THIRRU: In Rameshwaram a man from Sunil gives me a false passport with visa to Malaysia. But in Kuala Lumpur the smugglers locked me in a room. I was locked in a room with maybe thirty other people, I’m sorry, Siddhartha, there were no phones, no clocks / and I don’t know how long—
SIDDHARTHA: / Thirru?
THIRRU: I got very sick. Everyone was sick. After I don’t know how long a man appears and says tomorrow the Malaysian police will come and they will take the Tamils and give them back to the Sri Lankan Government—but if you pay you can leave tonight. So I give this man all my money and we leave and today we are in Indonesia and I’m sorry Siddhartha, we are taking a boat. We are taking a boat tonight. I have learnt the words.
SIDDHARTHA: Appa? What boat? What boat Appa?!
THIRRU: I’m getting on a boat to become a refugee in Australia.
SIDDHARTHA: Do not get on that boat! People die on those boats!
THIRRU: They will send me back to Sri Lanka! They will lock me in a room! They will put me in a camp for thirty-four years! I will die as a refugee, Siddhartha! I have to take the boat.
The smuggler runs through with more Asylum Seekers.
SMUGGLER: Come! Now!
SIDDHARTHA: You can catch a plane—
THIRRU: I have no money, son—
LILY: He doesn’t have a visa, Sid—
SIDDHARTHA: I have money. I can come to Indonesia. And then we can catch a plane, / Appa.
LILY: It’s not that simple.
SIDDHARTHA: Don’t get on that / boat!
LILY: / Sid …
THIRRU: I’m sorry mahan. I’m taking a boat tonight, okay? I must go now—
SIDDHARTHA: I’m coming to Indonesia, Appa.
RADHA: No.
THIRRU: Radha?
SIDDHARTHA: I’ll leave in the morning. / I’ll be there in two, three days—
LILY: Sid …
Radha stands and strikes siddhartha across the face.
RADHA: You will not!
THIRRU: Radha!
SIDDHARTHA: I have to bring him / here—
Radha strikes siddhartha again.
RADHA: You will not!
SIDDHARTHA: You left him there! / You got on a plane and you left him behind!
RADHA: [pulling siddhartha away from the phone] Shut up. You know nothing. / Hang up. Hang up the telephone! Hang up the telephone!
LILY: [taking siddhartha] Sid, listen, / listen to me—
THIRRU: Radha? Radha? எங்க போன்னீங்கள்? (Where were you?) Where were you? எங்க போன்னீங்கள்? (Where were you Radha?) I waited and you never came. I woke up in prison. Twenty-one years I woke up in prison and you never came. Where were you? Who is this boy in Australia who calls me Appa? ராதா? நான் எங்க இருக்கிறன்? என்ன நடக்குது? எங்க போன்னீங்கள்? ராதா? Where were you?
Radha tries to speak.
SIDDHARTHA: Amma?
The smuggler runs to thirru.
SMUGGLER: Come! Now! Now!
THIRRU: ராதா … நான் என்ன செய்ய? எனக்கு ஒரு வழி சொல்லு ராதா? (Radha. Tell me. Tell me what to do. Do I come? Yes or no?)
Young Radha and Young thirru enter.
SIDDHARTHA: Amma?
YOUNG THIRRU: Radha?
YOUNG RADHA: What is the date today?
Young THIRRU: Saturday the twenty-ninth of August.
Young Radha and Young thirru go to the same position that siddhartha and lily stood when they exchanged the date and year in Act One, Scene Two.
YOUNG RADHA: Saturday the twenty-ninth of August. 1977.
She kisses him tenderly on the cheek.
Saturday the twenty-ninth of August. 1977.
He takes her hands and kisses them gently.
SIDDHARTHA: Amma?
Everyone looks to radha. She nods.
RADHA: Yes.
SIDDHARTHA: Come, Appa. Amma says come.
Music. Everyone enters. They move across the stage as one.
Ecstatic, swathi yells a Tamil battle cry.
Terrified, maithri yells a Sinhala battle cry.
The soldiers, the refugees, siddhartha, lily, radha and thirru are swept into one group.
Thirru is on a crowded boat. The swell of oceans, a storm.
Wet and desperate, thirru steps forward and speaks to us:
THIRRU: ‘I claim my rights in the Refugee Convention, signed by Australia in 1951, that I have left my country of origin for reasons of persecution. I call upon the Australian Government’s spirit of international cooperation to receive my request for asylum and give me an opportunity for resettlement.’
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
SCENE ONE
Apah, now in his 80s, sits in his chair trying to perfect a Rubik’s cube.
Lily waits on Siddhartha’s porch. She peers at an image on her phone.
Radha is in her apartment, reading a print out of an online newspaper article.
Siddhartha enters, well dressed in a mixture of traditional and western clothing. He’s fidgety. Lily looks up.
SIDDHARTHA: Okay.
LILY: Looking good, Mister Eyelashes.
SIDDHARTHA: Thank you.
LILY: You ready?
SIDDHARTHA: Lil’ …
LILY: Yeah?
SIDDHARTHA: Why are we here?
LILY: What?
SIDDHARTHA: In Coogee I mean. [Looking at the audience] Who are all these people? Like I know Ismet. Hello Ismet.
ISMET: The boy who fixed my Skippy. Son, your mother never replied to my text message.
SIDDHARTHA: No, um, something came up.
ISMET: Quite often a thing will come up. No matter. I remain open to all future possibilities. [Exiting] I am an optimist!
SIDDHARTHA: You see, if things had gone a bit differently I might have a Turkish air conditioner installer as a father. Is that how it works? Just like that, everything rearranges? Is that what Sydney is, a lot of rearranged people?
LILY: Sid?
SIDDHARTHA: Something happened to my amma in Sri Lanka in 1983 and so now I’m here. But if whatever that was in 1983 had gone a little bit differently I could be living in a house in Colombo. Or in a refugee camp in India. But I’m not. I’m in Sydney. And I don’t know how or why, but I do know that because my amma came here I met you. Now I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you—no I’m definitely sure I’m in love with you—but what I’m also trying to say is that it feels super weird to be in love with you in Coogee. See, in Amma’s apartment in Pendle Hill there’s a balcony where Ammamma used to sit and teach me thevarams. Like these Tamil lullabies. So I can’t speak in Tamil but I can sing in Tamil. It’s like an almost-connection. And I’m pretty sure that the chair Amma sits in isn’t from Australia. I’m pretty sure it’s like the only thing she brought with her from Sri Lanka, and when I sit in it I feel almost connected to … something, and every time I go there the place smells like mustard seeds and curry leaves, and here this place smells like salty air and beer and I love it, I love it Lil’, but it’s not me, it’s not mustard seeds and curry leaves, and Lily if I stay here I think I’m going to become someone else. I thought I wanted to become someone else but I’ve quite suddenly realised I don’t. I need to return to those almost connections before they’re gone, and trace them back to where they came from, and actually I’m not sure of any of this at all, I could be completely wrong, I mean my mum’s kinda intense and scary and isn’t quite aware of fundamental concepts like privacy or mutual respect, but nevertheless Lil’— I think I need to go … home.
LILY: Which means?
SIDDHARTHA: Pendle Hill.
LILY: Uh huh.
SIDDHARTHA: Yeah. And I was hoping that …
LILY: Yeah?
SIDDHARTHA: Maybe— you might like to—
LILY: Move … / in …
SIDDHARTHA: Move in with
me …
LILY: And …
SIDDHARTHA: And my amma. No. Yes. Lil’. I think you and I should move in with my amma.
LILY: Uh huh.
SIDDHARTHA: Yep. So. That’s it. I’m a bit nervous.
LILY: Okay. Thank you. My turn?
SIDDHARTHA: Yes please.
LILY: It’s my nephew’s birthday today. My whole family’s going hunting. They’re having a big cook up. Mud crabs plucked from the mangroves. Yams dug up from near the rivers. Oh my God you need to try these yams Sid. And my nephew! He loves being thrown into the air. He has proper fat cheeks like the Michelin Man. True God!
My family sent me to the city to learn the whitefella way, Sid. That’s why I’m studying law. That’s why I’m here. It’s coz my family sent me to Sydney that I got to meet you. And I’m pretty sure I’m definitely in love with you too.
But in Sydney, I’m a guest. Back home in Yirrkala, on my country, I’m connected through story and knowledge to every clan, every family, every place. It’s the oldest conversation I know. And at some point, I’m gonna go back home and I’m gonna continue that conversation. So what do we do about that Siddhartha?
SIDDHARTHA: Okay, okay … Do you think you can have two homes?
LILY: Like Sydney and Colombo?
SIDDHARTHA: Or Sydney and Yirrkala?
LILY: Mate that’s three already—
SIDDHARTHA: Okay maybe it’s not two homes. Maybe it’s still one, but just … a bigger one. It expands, you know? When we did the funeral rites for Ammamma, I let her ashes out into the Georges River. Eventually those ashes would have reached the ocean, and somewhere along the line mixed with a river in Yirrkala—
LILY: Or with your mob in Sri Lanka—
SIDDHARTHA: —Exactly.
LILY: Water and water?
SIDDHARTHA: Water and water.
LILY: Everyone gets dragged to the city hey?
SIDDHARTHA: [he sidles up to her] Has its advantages.
LILY: Yeah.
Beat.
SIDDHARTHA: I can live up North. I could do Yirrkala.
LILY: Yeah?
SIDDHARTHA: Yes. I’d do anything.
LILY: Thank you.
Beat.
SIDDHARTHA: Wanna try Pendle Hill first?
LILY: It’d be nice to have a Sydney amma. [Beat.] Let me think about it, Sid.
SIDDHARTHA: Thank you.
Beat.
LILY: So are you ready to do this?
SIDDHARTHA: No.
LILY: [taking his hand] Come on.
SIDDHARTHA: Okay then. Let’s go.
They exit as Apah’s phone rings.
SCENE TWO
Nihinsa enters with a mat and some chillies. She unfurls it and puts the chillies out to dry.
radha watches her grandfather.
apah answers the phone.
APAH: Er— hello? Hello?
HASA: Apah? It’s Hasa. [Beat.] Sorry Apah— have I woken you?
APAH: [surprised] Hasanga? What is it?
HASA: I play cricket with a group of, well, rowdy boys …
APAH: Yes?
HASA: You did not hear of any … untoward activities happening last night, did you?
APAH: Where?
HASA: Here. In Colombo.
APAH: In Colombo?! No, why?
HASA: I’ve heard …
APAH: What have you heard?
HASA: Apparently a few of these cricket boys are planning something.
Young Radha enters. She is four months pregnant. She holds an Amnesty report and other pieces of paper. There is mail waiting for her on her chair.
Apah?
APAH: Let me check for you, Hasanga.
HASA: Thank you.
APAH: What about Vinsanda? Is he there? Put him on.
HASA: I’m calling from work. Maybe you could try my father at his home? I’m sorry I can’t help more, we don’t … talk a lot these days.
APAH: I see. [Beat.] Call me immediately if you hear anything else.
HASA: Of course.
Apah puts the phone down. He thinks. He picks up his address book, trying to find a particular entry.
YOUNG RADHA: Nihinsa— can we have some tea please? I feel a little nauseous. And could you bring Apah’s morning medicine?
nihinsa exits. Young Radha gives apah a piece of paper.
My shortlist. For the mathematics scholarship.
APAH: Not now darling.
YOUNG RADHA: When you can. I’m sending the list to the staff at Cambridge next week.
APAH: Okay.
YOUNG RADHA: Who was that on the phone?
APAH: Hasanga.
YOUNG RADHA: What did he say?
APAH: Another rumour about some trouble. What is the ayar’s number?
Apah holds the address book very close to his face. He can’t see properly.
YOUNG RADHA: Here, let me help you with that.
She dials the number.
Are you hungry? I’m starving.
APAH: Not right now.
YOUNG RADHA: I really feel like a cinnamon bun.
Young Radha finishes dialling and hands the phone to him. Then she goes back to her report.
PRIEST: ஹல்லோ? (Hello?)
APAH: ஐயர்? யார் முத்துவா கதைக்கிறது? (Ayar? Is that you?)
PRIEST: அப்பா [அழுத்தத்துடன்] அப்பிடியெண்டால். … (Apah. [With gravity] So.)
APAH: அது தான் உங்களிட்ட கேக்கிறதுக்காவண்டி எடுத்தனான். (I was calling to check with you.)
PRIEST: இளம் பெடியளுக்குத்தான் பிரச்சனை எண்டு கேள்விப்படுறன். பெரிசா ஒண்டுமில்ல. நீங்கள் என்ன கேள்விப்படுறீங்கள்? (I’ve heard only rumours about young boys and some trouble. Nothing substantial. You?)
APAH: கொழும்பிலயும் பிரச்சனயெண்டு ஆக்கள் சொல்லீனம் (Rumours also, of trouble in Colombo.)
Young Radha looks to apah.
PRIEST: / Hmmmm …
YOUNG RADHA: In Colombo?
APAH: வேற ஏதாவது கேள்விப்பட்டா எடுத்துச் சொல்லுங்கோ என்ன? (Call me if you hear anything else?)
PRIEST: கட்டாயம் (Of course.)
Apah puts the phone down. Nihinsa enters with tea and Apah’s medicine.
APAH: Darling, dial Vinsanda at home.
YOUNG RADHA: [dialing] Have your morning medicine please.
Nihinsa offers, but apah stops her.
APAH: In a moment.
YOUNG RADHA: [firmly] Your medicine.
APAH: You are as bad as Aacha was!
Nihinsa hands him the medicine.
Thank you. You know before she passed Aacha taught Nihinsa to read English so she knew exactly what pills I had to take and when— and she made sure the doctor would come and tell her when the prescription changes also.
YOUNG RADHA: Aacha takes care of you even now, no?
APAH: You take care of me, Radha.
YOUNG RADHA: [hanging up the phone] No answer, Apah.
APAH: Your own parents are out gallivanting across the world making money, but you, you are here. That is why I am leaving this house to you, not them—
YOUNG RADHA: Apah, there’s no need to cause mischief. Just let them have / the house—
APAH: Nonsense. It was Aacha’s dying wish. You will respect that at least, won’t you?
YOUNG RADHA: [surprised] Of course.
APAH: What’s that you’ve got there?
YOUNG RADHA: An Amnesty report. In the last six months, at least sixty-five people have been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Mostly Tamil, but also Singhalese. There are re
ports of torture. So to help them I’m compiling a list of their names, employment, age, background, and detail of the charges against them.
APAH: Very good.
Young Thirru enters. Nihinsa exits.
YOUNG THIRRU: My love? Feeling any better? Did you have some tea?
YOUNG RADHA: Still feeling pretty icky. I’m having tea, but I don’t think it makes any difference.
YOUNG THIRRU: Good morning Apah.
Nihinsa enters with tea.
YOUNG RADHA: [to Young thirru] I really want one of those cinnamon buns.
YOUNG THIRRU: I’ll buy a whole bag of them on the way home! [To NIHINSA] ස්තූතියි නිහින්සා (Thank you, Nihinsa.)
YOUNG RADHA: [opening the mail—there are Polaroid snaps] Finally! The pictures from the school exchange I organised. The Elpitiya girls on their trip to Jaffna. Their first time in the North!
YOUNG THIRRU: Oh! / This is brilliant!
He shows APAH.
APAH: Well done darling.
NIHINSA: මං ඒ කෙල්ලව දන්නව (I know that girl, Radha bebi.) / Very good!
YOUNG RADHA: They took them to / all the temples—
A fruit seller appears at the gate.
FRUIT SELLER: திரு இருக்கிறாரா? (Is Thirru here?)
YOUNG THIRRU: Ah! That’s one of my father’s vendors. [To fruit seller] என்ன விஷயம்? (What / is it?)
He goes to him. They whisper.
YOUNG RADHA: [to nIHINSA and APAH] Once the monsoon season is over we’ll bring the Jaffna girls down South. You must meet them, / Nihinsa—
NIHINSA: I’d love to.
APAH: [to NIHINSA] This one looks like you!
They laugh.
The fruit seller leaves. young Thirru stands at the gate.
YOUNG RADHA: Thirru?
YOUNG THIRRU: This fellow says he saw my sister around town. In Jaffna.
Everyone looks at young thirru.
Just for the day. They’re recruiting for the Tigers. They’re forming a women’s wing—
YOUNG RADHA: Yes, I’ve heard—
YOUNG THIRRU: Apparently the girls seemed very jolly. They seemed … content.
Beat.
Nihinsa Nanda, could you get my lunch please?
Nihinsa nods and exits.
Swathi would be twenty-one now. She’d be quite persuasive with the younger ones.
YOUNG RADHA: Thirru—
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