Counting and Cracking
Page 6
Awkwardly, sunil releases himself.
This was your home. It’s mine now. [Beat] Radha sold this house to me. And then she left—
THIRRU: No—
SUNIL: As I said. She thought you were dead.
THIRRU: [terrified at all the possible answers] Where did she go?
SUNIL: Australia, I believe.
Pause.
THIRRU: Radha would never leave / Sri Lanka—
SUNIL: / Thirru—
THIRRU: / She would have stayed—
SUNIL: Thirru. She left.
Hasanga rushes onto the porch.
HASA: Thirru! Thank God!
SUNIL: For God’s sake, not another one—
THIRRU: Hasa?
HASA: [to SUNIL] This man needs to go inside the house. Now. Get him away from the street, you idiot.
Hasa begins to drag thirru into the house.
SUNIL: What are you doing? Get out of my house!
HASA: I know who you are Sunil. I know what you do. Step back.
Sunil steps back.
Go back to the porch and keep reading your book. Whoever comes and whoever they are looking for tell them to get lost, you have no idea what they are talking about. Okay?
SUNIL: I think I might need more information than that—
HASA: Do you want this to become your problem?
SUNIL: Moorooha help us all! You have five minutes. That’s it.
Hasa takes thirru into the house.
Sunil sits on the porch and opens his book.
Normal ඉන්න okay? (Behave normally. Okay?)
OLD Nihinsa does not move.
Normal ඉන්න! (Behave normally!)
OLD Nihinsa sweeps the floor.
HASA: I hoped that you would come here. I could not be there Thirru, at the jail. I could not be seen with you when you got out.
THIRRU: Hasa—
HASA: We thought you were dead. So many were dead. So many were missing.
THIRRU: Hasa—
HASA: And then with the ceasefire— I saw a list. I saw your name on an Amnesty list. I almost had a heart attack! I applied some political pressure and organised your passage from the camps to a jail in Colombo—
THIRRU: Hasanga!
Beat.
You freed me?
HASA: Yes.
THIRRU: Thank you.
HASA: You are free, Thirru.
THIRRU: Yes. Thank you.
HASA: Thirru, listen to me.
THIRRU: Thank you.
HASA: Listen to me carefully. [Beat.] Your father was killed in crossfire in the Elephant Pass battle in ’96. Your mother was teaching at a school when it was hit by an aerial missile, three years ago. I’m sorry, Thirru.
Beat.
THIRRU: Within weeks of imprisoning me, my jailor told me that he was willing to make contact with my parents. I gave him the details of my cousin, who could ask after them. They killed him and his family. My jailor relayed this news to me gleefully. [He looks straight at Hasa.] Tell me. Would you try and contact your family if you knew that could happen to them?
HASA: I would rather rot in jail than be the cause of my own parents’ deaths.
THIRRU: Thank you. Thank you for saying that.
Pause.
HASA: Thirru—Radha is in Australia. She is safe. She has a job. She has not, as far as I know, remarried. I believe she is now an Australian citizen. She lives in a small apartment in Pendle Hill—a suburb in Sydney. There are many other Sri Lankans there. I have her number. I have her email address. Her street address. Here.
Hasa holds out a small piece of paper. Thirru takes it, puts it in his shirt pocket.
You have a son. One son. Siddhartha. He’s twenty-one years old. He’s studying journalism. No influence of mine, I swear. [Beat.] I haven’t told her, Thirru. I haven’t told Radha about you. I haven’t told anyone. As I said, I didn’t believe it was true until now. Listen, Thirru. The first thing you have to do is call her. You have to call her.
THIRRU: Of course.
HASA: And you need to make a decision.
THIRRU: I have been thinking about this moment for many, many years Hasa.
HASA: And?
POLICEMAN: [to SUNIL] ඒයි! (Hey! You!)
A low level policeman appears at the front porch. Thirru and hasa pause. OLD Nihinsa watches the action with sunil:
SUNIL: Um—yes? Hello?
POLICEMAN: සිංහල බෑ? (You can’t speak Sinhala?)
SUNIL: පොඩ්ඩක් තමයි. (Very little.) Can you speak Tamil?
POLICEMAN: No. [Beat.] Where are your guests?
SUNIL: Excuse me?
POLICEMAN: Where are your guests?
SUNIL: No guests. I am alone here.
POLICEMAN: You don’t have guests? Any—visitors, I mean. Any visitors? No-one has turned up here?
He peers into the house.
SUNIL: I haven’t the faintest idea what you are talking about.
POLICEMAN: We are looking for a man. Thirru Sivakumar. You must call our number when you see him. [He gives him a card.] He will come. Here. Today.
SUNIL: Yes of course, of course I will. Thank you for warning me.
POLICEMAN: [beat] I will search the house now.
SUNIL: No.
POLICEMAN: Excuse me?
SUNIL: Not unless you have good reason to do so.
POLICEMAN: I have good reason to do so.
SUNIL: [beat] Here.
sunil offers him a bribe. The policeman takes it. Then:
POLICEMAN: Nice watch, Sir.
He holds his hand out for more.
Sunil points to a house across the road.
SUNIL: අර ගෙදර … See that? Your commander’s house. Commander, Indian ambassador, මම … විස්කි ගැහුවා, last night, you know.(See that man’s house? That is your commander’s house. I drank whiskey with him and the Indian ambassador last night.)
POLICEMAN: Sir.
The policeman goes.
Sunil goes inside.
SUNIL: You both need to leave this house as soon as possible.
HASA: This was his house.
SUNIL: [pointing at Thirru] That man is putting us all in danger. He needs to go.
HASA: We will leave when we are ready to leave.
SUNIL: Why are you helping him? You’re Singhalese, he’s Tamil.
HASA: We are Sri Lankan.
SUNIL: Leave. Now.
HASA: You have been selling arms to the government on one side and the Tigers on the other.
Beat.
SUNIL: Leave or I will call my associates.
HASA: My newspaper has been following you. We can publish the story on the front page of the Leader tomorrow morning. Which associates will you call?
SUNIL: [realising] You’re that Hasa fellow. The editor of the Leader.
HASA: Yes. I am.
SUNIL: One day someone will kill you.
HASA: Someone will kill you tomorrow if I publish that story.
Beat.
SUNIL: There’s nothing more dangerous than a ceasefire. [Beat] It’s all maya anyway. One hour. That’s all.
HASA: Come. [He motions to SUNIL] Bring the phone inside. [To THIRRU] Sunil is right. You are in danger. This is what they do—they accept bribes to release you and then come back to re-imprison you. I won’t find you a second time, Thirru. I’m going to send you up North / until this all settles—
THIRRU: / Hasa—
HASA: Apah once took me to a place in the Vanni, deep in the jungles. There is a small / temple there where you can hide—
THIRRU: I must go, Hasa. I must go to my family.
HASA: There is a way to survive here Thirru. Not just survive. To live.
THIRRU: Even if I am hiding in the Northern-most tip of this island, I will not be safe.
HASA: I understand, but we—
THIRRU: Hasa— I must go to Australia—
HASA: You can’t just go to Australia—
THIRRU: You said Radha is an Australian citizen—
HASA: This government will label you a terrorist. They’re not going to give you a passport.
THIRRU: Hasa. I must see Radha. I must see Siddhartha.
Long pause.
HASA: There is another option. But it is risky.
THIRRU: Anything. Anything.
HASA: Flee.
THIRRU: I don’t understand.
HASA: Claim what is known as your ‘universal right against persecution’. Australia accepts people from countries all over the world who do this.
SUNIL: That is a very stupid idea.
THIRRU: Why?
HASA: There are risks. The journey can be slow. It’s dangerous—
SUNIL: That is a severe understatement.
HASA: You probably won’t make it to Australia.
THIRRU: But if I stay here they will kill me!
HASA: And even if you do make it there safely, there is a chance that they will just send you back to Sri Lanka.
THIRRU: But there is a chance that they would accept me?
HASA: Yes. As a refugee.
THIRRU: A refugee? Me?
Beat.
HASA: Yes.
Pause.
THIRRU: How do I do this?
Pause.
HASA: Thirru, I— If you go to the Australian High Commission they may tell the Sri Lankan Government … Leaving the island isn’t easy. Look, I’m sorry, my connections aren’t useful in this context. But this ‘successful businessman’—
He looks pointedly at sunil.
THIRRU: Sunil. Could you organise something for me?
Pause.
What you said to the policeman, your connections …
SUNIL: Thirru—
THIRRU: Sunil. I lived here with Radha. This was her home. Her grandfather built it. He took me in. We were married here. I was supposed to raise my son here. Now everyone is gone except Nihinsa—and you. You have my house. I don’t know what happened that day, but I know that Radha would never, never sell this house to a stranger.
Pause. Thirru takes the book from sunil’s hand and holds it together with his own battered old book.
‘Charity given to a worthy person, simply because it is right, without consideration of anything in return, at the proper time and place, is considered the essence of goodness.’ Baghavad Gita. Chapter seventeen, verse twenty.
Long pause.
SUNIL: I’ll get you to India. Maybe Malaysia. Okay?
THIRRU: Thank you Sunil.
SUNIL: This is going to be very expensive. Do you own anything? Do you have access to any …
Thirru shakes his head.
Beat.
Sunil exits.
THIRRU: The jasmine plants, the temple trees—
HASA: They died in ’83.
Pause.
Your arm …
THIRRU: I …
HASA: Okay. Not now.
Sunil returns carrying several bundles of U.S. dollars.
SUNIL: Take this.
HASA: [sardonic] My, what a profitable business you run, Sunil.
Thirru accepts the gift.
THIRRU: For Radha.
SUNIL: Precisely.
HASA: [utterly serious] You understand, you will probably die on the way?
THIRRU: I have been dead for twenty years.
Pause.
I never thought that I would leave Sri Lanka.
HASA: I know.
THIRRU: I’m betraying my country, Hasa.
HASA: It’s okay. [He takes off the gold chain around his neck and gives it to THIRRU.] Go, Thirru. Go.
All three men look at the phone that is sitting between them on the table.
THIRRU: Hasa. Could you please start the call?
HASA: Of course.
THIRRU: Please, machaan. Call her for me. Tell her the news slowly. [Beat.] And then put me on the line.
The three men look at each other for a long moment. Then hasa reaches over to the phone and begins to dial.
SCENE SEVEN
It is the same moment as at the end of Scene Five.
Radha’s home phone is ringing. She answers.
RADHA: Hello?
HASA: Radha? Radha, it’s Hasa here.
RADHA: Hasa? To what do I owe the honour of this call? Don’t tell me you’ve finally found yourself a wife? She’s probably much / younger than—
HASA: Radha.
Beat.
RADHA: What’s wrong? Is it Nihinsa? Is she okay—
HASA: Radha … I found Thirru. I found him. He’s here, Radha. Sitting next to me. He’s alive.
Pause.
RADHA: Are you playing some stupid bloody trick on me?
HASA: I would never do something like that to you. I’m going to put him on, okay? Okay Radha?
Hasa hands thirru the phone. He takes it.
THIRRU: Radha?
Pause.
Radha?
Radha hangs up.
Pause.
Thirru passes the phone back to hasa, who dials again.
Radha listens to the phone ring.
She picks it up, but does not say anything.
HASA: Radha? Radha, don’t hang up. It really is Thirru. He’s been in prison. I found his name on a list. Radha, are you listening?
Pause.
Teenage radha and teenage thirru run across the stage in bright white school clothes, chased by nihinsa. Their clothes are a little soiled; twigs are in their hair. Teenage radha holds a handful of mangoes.
teenage THIRRU: How many did you steal?!
NIHINSA: Thirru! Radha! Radha!
They exit.
Apah, old and grey, enters, using his walking stick for support. Radha watches him.
APAH: Why did you do it, darling? Why did you pick him?
Pause.
HASA: Radha?
RADHA: Hasa?
HASA: Yes?
RADHA: Could you call back in thirty minutes?
HASA: … Radha. We might not be able to—
RADHA: Hasa.
HASA: … Okay. Okay, Radha. We’ll do that.
Hasa hangs up.
Pause. Radha holds onto the phone.
END OF ACT ONE
1 The Collapse of Globalism, John Ralston Saul
ACT TWO
SCENE ONE
Milagiriya Avenue, Colombo. 1956.
The front porch of Apah’s Colombo home. This is the same house we saw Thirru come home to in Act One. On the porch is the wooden armchair we last saw in Radha’s Pendle Hill apartment.
It is early morning. The sound of crows and squirrels, the occasional bus or motorcycle horn. The gentle ocean underneath it all.
It is peaceful.
Nihinsa, in her 30s, is sweeping the porch with a broom made of coconut fronds.
Apah, in his late 50s, sits with the priest. They are wearing sarongs, bare-chested, eating stringhoppers, sothi and sambal.
We watch them eat. Birds fly overhead. The men watch them pass.
APAH: ஞாயித்துக் கிழமை … ரோட்டில ஒரு சனம் இல்ல. கடல் அலை மட்டும் தான். (Sunday morning. No traffic. Just the ocean.)
They continue to eat.
Apah suddenly stops eating and listens more intently.
குழந்த ஒண்டிண்ட சத்தம் கேட்டது போல இருந்துது. (I thought I heard the baby.)
Dhamayanthi enters with baby radha. Aacha follows.
Apah and the priest rise to greet them.
Aacha: Apah. No shouting. She’s sleepy. [To the PRIEST] உப்புப் புளி எல்லாம் சரிதானே ஐயர்? (Not too much salt?)
PRIEST: பிரமாதம் … அருமையா இருக்கு! (It was perfect.)
Young dhamayanthi touches the Priest’s feet. He gives her his blessings.
DHAMAYANTHI: Ayar.
This is Radha.
PRIEST: Radha.
They gaze at baby radha.
PRIEST: Who does she take after?
DHAMAYANTHI: I think she looks just like her grandmother.
AACHA: And she has the temperament of her grandfather.
APAH: Chi. She is one day old!
They laugh.
Apah begins to sing gently, an old Thevaram, Koothrayinavaaru. As he begins a second verse:
AACHA: Apah. She’s just fallen asleep. Dhamayanthi darling. Take Radha and yourself to the bedroom. Go and get some sleep. Go on, both of you.
Dhamayanthi and baby radha exit.
PRIEST: [singing] கொடுமைபல செய்தன நான்அறியேன் . (‘I must have done many misdeeds to feel so sick. I am ignorant, oh God.’)
APAH: அறியாமை என்றது உங்களுக்குப் பொருந்தாது ஐயர். (You could hardly be called ignorant, Ayar.)
AACHA: தன்னை விட கூட தெரிஞ்ச ஆள் எண்டு, உங்கள மட்டுந்தான் என்ர புருஷன் சொல்லுவார். (You are the only person in this city that my husband will admit knows more than he does.)
PRIEST: Chi chi chi. If all the world’s oceans were to hold all the knowledge there is, I would only know [he holds up his water bowl] but this much. Only the divine knows how it all fits together.
Offstage, the sound of a car horn.
சரி … நான் வெளிக்கிற்ற நேரமாச்சு. என்ர சகோதரம் என்ன சந்தைக்குக் கொண்டு போறன் எண்டு சொன்னவர். வேகமாகத்தான் வாகனத்தை ஓட்டுவார். (It’s time. My brother is taking me to the market. He drives too fast.)
They all stand.
போயிட்டு வாறன். (See you soon.)
APAH: போயிட்டு வாங்கோ. (See you soon.)
The priest goes.
AACHA: Nihinsa.
Aacha and nihinsa clean up.
Apah walks up and down the porch, looking out at the street.
APAH: One equals zero point nine nine nine nine nine—
AACHA: Do not wake the baby.
APAH: Is the jasmine blooming early this year?
AACHA: Do you hear me?
APAH: I am not to wake the baby. [Suddenly he yells out to the street.] Bala!
BALA: [offstage] Apah!