Hi my dear,
Shall I call you Almeida or Lorenzo which name you
really prefer? Let me call you Lorenzo I hope you do not mind Lorenzo.
Check whether the address I wrote on the envelope I brought
from a office – post recently.
Mr. Lorenzo De
Almeida
1505
Not planned avenue
With love Lisbon
Portugal.
As you know my friend I sometimes have something
about something to be to be sorted out you know all these no. here comes my ‘some
questions enclosed here with oh yes addressed with so much love.
Is that true that what all our
historians say (yours too) and the books I read told me ( books generally talk
with me ) you step and set foot on this land from the lassana Galle port by
mistake, unknowingly they say that it was accidental?
And they say that you only wanted
your trading desires to come true and for that you somehow managed to meet up
with the King of kotte having all
the plans hidden within to collate all the minerals and spices and every other thing
that was useful to you for trading there
in Lisbon London and areas near Lord’s (you know that we played good cricket Lords.
You Know our Mahanama, (man of the better fielding, any catch taker) and Wettamuni
right.
Did you know any ‘cricket’ NO I know
you did not know any cricket ‘What cricket in Lisbon.
‘Tell me how did you come to the ‘our
kingdom of Kotte’, Lorenzo?
According to my friend historian our
people took you through a wrong path to the courts of the king I believe what
he says because we are friends and they have used our own words no there to
give it a description of the tour you planned to meet our king then
‘Parangiya kotte giyaa wage’ (the way that the parangiya reached
kotte) please forgive me for using the word ‘Parangiya’ you know our people then
knew no English they knew no word ‘ Foreigner’ and parangiya is a clean and
clear Sinhala word there must be a reasonable reason for them to say such a
thing no I mean to the historians.
I know De Almeida NO sorry Lorenzo none of us can
change the history but we surely can change the future. NO! I will not be there
to see how your people will really going to try and change your future I can not afford to pay to come to
your Portugal. You know these Silver, Bronze gold coins sometimes I like
staying away from coins and notes I have enough for consumption that is good no
Lorenzo.
The historians say that you step foot on your way to ‘trade
and export’ the way you like in close path 1505 am I right or is it the
historians that is always ‘right’?
How dare you scared my country people at that time
using the cannons for the first time and drinking the wines clourful and eating
bread and butter’. Victorians knew what paan and cake not we. We knew ‘haal’ you knew no haal no? ‘You sacred them was it a trick to catch
people ours those days’. They all reported
everything to the King did you know that?
I do not know all these the ‘Rajawaliya’ told me
entire story of your visitation well planned (?) otherwise how do I know I was
not there no.
What did you tell to the king of Kotte? You did not come looking for a job no Mr. Almeida. You had no such issues in Lisbon NO. Good trader Almeida knows you are a huge trader and you had enough of money. To which destination you sent all those gems, pepper and eth dala Mr. Lorenzo did you send them to Constantinople? Our spices they know better
‘saadikka vasaawaasi, inguru piyali kottamalli’ we
know better, they learn – better, none is bitter. Try some you will feel much better. (You have
to use them - pamana dena )
I know that
London Market paid us good money for our cinnamon until they invent ‘alternative
for cinnamon ‘I can’t remember the alternative used. You know that you can use goraka instead of
Thakkali (Tomato) or tamarind (siyambala) instead of lime ( dehi). I know you are not aware of the theories of our
kitchen. So alternatives used dominated and
tried to capture our market at that time but I do not think they were that
successful ‘ we still sell ‘good cinnamon’
All those alternatives came not because anything they
including London and Constantinople raised taxes up to sky. That is why some
times authorities think of taxes than taxies.
From where did you get those wines so rich in colour did
you manufacture them in your own premises Lisbon or you just import them from
Italy or from London? (Do they manufacture wine please don’t tell others that I
asked you this because I have not even read at least things written on a lid of
a wine bottle before)
Wine with candy no good or not good friends. You know I try to learn some good English these
days when I think of learning the Alphabet correctly and hopefully. Here is what I learnt from my school –
history. A for Almeida L for Lorenzo D
for De and you know w for wine not for weak or witty , K for Kandy P for
Portugal not for Spain or F for France and G for Germany you are secured between these two guardians no F for France
and G for Germany. How are they? Do they
corporate of do they a little F for Fuzzy.
Hey,
Tell me did you encounter any ‘le coup de foudre’ there while coming here or going there
How is Lasarda
D for not dangerous D for De Preraira
the your very trusted soldier from was he from L I learnt also for Lisbon? Again my dear, Lasarda from Lisbon who tried
to chase away our people in ‘Seethawaka has he learnt a lesson from Seethawaka.
We
call it ‘LLSL’ - (Lesson learnt Seethawaka Lasarda)
You know my dear L for Lorenzo the good hearted soldiers’
are always like that ‘ they do their task well putting all other things second’
‘ DUTY FIRST’ that is their mission
you know.
You know Lorenzo dear some fights within family ( nangi
and I have little, little fights over nothing sometimes )are normal in Lisbon
as well no that was just a little fight no that our King of Kotte had to face
because of his ‘crown ‘ you were waiting for a chance no and ‘ why did you ‘awilena
ginnata piduru demme’ lastly Don Juan little
difficult for me to pronounce his name though I can write look ‘what comes to
your mind when you hear the name Don Juan what do you call in law language the ‘thegi
oppuwa’ our king Dharmapala then had to hand over ‘kigdom kotte’ in writing (?) a ‘thegi oppuwa’
for who ever there at that moment. You know Lorenzo this reminds me ‘the Value
of a son’. My goodness Lorenzo ‘you
nicely accepted it no the thegi oppuwa’. ‘Value of Unity’ - I wrote this truly.
I know a verrrrrry little about history De Almeida I like
poetry than history other wise I should have tried and learn some bit of
history. Useful no if you know history for ‘any moment any hour any day any
year memorials ‘ we do not have a monument of yours De Almeida in Kandy is
there a one in Galle let me check with my friend Galle. Don’t worry I will let
you know.
When did you first meet the king of kotte please tell
me the exact date that you came to Colombo. 15
march 1519 or on some other day let me check this with our historians and
will write back to you I can’t say I will callback ‘ the number you dialed is incorrect’ they
might say because I still have the number you gave in 1658?
This is not a petition note de Almeida but a letter like the one that our Mr. Leel Gunasekara wrote little bit longer ago not in 15th, 16th or 18th s long and long years after your visitation with so much hesitations. What route you chose anyways to reach Galle. That letter has a name that is ‘pethsama’.
Tell me frankly Lorenzo my historical friend ‘you
very well pre planned your visit to the kingdom of Asia? Why, why you so pretending and do not
accepting that you knew this kingdom even before ‘Taprobane or even very, very
before all known this kingdom as Thambapanni.
Yes, yes you have every right to visit any where that
you prefer but we can not allow you to dominate my country even if you show wine
and bread and butter to our people instead of ‘rice and curry’ kekulu haal
bathui pol sambolai’. Pardon me Lorenzo I know I talk of nonsense that has no
sense sometimes what kekulu haal you know you have not even heard about thembilee
wine (wine made of king coconut) we have
run (not ‘ran’) and gon two varieties. Dear you should have postponed your
visit to ‘NOW instead of coming without planning (1505).
inguru deela miris gatta wage'
Why our people thought of exchanging inguru with
miris I really don’t understand but that was then we will not exchange or
change inguru in to misiris or use inguru instead of miris. Inguru is inguru
miris is misris. ‘Different. Ohhhhh sorry Miris is chilies inguru is ‘GINGER’.
Ginger wine different to thembilee wine. I do not know whether it is possible
to use Ginger + inguru for wine.
Let me refer the map that our map instructors have created
long ago just to get an idea as to how our people took you to the courts of our
king of Kotte. Good for you for having a bad intension to harm my people. How
is Ms Lorenzo did she support you for all these trading you involved in here.
I told you earlier you should have postponed your
visit to ‘today’ our people might let you watch and bathe in ‘Diyawanna oya’ ‘
what a place that it has become compared to my first ‘go passing diyawanna
about a decade ago’ dear Lorenzo. You don’t mind me calling you ‘dear’ no
Lorenzo. Thank god that no tales I heard from 1505 that you did not hunt any
deer/s back then. But I doubt you, you know. 1505 is easy to remember that is
why now we write four number ‘ for quick dialing’ 1929’ if your daughter, your
little one if any not belong to dear/s try to abuse, before killing the man you
must report to that number already public known. Do not forget it is ‘1929’.
1929 is also easy to remember than 1796.
Lorenzo my very old ‘are you still angry with the
hewayo (the soldiers’) who took you around and around Kotte back then ‘
Kadahapola’ migettuwatte Gunananda ape hamuduruwan wahansela , Puran Appu they
knew Barns and Edwards, Phillips very well oh what a relief that they did not
know you Lorenzo.
You don’t know no what happened after you left
Lorenzo
[By the way from where did you get that cotton coat
you wore the day that you set foot in lasana gaalla (Galle) for the first time?
Did you come here via Constantinople Lorenzo? ]
1818 in this significant year a lot of fights and
arguments has happened my friend. What a very rebellious year this 1818. Kingdom of Kandy ‘one particular letter
signed’, the magul maduwa is witnessed, you know those Philips & David/s
they did not care our ‘Sri wickrama’s Adhikaram/s Muhandiram/s or even about Kumarihamy/s
you don’t know that little ‘BRAVE one and only Bandara back then ‘MADDUMA one to
everyone even Mr. death was so frightened & looked so afraid of him. I have
read.
Lorenzo my dear,
Again pardon me for calling you ‘dear’ all my
historical friends know me that I like to call all of them ‘dear’ my dear.
You don’t mind reading even if I write little bit
more no as usual. You know I am so heart-fully happy because we won the
battle of Mulleriyawa in Muleriyawa against your people though some did not
help ‘from the bottom of their hearts and minds’.
Kusumasana dewiya (good daughter of another good
Bandara -‘Karalliyadde Bandara) DONA KATARINA lover and the better half of ‘
Wimaladharmasuriya’ 1st. I don’t have to remind you know how he won
all battles against you and the battles you organized against ‘people headed by
Wimaladharmasuriya’ (always 1st) and how he formed his very independent
‘kingdom - Kandyan’.
Sooooooooooo dear,
You know when we moved from kingdom of Dambadeniya to
Kingdom of Kotte (you should know dear there were few kingdoms in this Kingdom
of Asia. You can call it if you like ‘kingdoms within kingdom) the all
‘kutumbaya/s (families) were headed and taken care of only by MALES not like
now a days women did not go to work in ports or sorts money in money matters
all these change kusumasana/s and when other ladies thinking of changing their
good names in to Dona Katarina’/s Ms Davids and Ms Barns or Ms Brownrig/s Ms
Lavinia/s.
Again please READ alright ‘dear’ Lorenzo I am going
to write a little bit more ‘I know no write -less’ in writing letters to
friends.
You know we have NO ‘LACK’/S in well/s (no not only
well equal to linda in Sinhala) we had paddylands about one hundred thousands ‘ welllassa ‘ meaning derived from well-
lakshaya’ well here equal to paddylands ( I am sure please help My friend
historian if I am wrong here)
See you did not think of postponing the trip to this
land you wanted 1505 instead of 2012 no
you had no ‘patience’ and you little Hithuwakkkaraya thought of visiting too
early (1505) it is not 15 :05 am or pm it is 1505 ‘ you can view how we now
build and built paalam ( the bridges so easily though the ‘sooooooooo good in
English - ‘the English/es’ used the method of
MAKEDOM to build paalam those
days in the isolated routes in and to ‘Kandy – old’.
1867
– The so good in speaking and writing ‘English’ built the ‘Kandy – Colombo’
Rail way. See that is why I told you, you were too early back in 1505 you
should have at least, at least wait until 1867 to watch and learn how to build
railways and roads the way they want but now the way we like and want’ . Now
there is no Henry’s Ridgeways ‘Barns interferences here or involve in railways.
I have loads of other things to tell you dear it is
no easy to go backward you should no forward is the better way than any other
way. Dear Lorenzo ‘we are no enemy’ not only now or even then and that was how
the things happened in past ‘can’t change’ but tomorrow I may write you a
different letter.
I am little tired of walking backward though it was a
whole body exercise for me.
But I am happy that I got a chance this morning to
spent a history – full morning after a
long time since away from school curricular/s.
Good & peace full day for everyone
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S.
So dear Lorenzo De Almeida sorry if I hurt you or
your people sending you this long bothering letter.
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