10. Dambulla Reunion

Helen writes,

Another amazing day!

This morning we woke in a state of great nervous expectation because the day promised two possible results; either we would be meeting Roshan’s birth mother for the first time in twenty years or disapointingly she would not be able to make the journey to Dambulla for the reunion.

The tentative arrangement was for us to meet at 11am.

Before this we planned to climb up the steep rock face at Dambulla to see the ancient Buddhist cave temples.

We started out at 8am and climbed painfully slowly up the steep pathway towards the caves. Several elderly ladies passed us negotiating the route much more nimbly than our leaden limbs could manage.

How unfit are we?

The temple was interesting and our guide was very informative but in truth, I was far too anxious about our coming appointment to concentrate on touristy stuff and wanted to get going to town and make the rendezvous with Roshan’s mum.

At the base of the temple our guide got a call on his mobile from Priyantha, Roshan’s brother. He said his mother hadn’t yet arrived.

I told Roshan that the chances of us meeting her were now very small as she wasn’t able to make the journey from where she now lives.

He was sad but said he understood she must feel very stressed about it all.

He knows all about stress!!

We headed out of town to try and get my phone unblocked but every phone shop said that this would cause permanent damage so I’ve given up trying now and will just stick with May if we are out, as her phone is fine.

At 12 o’clock we had another call from Priyantha. He said he would be meeting us with his mother very soon.

We waited and soon a little green tuk-tuk appeared.

Out climbed three people; Priyantha, a young woman in orange robes and a small, thin woman whose face I instantly recognised as Roshan’s Mum!

It was all very emotional all round really.

The young woman turned out to be Roshan’s sister. Her name is Depeeka.

She has been a Buddhist nun since she was a young girl.

She is 26 now and remembers Roshan when he was a baby.

She was shocked to see him initially and cried. 

Through Neil our guide I asked if we could go to a café to have a drink and talk some more and everyone readily agreed. 

We spent over an hour exchanging information and his mum was very happy to find that Roshan had been well looked after and was able to live well in spite of his deafness. She was worried for him and that he needed a cure but we explained that it wasn’t possible.

We exchanged addresses and promised to be in touch with more photos etc.

Roshan was happy to meet his family.

But I don’t think he’s realised quite how amazingly lucky we were to have found them.