63. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEEPA!

Because words and fonts are not enough to say what I want to say, I'd say it in Times New  Roman,

VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY & MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY, Deepa!

P.S And thanks for putting up with me.

henryblogwalker the Dude.

62. HELLO STRANGER!

Every time I pass this downhill slope at Bollagala, on Biyagama Road and I pass Bollagala town, there is this familiar landmark that has etched deep into my mind, now, for several decades.

We get memories etched into out minds for different reasons.

They maybe for both good and bad.

I have never met the person who lived in this house 

who I always wanted to meet and ask

why he did, what he did.

But I never made it.

Well, I know you want to know what he did.

So this is it.

I went to school and then went to work every morning, passing this place, for so many years. And, what I saw every morning filled me with wonder. The occupant of this house had a large lettered calendar exhibited on his balcony wall for the benefit of the people who passed by. It had Day, Date and Month, which the occupant duly changed daily without fail and without a single error for all those years.

Remember, these weren't the days of the digital displays. This was a set of letters and numbers printed on maybe cardboard or plastic sheets. These had to be changed manually every morning.

I have checked this out early mornings when I passed this place around 4.30 am, and and on stormy days when  weather discouraged anyone in his right mind to come out on a balcony to change the digits of a calendar. 

No matter what, the calendar continued to update without a hitch, everyday, for years on end. 

And this was done for the sole benefit of the passerby. 

As I said I was very curious about this person who had this  unwavering dedication, and this unselfish motive to carry on without any publicity over the years. I wanted to know what made him do that and why was he different than the rest of  lazy dudes, selfish dudes, publicity hunter dudes who would do anything to attain their selfish motives.

Well, I didn't see this calendar recently. You would notice in this picture we took the other day, also that the wall is empty. I didn't want to stop and make inquiries as I didn't want look suspicious. Does anyone know what happened to him?

And if you are still there, I want you to know that your act of kindness wasn't unnoticed. Maybe this wouldn't look much to some people. But, to me this is good enough. I was one of the people who were benefited by your calendar. And I want to thank you my unseen friend for what you did. 

I only hope I'm not too late.

Read this article in Sinhala as  "ඔබ කවුරුද, නුදු‍ටු සබඳ?" @ මගේ ඩෙනිම/My Blue Jeans