The bridge that connected my present thoughts with the life of my past

History is a bridge that connects our past with our present, ’ We build our future walking through this bridge. A bridge is a mediator, a supporter, a helper, a chain that connects two separated pieces of lands in a lovely way.

 

( the makilangamuwa bridge/ganemulla - Gampaha district)

Walking backwards is adventurous sometimes; you get chances to see things that you may have not seen before. It is good to go back to the turning points of your life, turning point of your childhood or your adulthood etc.

This bridge in the picture is so close to me. No actually I did not feel this closer in the past because I did not see some of the things that I see now. I feel that I have become so close to my inner mind than before. I think that I can read my past better than before. I think that I read me better than in the past. That is an achievement I believe.

I remember walking through this bridge as a child. This is the ‘MAKILANGAMUWA BRIDGE’ this is situated very close to a heart that was very, very closer to my heart than now.  The bridge and the house that is close to this bridge are very special to me. I don’t know how I should really start writing about these places and the people who live in this place that looked so huge and tall those days. ‘Those days’ of my life was different everything that was there was so huge. So this ‘those days’ belongs to my   childhood.  

My teacher Ms. Prema Wijayawardene, was so tender and very energetic at that time used to take me through this bridge yes towards many interesting directions of that particular road that lead to ‘Gampaha’. Yes she tired to take me towards the future.

This bridge look a little old now and I notice some cracked areas of this bridge but still this remains very proud and that is a ‘pride’ to this particular area. 
  

I am thinking now I may have met many people who went walking towards Ganemulla or coming back to Gampaha or going beyond crossing the very same bridge at that time. Where are they now? How is it possible to recognize them now? No it is not possible. People change physically and mentally as a result of ‘time’. I don’t think that I knew the way to success at that time. But I like to think happily that most of my colleagues knew their way to success. 

A bridge is a vital indicator of many things such as ‘development’, transport etc.

The bridge on the river qwai (?) reminded me of a very famous film that was screened in the past that was filmed in the area of very stunning ‘Kitulgala’.

I remember listening to a beautifully composed song that is famous even now. That gives us a hint of lifetime at that time, the thinking of our people sometime back’

‘Egodath megodath gam yaa karala

that is how our people build bridges .......

Please forgive me I really can’t remember who wrote this and I guess that this is a song sung by Mr. M. Mallawaarachchi am I right at the early stages of his singing career.

The very famous ‘Kalladi bridge of Batticaloa is one of the very memorable bridges of my recent past.  About 2 and half years back I went with a group to this area. Think of the situation of this place about two and half years back from today. The church close to this bridge was there watching us going here and there freely in the area that was freed from the terror. This scared place looked so calm. The barriers were taken out of the bridge areas and there were only a few police officers and they did not even bother to ask us things like in the past and about our ‘ identities’ we were welcomed and we enjoyed the visit learning different things. ‘kiri aappa’ ( milk hoppers’ ) the very famous delicious thing how can I forget those things.

Time allocated for building a bridge was a huge task in the past yet they, the engineers built them using the unique techniques the bridge still look young and strong.

Kalladi , makilangamuwa, Kitulgala or even the very lovable ‘peradeniya’ bridge teaches us things and remind us things of our past, the past of our country, the situation of development at that time. These things take my mind in to the minds of thinking and the abilities of our people in creating or innovating different things now and then. The differences of used technology back then, labour, money, time cost, design, compared to now is amazing right? I don’t see much difference in ‘quality’ but people have won the abilities working against or in parallel to ‘time’. Our people now know to manage their ‘time’ when we think of building such things compared to the time spent in the past for such things.

‘the magpie bridge’ is a famous book written by Liu Hong. The story is so beautifully crafted just like a beautifully designed bridge I thought later after reading this. 

I really liked the authors note. The author is a Chinese that writes in English …… I think that it is good to quote some lines from the authors note 

“ …….. As I grew older I grew bolder, reading more ambitious English books, tumbling over new words as if they were mere stepping stones in my eagerness to reach the end of the story.

I started to keep a diary in English.

Imagine a language that is musical to the ear. That is ( to the Chinese) tarnished by imperial overtones, that your parents can not understand , in which you can totally immerse yourself and be free. That was what English meant to me. ………

I grew more and more curious about this new world. Unknown, exciting, I felt it was my future. I fell in love communicating in this language.

I ‘ve never written a book in Chinese. To your native English speakers, I apologize – I ‘ve hijacked your language , but I could not help it: it has always been my own private language of freedom.

So, I thought ‘languages’ are important it is good sometimes if one can compare then, now with future of a language …… yes I agree that it is a very good idea actually I thought later.

Take care of your ‘mind bridges’. The mind is a beautifully designed creation, the most important bridges of this world of human beings that connects hearts of people across continents.

     

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Going backwards through the bridge that I saw as a child is really interesting I thought.