When the World Burns Around You

This is a speech I wrote in 2016, about my mom, for the module: Communication Skills.

Have you ever repeated an exam? Anybody here? I know, we are in ENTC, still semester 2. That implies, we haven’t started doing that, yet. Anyway, anybody who has done second or third shy knows how extremely difficult it is. Why, you may ask. It is the same paper and same environment. But when you sit for the third shy, the society stops believing in you. They brand you as a failure. Relatives may say “You can’t do it. Find a clerk job and start earning for your family!” That is exactly what they said to an internationally recognized scientist, Dr. Mrs. Raji, who is also my mother.

My mother is from a poor family. If you knew about the socioeconomic structure of Jaffna, you’d understand this paradox. They owned acres and acres of land, yet they could barely survive in the lower middle class. She was determined to be a doctor, thanks to the Sri Lankan mindset. But the family couldn’t afford any tutions. She wrote her first shy and got B2C, she did it again and got the same results. Under all the pressure, she did it again and got a 2BC. After three attempts, the letter from UGC announced that she cannot even enter the bio-stream. However, she was placed in the waiting list of bio-science in Jaffna University. Some students dropped off, some girls got married and my mom was placed in the science faculty.

For my mother, the university was like a horror movie, only without subtitles. Due to her poor background, she could barely write English. Joining five months late into the semester, the subjects were all in English. You know, the thousand page books of biology, all lectures, notes were all in high standard English, which she couldn’t even understand. She was sure to fail!

Then, something happened. Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for the rest of the country, the full scale ethic conflict began in Sri Lanka. Jaffna library has been burnt down, Black July riots began in Colombo where thousands of people were burnt alive in streets. With Jaffna city burning, the university activities were stopped. All students were sent back home indefinitely.

But, she didn’t go. She spent every single day of that burning period in the library, trying to read the fat books which she couldn’t understand a word. She referred to dictionaries, rewrote the books’ notes again and again and again. A couple of months later, the university began. They had the year-end exams and she, who was bound to fail, not just passed, but became the batch top!

Fast-forwarding into years, she became a Senior Lecturer in Zoology, University of Jaffna and educated both her sisters and restored the family’s economy with her salary. After marriage, she did her Masters in Peradeniya University. In fact, she wrote the thesis for her masters while I was in her womb! In 2010, she completed her PhD in entomology, the study of insects. Throughout this period, she has suffered from problems in the womb and countless other chronic illnesses. She has collaborated with scientists around the world. From her publications, she became an authoritative figure, in leafhoppers in South Asia. Currently, she’s the Head of the Department in Dept. of Zoology, University of Jaffna.

My mother, dear friends, is a remarkable woman. What makes her remarkable is her determination. In my life, when I lose pathetically when the world burns around me, I will remember my mother. Because I’ve learned from her, however small you begin, that steel-hard determination of yours, it may not take you to where you want to go, but it will definitely take me you a thousand miles beyond!

First posted on Facebook: facebook.com/abarajithan11/posts/10209592055709713