Leaving

We leave home…. We begin this leaving from the very first day we set foot on the ground on our own… from that day onwards, every step is a lesson, a practice, a trial to leave home and find our way and stability in the world, on our own…
We leave for school, university and jobs… and with marriage, we leave again, to create another home…
When we travel we try to grasp the essence of things we see..and bring them home… sometimes the good, sometimes the bad…… but always, there’s a sense of relief in returning ….. returning home…..

I’ve come across many people who’ve left home… home in the sense of the house you grew up..And on broader terms the country you were born, the place you call home…
From childhood, we were told we are blessed to be born in this isle of serendipity, Sri Lanka… and I’ve met westerners asking me “but that’s a wonder country…..in all sense a paradise… why did you leave it?” And I tell them, that “I am here only for sometime, to fulfill the educational need only, we will be going back, for sure…..”

But, I’ve known many who chose otherwise….. Who tried to bring in the good things in these greener pastures, to home….who tried to make things better, yet failed…or belittled by the masses and disheartened….who are law abiding decent human beings, who seek the fair ground of equality and a just law enforcing system active…who wanted to create a better, orderly society…. who aspired for a peaceful living…
Leave..
Leave home, with tearful eyes, leave the country which gave so much to them ……these people were the people who wanted to do something for the isle…who aspired for a better life…
They all left, and they talks about the paradise they lost…
The roots that keep on withering with every passing day, watered by the tears of that loss….

These people who leave are the very people who’d like to have a better just law enforced upon them… who’d pay taxes willingly, to the country they choose to live, knowing that the government would take care of them with that tax money… who’d abide the law, even though they seem pretty stupid sometimes…
Who’d choose to work from dawn to dusk in the freezing cold and blazing sun.....knowing that they are payed and cared well…
Who’d raise their kids with the affirmation that a good school awaits welcoming them, without a fight, nearest to their home…
Who’d be willing to give up their petty casts and creeds, as they are no longer judged by those petty things…
Sri Lanka loose it’s best breed of people to countries, who provide these basic necessities for peaceful living…
It’s not just the fault of the politicians… although they do have a huge part in this….whether we like to accept it or not, we all are politician in our respected career paths… we play a role in every decision we back…and in every decision we silently affirm…

How hard is it for a country to provide the basic necessities for such peaceful living?
I’m not sure whether I’ve climbed to a society where migration is common, than the society I spent during the years of growing up… or whether migration is more common in the whole society now, than in the yesteryears….
Still, every time I hear about someone’s decision to migrate,  I feel a pang of sadness… poignant sense of loss, not to me personally… but for the people of my country……
And I am sure, most of the people who leave, carry this sense of nostalgia…..loss……. Like a bride leaving her parents’ home….happy, yet sad in many indescribable ways…

P.s.
This  doesn’t mean that every one who leave are good, and who stays home are bad… the world is always a gray tapestry..… and it’s people are always creatures of circumstances…
When you live in scarcity and in deprived state, it’s hard to be peaceful and all good at all times, amidst completing the lifes’ list of “to do” s……
 I’ve come to realize that it’s pretty easy to be good, without much effort when all your basic needs are fulfilled to your liking…



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