Reflections on the end of a lifelong cherished friendship

Circumstances, both tragic and the vagaries of old age and ill-health, have prevented me from writing my regular weekly column, usually about US politics for a few weeks, probably to the relief of what I loftily call "my reading public", usually a smattering of folks who are interested that Sri Lanka is not the only nation plummeting to hell in a handbasket.

- BY VIJAYA CHANDRASOMA

No, the real reason I have been unable to indulge in the occupational therapy of writing is that I was devastated by the loss of my friend, which has left me bereft of a staple I had come to take for granted would end with my death, not his. This is the first and only occasion, in an era spanning over 70 years, that my friend, my brother, Ajit Jayaratne, has let me down.

When I got the news of Ajit's death from his daughter Tiyana, I was shattered. I had to talk to someone and I immediately called my son in Nevada and shared the news with him. Pravin sensed the grief and tears in my voice, and said, to comfort me, "Thaathi, Ajit mama is in a better place". Of course he is, and the fact that he has gone there hopefully pain-free, with his loved ones with him is the ultimate blessing. But he has surely left me in a terrible place.