return by
that person. Any meritorious acts by someone in
several previous births will result in that person
being born in a family to enjoy its fruits. Thus
the law of karma explains the mystery as to why
some are born crie or blind, while others are
born beautiful, wealthy, clever etc.
On November 23rd 2013, on late Guru Sai
Baba's 88th birthday celebrations, Gynacologist
Dr.Mohan Kollengode from Ohio, gave an
enlightening talk about the law of karma. He
said that the results of karma cannot be changed
and one has to experience the outcome of his
thoughts, words and deeds - especially the date
a person has to be born or die is predestined and
cannot be changed. However the suffering of a
person can be made less by complete surrender
to God, by Astrological Shanthis / Poojahs
performed to alleviate and please the
malevolent planets that cause the problem and
also by the grace of divine Siddha Purushas like
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Baba and others.
There is collective karma too and examples are
plane crashes, Earth quakes, Fires, Tsunamis
and the 911 Twin Tower Collapse etc.

123

Rama was a gifted healer. People came to him

from far and wide with a lot of faith and got
healed. Sometimes Rama acted strangely when
he was healing the very sick - he would
suddenly carry the patient and switch the way
he slept so that his head was where his feet were
earlier. Whenever he did this, the patient who
was almost dying, revived and got better.
Rama had a great secret. He could sense the
God of Death Yama approaching riding his
buffalo with his rope lasso and could see him
when he entered the room to take the patient's
life away. Yama lifted his arm and if he touched
the patient's head he revived but if he touched
the feet the patient died. So Ram
a swiftly changed the position of the patient
appropriately so that Yama's hand would touch
the head of the patient and he would live!
People born feet first also have this gift and if
they massage the patients affected area with
their feet, they can heal. My grandma told me
that I was born facing the earth which was
unusual and that I would inherit a lot of land,
which became true. I too have the urge to heal
the sick and found that I had a touch of that gift,
but soon realized that I absorb the pain when I
touch people. While holidaying in Sri Lanka in
124

2006, I was miraculously led to learn Pranic

Healing ( www.pranichealingcanada.com www.pranichealingsrilanka.com ) at 20 Moor
Road Wellawatte, Colombo in a seminar, where
we were taught to heal without touching clients.
You first stand in front of the client, clean
his/her chakras, flip the waste into a bowl of
salt water, wash your hands well, then get the
universal energy into one hand and radiate it to
the chakras of clients with the other, and along
with spiritual elevation , healing is a miraculous
by-product. However, the question, 'Who am I
to thus interfere in the lives of others like this,
bothers me and I do not do this often now.
Lalitha Brodie
November 2013

41. FAREWELL TO MY SISTER

CHANDRA VIJIADHARMA
So you have stepped beyond first early enough
to hospital this time.
You and I grew up together like twins Chandra,
as Ammah always dressed us alike and combed
our hair in two plaits. I remember playing with
125

you with our building blocks, top, doll and

yellow chinaware tea set in the 'thinnai'
ammammah's house. We learnt Carnatic music
frm Mrs.Ananthanayagam at Chundikuli and
used to practice the violin and passed Chandra,
though I am twenty months older. You wanted
to meet all your three grandchildren and always
were so careful with your health and I am sad
you did not go exams together. We were good
friends and never had major disagreements with
each other. I remember you falling ill with
typhoid after we moved to No.86 and you lost
your hair which was similar to mine, and got a
thick head of stiff long hair after that.
You refused a proposal soon after my
registration crying that you wanted to continue
your studies and appah rejected that match.
You were the perfect aunt for my five children
and they all remember you with great gratitude.
You looked after them well when we were away
on leave for four months in 1964.
You were very happy with Vije and Theivika
and it is a pity that he died so young. Theivika
was your life and you were very proud of all her
academic and cultural achievements at College
and The Kelaniya University.
Theivikas grand wedding to Harinesan
Devarajah was the high point in your life and it
was joyous occasion when all of us met
126

together. You would have missed Theivika a lot

and must have been happy to be with her family
twice in Melbourne and you were looking
forward so much to join them again. We never
get all what we want in life, do we? Though you
have gone without meeting Krishan, Luxmi and
Raathai, I am sure that your Spirit will always
be there blessing and guiding them in the future.
Your Sister Lalitha

42. THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

I have always been perplexed by the eternal
unanswerable questions, the mysteries of the
universe, creation and the veiled obscure
purpose of life. Who am I? From where did I
come? Why am I really here now, and whither
do I go from here? Why is it so difficult for me,
to passively accept the answers of earlier
prophets, saints and seers? Surely this marvel of
the spirit, mind and the body, has not been
created to only ear, drink, make merry, beget
offspring, amass wealth, wisdom, name, fame,
power and then fade, wither and die?
127

Instinct confirms the presence of the power of

God, like the pervasive power of the unseen
wind. Manmade religions are surging rivers
seeking to merge in the sea of bliss, The Divine.
But beloved God Almighty, One and Only, I
accept Thy power and Thy glory! How Great
Thou Art my Lord! There is no single face,
mind or a body like another. Never a similar
story, stone, sprout or summer. No identical
thought, action or even laughter. To create this
massive mosaic of such glorious diversity,
command it, reign uncontested and supreme,
how Great Thou art My Lord, How Great Thou
art and how little I understand about Thy
inscrutable ways!
However, it is heartening to realize that modern
technology seems to be attempting to break
down some barriers with the Silver Jubilee
celebrations and the amazing story of the
Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble Telescope
blasted off the Space shuttle Discovery on April
24, 1990, embarking upon an incredible mission
filled with disappointment, drama, redemption,
immeasurable discoveries and has had an
eventful life. Though initially Hubbles flawed
mirror prevented clear cut pictures when it
reached orbit, it was corrected by space-walking
astronauts in 1993, after which it started
128

sending wonderful images of the cosmos.

Astronauts also serviced it four additional
times, last in 2099. These observations of
Hubble helped researchers to determine that the
expansion of the universe is accelerating rather
than slowing down and revealed that black
holes lurk at the heart of most, if not all the
galaxies. Hubble, which is a joint effort by
NASA and the European Space Agency has
brought the beauty and wonder of the cosmos
into the lives of lay-people in a way the no other
instrument has ever done before and the union
is so much more accountable now to everyone,
which is a lasting legacy.
Earlier, most astronomers of the 1960s had
preferred to spend the money on 15copies of the
5 meter Palomar monitor rather than take a
gamble on a single telescope in space. It is
great that Hubble, named after astronomer
Edwin Hubble, is in orbit still, hopes to
continue till 2020 and its four main instruments
observations in the ultra violet, visible and near
infrared spectra are very valuable. Its orbit
outside the distortion of earths atmosphere,
allows it to take extremely high resolution
images with noticeable background light. It has
recorded some of the most detailed visible light
images ever, allowing a deep viewing into space
and time, which have led to breakthroughs in
astrophysics, such as accurately determining the
129

rate of the expansion of the universe. Although

it is not the first telescope, it is the largest and
most versatile, a vital research tool and a public
relations boon for astronomy, giving us just a
glimpse into the magnitude of the cosmos, with
promises for more knowledge to follow.
My mind now flits back to our great Eastern
epic The Ramayana written thousands of years
ago, where the divine Hindu protector Lord
Vishnu, descends as avathar Prince Rama on
earth to propagate the victory of virtue over
vice. Villain Ravana abducts Ramas beautiful
wife Seetha from India and takes her in his
flying chariot to his kingdom in Sri Lanka.
Ancient sage Valmiki, author of The Ramayana
in Sanskrit, was aware of air-flight and wrote
about Ravanas flying chariot even in those
days of the bow and arrow! He also wrote about
Ramas devotee, monkey warrior Hanuman,
who had the prowess to fly over the Indian
ocean to Sri Lanka and search for Sita, during
those ancient days, while we are only now
marvelling over things like The Hubble Space
telescope, which shows us that there is so much
that we dont know and our earth and we are
just a minute dot in the vast universe.
Exploration and change are no doubt essentials
for any growth and progress in life. But hile
there is such a lot that needs to be done for the
130

welfare of life on earth, is it fair to spend so

much time, effort and money to over emphasise
the exploration of outer space? Why not spend
even a little to teach introversion to everyone to
explore the vast universe of our human mind
and spirit which will definitely help to eradicate
all the violence that plagues us?

43. CHANGE
Seasons come and seasons go but it is midMarch now and this long drawn 2014 winter
still doggedly persists with its freezing
temperatures. All animate and inanimate beings
patiently await the dawn of Spring, and when
the first crocus peeps out, spring into action
pell-mell, to quickly sprout, bud, blossom, fruit
and seed to ensure propagation of their
progeny. However, I feel that propagation of
progeny is not the sole purpose of life on earth.
Some religions portray life as a play of that One
Great Power that is God and depict karma, the
law of cause and effect as a possible answer to
the eternal questions about the mystery life.
Science has made astonishing progress about
materialistic knowledge, but has done almost
nothing to nurture spiritual growth and
progress. I knew that we must change for any
progress and to change others, but I didnt know
131

how to accomplish this change. I like to share

what I recently learnt about change from
spiritualist Dr.Wayne Dyer' on WNED TV
channel. His program about about love,
compassion, forgiveness and synchronicity,
touched my heart as he taught that,Changing
your thoughts is the key and your feelings,
perceptions, words and actions will change
automatically. I feel that this is something that
I want to disseminate so that we can all try it
out - I thought that I had got over this Messiah
Complex of mine but here it is rearing its head
once again, and I need to work on that now!
Lalitha Brodie March 2014
44. LOSS & APPLICATION FOR
COMPENSATION
R.S.Brodie
49 Rossini Drive
Richmond Hill ON L4E 2Z2 Canada
25.10.2014
To:
The Director
UCHR
Dear Sir,
Application For Compensation For Loss
sustained in Jaffna Sri Lanka During The Ethnic
Conflict
132

Loss and gain are part and parcel of every life,

but we Tamils have endured enormous out of
the ordinary losses in the three decade ethnic
strife in our Motherland Sri Lanka. I know the
terror of what is war, as I lived amidst it and
wish to document all my experiences of loss.
Memory pictures vivid as ever still haunt me
and often flash forth in my minds eye. I
remember the drone of the helicopter hornet,
heralding the bombers, that dive like giant
pregnant dragonflies that lay their seven eggs in
flight, followed by the blinding flash and the
deafening blast of death and destruction, driving
us to huddle in fear in bunkers dug deep inside
the bosom of the earth.
My most heartrending loss is the death of my
16 year old nephew Sasi, who was killed in a
bomb blast. I well remember him, sweet
sixteen, so handsomely tall and lanky with his
flashing eyes and lovely smile. More than 40
000 civilians were killed like him by bombs,
shell fire or gun shots and almost every family
lost members of their loved ones. A whole
young generation has been wiped out. Material
possessions and all structures like Temples,
Churches, Schools & Libraries can be
reestablished, but what about the irreplaceable
lost lives, relationships and our mental anguish,
anger and trauma?
133

I remember that artillery shell from the Palaly

Army camp which completely destroyed my
new house at No.15 Brodie Lane. We had a
narrow escape and barely escaped with our
lives, but lost all our household possessions
and only the walls of our lovely home remain
now. However, the two opposite houses of my
parents and sister were intact and my family
moved in and we lived with them. When we
were forced to evacuate our houses in Jaffna at
a days notice and proceed South to camps in
1995, the Army, Commander and troops moved
into these two large, well furnished houses.
However, when the Army vacated Jaffna, they
swiped those two houses clean - they made
huge boxes with the doors and took away all the
prized possessions including even the custom
made furniture, along with my parents and
sisters life-time collection of valuables,
antiques and rare First Edition Books. The loss
of these material possessions is nothing when
compared to the loss of lives that Tamils
suffered.
It is heartening that The UCHR - United
Nations Office Of The High Commission For
Human Rights has announced that it will accept
submissions to undertake and investigate into
alleged violations of abuses of human rights in
134

Sri Lanka during the period of February 2002

to November 2011. The resulting investigation
is very crucial for The Tamil community and
prompt action is required to achieve any
meaningful result. Immigrants who have
suffered or witnessed abuse / torture, must be
urged to come forward and submit their claims
for compensation.
It is great that we can now claim compensation
for our losses from the Sri Lankan Government,
if we send in our application documenting our
losses before October 30, 2014. I hope for the
best and will send in my application with
photographs of my destroyed house.
R.S.Brodie
416 907 6897
45. FROM BULLOCK CART TO
WHEELTRANS
Transport during my childhood in the nineteen
forties in Jaffna Sri Lanka was very primitive.
All of us in my middleclass family walked
everywhere or hired a bullock cart drawn by
two bulls to get to faraway places. There were
very few bicycles on the roads and not a single
girl rode them. When we heard the drone of the
135

occasional airplane in our empty sky, we all ran

outside to gape at it. The Austin hiring cars and
the infrequent buses were soon outnumbered by
truckloads of foreign soldiers, mostly African,
roaring down our roads during World War II
1939 - 1945.
I walked to Tamil School which was close by,
but went in a rickshaw first to Chundikuli Girls
College in 1943, barefoot Suppan racing along
with other rickshaw pullers. Later a school bus
plied for a short time and when we moved to
our new house nearer College, we walked up
and down four times coming home for lunch
too. When I married Rajah Brodie and lived on
various large tea estates for 32 years, first we
had our own car, and then the estates provided
us with a car and chauffer. After retirement, we
lived in Jaffna comfortably till the ethnic strife
began in 1987, when the despotic Sri Lankan
Government denied basic essentials like, power,
fuel and forty other essentials to the war zones
where we lived.
I was dazzled by the lifestyle of the West, when
I arrived in Toronto in 1992 from war ravaged
Jaffna. I was wide eyed with wonder with
Western technology, especially the public
transport system with its well organized buses
and underground trains. I soon learnt to travel

136

in Greater Toronto Area on my own and became

an expert in utilizing TTC transit.
However with advancing age I chose to use
Wheeltrans which is very helpful, despite the
long connection waits. Peel Wheeltrans
picked me up from my Mississauga residence to
Trillium Hospital transit station, from where
Toronto Wheeltrans took me to my destination.
When my husband Rajah Brodie died in 2012, I
moved to live with my other son Ravi in
Richmond Hill and York Region Transit picked
me up from home to wait at Centre Point Mall
Pickle Barrel Entrance and Toronto Wheeltrans
picked me up to and fro to my destination.
I enjoy these wheeltrans rides and wish to
record how much I look forward to them with
the multicultural drivers and diverse fellow
passengers. I have met many interesting fellow
passengers during these rides. Most of the
passengers and drivers have Sri Lankan friends,
are well aware of the present political situation
there, are keen to know more details and
surprise me with their questions. Technology
has now improved in Sri Lanka too, the
standard of life is higher after the conflict, with
the construction of the destroyed railroad to
Jaffna / improvement of roads / highway which
has made travel much faster, though the people

137

resent the presence of the army which is still

there.
When wheeltrans picks up and drops off
passengers from hospitals and nursing homes, I
realize that health is wealth. I remember a bald
headed young man in his twenties we once
picked up, who was in a lot of pain and did not
want to talk at all. A regal looking old
Canadian lady with lovely white hair once
confided to me that she was going to hospital
for her first chemotherapy, but was not scared
as she had decided to take life day by day. Then
there was the middle-aged lecturer we picked
up from Ryerson University who could barely
walk, but he came daily by wheeltrans to teach
his students. I feel very sad when I meet young
disabled passengers who are unable to walk. A
driver once told me that after dropping me off
he was going to pick up his next passenger and
his dog it would have been interesting to meet
this pair and I am sorry that I missed it. Once
we picked up a handsome young man on a
mechanized wheel chair and after dropping him
off, the driver said that he was a teacher who
had hurt his spine in a diving accident.
Wheeltrans drivers are very caring, courteous
and always help passengers to get in and out of
the vehicles. A young Sikh driver from Punjab
who picked me up last month was impeccably
138

dressed in a blue turban to match his blue

striped shirt and socks.. When I complimented
him on his outfit, he laughingly replied that in
India the fashion now was for couples to buy
outfits and dress to match each other ! A
Canadian driver in his fifties shared with me
how he lost his wife to painful cancer ten years
ago after caring for her for ten years. A driver
from Afghanistan spoke very proudly about his
motherland, their customs and culture. It was
lovely when a Sri Lankan Tamil driver picked
me up and we started talking in Tamil, which
annoyed my fellow passenger the Chinese old
lady who complained that I was talking too
much and distracting the driver from doing his
job properly. I have met only two Tamil drivers
so far and the second one was so busy talking
about the present political climate in Sri Lanka,
that I quite forgot to give my TTC ticket to him
and he would have been out of pocket. Once I
met an old lady who knew very little English
waiting for a long time and a Chinese driver
went out of her way to help her to get a ride. It
was a pleasure to meet two young Asian women
drivers from China and India among the Peel
Region Transhelp drivers and I commended
their excellent service to the authorities.
I use wheeltrans to mainly go to International
Tamil Radio (ITR) Station in Kennedy /
139

Ellesmere and to attend the monthly OWN

Writers Group meetings Downtown at 115 The
Esplanade and drive through various Toronto
landscapes when we pick up and drop off fellow
passengers, which I would never witness if not
for these rides. When there is heavy traffic on
Yonge street the driver takes smaller roads with
unique houses which are lovely. I look forward
to these trips with great anticipation as I enjoy
meeting new people coping with their life in
unusual ways and meeting their challenges face
to face. I realize how lucky I am to be thus
blest with this longevity, comparative good
health with sharp intellect and for this, my heart
overflows with gratitude.
Lalitha Brodie
416 907 6897
November 2014

46. LANGUAGE
Languages are part of everyday life and are the
main means of communication among us
human beings. .It is fascinating to know that
there are over 2 700 languages and more than
7000 dialects in the world. Each language has
its own literature, music and art forms, which
were passed down by word of mouth in the
140

olden days when print did not exist. Language

is concrete, but our thoughts and feelings are
elusive and what we say does not measure up to
what we know and we realize that life is bigger
than the words we utter. Communication
becomes more obscure when we try to reframe
a statement in one language into that of another,
because no two languages are similar and
translations are never perfect.
Some languages like Sanskrit and Latin are now
almost extinct. The ancient Hindu Vedas in the
Sanskrit language, were handed down by saintly
sages by word of mouth to their disciples. One
such Saint called Babaji, ( Please Google Hindu
Saint Babaji ) who introduced the science of
Kriya Yoga to the world over 3000 years ago, is
believed to be still alive in the Himalayas and
reveals himself in the Kumbamela Festival
which is celebrated once in twelve years in
India. All the sacred Mantras chanted to adore
and worship God by Brahmin priests even now
are in Sanskrit, as the sounds created by
Sanskrit Mantras are very potent and powerful.
These Mantras too contain many amazing
predictions similar to those of others like
Nostradamus.
I love languages and am tri-lingual. I speak
good Tamil, English and Sinhalese and am a
141

published bi-lingual writer with an excellent

command of both English and Tamil languages.
I studied only up to Grade Ten, The SSC Senior
School Certificate, but developed my language
skills by my voracious reading in both Tamil
and English from childhood. I am grateful that
my intellect was stimulated early at age three,
when I accompanied my teacher uncle
Gunaratnam to Tamil school till Grade Five. I
started to learn in English at Chundikuli Girls
College Jaffna when I was nine, where we were
reprimanded if we spoke any Tamil in class.
I continued reading all the English classical
books in the college library like Charles
Dickens along with Tamil literature too. Like
the Greek Iliad and the Odyssey, Tamil
literature is adorned with the Mahabharatha and
the Ramayana which was translated from
Sanskrit into Tamil by poet Kambar. I loved the
Tamil historical novels by Kalki and the English
poems of Kahlil Gibran, Rabindranath Tagore
and Kabir and longed to write like them in both
English and Tamil. The powerful words of
Bengali Swami Vivekananda, moved me along
with Tagores Gitanjali which won the Nobel
prize for literature and Kabirs mystical poems
written originally in the Bengali language. I
loved the devotional songs written in the

142

Telungu language, set to heartrending Carnatic

music by Saint Thyagarajar.
After marriage to Tea Planter Rajah Brodie at
seventeen, I lived among the Sinhalese and
learnt to speak it well. Rajah used to write
twenty Sinhalese words with meanings in his
letters when we were engaged for an year,
which produced one hilarious outcome. Thel
in Sinhalese is oil but with a slight different
intonation it means breadfruit. When we were
newly married, I used to daily ask our Sinhalese
servant boy to bring me the bottle of oil from
the kitchen, but pronouncing it like breadfruit,
and he would bring the oil without any emotion
on his face to show me my mistake. I made this
mistake when a friend was there and she spread
this joke about Lalithas breadfruit / bottle of oil
to all the Deniyaya planters. In my weekly
broadcast, I related this story over ITR
International Tamil Radio too when I had to
share a joke!
Now I do not like to read so much but like to
write more. Writing comes easily as words
simply tumble forth pell-mell when I start
typing on my computer in English or write in
Tamil and I am happy that I have published one
book in Tamil, two books in English and the
third one is also ready for publication. I have
143

recently shifted to my youngest son Aravindhas

house in Mississauga where I lived with Rajah
from !992 to 20013 till he passed away at
ninety. I am grateful as life has been good to me
and I have the satisfaction that I too have
always done my best. Writing is something that
I enjoy and look forward to, but I am now
getting addicted to the 24 hour Tamil TV which
makes me to procrastinate. I now read Saint
Manickavsahars Tamil poems of devotion
Thiruvasaham over ITR Radio every Saturday 6
6.30 pm and I am learning a lot of Spirituality
in that process.
I was at the temple for the ritual for my
mothers death anniversary yesterday 19.1.2015
and had a wonderful experience. About 300
years ago there lived in South India a Sage
called Subramaniam who was always
meditating at the Sakthi temple at Thirukadavur.
The king Saraboji who saw his effulgent face
asked who he was and was told that he was a
skilled poet and astrologer, but when he spoke
to him the Sage did not realize that it was the
king. When the king asked him what day it was
he mistakenly replied that it was a full moon
day, though it was the darkest night. The king
thought that he was being ridiculed, got very
angry and said that if there was no full moon
when he visited the temple that night, he would
144

kill him. When the sage realized that he had

angered the king, he started singing songs in
Tamil praising Goddess Sakthi to save him.
When he finished singing the hundredth song,
Sakthi appeared, took off her earring and threw
it in the sky, where it shone like a full moon, the
king saw the miracle and Abirami Pattars life
was saved. We sang the 100 songs in
commemoration and I got the book with
explanations in Tamil and English which I am
planning to read over ITR Radio soon, as I was
searching for something beneficial and suitable
to the listeners.
I now realize that I have to render some more
service and have to wait, though I know that I
am on my last lap and am ready to step across
when my time to depart arrives.
January 2015
47. COMFORT
Just imagine, I forgot all about it and just
remembered at 7 pm that I have to write
something and send it to Shawne tonight to be
read tomorrow at our OWN Writers group
meeting since I am not attending it. I am
normally very prompt and this is the first time
this has happened reminding me that if I am not
145

alert, old age senility will soon begin to play

hide and seek with my memory.
Comfort is one of the essential necessities of
life. Every living being wants to be
comfortable and lead the life of its choice. We
humans seek comfort in various ways in all
spheres of our lives. Comfort is sought and
gained in positive and negative ways by
different people. Some wish to observe the
human values of love, truth, right conduct, nonviolence and peace and are happy to lead
exemplary lives. There are others who are
comfortable only when they fulfill their need to
be violent and have to hurt others mentally,
verbally and physically to be happy. Some are
comfortable only when they abuse and hurt
their very own selves and suffer addictions to
food, drugs, tobacco and alcohol. These
unfortunate people not only hurt their own
health, but damage the well-being of their
families their relationships, the environment and
taint and tarnish the whole cosmos too.
Material comforts are fleeting, and will not
bring true lasting happiness. If your level of
comfort is dependent of material wealth, then
true happiness will be unattainable as human
desires know no limits. Therefore, it is
important to practice a ceiling on our desires to
146

ensure that we are comfortable, grateful and

happy with the blessings we have already
received. In the universe, all of us are connected
to each other as we are all infinitesimal particles
of the Source / The Great Power that is God. All
religions are surging rivers seeking to merge
into that One sea of bliss, The Divine. Though it
is quite not clear, our goal in life too must be to
improve ourselves and merge with our Source
in heaven. This heaven is not an exalted place
brimming with the nectar of ambrosia and
immortality. Heaven is really an elevated state
of the human mind when it discards the
shackles of the me and the mine. With this
awareness and our fervent endeavor, we can all
develop the state of mind called heaven in this
life itself. It is important that we realize that
none of us are perfect and that all of us have the
good and the bad inside each of us. It is a
constant struggle to overcome our bad traits and
nurture our good qualities. Once we are aware,
we must try to achieve this elevated state of
mind, not only within ourselves but teach
human values to our children and the correct
way to nurture our body, mind and spirit in a
balanced manner to reach our full potential and
live a healthy life of comfort and joy.
December 2014

147

48. CAPITAL PUNISHMEMT

Life is precious, but is so fragile. The goal of
every inanimate and animate form of life is selfpreservation and propagation of its species, but
violence appeared during this process. Life
should brim with love, and peace as each child
is full of them when born, but humanitys
selfish desire for power and control resulted in
the growth of violence and crime.
From ancient days law was enforced as
punishment for crime. Even before Jesus Christ
was crucified, witches were burnt to death and
criminals were publicly beheaded. With time,
several countries abolished capital punishment,
but it still persists in some countries. I hate to
kill, am totally against capital punishment and
feel that it should be completely abolished
worldwide. Who are we to extinguish life, when
we cannot create even the lowest form of life?
Everyone has a fundamental right to live, even
those who commit murder - sentencing a
148

person with premeditation to death and

executing them, violates that right. Amnesty
International maintains that the death penalty
legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the
State and will inevitably claim innocent
victims. As long as human justice remains
fallible the risk of executing the innocent can
never be eliminated, and there is ample
evidence that such mistakes are possible. In the
USA, 130 people sentenced to death have been
found innocent since 1973 and returned from
death row. The average time in death row
before the execution is eleven years.
We cannot teach that killing is wrong and
prevent it, by killing. To take a life when life is
lost is revenge, it is not justice vengeance
remains a major ingredient in the public
popularity of capital punishment. But a just
punishment, designed to reestablish justice can
easily be distinguished from vengeance and
vindictiveness. Moreover, evidence can be
construed differently, the jury can be swayed by
a good lawyer and the poor may not have access
to a lawyer at all. The death penalty does not
stop crime and utilizing the electric chair, lethal
injection, gas chamber, hanging and firing
squad are all very costly and extremely
expensive to administer. I still vividly
remember watching on TV some years ago, the
149

replay of the 1953 execution by lethal injection

of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage for
sending secrets about the atom bomb to the
Russians. I felt so sad and it pained me a lot
when the couple faced their impending death
without fear.
I feel that we should all join and campaign
together to find ways and means to ensure that
capital punishment is abolished. When their life
is endangered, I instinctively help even insects
and and am passionate about eradicating capital
punishment.
March 2015
49. REFLECTIONS - FEBRUARY 2015
Getting out now is tough as it is bitterly cold
and the stinging wind pierces your face making
you shiver and shudder despite your thick
jacket. I did not request Wheeltrans rides last
three months after my unusual adventure in the
November snowstorm when I missed my
connecting ride and was stranded in transit for a
long time.

150

Today 16.2.2015 Monday is a Family Day

holiday, as well as the holy festival of MahaSivarathiri celebrated by Hiindus worldwide,
when devotees stay awake adoring/worshipping
Lord Siva ( Like Zeus, Lord Siva is the king of
Gods in Hindu mythology) this whole night.
The ancient Sages knew that the moon waxes
and wanes every month influencing our minds,
the turbulence of the sea, the birth of babies and
creating monthly Sivarathiris when it wanes.
They appropriately chose tonight, astrologically
the darkest night of the year as MahaSivarathiri, when the moon is furthest away and
totally absent so that devotees can easily control
their minds, concentrate and adore God in
temples / sing devotional bhajans or meditate
and progress spiritually. I normally join
devotees and enjoy singing bhajans the whole
night at the Sathya Sai Baba Centre, but this
time stayed at home and kept awake till four in
the morning I meant to finish reading my half
finished 975 page Spiritual Songs of
Thiruvasaham by Saint Manickavasahar, but I
am sorry to say that I cheated and watched a
Tamil film and listened to Radio programs
instead!
An incident that occurred recently is disturbing
me a lot. Any spiritual organization has its
good and bad sides - the organizations vision
and its activities to attain its goal are always
151

praiseworthy, but its internal politics and the

power struggle among top members create an
ugly picture which makes young members to
dislike and mistrust the sanctity of the whole
organization and damages the spiritual progress
of the youth. This should be explained to the
affected young members, so that they
understand what is happening and continue their
spiritual progress, without judging the validity
and distrusting the vision of the organization.
I wonder whether I am sliding down in my
Sadhana of life, as after twenty-six years as a
complete vegetarian from 1984 to 2006, I am
ashamed to admit that I am now not only a total
non-vegetarian but enjoy eating all the meat and
fish, the smell of which I used to hate earlier. I
seem to have lost my earlier passion for life and
am content to just exist.
February 2015
2015 Microsoft
Terms
Privacy

152

50. ADDICTION
I am well aware of the dangers of addiction as I
am a counselor myself and am surprised that I
seem to be slowly turning into an addict myself.
I have to start writing my submission to read
next Monday to our OWN Writers Group, but
am daily procrastinating as I continue to watch
two Tamil films every afternoon and night!
I have helped addicts, but only now realize how
easy it is to become an addict yourself.
Everyone is familiar with liquor, tobacco
nicotine, food and drug addictions, but
addictions are rampant in every field now. In
1987 in Sri Lanka, The Tamil Tigers banned and
stopped all drugs coming into Jaffna from
Colombo. Our Counseling Lecturer Rev. Father
Dr.F.M.Selvaratnam
arranged some frantic
drug
addicts
experiencing
withdrawal
symptoms of tremors, heavy sweat etc. to meet
us, the 21 counselor trainees at Shanthiham
Counseling Centre. These men shared their
pathetic stories about their addiction with us
and were going to Colombo that night by bus to
get their drugs.
When I was a support counselor under
Psychiatrist Professor Dr.Ted Los Multicultural
Mental Health Program at Humber River
153

Regional Hospital, Toronto for a short time, I

helped a middle aged gambler to overcome his
addiction, though he was first resisting and
arguing that gambling was not a crime though
he was in heavily in debt and having marital
problems.
Capital punishment has been abolished in many
countries, but on April 29, 2015, eight prisoners
were shot dead for drug trafficking in Indonesia.
Among these eight people were a young Sri
Lankan Mayuran Sugumaran and his friend
Andrew San, both citizens of Sydney, Australia.
These two young men were in prison in Bali,
Indonesia from 2005 for drug trafficking and
were given the death penalty in 2006 after their
trial. However, Mayuran and Andrew realized
their mistake, repented and changed completely
while they were in prison. Mayuran followed a
communication course and graduated. He
helped the drug addicts among prison inmates
to get rid of their addiction, taught them
computer skills, gave art classes, initiated rooms
for computer and art classes in the prison,
organized Art Exhibitions of his pupils and his
paintings and started doing business too.
Andrew became a Pastor and was a spiritual
leader.

154

The Australian Prime Minister requested the

Indonesian Premier to forgive Mayuran and
Andrew, withdraw
their death penalty, give them life imprisonment
instead and said that the Australian Government
would bear the full cost of their life
imprisonments. The prison authorities too
pleaded at the appeal court that the two
prisoners had reformed, will not repeat their
crimes and that with the money from the sale of
paintings Mayuran had initiated a Counseling
Centre for Drug Addicts in Bali.
Both
Mayooran and Andrew changed completely
wanted to live as examples for other criminals
to reform, but their appeal was turned down.
However the Indonesian Premier turned a deaf
ear to everyones pleas, was adamant and the
prisoners were brutally executed. It is true that
they had committed a grave crime, but since
they repented and changed completely, I feel
that their lives should have been spared, as
nobody has the right to judge others and take
another persons life.

51. MY BIRTHDAY PARTY JULY 5th, 2015

155

I am happy that my 81st birthday party on

5.7.2015 in J.J. Banquet hall was a grand
celebration of my life with over 160 guests. My
80th birthday party last year had to be cancelled
last minute as I lost my 68 year old youngest
sister Leela Yogadeva in London UK.
I am very stingy and normally do not believe in
hosting large parties, but this is an exception as
I know that I am on my last lap and this may be
my last party. It started small, but the list grew
big and it was nice to see all my friends,
relations and the media. My Older Womens
Network Writers Group Canadian friends and
old friend Kate Dewey could not attend, so it
was only a Sri Lankan crowd of guests.
I led the procession on the arm of my eldest
child and only daughter Nirmala Ganesaratnam
arriving alone from Sri Lanka, who addressed
the gathering first, welcomed everyone and
spoke a few words. My High School teacher
grandson Abi Brodie as MC spoke next and
introduced the well planned items performed by
my grandchildren. Short-eats and drinks were
served and the bar was open.
Next
granddaughters Priyanks and Priitika read my
poem aboutRajah, my late husband, The Man
In My Life, followed by Nisha and Ramana
156

reading a passage from my Tamil book Prayers

For Personal Growth. My niece Sabina next
sang a song that she composed and
choreographed followed by Oxford grandson
Sudha
reading my short poem Unity In
Diversity. Sayuran Keerthikumar and Mayuran
Chandrakumar played the drums next, followed
by my grandchildrens orchestra, with the
piano, violin, viola and flute. Sindhu next sang
two Tamil songs and completed the items.
Rev.Father
Chandrakanthan, Professor of
Ethics at The University of Toronto spoke
about my volunteer services in Sri Lanka and
Toronto at length, followed by a speech by
longtime family friend Nagendra. I thanked
everyone after which the loud music and
dancing started. Some had dinner and left early
as the next day was Monday, but a lot of guests
stayed till about 1 AM. Lots of my Media
friends were there and Uthayan editor
Logendralingam surprised me by publishing
my picture with some of my children in the
back cover of his popular weekly 10 000 copy
free newspaper Uthayan, with the caption,
Veteran volunteer social worker celebrates 81 st
birthday which was a fitting tribute of
acceptance and recognition of my volunteer
services.
Amazingly, retired Sri Lankan
Physicion Dr.Harold Gunatillake now living in

157

Sydney, copied this picture in his July Health

Newsletter which is circling everywhere now.
There was a variety of excellent food in the
buffet with buriyani rice, pittu, naan rotti,
mutton, chicken, squid, shrimp and vegetable
curries. My UK Sheffield university medical
student grandson arrived late at 10 pm only, but
I am very happy that all five children of mine
from Sri Lanka, UK & Toronto, nine out of my
eleven grandchildren and six out of seven greatgrandchildren graced this occasion.
Last year when my party had to be postponed, I
donated $ 1000.00 out of gifts I received, to the
Nuffield Deaf & Blind School at Kaithaddy,
Jaffna, Sri Lanka. This time too I received lots
of cash gifts and plan to donate another $
12000.00 to the same Deaf & Blind School in
Sri Lanka through The Toronto Doctors IMHO
which will organize tax receipts to be sent to the
donors.

52. SPRINKLES
158

Our cat Sprinkles, lords over us all in this house

like a despotic king. A young furry feline with
tail regally held high, he simply breezed into
our lives one summer three years ago.
Granddaughter Priyanka gleefully cradled him
in her arms, introduced him around and he
settled down to start his reign. All of us love
him, but he is the special pet of my daughter in
law Suba, who pampers him often with special
gourmet cat food from cans and he would
follow her around. They permit him to sleep on
their beds, but I always push him off and he
stopped trying to share my bed.
We took him to the Vet. for a check-up and
found that Sprinkles is about five years old and
had been neutered by his former owners. I feel
really sad that we so selfishly deny their
sexuality to our pets in order to exercise our
power and control and help the pet industry
which is well established and flourishing
worldwide.
Sprinkles is master of his own life both indoors
and outdoors.
He is friendly with our
neighbors black cat too. In spring and summer
he spends the nights mostly outdoors, and
would at times bring foils of his hunt, a baby
mouse or rabbit as a gift or show it off to us.
When we go out for dinner and return late at
159

night, he would await our arrival at the garage

door and hungrily rush inside to eat.
Sometimes when we are fast asleep and do not
open the door for him in the middle of the night,
he would intelligently climb on to the garage
roof and tap on Priyankas window and mew till
she woke up and opened the door for him. He
would wake up Suba to let him out in the
middle of the night, so during summer I do not
open the door for him at times. He licks
himself clean and I always marvel at how clean
his unbrushed sharp teeth look he also never
uses the litter box that we have provided and
always goes out, even during the coldest winter
days for his ablutions.
When my son Aravindha, Suba , Priyanka and
Pritika went away on a months holiday, and I
shifted to my other sons house at Richmond
Hill, neighbors cared and fed Sprinkles. At
times he would come in stinking after being
sprayed by a skunk and Aravindha and Suba
would give him a bath in the closed bath tub
after applying a mixture of liquid detergent
soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide on
him. He was sprayed last week when we
returned after a party at midnight and I watched
him having his reluctant bath. He hates the hair
dryer so Suba wipes him like a baby with a
towel.
160

In reincarnation, it is believed that relatives

from a previous birth come together as family in
this birth. I am not sure, but Sprinkles may
have had some connection with us in his
previous birth to be thus entwined so much in
our lives now.
July 2015
53. SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF MY LIFE
When I glance back, recollection of some
incidents vivid as ever flood forth into my
mind. When I was ten years old in Jaffna Sri
Lanka in 1944, I remember how a man with a
big knife tried to chase away my teen-aged
uncle Thurai, who was escorting my sister and
me wearing gold chains to Chundikuli College
Prize Giving on a lonely road. My uncle boldly
held the knife, fought back, people who heard
our cries came out of adjoining houses and the
man ran away. I still remember the face of that
man and how I later stood in the witness box
and gave evidence in court.
I remember our beloved teacher UK born
Miss.Edith Kelk who made us love learning
English by making us to act out our lessons in
the 4th year Special Eng;ish class. She was also
our singing teacher and I still sing and teach her
songs to my grandchildren. In Grade Six, she
161

taught us to make puppets with movable arms

and legs and we enjoyed presenting a string
puppet show to delighted audiences at the
College carnival. I remember how I singed my
arm when I held the petro-max lamp behind the
small stage during the puppet show but in all
that excitement did not feel any pain. I later
heard from my classmates living in UK that
they kept in contact visiting Miss.Kelk till she
died sometime ago.
I loved our class teacher and principal
Mrs.Chelliah, who instilled her love of English
poetry into us. She made us read our good
essays to class and I remember reading several
of my essays with pride. Mrs.Chelliah also
taught us mathematics which was my Achilles
heel and I seldom got pass marks for it. Once
while doing corrections after a test, I did not
know how to correct the sum, so copied my
neighbors sum which she had got correct and
took it up to Mrs.Chelliahs table. She got very
angry and shouted, This is dishonesty!
Deceit!. This answer is correct but the steps are
all wrong! She wrote Dishonesty & Deceit in
bold print across my exercise book page. I was
shocked and flabbergasted, ran back crying, put
my head down on my desk and did not lift it up
for a long time. Later my friends explained
what had happened and she advised me to never
162

do such things again. This was an experience

that I never forgot, it influenced my whole life,
future behavior and attitude, as I was always
careful never to do any thing wrong again.
After I married Rajah Brodie in 1952, I
remember how I once was a bit dizzy while
dressing up for a party and had to sit down. I
later realized that it must have been the actual
moment of conception and my body felt the
new experience with dizziness. I used to collect
Royal Family photographs from childhood and
in 1953 went to watch the Coronation film of
Queen Elizabeth leaving baby Nirmala behind
with a servant. While returning home after the
film, the road was blocked by a massive
landslide, we got delayed and milk started
oozing from my breasts. Luckily we were able
to walk over the landslide and got a lift home in
another car. I never left baby behind after that
and I always took the children wherever I went
or stayed at home with them on the estate where
we then had no electricity, fridge or telephone
I recollect how we almost lost our two year old
son Ajantha when he wandered out of the house
alone one morning in 1962 and fell into the fish
pond. Luckily our eight year old eldest son was
up on a tree, saw the water moving and fished
him out in good time. Another morning after
163

nursing baby Aravindha, I caught two year old

naughty Ajantha washing Rajahs empty cough
syrup bottle in the bathtub tap. He said that he
drank the full bottle of cough syrup on his
empty stomach. I knew that it was poisonous,
called Rajah from the office and we rushed to
the Badulla Hospital half an hour away. I tried
to make Ajantha vomit while rushing in the car,
but he could not bring anything out. We had not
taken any money in all the rush, but managed to
buy a bottle of pop for him to drink but he did
not bring out anything. He was already
comatose when we reached the hospital, the
child specialist gave him a stomach wash and
said that Ajantha had absorbed the medicine
which contained a depressant and a stimulant as
well, so he could not give an antidote and we
had to just watch him and hope for the best.
Luckily Ajantha was a healthy chubby baby,
was able to withstand the contradicting effects
of the cough syrup Benadrine, slept that whole
day in the hospital and woke up alright.
I had a very busy time raising the five children I
had within nine years 1953 1962, though they
studied from boarding schools. I used to long
for leisure and rest, but realize only now what a
blessed time of giving it was, as they are some
of the best years of my life. In 1964, like British
Tea Planters Rajah and I enjoyed four months
164

paid furlough leave abroad with First Class

eighteen day sea passage to and fro, by large
passenger boats Chusan and Chitral to UK.
Rajah and I along with the Indian High
Commissioner were the only Asians among the
1000 passengers in the First Class among
snooty seniors, who hardly spoke to us, so we
went down to the tourist class, made friends
with the Sri Lankan doctors and enjoyed their
company. When the Fancy Dress competition
for First class passengers was held, the doctors
wives got together and dressed me up with all
their jewels as an Indian dancer. I must have
looked really beautiful as lots of cameras
clicked as I entered and walked around. This
was the high watermark of my material life and
nobody believed that I was a thirty year old
mother of five children and I won the second
prize. Rajah must have felt very jealous and
never took even one picture!
Time flew, my children went abroad to study,
got married one by one and I was blessed with
the joy of eleven grandchildren. Rajah and I
emigrated to Canada in 1992 and a new era
dawned in my life. I became a bi-lingual writer,
published books in both English and Tamil and
blossomed as a Tamil Radio & TV Broadcaster
too. Two of my grandchildren married in

165

Canada, and I am most grateful to be blessed

with the gift of nine greatgrandchidren now.
I wish to continue positively, to make the most
to enjoy my twilight years, as I realize that I
have only a short time more before the time
arrives for me to step across into the unknown.
Lalitha Brodie

54. COMPASSION
I realize it only now after eight decades, that our
experiences are all what there is to life. I earlier
thought that that there must be more pinnacles
in life to reach, for which I have to strive some
more, but now that I am aware, my passion is
on the wane. I feel content to
Just relax and accept life as it daily
unfoldsaround me.
Life has been generous, gifting me with all what
I need in ample measure. I have accomplished
quite a lot with my limited resources and have
now started to pamper myself, yielding to
temptation, am an addict to The Tamil TV &
Radio programs and daily watch two films at 2
166

pm and 9 pm with a nap in between too!

Hence my output of creative writing, drawing
and painting is floundering, but I slyly console
myself, I must enjoy myself and do things that
I like too, in my old age! I have to write
something on Compassion to read to our
Writers Group in two days time on Thursday
November 12th and have been procrastinating,
so let me start it now.
What is compassion? Compassion is the source
of that most precious of qualities, which
connotes love, affection, kindness, gentleness,
generosity of spirit, warm heartedness and a
feeling of connectedness with others.
Compassion is selfless, unconditional love in
action. It promotes positive, healthy interaction
in relationships. It is compassion that made
Jesus Christ forgive even those who crucified
him, and he still lives in the hearts of followers
worldwide. It was Buddhas compassion and
search to redeem humanity from suffering that
made him renounce all what he had and
meditate till he received enlightenment.
Compassion was born from mother Theresas
unconditional love which made her to start her
selfless service to help the helpless and she
became a celebrated saint. Princess Dianas
compassion touched the hearts of people and
elevated her image in everyones memory.
167

My encounter with compassion began when I

was about nine, when I realized that it is a sin to
kill any form of life, so I stopped eating meat
and fish and turned vegetarian. I heroworshipped my father who came home on
fleeting monthly weekends, and he managed to
coax me back to eat non-veg again. I complied
to please him and enjoyed eating meat and fish
once again. When I married at seventeen in
1951 and lived on tea estates in the South and
later in the central hills of Sri Lanka, fish was
not readily available and we ate more eggs and
tinned fish with occasional chicken/ mutton as
we did not eat beef. Whenever we holidayed in
Jaffna, I really enjoyed the fresh, fish, shellfish
and mutton there.
When I turned spiritual and started meditation
in my forties, I lost my desire to eat meat and
fish. I became a complete vegetarian without
eating even eggs from 1983. I just could not
even taste the gravy when I cooked meat or fish
for the children and had to wash my mouth. I
was a complete vegetarian for about 23 years
from 1983 till 2006. I slowly became six
inches shorter and had lost 46 % of my bone
density in 1996. My spine was bent with
scoliosis and I had to take expensive Forteo
injections at $ 800 per month to strengthen my
168

bones. I then realized that I was hurting myself

because I wanted to be compassionate and not
hurt other living beings, so started eating nonveg again from 2006. The strange and
surprising twist is that I who earlier hated even
the smell, now really enjoy eating meat and
fish, though I hope to give it up again soon!
However I am glad that I am still compassionate
and always go out of my way to help whenever
help is needed.
No one is perfect and all have to change. So
wont it be better if we all look within ourselves
to self-analyze, realize and correct our mistakes,
forget the ego of the me and the mine, raise our
self esteem, learn to cultivate empathy and
compassion and start serving others in need and
make the world a better place?
Lalitha Brodie
November 2015

169

55. SELF PITY

We are really spiritual beings undergoing this
physical experience of life. When we become
aware of this fact, we can learn to watch our
minds, place a ceiling to control our desires and
lead a righteous life. I read Conquest Of The
Mind, by Swami Sivanandha when I was in my
forties which opened my eyes, after which I
have always watched my mind and tried my
best to lead a dharmic life without hurting
others.
Many people are unaware of the fact that more
than anything else, your emotions play an
important role to condition your attitudes that
make or mar your minds and lives. Self help,
self improvement, self righteousness and
learning to control your emotions, so that they
dont control your life, are very important and
should be observed. Living beyond your
feelings, nurtures your spiritual growth and
prevents you from turning inwards to find
solace by coddling yourself with self pity. Your
170

failures, disappointments, anger, hatred,

jealousy, selfishness, rejections, ill temper,
drunkenness and other such unresolved negative
issues can make you turn inward into yourself
instead of turning outward and easily become
an addict to self pity.
As a counselor, I meet lots of people addicted to
self pity and I know how difficult it is to make
them aware of their mistake that they are slowly
drowning in the quicksand of self pity. A
sixtyfive year old father of two with alcoholic
problems, who is separated from his wife abd
living alone in a rented basement, always
complaining about his rejection, confessed that
they did not call him even on his birthday. A
few days ago in November a distraught father
called me to say that he could not get over his
sorrow, sleep or live normally, as his 23 year
old son had died in a car accident four years
ago. His wife too was pining as their son was
preparing to go on a pilgrimage to the Iyappan
temple in India when he died suddenly and he
begged me to help them. I live far away in
Mississauga and directed them to go to a
spiritual healer / counselor in Scarborough to
learn meditation which would help them to
accept their great loss. Some people, especially
those with low self esteem make it a habit to
collect injustices and their negative experiences
171

making an album, without discarding and

letting their hurts go, spend their time mulling
over them and try to find solace by coddling
themselves wuth self pity. If people are selfish
and always feel sorry for their misfortunes they
will not advance in personal growth and will
become slaves of self pity.
To overcome the pitfalls of self pity, people
must stop thinking only about themselves,
express gratitude for their blessings and try to
help others in need. People must nurture and
cultivate their self esteem, conserve their power
and not waste and just give it away. They
should not shy away from change and not focus
on things that they cannot control. They should
realize that they cannot please everyone. They
must not fear to take calculated risks. They
should not dwell in the past and repeat
mistakes. They should avoid jealousy and not
resent the success of others. They should not
fear to be alone. They should not feel that the
world owes them anything and not expect
results for their efforts at once.
When you seek justice for yourself, God will
help and bring justice into your life. The best
you can do is to learn to think positively even in
negative situations and this will help you
overcome all your adversities. Learn to
172

waexhyourmind, talk to yourself, count your

blessings instead of your of hurts and remember
that the best cure for self pity is to get involved
and help someone else. Self pity robs people of
the life that God destined for them. It is tough
for them to change their thoughts, habits and
attitudes but with sincere effort they slowly
realize that they can become happy by helping
others and enjoy every day life.
Lalitha Brodie
December 2015

56. EUTHANASIA

173

I have to write something to read at our Writers

Group Meeting this month but have been
procrastinating watching Tamil films and
programs on TV and have at last sat down at my
computer now.
Euthanasia has been recently made legal in
Ontario and an elderly patient has been granted
the right to use it and die according to his wish.
Euthanasia may be a new subject to many
people, though it is legal in Belgium,
Netherlands, Luxemburg, Oregon, Washington
and Montana. On March 18nth 2016, the massmedia reported that an 81 year old Toronto man
has become the first in Ontario, to be granted
this physician- assisted death.
This case is the third as earlier two others in
Canada had euthanasia, and this recipient is
now pleading with the federal government to
expedite new legislation, so that others will be
spared going through the same lengthy process.
After this ruling by the judge, this mans lawyer
read his statement that this decision allows him
to die with dignity with the support of caring
doctors and their family. I well remember the
controversy that the Robert Latimer story
created earlier when the distraught father in
1993, killed his thirteen year old daughter Tracy
174

with cerebral palsy, who was suffering with

severe mental and physical disability and
constant pain, out of love and compassion.
I agree that euthanasia may be the answer to
some and will help to end the pain of terminally
ill patients, but participants have to be careful
not to misuse it and step beyond the restricting
fine line. It is great to have the freedom to
choose to end life, when one is terminally ill,
there is unbearable pain and you can be
mentally aware, be at peace with God and die in
the presence of your family. On the other hand,
life is sacred and meaningful and it is against
the will of God to willfully end it. The human
mind has the inherent ability to endure suffering
through positive thinking and focus. Some
people may focus too much on the suffering and
not enough on the minds ability to find
meaning that transcends any negative feelings
and unless we ground our morals in a
foundation that makes sense, there will be some
creeping morality that might blind-side our
vision. Life is sacred, we should always seek to
protect it and allow death to come naturally.
When we keep in mind the sanctity of life, there
should be also the personal dignity in life, no
matter how tough life gets. I feel that it may be
better if we learn to accept life as it daily
unfolds around us and surrender to the will of
God without interference.
175

Every single thing in the universe is connected

with that mysterious Source, The Great Power
that so skillfully orchestrates everything in the
cosmos with such precision and glorious
grandeur. The goal of life is to reach heaven,
but this heaven is not an exalted abode
overflowing with the nectar of ambrosia, bliss
and immortality. Heaven is really an awareness
of the enlightened state of the human mind,
brimming with true selfless love, without the
ego of the me and mine. God and heaven are
really within us and within the reach of every
one of us. I believe that we are all infinitesimal
particles of that great Whole, and if we
introvert, look within ourselves, watch our
minds, overcome our desires of the me and the
mine, elevate ourselves to be God-like, we too
can reach that state of mind that is heaven, now
itself during our lifetime here on earth.
Lalitha Brodie
March 2016
57. CELEBRATION OF LIFE CHANDRA VIJIADHARMA & I.
VIJIADHARMA

176

FAMILY HISTORY OF I.VIJIADHARMA

1935 1983
In Ponnalai, Jaffna Sri Lanka, Appukuty
Aiyathurai married Nagamuthu and they had six
children, but one son died when he was young.
Thatchinamoorthy
Ratnapoopathy
Vijiadharma
Sadadcharam
Paramesway
Thatchinamoorthy married Ranjithamalar they
had three daughters and a son: Mala, Dhaya,
one is called Nangi (this is her pet name)
Ratnapoopathy married Rajaratnam they had
two sons and a daughter: Indran, Rajan,
Rajeswary (Indran's full name is Gunendran)
Vijiadharma married Chandravathana they had
one daughter: Theivika
Theivika Vathsala married Harinesan Devarajah
and they have Krishan, Laxmi, & Raathai.
Sadadcharam married Noeline they have one
daughter: Janaki
Parmeswary married Navaratnam they have a
daughter and a son: Bavani and Bahirathan.
I first met Brother Viji when Sada and I were
courting each other way back during the year of
1968. Sada and Viji were very close to each
177

other and kept in touch with each other. They

both lived in boarding houses and so got
together whenever time permitted. Viji was a
very kind, thoughtful, helpful and generous
person. At the time I met him many proposals
were being brought to find a suitable bride,
which he turned down each time. Sada and I
were patiently waiting for him to get settled for
our marriage to take place therefore. Viji then
told Sada that the wait for him to find a bride is
going to be a long wait, and that would not be
fair, and so Sada and I should get married first.
The family agreed and our marriage went
through in 1970.
In 1973 I was expecting my daughter Janaki,
when suddenly out of the blues and finally to
everyone's relief, Viji met his soul mate, the
lovely Chandra. They were made for each other
and we were delighted and everyone was so
happy that he finally said "yes". I was eight
months in my pregnancy when Viji and
Chandra tied the knot. They thereafter went to
London for two years and when they returned
Viji moved to Jaffna. Theivika completed their
happiness. We used to visit them at their
residence in Kandy Road whenever time
permitted. The brothers would talk for hours
catching up on news and all the gossip that each
other had missed out. They were happy times
that I cherish in my heart. Then tragedy struck
178

and Viji was taken away from us. We were

devastated. The memory of Sada doing the last
rites with uncontrollable tears streaming down
his face is still vividly clear in my mind. It was
a cruel blow from which Sada never recovered.
But life moves on and so did Chandra Akka and
Theivika. Wth the coming of the IPKF and
events that followed thereafter Chandra Akka
and Theivika moved to Colombo. We were able
to visit them when time permit and kept in
touch with each other. Then came the happy
occasion of Theivika's marriage to Harry and
Sada and I were honoured to give the bride
away. Theivika moved to Australia. Then
tragedy struck once more and Sada was taken
away from us. Life has its ways of surprising
us and at the same time giving us the courage to
go through life by the grace of God. And now
Chandra Akka is gone and we move on with the
memories that she has left. I will never forget
her love, her patience and gentle ways. How
she never failed to send a card for a birthday or
anniversary. How she never failed to visit me at
Christmas and the chats we had going down
memory lane. They will live forever. God has
taken his loved one back to him and they are
reunited at last.
Loving Sister in law Noeline Sadachcharam

179

CELEBRATION OF LIFE CHANDRA

VIJIADHARMA
1936 - 2009
Chandravathana Vijiadharma ( nee Nadarajah )
called by everyone as Chandra, was born on
3.3.1936, as the second child of V.A.Nadarajah
and Nallammah (Saras) in Ariyalai, Jaffna, Sri
Lanka. They had their firstborn Lalitha
Indranee in 1934, Chandra was born twenty
months later, followed by Ranjithamalar on
23.9.1941 and Leelavilasini on 7.12.1946. The
family lived with Nallammah's widowed mother
Sinnammah in her cosy three piece, thatched,
mud house on Aanathan Vadali Road with her
six children.
Chandra's parents, both eldest first cousins in
adjoining houses fell in love and married in
1933. They were an exceptionally devoted
couple made for each other and I never saw
them having disagreements or cross words.
Nadarajah, intelligent and good natured, gave
up his university education to start his career as
a Junior clerk in the Government Audit
Department, Colombo. He was not given any
dowry, but he had an open hand and an open
mind and dutifully shouldered the heavy burden
of my mother's six siblings and young
180

widowed

mother

SinnammahNagalingam.

Newly wed Nadarajah and Saras lived with

Uncle Mailoo and family in Colombo for a
while, when their eldest Lalitha was a baby,
after which Saras returned to live with her
mother in Ariyalai. Absence does make the
heart grow fonder. With only the fleeting
weekend visits to be together Nada and Saras
kept their love throbbing alive by daily
correspondence. They wrote letters to each
other every single day and we would see
ammah either writing or waiting with her letter
in
hand at the gate when we returned from school.
I remember our carefree childhood with
Chandra and me as the first two grandchildren
at granny's house in the 1940's, surrounded by
the extended family of doting uncles and
aunts. We lived well, not missing any of the
modern amenities of electricity, pipe-borne
water, fridge, fans, radio TV etc. People drew
water from their own wells 10 to 20 feet deep
with the now extinct palmyrah palm wellsweep, (One or two men walked up and down
the well sweep to make it easier to draw up the
heavy palmyrah leaf 'pattai' or bucket of water.
People had their own paddy fields, cows, goats
and poultry too. Everybody walked. There were
181

few bicycles but not a single girl rode them

those days. The slow bullock carts, Austin
hiring cars, and the infrequent buses, were soon
outnumbered by truck loads of foreign soldiers,
mostly African, driving on our roads during the
1941 Second World War. The war ushered in the
occasional Aeroplane to our empty sky.
Chandra and I vividly remember the day the
Japanese bombed Colombo, only because
Ammah and all the other wives were in tears
frightened for the lives of their husbands in
Colombo. The war brought blackouts, rations of
food, fuel plus the introduction of wheat flour
into our staple rice only diet. We were wary of
the war, but did not suffer any calamities,
though a few families cut L shaped bunkers in
their gardens. Our neighbor Paramer Appah,
father of Puwanes Sittampalam, made a bunker
where we children played hide and seek along
with our kilithattu and mango seed
hopscotdh. The rope swing with the coconut
frond 'thennai mattai' seat (Already, the Anna
Oonjal with two children standing on either side
of the plank facing each other, the rest seated on
the plank in the middle, supported by two loops
of rope tied to the branch, was no more during
our time itself ) from the mango tree for every
child, the cartload heaps of white sand from
Kilakkariyalai in every courtyard. The lovely
182

scent of fresh cut mounds of golden hay, drawn

home in carts by trotting bullocks with tinkiling
bells from the paddy fields, for us to tumble in
and play, before being heaped
for the year as fodder for cattle.
The New Year celebrations and Sports meet in
Pillaiyar Kovil grounds followed bythe
Cultural Stage Presentation at nights on the
Parwathy Vidyasalai stage. The smell of the
first rainfall after nine months of drought, on
the thirsty ground. The fast running North East
monsoon flood waters we gaped at in
December. The fun we had with playmates
cooking rice, curries, and tasty manioc flour
pittu with twig firewood on real fire, in small
earthen pots and pans in the tiny hut appah
made for us under the large neem tree. How,
stick in hand we watched the hen proudly
strutting
her
chicks
around,
when
sometimes suddenly a hovering kite would
surprise us, swoop down from the sky and fly
away with the squeaking chick! Every
household, daily produced all the fresh eggs,
milk and curd which we children relished. Our
pet dog Top, and goat kid always trailing
us. The daily visit of our fishmonger friend
Valli, the bicycle bell of the Sinhalese baker, the
regular visits of the sesame gingelly oil vendor,
the Singer sewing machine master, the metal
183

craftsmen who mend worn out brass pots and

pans with an inside coating of tin. The annual
goat sacrifice at the Muthumariamman Temple
and the now almost extinct Folk dance Nartu
koothu.
Kuttimama Thurairajah's daily ritual at dusk,
lighting the kerosene hurricane and the hand
lamps, while the lamplighter lit the tall oil lamp
posts on the roads. How ammah hurried us to
dress up in traditional long skirts,
blouses, chimikkis and ottiyanams and leave as
soon as we heard the special beat of the temple
drum, announcing that Sandeswarar was on his
inspection rounds before the poojah during our
Pillaiyar Temple Festival. Our walks to the
Nallur Kandasamy Temple festival to be jostled
by the massive crowds while waiting outside
the temple to worship the adorned deities, borne
aloft on the bare shoulders of male
devotees. The thronging crowds, the carnival
atmosphere, the shopping spree everyone
indulged in during festival time, and our walk
back home crunching groundnuts. How all of
us sat in a circle after dinner every other day to
split the fronds of fresh cut palmyrah ola leaves
from the tall palms, so relished by our goats and
cows, as our parched land offered them no
grass. Our geographically impoverished Jaffna
peninsula, has no rivers or streams and enjoys
184

rain only during the North East monsoon in

November, December and January. However,
we have been blessed with an ever expanding
global wealth of our persevering human
resources. We listened to lilting hit melodies of
popular Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar on the
gramaphone. Black and white films I recollect
like Prahalada and Harichandra with
P.U.Chinnappa and Kannamba in lead roles and
the occasional silent movies at Parvathy
Vidyasalai were indeed rare treats.
Appah was Ammah's love and he was the king
of her life. Their life centerd on each other and
theirs was a continuous love story. Ammah was
the boss as appah always listened to her. I
remember aoppah telling me once,"she studied
so little but look at her now". Ammah
improved her knowledge of English through her
daily letter wiriting habit. She kept this up
almost till the very last, writing lovely letters to
all of us. Appah did all the family shopping and
brought lots of things for us and ammah from
Colombo along with boxes of books and
magazines for his library. Chandra and I used to
race down our lane to the raiway track when we
heard the morning mail train puff and coo. I
can still visualize appah's broad smile and wave
and yet taste the orange candy he threw for us in
a parcel. I also recollect how once a spark frrom
185

the steam engine ignited the thatched roof of a

neighbour's shouse, which burnt down within
minutes as we watched with awe. Ammah was
quite stylish then, and was the only one in our
vicinity to use ponds face cream and perfume. I
remember ammah walking with appah to the
temple festival, in all her dressed up elegence,
slim ang graceful in her silk saree. Though
ammah was mild mannered, I also remember
her anger when I brought home an abandoned
pup from Columbuthurai Road on my
way home from Chettiatheru school and her
annoyance when I always curled up in my
favorite rattan chair and read away non-stop,
never helping her in housework like Chandra.
Chandra was Ammah's pet, always helped her
and did all what ammah asked her to do.
We annually went to the Mattuvil Temple early
morning by bullock cart with Ammammah's
chatty of 'kali' and mangoes for breakfast. That
was our picnic, and after our bath we helped to
make the fried mothahams, pongal and white
brinjal curry. Appah also bought ammah a
Singer sewing hand machine which was the
only one in the neighbourhood. Ammah loved
to sew and made clothes for other families too,
especially
during
New Year
making
ammammah grumble that she did not help much
with the cooking and housework. I remember
186

Chandra or me pulling the garment as she

sewed to prevent puckering and appah enjoyed
chatting and pulling it when he was
around. Mahes and Sothy Ammahs related
stories to us, shared most of the cooking and
sweeping while granny cared for the cows,
goats and outside activities. I do not remember
ammah ever cooking on the open hearth in the
earthen chatty-pots those days, but of course
made up for it later, cooking non-stop when we
moved to our own house. When appah came on
leave, Ammah made egg coffee and specal
coconut milk pittu which he relished. He would
walk to Columbuthurai to buy the fish and in
the evenings we walked and visited all our
relations.
After
Std 3
in
Parvathy
Vithiasalai, Chandra and I walked to
Chettiatheru Tamil school for two years till
Grade 5. Then I joined Chundikuli in 1943 and
Chandra joined in 1944. I remember racing in
Suppan's rickshaw with neighbour Thavam first
and then Chandra, to Chundikuli and started to
learn
English
in
Grade 3
Special.
I remember ammah falling very ill with
malaria when she was expecting Ranji. Our
Ayurvedic Family physician Dr.Rasanayagam
visited us often to treat her. Chandra and I used
to play with the then rare pieces of ice bought
buried in sawdust, which was used in an ice
187

bag on the forehead to bring the fever

down. Though the Jaffna hospital was
functioning, very few patronized it those days
as it was shunned as the free charity hospital.
Earlier uncle Gunaratam's fractured leg was
treated by some native physician who
mismanaged it. Periamama acquired a
permanent limp which may have been avoided
with proper treatment. Mahes ammah married
Navyman Sithappah N.Nadarajah who moved
into our household and later Sothy ammah
married uncle Sivaguru and moved out to his
house.
Appah worked very hard and rose to be a
Superintendent of Audits, roving all over the
isle. Appah during the time of Ranji's birth,
built the palatial upstairs house on 86 Kandy
Road near the Kachcheri railway crossing in
1941. I can picture ammammah once racing
with baby Ranji held arms face down in her
arms, to rush to the doctor when she had fits, as
panadol and aspirin were then unknown. Uncle
Amerasingham who were verty to school,
helped a lot supervising the construction of the
new house, which was rented to the District
Judge. When we shifted there in 1946, ammah
was so very proud and reigned supreme as the
queen of the lovely house. She spent the whole
morning sweeping and cleaning the compound
188

and house first and was always late with lunch

curries bubbling on the fire, when we came
rushing
in
the
afterno1on.
Ammah
blossomed out to be an excellent cook and
became famous for her hoppers, thosai, yellow
rice, delicious banana fritters murukku and
palakarams. Appah bought her s fridge which
was a luxury then and her hobby was to collect
cooking utnsils and palmyrah ola baskets of
different sizes. Appah took us out for regular
holidays and I yet remember our trips to
Kekirawa,
Sigiriya,
Nedunthevu
and
Naianthevu. Appah and Ammah hosted the
happy occasion of the weddings of his brother
Canagasingam and her brothers Gunaratnam,
Amerasingham, Rajaratnam and Thurairajah at
No 86 Kandy Rd. I left my home after early
marriage and my four sons enjoyed the love and
care of Aammah and sisters when they studied
at St.Johns Jaffna from 1969 when ammah
cooked them their favourite meals.
Chandra started her education at Parwathy
Vithyasalai near the Sithyvinayagar Temple up
to Grade 3 where uncle Gunaratnam was a
teacher. Later there was some displeasure when
uncle lost his job, we were pulled out
and walked a long distance on AV Road to
Chettiatheru Tamil School Columbuthurai for 2
years. Chandra joined Chundikuli from 1944
189

in Grade 3 Special, when we were living in

Ananthan Vadali Road. First we went in a
rickshaw drawn by barefooted fair Suppan with
a kondai for a short time, then joined the school
bus on Kandy Road. Later we walked barefoot
to school too, except when some wore wooden
clogs in the rainy season and we had to wear
tennis shoes for special occasions. We shifted
to 86 Kandy Road in 1946 and Chandra and
I walked up and down four times daily, past the
Jaffna Secretariate in the blazing sun. I later
heard that young Secretariate officers used to
eagerly wait and watch us school girls. Appah
was interested in Carnatic music and Chandra
and I learnt the violin first under cousin
Kamalasani Muthiah and finished under
Mrs.Ananthanayagam at
Chundikuli, passing
the 5 th grade exam. Chandra was a girl guide
and was rather quiet and softspoken, unlike me
who was very talkative and noisy. She was
Ammah's pet and would scrape the coconut and
help ammah with kitchen chores while I just
curled up and read away without helping
ammah. Ammah made different varieties of
food every day, but unfortunately Chandra was
busy with her job, never got the opportunity to
cook and did not learn any of ammah's cooking
skills.
After

Levels,
190

Chandra entered Peradeniya university in 1955,

graduated in the arts with Philosophy, Tamil,
and Geography as main and immediately joined
Chundikuli as teacher in 1959. That was her
vocation and she was a dedicated teacher. Her
smart appearance and calm and cool demeanor
won her respect from all who interacted
with her. Chandra
joined
a number
of
Chundikuli teachers on a trip to Kashmir which
she really enjoyed and often spoke about with
joy. She later completed her Diploma in
Education and faithfully served her Almamater
Chundikuli for 37 years and was the Lower
School Supervisor for ten years till her
retirement in 1996. Chandra was an excellent
Geography teacher and several graduates
will remember her skill and expertise with
gratitude. Chandra's only child Theivika
shone as an outstanding student in Chundikuli,
participating in lots of extracurricular cultural
activities, and was chosen as the Headgirl in
1990. Artistic Ranji, excelled in Home Science
her chosen field. She was as excellent
seamstress,
super
cook
and
created
exquisite pieces of machine embrodiery. Leela
was an excellent student, graduated from the
Peradeniya Campus and joined Chundikuli as a
teacher too. Appah, a self taught astrologer, had
too much faith in astrology and as a result
delayed the marraige of my sisters, much to
191

ammah's annoyance. Appah retired in 1967

planning to enjoy a leisurely life with ammah
and his lovely collection of books, but
fate decreed it otherwise. Appah died quite
suddenly on the operating table in 1971 durring
the Che Guvera troubles. Ammah was stunned,
reeled under this unexpected blow and changed
completely from that day. She refused to get
out of the house for anything and foolishly we
too agreed allowing her to do what she wanted.
She was content to just stay at home and cook
for Chandra and Leela, both teachers at
Chundikuli. Niranjan went to London in 1972
to continue his studies and I started running
house for the boys at 147 Kandy Road. There
was a steady stream of boarders in the front
office room at 86 and some
enjoyed ammah's tasty cooking too.
Chandra married Vijiadharma in 1973 and what
a handsome pair they made. Tall, stately, gentle
and mildmannered, Vije was a devoted husband
and Chandra was very happy with him. The
couple went to UK where Chandra was a
teacher and Vije studied Accountancy. First
they lived with cousin Balasubramaniam and
Rajes and later lived in a flat too for two years.
When Chandra conceived, she was scared to
have the baby in London and despite my
pleading that we would send ammah there, she
192

returned to Jaffna in time to have her only child

Theivika under ammah's care. Ammah was
rejuvenated with the arrival of Theivika on
whom she showered all her care, love and
affection. Theivika was the darling of Vije,
Chandra and all the uncles and aunts and was an
extra chubby baby. Vije went to work in
Oman when Theivika was a toddler and
Theivika and Chandra missed spending time
with him except for his fleeting holidays. He
returned after sometime, bought a car, and
started The Pitco Tea Company in Jaffna.
Leela married Dr.Yogadeva in 1974, settled
down in London and is blessed with Arani and
Ahilan. My daughter Nirmala married
Dr.Ganesaratnam in 1974 and had Nisha in
London starting ammah's link to the fourth
generation. Nirmala had Ramana, Pavithra, and
Ranga in Sri Lanka and Ammah and
Ammammah helped me to look after her during
her confinements. Ammah would send us a
steady flow of food from No.86 - hoppers,
thosai, Iddli, palakarams and I feel sorry now
that I never learnt from her to make palakarams.
Ravi went to London 1975, Ajantha joined him
in 1976,and Aravindha went to USA in 1985.
When Chandra was in London Ammah stayed
with us and No 86 was rented out to Jehovah's
Witnesses for sometime,
193

till Chandra returned from London.

Tragedy struck again and again in the family
when Ranji lost her beloved Selva in 1976 after
a scant six years of of married life. Ranji
returned to live with ammah, surrendered
herself to spirituality,has found solace and is
now an ardent follower of her chosen Guru
Maharaji. We lost Chandra's beloved Vije too
in 1983 quite suddenly with heart failure and it
was a cruel blow to Chandra and Theivika.
Granny Sinnammah aged 90 also passed away
in 1983. Sothy ammah who was so healthy and
active when young became ill and died in 1986,
before Sivam and Kannan could come from
London to see her. Kuttimama Uncle
Thurairajah, lived with Ammah in No.86, till he
died in 1993. Ammah gradually got weaker, but
still managed to carry on all her duties. The
IPKF era in Jaffna resulted in Ammah, Chandra,
Theivika and Ranji losing a lot of their
cherished posessions including some jewelley
and their collection of clothes. Ammah was
quite alright when we left Jaffna to migrate to
Canada in 1992. Ravi took Nalayini and Abi to
visit them all in 1884 and presented a wheel
chair and walker to Ammah which came in very
handy and helped her a lot. (Chandra donated
this wheel chair to the Kaithady Elders Home in
2005 when I was with her in Jaffna)
194

In 1989 Chandra and I were in the first batch of

21 trainees to complete a Diploma Course in
Psychological Counseling conducted in Jaffna
by Rev.Father Karaviyoor Selvaratnam, Rev.
Father Damian & Psychiatrist Dr.Daya
Somasunderam. Chandra enioyed volunteering
with the others at the Jaffna hospital Psychiatric
unit and Shanthiyaham, the first Counseling
Centre established in the North.
Ajantha visited Jaffna a couple of times and
Niranjan braved the hostile conditions to war
ravaged Jaffna and saw them in 1995. The
longdrawn internal war adversely affected and
changed the course of life of every single
individual in Sri Lanka. Ammah, Chandra,
Theivika and Ranji too had to undergo the
terrible trauma of fleeing Jaffna at short notice
and joined everyone else to become refugees in
Point Pedro in the 1995 exodus. It must have
been really heartbreaking for all of them to
leave a home full of memories and possessions.
Ammah was still ok when she and Ranji came
by ICRC ambulance while Chandra and
Theivika by ICRC ship to Colombo. We are
most grateful that uncle Dr.Sittampalam and
Puwanes gave their upstairs flat to them to live
free of rent for 7 years. Ammah and Chandra
were very happy to witness th grand wedding
195

of their pet Theivika to Harinesan Devarajah on

27.0.1999 seated in a wheelchair. It was a
joyful family reunion as ammah had all four
daughters together after a long time.
Periamama Gunaratnam, Yogam mami came
from Trincomalee, Niranjan, Leela from
London, Lalitha, Aravindha from Canada and
Praba, Prema, Sothy and Abi from Jaffna
braved the hazardous trip tp
grace the happy occasion.
Theivika's departure to Melbourne with
Harry, must have created a big void in Ammah's
and Chandra's lives. Ammah who was walking
with the walker suffered a fall in 2000, broke
her hip and had to be hospitalized. Chandra
tended her with a lot of love and care. The
fracture mended well but gradually ammah got
more and more immobile and became
bedridden. She gave up eating even the egg she
was taking and became a total vegetarian during
her last days.. Ammah was lucky she had caring
Rani to help, bathe and look after her and she
became very fond of her. Ajantha spent time
with her very often and last visited her in
September
2001.
After
attending
Dr.Sittampalam's funeral in 2001 in London, I
am glad I spent 5 weeks with ammah and
helped Chandra a little to care for her. Her
body had become frail and feeble, but her mind
196

was alert. It was good that Leela and Yogadeva

too were there with her in Nov.2001. Theivika
and Harry visited her at the end of 2001 from
Melbourne. Aravindha, Suba, Priyanka and
Pritika were in Colombo on holiday till end
Januay 2002. Aravindha and Nirmala helped
them to shift from their flat In Veluvanapura to
a flat in Hampden lane. Ammah and Chandra
must have longed to get bach to 86 but in the
prevailing conditions and her weak state of
health, that was impossible. Ammah was freed
of her mortal coils and passed away peacefully
on 11.2.2002(Thai Amavasia Thithi) Our
cousin Santharajah had the honour of
performing her last rites. After a separation of
over 30 years, ammah must have at last joyfully
joined appah. May Ammah
rest in peace.
Chandra and Ranji moved from Hampden Lane
to a flat in Hill street in Dehiwala for 2 years.
Chandra went to Melbourne on a holiday visa
on December 5, 2002 when Krishan was born to
Theivika, spent a joyous three months with her
beloved Theivika's family and returned to
Colombo. She went to Jaffna and lived at the
back portion of 86 Kandy Road which had been
converted as a Day Care Centre for more than a
year. She stayed in the hotel near Savoy theatre
for a month or two and again went to
197

Melbourne in 2006 and returned after four

months. When she returned from Melbourne
she stayed with Nirmala for a short time and
then moved in with Ranji. Chandra and Ranji
stayed at Ebenezer place near the Maharaji
Centre for a year and a half so that they could
walk to programs.
From about 2002 Chandra turned spiritual,
started to be a Maharaji devotee and received
Knowledge in 2004. From their Hill street
residence Chandra always joined Ranji to The
Maharaji Centre at Ebenezer place. In
November 2004, Chandra and Ranji went to
Delhi with a lot other devotees from all over Sri
Lanka, for The Hans Jayanthi ( Father of
Maharaji's 3 day Birthday Program ). They first
went to Madras and then went by train for two
days and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
This was the first time Chandra saw Maharaji in
person. Both of them preferred it, lived walking
distance from the Centre and went for every
program on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays
and Sundays.
Chandra loved her three grand children very
much, spent her last few years yearning to see
them, and told Theivika that she would not die
without seeing the girls. Krishan was born on
5.12.2002, Laxmi on 8.11.2006 and Raathai was
198

born on 19.10.2007and she spent her time

doting on them, sending them presents by post
from Sri Lanka and doing poojahs for their
welfare in Temples. She enjoyed talking and
hearing them sing on the telephone and waited
for
their
calls.
Ranji fell ill in 2007, Lalitha and Leela
came and Chandra rented a house at 71
Kowdana Road Dehiwala where Leela helped
them to settle down. They lived there for
about 3 months, but Chandra decided to go to
an Elder's home run by Dr.Shankar at
Kirullapponne Polhengoda. Circumstances
made Chandra to be not very happy with Lalitha
and when Lalitha left after 3 months, Ranji was
living in Kowdana road alone as a big advance
had been given. Ranji fell ill again, had to be
hospitalized and joined Chanda in Shanker's
Elder's home to share a room there. The
approach to this home is very bad and they had
very few visitors. Ranji managed to come for
Maharaji programs by bus but Chandra came by
auto for only the Poya programs and became
homebound. Chandra was not very happy but
stayed there as two big advances had been paid
and shewanted to be
careful with money.

199

I am certain that the dates of Birth and Death of

every individual are definitely pre-destined, and
when the time arrives for the event to occur, the
pieces fall correctly like a jigsaw puzzle. Thus,
unknown to anyone, the stage was unknowingly
set little by little for Chandra's final departure.
She fell ill with stomach pain and unlike other
times delayed going to the hospital. Theivika
arrived in good time, did her best and
everything that could be done for her was done,
but she passed away on January 19th 2009
(Thithi Thai Theipirai Navami ) just a short
time before Leela and I arrived here. I am
grateful that she did not linger and suffer long.
Chandra must be with her beloved Vije, Appah
and Ammah now at last. May her soul rest in
peace.
Sister Lalitha

Lalithas Parents, sisters Chandra, Leela

daughter Nirmala,sons Ajantha & Aravindha at
sister Ranjis wedding to Selvarajah

200
Vije & Chandre

Wedding of Selvarajah & Ranjithamalar

My Parents House No, 86. Kandy Road,

201

58. CELEBRATION OF LIFE

RAJAH BRODIE 1923 -2013
Rasaratnam Brodies late father Robert
Rajanayagam Brodie son of Gabriel Brodie,
was a Native Physician from Ariyalai Jaffna.
His ancestors were converted to Christianity by
the English Missionaries and given the family
name Brodie, however Rajah Brodie Senior
remained a Hindu. He was a good sportsman
and his name is in the Assembly Hall as the
1911 Cricket Captain at St.Johns College,
Jaffna.
Rajah Brodie Seniors sister
Annammahs husband Dr Thambipillai had the
foresight to obtain crown jungle land in the
south of the island that was available for
distribution on a hundred year lease for himself
and some relatives. Dr.Thambipillai was The
District Medical Officer in Deniyaya for several
years and both he and Rajah Brodie Senior
planted tea and rubber on their respective
estates in Pitabeddara and became proprietary
planters. Rajah Brodie Senior also worked as a
Superintendent on Hayes Group, Deniyaya and
was a popular Visiting Agent too. He was
elected as President of The Morawak Korale
Planters Association Sri Lanka repeatedly and
was held in high esteem by all the planters in
the South.
202

Rajah Brodie senior lost his first wife at

childbirth in Deniyaya hospital, then married
Thangammah Karthigesu and was blessed with
late Dr. Ponnuthuray Brodie ( Late Jeyam
Chinniah), Nesamany (Marjorie Nesamany
wife of late Bede Johnpillai ) and Rasaratnam.
Rasaratnam ( Rajah ) lost his mother when he
was six months old when she fell ill with
typhoid and died at Brodie House.
Rajah grew up with Dr.Thambipillai and
wife Annammah and their children, his cousins
Annapoornam (Late Mrs.Anna Ponnampalam)
Thambirajah (who drowned in a river in
Kalutara in his teens.), Gunam and Manikkam.
Manikkam was called Periyababa and Rajah
was called Sinnababa, a pet name used by all
his relatives throughout his life. Rajah was very
fond of his cousins and they too loved him. He
started schooling in Matara and after a few
years, went to boarding school at Jaffna
College. He then moved to St Johns College,
Jaffna. He spent his school holidays along with
his siblings at Dr. Thambipillais Pitabeddara
bungalow and his fathers Rajah Estate
bungalow.
Rajah was more interested in sports than
studies and was a good athlete and swimmer.
203

He was in the cricket team (spinner) and

captained the football team ( goal keeper ) in
1943 (www.oocities.org/wsmano/memb.pdf )
He studied Latin as the second language and did
not
study
any
Tamil.
His planter father made him a creeper
( trainee planter) to learn tea-planting in
Deniyaya and he became an Assistant
Superintendent on Panilkande estate (owned by
Mr D J Ranaweera) Deniyaya when his father
was Superintendent on adjoining Hayes Group
(owned by the Ramachandra Family). His elder
brother Dr Ponnuthuray Brodie married Jeyam
Chinniah and Rajah senior arranged Rajahs
marriage to Lalitha Indranee eldest daughter of
Saras & V.A Nadarajah, which was registered in
1951. A grand wedding took place at Lalithas
parents house at 86 Kandy Road, Jaffna at
midnight
on
May
31.
1952.
Rajah and Lalitha fell in love, were very
happy together and were blessed with Nirmala
Tharini in 1953. When Nirmala was six months
old they left Panilkande estate to look after his
fathers property Rajah Estate in Pitabeddara.
Family-planning was then unknown and they
had five children in quick succession within
nine years! Niranjan Sudhakar and Ravindran
Suresh were born in the Jaffna hospital while
204

they lived at Rajah Estate, without any modern

amenities such as electricity, a fridge etc.
Rajahs father gifted h[m with cash and land
adjoining Brodie Lane, where he built their first
house with the help of a housing loan in 1956.
This house was rented for a number of years to
the Jaffna Excise Commissioner. Rajah lived
well and changed his cars often, from Hillman
Minx to Vauxhall and then a Humber Hawk.
After the 1958 communal troubles, for
safety reasons Rajahs father handed over Rajah
Estate to an English Company Whittall
Bousteads and they gave an excellent job to
Rajah on on one of their estates in the Uva
district ( up country ) the 750 acre Rossett
Division of Demodera Group, which at 3000
acres was the largest tea estate in Sri Lanka.
Rossett Division (Arisipathhanai) between
Badulla and Bandarawela had a palatial
bungalow, a car, all amenities, an acre of lawn
and they had a very comfortable life. But there
was a major problem because of the remoteness
of the estate. The children had to be sent to
boarding schools and Nirmala went to St
Bridgets convent boarding in Colombo when
she was just four. Lakshman Ajantha and
Vasanthan Aravindha were born in Badulla and
the four boys were boarded at St.Thomas
Preparatory School Bandarawela and then
205

St.Thomas College Gurutalawala. They had

three dogs as pets and the boys came home for
weekends often, but Nirmala came only thrice a
year during the holidays. Later the boys went to
St.Johns College Jaffna, and stayed at 86 Kandy
Road with their maternal grandparents and
aunts Chandra, Ranji and Leela. Rajah Estate
was returned to the family in the early 1960s
and Rajah managed his share of the estate with
help from a loyal assistant Somadasa, while he
continued to work up-country. He along with
Lalitha made monthly visits to make payments
and the children would join during the holidays.
Rajah was very popular as the first Tamil Hindu
Sinna-dorai, collected money from the work
force, and the estate suppliers and with help
from the management, built a Murugan Temple
at
Rossett.
He
organized
a
grand
Kumbabishekam and Annathanam, with the
weekly pidi-arisi rice donated by each worker
for two years while collecting rations. In April
1963 at the request of The Estate Employers
Federation President and Manager of Demodera
Group, Mr.R.L.Harvey, Rajah launched The
Demodera Manjari for the welfare of the
workers, the first publication of its kind in any
estate in Sri Lanka and created history. It was
Lalithas first taste of volunteer service as its
editor and she went for it heart and soul. She
206

edited contributions from the workers, had a

womens page and articles on health and
nutrition. She translated and published all
relevant details about the Oral Contraceptive
pills just introduced in Sri Lanka, from
literature given by Dr.Mrs.Sundarasen working
in Badulla hospital. The Demodera Manjari got
rave reviews from The Veerakesari & the Tamil
press. The CWC Ceylon Workers Congress
Leader Thondaman who always waged a cold
war against the employers, got alarmed that the
Management was trying to win over the labour
and asked them not to buy the paper which was
sold for 10 cents. The workforce blindly
followed him and none of them bought the
Manjari! The Management could do nothing
and had to stop publishing the paper after ten
monthly issues. In recognition of his selfless
work, four months paid holiday furlough leave
with first class sea passage to UK was granted
to Rajah & Lalitha Brodie in February 1964.
They were one of the only two Asian couples
among 1000 First Class passengers, on this 18
day cruise on the Ocean Liner Chusan. The
other couple were the Indian High
Commissioner to the UK and his wife. En route
to the UK, The Chusan docked in Bombay, Port
Said ( Egypt) and Gibralter. There was a wide
array of entertainment on board every evening
207

ranging from fancy dress to dancing and dinner

at the Captains table
This holiday may be
the highest watermark in Rajahs material life,
as travelling abroad was rare those days. Rajah
and Lalitha joined planter friend Jagathsena and
wife Srini and toured the continent in a selfdrive car for a month, visiting France, Germany,
Switzerland, Rome and Venice in Italy. Sri
Lanka permitted only 500 pounds exchange per
person at that time, so they shipped all the
foodstuff and enjoyed cooking rice and curry
meals by the roadside water-taps on two tiny
stoves all over the continent.
On his return, Rajah was transferred to
Weywelheena division on Demodera Group,
with its lovely bungalow near a forest. They had
poultry in tiered cages, sold eggs and broiler
chickens to Badulla and sold vegetables too to
the labour. Rajah was promoted as Assistant
Manager Demodera Group to Southam Division
and requested by the management to assist
Ranjan Wijeratne , the fist Sri Lankan Manager
on Demodera. However, there was a clash of
personalities and Rajah was transferred to
Ouvahlellie Estate in Glasgow Group,
Agrapatna. Ouvahkellie bungalow was like a
castle with its pentagon shaped turret, wooden
floors and lovely garden of anthuriums and
orchids. Lalitha sold anthuriums, madonna
208

lilies, carnations and chrysanthemums to

Colombo florists. They also had two cows, sold
milk to the collecting milk van and sold
vegetables to workers too.
Rajah acted on Glasgow Group when
thw incumbent manager Mr.Peter Cameron was
on leave to the UK. Tall toona trees lined the
driveway and Rajah was permitted to cut down
two trees, which were used to make lovely
furniture with Queen Anne legs, a kidney
shaped writing table, almirahs, etc. The
furniture was later sent to their Jaffna house. In
1971 Rajah got a promotion as Manager on
Hunugalla Estate Elkaduwa near Matale for
seven years and started building his second
house at 4 Brodie Lane, Jaffna. He then worked
in Elamulla, Maturatta where he planted one
hundredweight of potatoes around the
bungalow, harvested ten to one, sold a garage
full of potatoes and used the profits to build a
larger house with five bedrooms in 1981. From
there he worked on Hoonoocotuwa Estate in
Nawalapitiya and finally went to Weddemulla
Estate Ramboda, near Kandy from where he
retired
in
1983.
Rajah sent Niranjan for higher studies to
UK in 1972, Ravi in 1975 an Ajo in 1976.
Aravindha was sent to the USA in 1983 and
209

they were all able to lead independent lives and

achieved qualifications abroad. Nirmala married
Dr.Ganesaratnam in 1974 and went to London
for a fewyears while her husband completed his
FRCS medical training. Ravi married Nalayini
in 1982, Niranjan married Dr. Kanthini in 1986,
and Aravindha married Suba in 1994.
After he retired in 1983 Rajah lived in
Jaffna and successfully ran the Brodie Guest
House for tourists, driving them around touring
Jaffna till 1987. When the ethnic war started
and life became difficult in Jaffna without
electricity, fuel food, medicines and forty other
essential items. Lalitha was knocked down by a
mini-bus in Colombo in 1991 and almost died
but recovered with all faculties intact.
Ravi sponsored them and Rajah &
Lalitha arrived in Canada in February 1992,
lived with Ravi & Nalayini and he started
working which he enjoyed. Later they lived
with Aravindha and Suba, and Rajah stopped
working to look after Priyanka & Pritika. Rajah
gave his wife Lalitha the freedom to get about
to volunteer as a Radio & TV Broadcaster etc.
with ITR Radio www.itr.fm and she became a
bi-lingual writer too www.vlambaram.com &
www.worldtamilwritersforum.org.
Slowly
Rajah narrowed his interests, liked to stay at
210

home with Priyanka and Pritika, read the

Toronto Star newspaper and liked watching the
BBC
news
and
the
Tamil-TV.
He went to Sri Lanka every year during
winter to look after his Rajah Estate.
Rajah and Lalitha have been blessed with five
children, eleven grandchildren, He sold his
estate to Nirmala in 2007 and went to Sri lanka
for the last time with nisha in 2009, when he
was hospitalized in Dubai for a few days.
Nirmala took him to Colombo, joined him there
and Ravi went and brought them back to
Canada.
Lalitha
Nisha, Ramana, Pavithra, Ranga, Abi, Kanji,
Gobi, Arjuna, Sudha, Priyanka and Pritika and
seven Greatgrandchildren, Tarun, Nithya,
Shruthi Shanmugarajah, Athena Lincoln
Mailoo, Eethan Brodie Ganesaratnam and
Ariyana Lalitha Swaminathan.
Rajah was physically very healthy though his
memory started to play hide and seek last few
years. He lived with Aravindha and went up
and down the stairs ith ease till two weeks
before he died. As his friend so aptly described
him, Rajah was very proud, lived like a king,
did all what he liked and had a peaceful end at
home, on his own bed, soon after Lalitha fed
211

him his rice and chicken curry lunch. May his

soul rest inpeace.

59. MUSINGS 2014

I am sad to say that I lost my sixty-seven year
old youngest sister Leela suddenly on 9.8.2014
in London UK. I did not attend her funeral as I
was not well enough to travel, and am surprised
to find that I am able to accept her loss calmly
without grieving too much. I recollect that
many were surprised that I did not cry when I
lost husband Rajah also last year, after living
together for 63 years.
I suppose that as you mature in life, one gains
the strength of acceptance. Acceptance and
joining the flow of life as it daily unfolds
around you, is a definite requisite for
contentment, progress and joy. I have had my
share of troubles in life but was able to
adequately cope and managed things alright. As
a trained counsellor, I listen to a lot of people
212

and know that problems mainly start when one

resists and tries to swim against the current, so I
always try to avoid that.
At eighty, I have now learnt to accept my lot
and carry on, but still problems do crop up at
times. I sometimes get frustrated and want to
pack up and leave, which of course is not in my
hands at all. I have trouble mainly in my
relationships with my five children and their
spouses as I shuttle around living mainly with
two of them in Canada. I have been always
genuine, never favored any child and loved and
cared for them all alike, but they still find fault
and blame me for some of their troubles. One
son who is a bachelor at fifty-four, says that our
marital disputes made him decide against
marriage! Since my children had to be sent to
boarding schools from Grade 1 and spent only
one month holiday at home thrice every year, so
they are not close to me or to each other.
I am happy that I have been very active in
multifaceted ways these last eight decades and
have done almost all what I wanted to
accomplish in life. My mind and spirit are still
vibrant, though my body has deteriorated a lot, I
am five inches shorter due to osteoporosis and I
resemble a potbellied tadpole! However, what
my body looks like now does not bother me at
213

all, as I manage alright with only bearable aches

and pains, and do not need to take any pain
killers.
I have been constantly watching myself a lot
recently and am more aware of my body, mind
and spirit. I suppose that I have some more
service to finish and polish myself before my
exit, like getting this opportunity to read
Thiruvasaham ( A lovely spiritual book of
Devotional songs in Tamil by Saint
Manickavasagar, which I would never have read
on my own
) over International Tamil Radio every Saturday
at dusk. I am not scared of death, only curious
and do not know when my call to step across
will come. I have done all what has to be done
and am ready for the big trip into the unknown,
which would be the most important event of my
life.
I wrote this eulogy which was read by my son
Ajantha at my sister Leelas funeral.
60. CELEBRATION OF LIFE
LEELA VILASINI YOGADEVA
1946 - 2014

214

I never thought that you will go before me

Leela, but how swiftly and easily you have
stepped across without troubling Yoga, Arani,
Ahilan, Meena or anyone. You were a gentle,
soft-spoken harmless soul and were truly
blessed Leela to enter into the unknown in this
manner.
I recall your birth at Jaffna hospital and yet
remember sister Chandra an d me visiting
Ammah with you and even the taste of the
hospital curry. I chose Vilasini as your name
and you were the pet of the family. I am twelve
years older to you and you were only a child of
five when I married and went away to the
upcountry tea estates. All of you came to the
estate every April holidays and we drove to
Jaffna every August. You were very fond of my
children when they lived in Jaffna and helped
Ammah to care for them when they were small.
You were clever and graduated with a degree in
Arts from Peradeniya University in 1963,
immediately started to teach at Chundikuli Girls
College and continued till your marriage.
I started your proposal and remember your
grand wedding to Dr.Yogadeva in 1974. You
were blessed with two lovely kids and made
regular visits to Jaffna with Arani and Ahilan as

215

small children.
Like my mother and
grandmother, you were a
splendid cook and made every possible delicacy
like rolls etc. which everyone, including my
sons enjoyed when they visited you while they
were
students
in
London.
You came to Canada in 2000 for the first time
for granddaughter Nishas wedding and again in
2009 for my 75th birthday & Book Launch
which was the last time I met you. You looked
so well then except for your leg cramps. I am
sad that we did not spend more time together
Leela, but in life we never get all what we want,
do we? I called you for a chat every day and
am going to miss that. ,
You had prepared yourself well, became a total
vegetarian for the last 25 years, read a lot of
spiritual books and turned very spiritual. I am
happy you had the joy of Ahilans sons Jayan
and Naren. You were not interested in the
Internet, and were happy to be just a wife,
mother and grandmother. Your interest in your
regular once in three months holidays waned,
you did not remember the name of the place of
your last holiday and Yoga went alone on
holiday just before you died. You accepted your
lot and have done your best for your family, so
now please rest in peace Farewell Leela.
216

Your
Lalitha Brodie

Loving

Sister

61. EIGHT DECADES

I just cant imagine
that eight decades have
flown by so swiftly and
my eightieth birthday
is round the corner
on July 13nth 2014
with lots of plans
for a joyous celebration!
I am most grateful
for all my blessings
and this longevity and luck
when I grasped every
opportunity to become
all what I am today.
I had to first entwine
my life with to follow
the footsteps of Rajah
and cared for five children
within nine busy years
when I always had a baby
either in my stomach or arms!
217

In time, with 11 grandchildren

and seven great-grandchildren
I have always had children
around me, but now alone,
I am the boss, do exactly what
I want, shuttle around a lot
and have my life all to myself.
It is good to sleep and wake up
when I choose, but occasionally
for sometime I am not quite
sure where I am exactly!
I now prefer writing to reading
and have almost done all what
I wanted to do, except fulfill
my passion for art and sculpture.
With my manifold activities,
I may have to postpone this
desire to my next birth.
I know I am preaching, but
when people whine that life
has been unfair and dealt
them a really bad hand,
I feel sad at their ignorance.
Everyone gets opportunities
and it is our attitude, thoughts,
words and deeds that bring
us what we really achieve in life.

218

June 23, 2014

www.coolwomen.org

62. FRIENDS
Several friends have adorned my life these last
eight decades. I yet remember very clearly
some of my four-legged friends during my early
childhood. I started walking to school when I
was three with my teacher uncle Gunam who
had a limp, and our shaggy dog Top would
accompany us till we turned into the school
lane. When I was a little older, my pet black
goat kid would
await my arrival at our gate, happily drink the
milk that I fed him from a bottle and munch the
greens I plucked for him. I also remember our
green parrot in a small cage and how my aunt
would teach him, coaxing him to repeat words.
As it was the craze then, I also had a large shiny
black and gold beetle in an empty box of
matches lined with leaves for him to eat.
My first friend was my sister Chandra, who was
sixteen months younger to me (1936-2009).
Ammah dressed us alike and with our two plaits
219

we looked like twins. I was getting the Grade

Four Class Prize in 1944 and when Chandra and
I were walking all dressed up with gold chains
to our Chundikuli Girls' College Prize Giving
with our teen-aged uncles escort, a ruffian with
a knife tried to chase him away. Uncle fought
back holding the knife, while our loud cries
made people come and the thief vanished, but
we couldn't attend the Prize Giviing that day! I
remember giving evidence later as a witness,
creating a stir in the courts with my hand
gestures and elaborate testimony! I later
collected my prize, 'A Garden Of Verses', by
Robert Louis Stevenson, a book that I
cherished, as it encouraged me to try writing
similar poetry. This circle is now complete
when our OWN Writers' Group, presented me
with a beautiful illustrated copy of this beloved
book for my 80th Birthday, which I am going to
share with my six Great-grandchildren. I was a
bit of a loner as a student, always with a book in
hand reading the whole time. I didn't mingle a
lot with the other girls who had cliques, though
I was friendly with everyone.
When we moved from our mud house to our
new upstairs house nearer College, Rajes K,
who lived far away came home to join me, and
after crossing the railway line Tomboyish Thiru and pretty Valli joined up and the
220

four of us, followed by Chandra and her friends

walked past the Jaffna Secretariat. We were
quite unaware that all the young officers were
then at the windows, busy devouring us with
their eyes ( This was revealed to me only forty
years later by an engineer colleague who learnt
Counseling with me at Shanthiham.)
Thus Thiru, Valli and I daily walked up and
down past the Jaffna Secretariat four times from
1946 to 1951 till I got married. Valli and I had
similar interests, learnt the violin along with
vocal Carnatic music and were good in Tamil
and English as we read a lot in both languages.
We read all the books by Charles Dickens along
with other classics in the College library and
spent time together till Valli chose Science and I
chose Art subjects in Grade 8, as I was weak in
Maths. Vallis strict parents were very orthodox
and did not permit her to move freely with
others, which she resented.
When I married Rajah Brodie and went to live
on tea estates, Valli entered Colombo
University. She found it difficult to adjust, and
cope with her new way of life away from home
and her mind snapped. She became mentally ill
and I was so sad to see her in that condition
whenever I visited her when I came to Jaffna.
Her parents died one after ano
221

ther, her only brother sent money from UK to

relations to care for her, but they chained her,
locked her up in a room with a half open door
as she had started to roam the streets. It was a
relief when she died and her troubled life came
to an end in her forties. I always wonder about
that Power that determines how everyones life
should unfold and the surprising twist, as to
why innocent Vallis promising life ended the
way it did.
My friend Thiru graduated, became a teacher at
Chundikuli and I met her whenever I visited
Jaffna. She married a writer /editor of a Tamil
Newspaper, had two children and her only
brother became a Gynacolegist Doctor who
performed my hysterectomy in 1981 in Kandy
hospital. Thiru and family emigrated to Boston
USA, after the ethnic troubles in 1983 and when
I arrived in Toronto, I used to call her only once
in a way as I was too stingy to spend my sons
money on foreign calls. It is one of my greatest
regrets in life, that even when I knew that Thiru
had cancer, I never went and saw her in Boston,
or even called and spoke to her as often as I
should have, since I was such a miser as I never
earned any money!
I was an active volunteer social worker when
we lived in Jaffna after retiring in 1983 from
222

planting, when the ethnic strife started. I was

elected President of Chundikuli Mothers Front
and we staged protests against the
GovernmentI, supporting he rebel leaders who
were up in arms. I was also in charge of The
Selva Refugee Camp and befriended the 1000
refugees from another district crowded into
three large houses, who were prohibited from
working in their surroundings. The refugees
were very happy, when I initiated the hand
pounded Rice Flour project and I yet remember
their gratitude and friendship with nostalgia. I
was Founder member of Shanthiham the First
and Only Counseling Centre in the North and
became friendly with the twenty-one colleagues
who learnt psychological counseling with me in
the first batch in 1987. I acted in a
controversial play Kitchen Gossip, with six
young University women friends parodying the
Indian army and the government, and was
stunned when young professor and author of
The Broken Palmyrah Dr.Rajini Thiranagama
was assassinated a few days after our first
performance on September 22nd 1987.
Rajah and I arrived in Canada in 1992, and my
standard of life changed entirely for the better.
Wide eyed with wonder with the West, I made
lots of new friends when I joined The Older
Womens Network Writers Group and Radio
223

Asia ( Now ITR ) in 1994. The owners of ITR

International Tamil Radio Konesh and Padmini
who taught me the intricacies of program
production and broadcasting are more than
friends and are like another son and daughter
now. I was passionately active and initiated
several projects over the multi-media, the entire
Canadian Tamil community got very friendly
and I am well known, thanks to them and my
bi-lingual writing, Tamil Radio and TV
broadcasts. Tamils Information editor
Thiruchelvam awarded me a gold medal in
2000 for my social services in Sri Lanka &
Canada and is a dear friend. Engineer & Estate
Realtor Rajah Mahendran and Bama, owner
editors of Vlambaram newspaper serialized my
popular Tamil book Prayers For Personal
Growth, and lots of readers contacted me for
help with their problems.
When Psychiarist Dr.Sooriyapalan and I
broadcast over Radio Asia / ITR The Tamil
Heath Digest in 1994, The Trillium Foundation
gave us a Grant of $ 15 000 for it as that was
the first ever Tamil Radio program on health.
My friend Dr.Pushpa Seevaratnam from
TheToronto Board Of Education and I
performed stage shows and radio programs
advocating Prevention of Violence Against
Women and The Women Directorate helped us
224

with a Grant of$ 10 000. Social Worker friends

Sudha Coomarasamy, Parwathy Kandasamy,
and Sivajini Jegatheeswaran also helped me a
lot with my voluntee service. My school friend
from 1945, Ruba Gnanaratanam who also
married one of the few Tamil planters, is very
active in Boston now and visits Toronto often.
My writer friends Rohini Xavie,r Rajini
Nathaniel, Ruba and I get together and spend
time having fun I am well known in the Tamil
multi-media now and the list of invitees for my
cancelled 80th birthday party was well over a
hundred and fifty!
My good friend Kate Dewey, a teacher from
The Gifted School and The Peel Board of
Education, knows me from 1992 and used to
drive me to Montreal for our monthly Mahikari
meetings. I am most grateful to
The Older Womens Network, as it was
instrumental as my stepping-stone into the
mainstream and I enjoyed serving on The OWN
Executive Council for four years. I vividly
remember meeting dear Ann Farrell for the first
time at a meeting and her remark, Now I can
put a face to the words in your book. Ann
admired my writing and interviewed me for
www.coolwomen.org which is now known as
Section B,15. Social Worker / Photographer
Irene Borins Ash also liked my writing,
225

included my photograph in her book Treasured

Legacies and also in several of her Aging
Graciously exhibitions. Shawne Macdonald,
our Writers Group Coordinator who created our
beautiful joint book Metamorphosis, is a great
friend who has helped my growth a lot as a
writer with her superb editing skills. Beloved
Wendy Ounpuu, known to me for over two
decades, is so similar to me in several ways and
has always been my special friend and anchor.
However, my best friend is definitely that One
Great Power that is God, who orchestrates this
vast cosmos of the universe with such splendid
precision and glorious grandeur. I thought that I
have evolved and have got over the need for
religion, the Name and Form and it was
sufficient to be just friendly with The Source
and live righteously. How mistaken I was! I am
now gratefully reading over ITR Radio every
Saturday, Saint Manickavasagars
Thiruvasagam, where he melts his heart along
with ours, by the outpourings of his devotion in
beautiful Tamil songs. I thought that at eighty, I
can wrap up my life and prepare to step across,
but now I realize that I have some more work to
do before my time to exit arrives.
63. REFUGEES
226

I know all about the travails of refugees, as we

too fled war ravaged Sri Lanka and Canada
welcomed and gave us a new life. So the
heartrending image of the drowned three year
old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi splashed all over the
mass-media on September 3, 2015, really tore
my heart. When the Kurdi familys application
for Canadian refugee status was rejected, they
tried to smuggle in by boat, but met with
disaster instead. Alan, his five year old brother
and mother were pulled away from the
distraught fathers hands, who watched
helplessly as they drowned.
However, though an awareness has been
created, Premier Stephen Harper initially
rejected calls for Canada to take immediate
action to resettle Syrian refugees in response to
a growing humanitarian crisis, arguing that the
problem is larger than simply bringing in more
refugees. The pathetic image of the little
Syrian Alans lifeless body lying face down on a
Turkish beach, stopped the Canadian Election
campaign in its tracks and resonated around the
world. News that the boy had relatives in
Canada supporting them financially, hoping to
bring them to Canada, put federal refugee
policy at the center of the debate. This
Canadian refugee policy is frustrating and
227

reminds me of the plight of Tamil refugees

worldwide.
My mind flits back to May 2009, when The Sri
Lankan army surrounded the Tamil civilian
refugees trapped in the narrow beach at
Mullivaikal and the Freedom Fighters chose to
surrender. Tamils around the world desperately
appealed to the International
Powers to
intervene and prevent the intended genocide.
A passionate Diaspora lobbied in front of
Ottawas parliament and when feelings ran
high, citizens were moved to take matters in
their own hands and even stormed the Gardiner
Highway, in an attempt to capture the countrys
attention towards the plight of Tamil civilian
refugees caught in the midst of the conflict in
Mullivaikal. However their pleas for help fell
on deaf ears, the international community did
not intervene, nothing was done and well over
70 000 civilian refugees were heartlessly
annihilated, along with the surrendering rebel
leaders carrying white flags.
The Sri Lankan President at that time despotic
Rajapakse, celebrated that he had annihilated
the rebels, arrested civilians as prisoners of war,
confined them in Internment camps , amidst
continuing interrogation and torture, while
white van kidnappings and murders of media
personnel continued.
228

Things have changed now six years later with

the elections. The Tamils joined together under
the TNA, The Tamil National Alliance, winning
30 of the 36 contested seats in the north and east
in 2013, heavily
defeating
Mahinda
Rajapakse. The UK Premier attended The
Commonwealth Summit and visited Jaffna too,
though the Canadian Premier boycotted it. The
Channel 4 Teams valuable documentation of
the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, has
captured the attention of the world at last at
least now. The present president Maitripala
Sirisena is focusing on reconciliation, has
improved roads/transport and living conditions
though the army has not withdrawn completely
from Tamil areas. It is heartening that the Tamil
TNA leader Sambanthar is now the leader of the
opposition from September, 2015, which will
give a voice for the Tamils in parliament at last
with a chance to improve their situation.
Meanwhile, Stephen Harper is now more
sympathetic and is promising to help Syrian
refugees. The millions of refugees from Syria,
who remain in neighboring countries such as
Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey where their sheer
numbers is putting immense strain on the local
economics and infrastructure. Many are in
refugee camps where dangerous distractions
beckon to bored youngsters who dont have
school or work, and desperately poor families
229

consider hiring out their sons to terrorist

recruiters or selling their daughters as child
brides.
Still more refugees are living in local
communities, often in poverty, scorned by
native citizens who resent the upheaval they
have caused. These conditions are ideal for
driving frustrated young men and women to
take up the Islamic State cause. If Canada
wants to help, it should do everything it can do
to bring them to a safe place before they
become desperate enough to turn to violence
and hatred.
Please let me now focus on prevention, as to
how the creation of refugees can be prevented..
Most of us humans are really lucky to be thus
blessed, with more than what we will ever need,
so why fan our desire for more and more
possessions as we cannot take anything with us
at death? Desires of our untamed mind running
wild, breaking every rein and bridle to gallop
free, demanding this or that at every whim and
fancy, without placing a ceiling to curb our
thoughts
I
believe,
are the reasons which precipitate
so
many
different types of conflicts and wars, that
destroy peace to plague human life today. It is
the insatiable ego of the me and the mine
without empathy, thinking only of the victory
that starts the revenge seeking conflicts between
230

people and nations that escalate and

continue demanding the eternal tit for tat, that
creates more and more refugees worldwide.
What can and what should every one of us do to
prevent the birth, growth and spread of this
traumatic terror that is violence? We spend so
much of time, effort and funds on the Olympics
and the Nobel Prize to recognize, admire and
applaud excellence of the body and the mind,
but sadly neglected pines the spirit.
Self-awareness and change to boost the basic
human values, Love. Truth, Right conduct,
Non-violence and Peace will aid personal
growth, raise individual self-esteem, which will
in turn dispel the need for violence and abuse to
exert power and control over the other to feel
happy and content. We must lobby our MPs
and get our Governments to introduce the
teaching of Human Values into the educational
system from Grade One. Parents too must
observe the human values in life, teach them
and be role models to their children. I believe
that thus nurturing Individual Personal Growth
from childhood is the best way to build a solid
foundation to eradicate all negativity,
universally create healthy families, progressive
communities, united nations and a harmonious
humanity. Oh! If only my words could have
wings . . .
231

Lalitha Brodie

64. BHARATHANATYA ARANGETRAM (

CLASSICAL DANCE DEBUT )
Picnics abound in summer in Toronto. Our
folks from our village Ariyalai, in Jaffna Sri
Lanka organized the annual one in
Morningside park on August 15nth, where a
tasty rice, mutton, chicken and vegetable curry
lunch was cooked in large pots on stoves while
various games and competitions for children
and adults were in progress. After a hearty
lunch we rested at a relatives, changed into
sarees and attended an Arangetram.
I wish to tell you about these two lovely
Bharatha Natya Arangetrams which I enjoyed
on July 31st and August 15th 2015. Two
teenaged sisters Abinaya and and Showmia
Chandru disciples of their mother Nirainjana
Chandru danced while their sister Ishwariya the
vocalist sang beautifully performed at The
Markham Theatre For The Fine Arts and
sixteen year old Sangeetha Athray, discilple of
Guru Jayanthi Shanmugalingam was the
beautiful dancer in the second Arangetram at
Rose Theatre in Mississauga. I wish I had
232

invited some of my Canadian friends to watch

these three hour free programs with live
orchestras, so that they could have had a
glimpse of our Tamil culture and tradition.
Life always yearns to become one with the
divine. All forms of art, be it the written word,
sculpture, painting, singing, acting or dancing,
especially in our eastern culture is always
devotional in nature. Bharatha Natyam
( Worship of God through dance) is a very
popular classical dance form of South India
known for its grace, purity, tenderness,
expression and statuesque poses. The Hindu
king of the heavens, Lord Siva is the God of
this dance form. The ancient sage Bharatha
Muni, codified the principles, especially mudras
in his famous work Natyasashtra written in
Sanskrit, which is deemed as the fifth Veda in
Hinduism..
Bharatha Natyam which dates back to the
second century AD developed over 3000 years
ago, originated within Hindu temple walls
where the devathasies known as the temple
dancers dedicated their lives to dance and God.
The word Bharatha Natyam combines
Bhavam meaning expression,
Ragammeaning music and Thalam meaning
rhythm and Natyam meaning dance.
The dance blends these components. Nrithan,
the rhythmic movement of the body without any
233

expression or emotion; Nrithyam the

combination of rhythm with expression through
eyes, hands and facialmovement, and natyam,
the dramatic element performed with abinaya
(expression) emotion and mudras ( hand
formation).
Bharatha Natyam involves many split
characters that are depicted by the dancer. The
dancer will take on numerous characters by
switching rolls through swift turns in circular
motion and create a story line. The characters
will be understood by the narrative of the song
and the expression ( abinaya ). The dancer
wears a lot of ornaments of shining stones on
the neck, ears , hands and head, jasmin garland
in the hair and foot trinklets with small bells
around the ankles. The music of Bharatha
Natyam is based on Carnatic classical music.
The instruments used are Flute, Miruthangam
and violin.
Arangetram is a word in the Tamil language,
which means ascending of the performance
stage by the dancer for the first time, on the
completion of her training. After learning
Bharatha Natyam under the guidance of an
accomplished Guru for several years, this is
the occasion for the proud Guru to present
his/her disciple(s) to the public. This also makes
it a significant milestone in the learning path of
the disciple(s), as the Guru deems the
234

disciple(s) to have attained a considerable level

of skill after ten to twelve years of training to
deliver a commendable performance.
The dancer mainly depicts devotion to the
divine and tells the story of the song with her
mime, facial expression and rhythm. This
training helps the dancer to reach a high
potential in various fields, as she excels in
discipline, confidence, morals, responsibility,
obedience, time management, piety, devotion
with knowledge of religion and culture which
can be applied to enhance daily life.
The dancers parents spend a lot of money, time
and effort in organizing an Arangetram as
expenses run high with several changes of the
dancers costumes, payments to the vocalist and
the orchestra. My granddaughter too had her
Arangetram when she was sixteen years old and
the house was turned topsy-turvy when she was
preparing for it.
The Tamil Multi-media abounds with
invitations every weekend and I hope more
Canadians will decide to attend an Arangetram
and enjoy the lovely performance.
Lalitha Brodie
August 2015

235

65. DESTINY
After the long drawn cold spell, June has
arrived at last to raise our spirits with the sun,
its warmth the blue skies and the welcome
twitter of birds. Undecided High School
graduates are busy trying to figure out which
field they should choose for their university
education. My sixteen year old granddaughter
Pritika who is very bright, says that she has not
yet decided what she wants to study. Her
eighteen year old elder sister Priyanka, who is
studying engineering at Waterloo University
may be able to help her to choose wisely.
When I was in my teens In Sri Lanka, most
parents wanted their children to be nothing less
than doctors or engineers. Though I was
intelligent, I never had the opportunity of
choosing my future, as an arranged marriage
proposal arrived changing the whole course of

236

my life. As the eldest of four daughters I

accepted my lot, fell head over heels in love
with my husband and changed completely to
run along with him in my new life. I had five
children in nine years and tried to persuade my
children to choose what I liked them to study.
My eldest daughter graduated in music and my
second son went to study engineering in
London at sixteen. My third was good in math,
but I forced him into Bio-science classes as I
wanted him to become a doctor, but he did
agricultural engineering when he went to
London. My third son too left home very young
at sixteen and qualified in computer technology.
My youngest dreamt of doing films in Sri
Lanka, got a scholarship and studied
communications n USA, but had to forfeit his
wish as he could not return home because of the
internal ethnic conflict and settled down in a
secure office job in Toronto. Thus I learnt my
lesson and realized my folly in trying to
interfere too much in the lives of my children.
Things have changed now and parents of the
present generation of children worldwide do not
force their will, and permit their children to
select their own course of education.

237

I feel that more than anything else, our previous

actions or karma also play an important in
deciding our destiny. Please let me explain an
incident in my life which relates to this belief.
My daughter Nirmala married a surgeon and
was expecting her fourth baby in Sri Lanka. The
Gynecologist doctor friend, on his own asked
me whether we wanted a number one baby and
we happily agreed. The Doctor wanted Nirmala
to enter hospital on the 27nth night, so that he
could begin the drip to start the pains on the
27nth morning to enable her to have her baby
on the 28th,, 2+8=10 to make a number 1 baby.
The hospital room was booked and Nirmala was
admitted on the 27nth night, but she wanted to
go home, have a bath and return. However
when she returned after her bath our car could
not enter the hospital as the gates had been
locked! So she entered hospital only on the 28th
morning and had her baby boy Ranga on the
29nth. Though he was not a number One baby,
Ranga has done well, is a Doctor now and is
married to a Latvian Doctor where he studied
medicine. So you see, how destiny played its
part. Ranga was born only on the 29nth, though
we had all the facilities available in hand, to
have a number 1 baby!

238

Lalitha Brodie
June 2016

66. INSPIRATIONAL MOTHER OF THE

YEAR AWARD 2016
LALITHA INDRANEE BRODIE
Lalitha is an outstanding individual, devoted
wife for 63 years, mother of five professionals,
grandmother to eleven and great-grandmother
to nine. At 82, she is a unique bi-lingual
published writer, Tamil TV & Radio
Broadcaster, Volunteer Counselor / Social
Worker, Artist and Pranic Healer. Her
originality, passion and commitment originated
in her motherland Sri Lanka as President
Mothers Front ( The Artificial Foot Project for
Landmine victims Executive Founder
Members Council of Shanthiham, only
Counselling Centre in Jaffna )
Lalitha immigrated to Canada in 1992, started
volunteering immediately to serve local
community. Lalitha was the first South Asian
volunteer at Humber River Regional Hospital,
was Counselor under Psychiatrist Dr.Ted Lo at
Community Mental Health 1996 1999.

239

She was with ONPEA, Ontario Voice OF

Women for Peace and Senior Tamil Centre.
As Director of Radio Asia, Lalitha initiated
Tamil Health Digest in 1995 with late
Psychiatrist Dr.Sooriyapalan ( Rouge Valley
Hospital ) creating history as the first Tamil
Mental Health Radio Program and Trillium
Foundation awarded a Grant of $ 15 000. In
1996 Lalitha with Dr.Pushpa Seevaratnam of
Toronto Board of Education, launched
Prevention Of Violence Against Women
receiving a Grant of $ 10 000 from Womens
Directorate. She trained 15 support counselors
at Thiruchchenthoor Murugan Hindu Temple
and still broadcasts over ITR every Saturday
www.itr.fm. Her Tamil articles appear in
www.vlambaram.com .
tamilsinfo@sympatico.com and her Blog is
www.lalithabrodie.weebly.com
Lalitha is with Older Womens Network from
1993 and was in their Executive Council 1997
2000. They published her first book in 1998 OWN Writers Group published Metamorphosis
in 2015. Vlambaram launched Lalithas Tamil
book in 2009. In 2000 she received Ontario
Government Volunteer Award & Gold Medal
for Social Services from Tamils Information,
who launched her book Peace With Justice.

240

Her dedicated service continues to create self

awareness to nurture human values, to boost
individual personal growth, to raise self esteem,
which would dispel the need for violence to
exert power and control over others to feel
happy. Lalitha successfully utilizes the multimedia to educate the masses and disseminates
her ideals. Judging from thousands of lives she
touches and the communication she receives,
we agree that Nurturing Individual Personal
Growth is the best way to build a solid
foundation to eradicate all negativity to create
healthy individuals and a harmonious
Humanity. I wholeheartedly recommend that
Lalitha receives this award.
Nominator Selvajothy Ravindran

67. SEXUAL ABUSE INCEST

A survivor of incest Jenny Starke, who moved
out, re-named and raised herself, recently
created history by publishing her story on line,
titled The Diary of A Mad Tamil Woman and
hosted an event on April 10nth 2016, which I
attended. There were about a hundred young
women and a few men present, mostly from the
Sri Lankan Tamil community in the audience,

241

who were very supportive to the ANBU

( LOVE ) organization initiated by Jenny Starke
M.S.W, R.S.W and friend Dharshini Ilankeerab
M.A,RP, who are both passionate young MSW
Social Workers.
Reports of Sexual Abuse and Incest have
recently increased worldwide in every
community and culture, may be because this
taboo subject which was earlier always swept
under the carpet is now being addressed and
freely talked about everywhere.
Incest is sexual abuse of a child by a person
from the family, like the father, brother or uncle.
This abuse strips the children of their innocence
and takes away their ability to develop healthy,
fulfilling relationships.
It
undermines the childs confidence and leaves
them vulnerable without the ability to trust and
love others. The child has no control / power to
stop the abuse, which causes him / her to suffer
a lot of guilt and trauma. The child is torn
between whether to tell or not to tell about the
abuse, feelings of guilt as to why she did not
fight hard and escape, whether it is her fault and
is burdened with a damaged psyche and
permanent impairment of future sexual
enjoyment and healthy relationships. The
242

Internet abounds with stories of sexual abuse

and incest and it is important that parents
educate their children about these pitfalls and
teach them about prevention by not permitting
anyone to ever even touch them inappropriately.
A member of the audience in Jenny Starkes
event commented how amazed she felt when a
little girl aged four told someone Dont touch
me, because her mother must have taught her
not to permit anyone to touch her. This reveals
that it is possible for parents and teachers to
educate children to be careful, become aware
and prevent sexual abuse.
It is vital that survivors of incest / sexual abuse
should talk and share their stories to heal
themselves instead of keeping it a secret.
Talking breaks the silence, makes them to gain
perspective and realize that they are not alone,
and helps to find a coping mechanism to deal
with their trauma. Each victim reacts differently
and needs help to survive and function normally
as they use different coping mechanisms like
Self Injury, Substance Abuse, Eating Disorders
and Dissociation.
Self- Injury Survivors of sexual abuse may be
suicidal. They also may resort to self injury,
when they cut or burn themselves, as this
243

physical pain helps them to forget the emotional

pain that they are experiencing. I have the
experience of counselling some teen-age clients
at Shanthiham Counselling Centre in Jaffna, Sri
Lanka, plus a Toronto university undergraduate
who were cutting themselves with a blade, who
got better with counselling help. After they
opened up and shared their pain, I conveyed my
understanding and support which helped to heal
them. Substance Abuse can begin as a way or
means to replace the abusive relationship /
experience in order to regain control and vent
their anger and hatred. However victims soon
realize that they become slaves and get addicted
to alcohol, drugs, tobacco etc. Eating Disorders
like Bulimia, Anorexia and Compulsive overeating also develop as coping mechanisms and
have to be dealt with appropriately.
Juvenile survivors of incest and sexual abuse
mostly know the perpetrator as usually 1/3 of
them are family members. The needy can visit
the Sexual Assault Hotline
www.online.rainn.org or call 800.656 4673
(HOPE) Hotline for 24 hours, where Trained
Support Social Workers and Spiritual personnel
can help them.

244

If you suspect that someone is being abused,

please listen and talk to them directly and try to
help them. If the survivor is a minor or a
vulnerable adult, you can report the case to The
Child Protection Services department,
Humanity Services or The Police. If someone
tells you about being abused, believe them and
treat them with empathy and understanding. If
you dont know, learn how to respond to
survivors and act appropriately. If you are a
child and are being abused tell an adult you
trust like a teacher, family friend or religious
dignitary, but not to a member of the same
family.
Sexual abuse is never with overt physical force,
there may be no signs of physical abuse. Sexual
abuse is like a murder. The trauma lasts long
after the abuse has ended. The survivor is
tormented by the fact that she kept silent, for
not fighting against it more, for having trusted
the offender and may blame themselves. Incest
and Sexual are evil and morally wrong to which
no child should be exposed.
I feel that the best foundation for prevention of
sexual abuse / violence is to nurture individual
personal growth by educating every child to live
with the basic human values of Love, Truth,
245

Right Conduct, Non-violence and Peace, which

will improve their self-esteem, so that they will
be content and will not have the need / urge to
use their power and control over others in order
to feel happy. We must lobby our Members of
Parliament to make them ensure that Schools
include Education In Human Values in their
agendas, so that the thought, word and deed of
each person match and they become happy and
lead good lives as compassionate individuals.
Lalitha Brodie
May 2016
905 270 1214 / 416 907 6897
SAVING LIVES
Before I immigrated to Canada in 1992, I was
living in the war zone in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
during the internal ethnic conflict that began in
1956 and continued to ravage our motherland
for several decades. I now marvel at our
resilience during the late nineteen-eighties,
those days of dreadful danger amidst aerial
bombings and shells along with such dire need
too. We had no electricity-power, no foodstuff,
fuel or medicines and forty other essentials
were not permitted into Jaffna, but all of us

246

somehow or other managed to survive and

thrive.
I was an ardent volunteer social leader and as
president of The Mothers Front Chundikuli
Branch, helped to initiate the Jaffna Artificial
Foot Project for landmine victims and
Shanthiham Psychological Counselling Center.
Some caring Catholic Fathers and medical
Doctors taught counselling to 21 of us and I
received a Diploma in Psychological
Counselling in 1987 from Shanthiham.
With the ban on petrol, there were no vehicles
and only bicycles plied on the roads those days.
Once a week I rode on the bar of a hired bicycle
to go to the Jaffna Teaching hospital two miles
away, to take my turn as a volunteer counsellor
to help needy patients in the psychiatric ward.
Unfortunately, our Counselling Center
Shanthiham was bombed and destroyed and we
were asked to continue our counselling from
our homes, till we found another suitable house
for Shanthiham..
Case 1
Vimala was a teenaged schoolgirl who was
cutting herself with a blade harming herself and
I helped her to overcome her problem. One day
she said that she had caught her nineteen year
old elder sister Premila inserting her finger in
the electric counselled plug. Vimala was scared

247

that Premila was trying to commit suicide and

brought her and I started counselling her.
Premila opened up, started crying and hugging
me told me her pathetic story. When the army
invaded Jaffna, they took her and two other
girls inside a vacant house and despite her pleas
two soldiers held her arms, two held her legs
and five of them gang raped her. Her whole
body was sore and she limped back and fell on
her fathers lap. The family moved to another
village near my house, but people knew what
happened to her and everyone shunned her. She
was very unhappy, but her mothers twin
sisters eighteen year old son Gobi, was her
only solace as he cared a lot and befriended her.
After sometime, one night when she went out to
the toilet, a tree climber raped her, after which
she had not got her periods, so she tried to
commit suicide by electrocuting herself. I
consoled her saying that nothing may be wrong,
it may be due to her trauma, so we would do a
urine analysis and check whether she was
pregnant. The urine test confirmed that she was
pregnant. As my daughter was married to a
surgeon, I knew all the doctors in Jaffna, told
her story to a gynacologist and asked for his
help. He wanted her to enter hospital the next
morning and said that he would do a D&C and
wash out her womb, so I asked Premila to enter
hospital the next day.
248

The next day Premilas parents came home

early in the morning to say that she was missing
Gobi too was missing. I was upset as I did
not know what had gone wrong, but was
relieved to know that Premila and Gobi had
gone to the Registrars office and got married.
Both parents of Premila and Gobi had accepted
them, blessed and taken them into their family
and everyone was happy.
During our training, we had to submit all our
cases verbatim to Rev.Father Selvam and I was
happy to submit this case about how I had saved
a life and proudly read it out to him amidst my
colleagues in class. After a few months Vimala
told me that Premila was blessed with a baby
boy and wished to see me. Though we had
been taught that we should not carry our clients
on our shoulder and go after them, I couldnt
resist my temptation and went to see them.
They were very happy to see me, Gobi wanted
me to carry the baby named Ravishankar and
bless him. I did not even sit down and stayed
only for five minutes, but told this experience to
Rev. Father Damian, who conveyed it to Father
Selvam. He called me up, reprimanded me and
said that as a punishment he was suspending me
for a month from taking new counselling cases,
though I could come to the center!
Case 2

249

Beautiful Kamala an only child, lived with her

widowed mother Rajee near the sea. When
fisherman Rama who owned a mechanized boat
showed interest in fifteen year old Kamala,
Rajee welcomed him and he moved in and
started living with them. Rama and Kamala
were in love and were very fond of each other.
Rama often brought expensive clothes and gifts
for Kamala and she was very proud and happy
that he, who had such a bright future had chosen
her as his partner. Kamala took oral
contraceptives as they did not want to have
children and three years flew past quickly.
Unfortunately, Rama had a misunderstanding
with Rajee and she reported about him to the
Tamil rebels, who confiscated his boat after an
inquiry. Enraged Rama, stormed into the house,
broke the almirah, took all his gifts away and
went off shouting that he was breaking up and
did not want to have anything to do with
Kamala in the future. Kamala was heartbroken,
attempted to commit suicide and swallowed
run-bug plus a pesticide, but luckily her mother
saw it, immediately took her to hospital and
they managed to save her.
When I saw Kamala in the Hospital Psychiatric
ward, she was very weak, could not lift her head
from the pillow and was faintly moaning, Why
did you save me! I cant live without his love!
I want to die - please let me die! See, he has not
250

come to see me even though he must have heard

about me. The mother worshipped me
pleading, Do something and save her lady,
otherwise she will attempt again and again and
somehow or other commit suicide. I sat on a
chair beside Kamalas bed, caringly stroked her
head, listened attentively slowly creating a
rapport, till she stabilized and started listening
to me. I revealed how once I too was on the
brink of suicide like her when I faced a stiff
marital challenge in my youth, but managed to
overcome it, had two more children and am
now living happily. This self-revelation of mine
must have helped her as she stopped moaning
and brightened up considerably.
I went to hospital the next day and found
Kamala sitting propped up on the bed and
eating. She smiled shyly and said the Rama had
sent his sister to visit her and she was now
happy that her life had been saved.
These highlights of my life are uplifting
experiences that I treasure.
Lalitha Brodie
July 2016

251