A Face to Remember(Draft 4)

“Although we are not born in the same day, same month and same year,” shouted Rajasekaran, Kannan and Adalvallan at the open field, “we shall make a vow to die on the same day, same month and same year!”
When the three of them were still young, they were very close together. They made a vow to promise that they will be together for the rest of their lives and die together. The three of them were Tamils and their grudge started in 1948.
In 1948, when Sri Lanka achieved independence from British, Rajasekaran and many other Tamils became stateless because citizenships were only granted to those born in Sri Lanka and those whose fathers and grandfathers were born there. The Ceylon Citizenship act was unfair to Rajasekaran as they were not even given the basic right such as voting. Most of the Tamil contributed to Srilanka by do tea plantation as a living. They contributed so much but yet they do not have the basic right to even vote.
Rajasekaran and her family were very angry. They hid their feelings and continue working as tea plantation to contribute to Sri Lanka as they thought that the government would be touched by their contribution and allow them to gain basic right such as voting. However, they were very wrong.
In 1950, there was a notice stating ‘with effect from the end of this month, not only the Sinhalese peasants would live in Jaffna and Batticaloa, Buddhist monks and Sri Lankan army which comprise mostly Sinhalese would occult this land.’ Rajasekaran’s mind was totally blank at that moment. She did not know what was going to happen next. Her mind confused and she did not have a good feeling about this news.
Rajasekaran was shocked when she see this notice and said to herself, “no! This can’t be happening!”
Her parents were already discussing about this matter and they too did not feel comfortable about this arrangement. Rajasekaran’s father said, “I think we should prepare ourselves for even more disappointing and bad news.”
In 1956 Sinhala was declared as the country's official language under the official language act, Tamils in the government service had to learn Sinhala within three years. If they did not do so, they would be dismissed. Although Rajasekaran usually helps her father in tea plantation, he already had plans to find a job with more prospects. The official language act upset the Tamils in government as well as others because it would be even harder to find jobs or be prompted.
“How can they do this to us? They gave us only three years to learn Sinhala or we will get dismissed from our current position? This is totally unfair!” said Perundhevan to the rest of the Tamil governments.
Adalarachan, a fellow colleague of Perundhevan who is also a Tamil government, said, “What can we do? We can’t fight with the Sinhalese government too.”
“We have no choice but to accept this and learn Sinhala in three years”, said the leader of the Tamil government, Agilan.
Before 1970, the university admissions were fair to both Tamils and Sinhalese. In 1972, there was a notice saying that Tamils students need to score better than Sinhalese students. Rajasekaran who was a Tamil studied day and night for her future of getting into a university. Rathatima got 4 A2s and 2 B3s, while her best friends, Ravanan who was a Sinhalese got 4 B3s and 2 A2s.
“Wow, aren’t you happy with your result? I’ve only got 2 A2s and 4 B3s. Let’s try our luck for the university that the both of us has wanted to go to,” said Ravanan.
Rajasekaran said, “Ha-ha, you flatter me. You didn’t scored too bad either.”
Both of them went to apply for the same university, and Rajasekaran was very confident that she could enter that university. After applying, they went home and wait for the news. A few days later, Ravanan was told that she got in the university while Rajasekaran did not.
After hearing the news, Perundhevan said, “How can they do this to us? You got much better grade than that best friend of yours, and she got in the university just because she is a Sinhalese?? This is totally unfair!”
“Brother, you yourself also know how bad the Sinhalese government is right? What can we do? We don’t have the power to fight back”, said Rajasekaran
In 1976, Rajasekaran gave up on studies as she knew that she there is no future for her if she carry on studying. Rajasekaran, Adalvallan and Kannan built an army called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to fight against the Sinhalese as they thought that it was the only way to make the Sinhalese government treat the Tamils fairly and equally. They started bombing cities where there are most Sinhalese. The Sinhalese were not easy to be pushed around with and they fought back, as a result the civil war started.
Bombs were flying around in the air; the sound of gunshot was heard from a large area of distance up to one kilometre. The Tamil Tigers are desperately fighting in a losing war. There was blood everywhere, in the surrounding. It was a horrifying scene that causes the whole place to be stanched with the smell of blood.
“Run while you still can! Rebuild the Tamil Tigers army and avenge our death!” shouted Adalvallan.
Rajasekaran cried out, “No! I can’t leave now; we made a vow when we were kids!”
“There is no time for such thing now Rajasekaran! Flee with Kannan immediately!” shouted Adalvallan with Tears rolling down his cheek but still smiling, “Live well my friends!”
Rajasekaran remembered the face of Adalvallan and always cried when she thought of the war. The remaining Tamil Tiger were Rajasekaran and Kannan, two of the three leaders of the Tamil Tigers. However, will they give up preventing more casualties? Or will the peace be temporary?