Brotherless Night

Sashi describes an early encounter she has with another person who will go on to become a terrorist. Sashi is a teenager of 16, and she has just dropped scalding water on herself. K, who will later become a terrorist, is an older boy who lives in her neighborhood. He is walking by her home when he hears her screams of pain. He runs into the house and cracks eggs onto the burns on her stomach. When K returns with the doctor, the doctor is impressed by K’s ingenuity; the fat and protein in the eggs help to neutralize the burn. Sashi will not even have a scar.

K is friends with Sashi’s older brothers, especially Seelan, with whom he studies. Seelan wants to be an engineer, and K intends to become a physician. Sashi describes Seelan as “hot-tempered” but charming. Her eldest brother, Niranjan (whom his siblings call “Periannai,” or “elder brother”), is already at university, working toward becoming a doctor. Dayalan, another brother, loves to read and work with his hands. Sashi’s youngest brother, Aran, is bright and inquisitive, and he seems wise beyond his years.

The brothers, particularly Periannai and Seelan, are interested in the gathering political storm: The Sri Lankan government, run primarily by the Sinhalese majority, has not always been fair to the Tamil minority (of which Sashi and her family are a part). In fact, the government has been responsible, according to some, for mass displacements and executions. The Tamils want to form their own separate state to govern themselves. These tensions arose in the vacuum left behind when the British colonizers left in 1948, after Sri Lanka gained independence.

Eventually, Seelan and K no longer ride their bicycles, as these could make them targets: It is rumored that Tamil militants use bicycles. They ask Sashi to walk with them to school, and Sashi nurses her crush on K. She, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and eldest brother, has decided to become a doctor, as well. She blossoms under the tutelage of the renowned teacher Rajan Master, whom everyone calls “Sir.” He and Sashi’s father went to school together. Though Sashi’s entrance exams to medical school are a year away, her family encourages her to study for them.

Sashi’s father (whom she calls “Appa”) works as a surveyor, so he travels around the country for work and is often away from his family. While he is home for the weekend, the family hears news of a political assassination: Two Tamil men riding bicycles have shot a local politician. The family begins to worry when they realize that Dayalan is out on his bicycle. They know that the authorities will begin targeting all young Tamil men riding bicycles, treating them as potential suspects. After many agonizing hours, Dayalan finally returns home on foot, dirty and bedraggled. He tells them about encountering K, who had also been on his bicycle and who was detained by the authorities and beaten. K told Dayalan to abandon his bicycle and run home. Later, when Dayalan and Appa go to retrieve the bicycle, it is gone.

After the assassination, the government sends Sinhalese policemen to patrol the city of Jaffna. Even going to their local temple feels dangerous. Niranjan takes Sashi there one day, and they pass several strange Sinhalese men, only some of whom are in uniform. Niranjan asks Sashi if she wants to attend the political rally the following day; she is unsure. He tells her that some of the schools are recruiting boys to join one or the other of the Tamil resistance movements. (At this time, there are many competing Tamil voices). He also criticizes the temple, saying that he doesn’t like that it bars lower-caste people. He urges Sashi to think critically for herself.

Sashi’s mother, whom she calls “Amma,” bars her from attending the rally the next day. Another assassination occurs here: One of the rival militant groups has shot the leader of another. Later, this kind of internecine violence will become commonplace, but it is unusual for this time. Two Sinhalese policemen are also shot in the ensuing chaos. The retaliation is swift and brutal, and the rampage continues for days. Local businesses, the central marketplace, and the library are all burned to the ground. Nevertheless, daily life goes on; Sashi and her brothers still study for their upcoming exams, whether or not the library stands.

K receives high marks on all his exams, while Seelan must try again. He is successful the second time around. When it is time for Sashi to take her exams, she, too, fails on the first try. She is only marginally comforted by the fact that the renowned professor, Anjali Premachandran, Sir’s niece, did not fare well on her first attempt, either. Niranjan offers to take Sashi with him to Colombo, where he is beginning work as a doctor, and to oversee her studies. They will stay with their grandmother, Ammammah, who is now a widow.

Sashi has a difficult time adjusting to the new city at first, but she quickly makes a friend, Hasna. As the only Muslim in the class, Hasna is also an outsider. Sashi discovers that her mother and Hasna’s mother had once been friends when they were in school together; Hasna’s mother remembers that Amma was the only student who was kind to her. Niranjan also guides Sashi’s studies. He gives her his old stethoscope and buys her a pair of garnet earrings for her 18th birthday.

Sashi wears the earrings when they are back in Jaffna during the Christmas holidays, where Niranjan’s engagement is announced. When the two return to Colombo, Niranjan focuses on work while Sashi studies hard for her exams. This relatively peaceful routine is shattered when Amma and Seelan call: Tamils have killed some Sinhalese soldiers, and they are bringing the bodies to Colombo for burial. Unrest, and worse, is likely to occur. Ammammah remembers the slaughter of 1958 and the riots of 1977. She knows that they, as Tamils, are not safe.

The Sinhalese authorities begin targeting Tamils in Colombo. Ammammah’s driver, who speaks Sinhalese, keeps the soldiers from the house momentarily, but he cannot guarantee the family’s continued safety. One of Niranjan’s colleagues arrives at the house, and the two decide to travel to Dehiwala to see if the situation might be safer there; Niranjan promises to return as soon as possible. After they leave, however, Sashi gets a call from Hasna: Dehiwala is burning, and the Sinhalese soldiers are burning Tamil-occupied houses in Colombo. Sashi and Ammammah are forced to leave their house with only a bag full of possessions. The neighboring family—who are mixed Sinhalese and Tamil—harbor them for the time being. Sashi watches as her ancestral home burns.

Sashi and Ammammah make it to Jaffna after a distressing stay in a refugee camp. There is still no news of Niranjan. While they were in the refugee camp, Hasna found them and took them to her house for better food and care, though they had to return to camp to sleep. When the time came for them to return to Jaffna, Sashi had no time to say goodbye to Hasna.

Arriving in Jaffna, Sashi does not see her family, though K is working one of the entry points. He tries to comfort her while also extracting information about what happened in Colombo. K also volunteers to take Sashi and her grandmother home. At home, however, all Sashi can sense is the absence of her eldest brother. Finally, they receive confirmation: Niranjan is dead. He burned to death in his car with his colleague. The family holds a funeral ceremony, though there is no body to bury. Niranjan’s fiancée attends, but Sashi never sees her again.

By the time Sashi retakes her exams, she feels steady. After the events in Colombo and the death of her brother, she fears nothing. She passes with high marks.

Ammammah and Sashi have stopped speaking to each other; they both blame themselves for Niranjan’s death. Ammammah wants to go back to Colombo, where she has always lived. Though the family writes to her after she relocates to an apartment in Colombo, Ammammah does not write back.

The political landscape remains volatile, with the government blaming both Tamil militants and Sinhalese Marxists for the unrest. However, the residents of Jaffna are aware of the government’s role in the atrocities. Rumors begin circulating in Jaffna about “the movement,” which refers to the Tamil militants, particularly the Tamil Tigers. They are recruiting young people who are restless for action and justice. Meanwhile, the university that Sashi wants to attend has no space for all the applicants, so Sashi, along with many others, must wait until there is space for her.

K seems to be aligned with a former instructor who spoke openly of militancy. Many young people are traveling to India for training; the state of Tamil Nadu, in particular, shares a language and religion with the Tamils of Sri Lanka, and they find support there. Sashi explains that the Sri Lankan Tamils’ desire for independence grew stronger in the early 1980s—they named their would-be state Eelam, which is the Tamil name for Sri Lanka. Many militant groups arose out of this desire. Eventually, though, the Tamil Tigers eclipsed the others, often through violent means.

In the aftermath of the riots (known as Black July), many Jaffna boys disappear, presumably to attend training camps in India or to take on jobs for the Tigers. Sashi notices that Seelan and Dayalan have taken to spending most of their time together, and she notes Seelan’s defense of the movement’s more violent acts. One morning, she finds that their bicycles—which are usually chained to the side of the house for safekeeping—are missing. Her two older brothers have left, too.

Sashi writes to Appa, who is away on a posting, in a kind of code: She says that her brothers have gone to visit an uncle in India. She knows that Appa will understand what she means. She finds out that K, too, has left with her brothers. He at least left a note for his aunt and widower father. While K implores them not to search for him, Sashi cannot help herself. She looks for him and her brothers everywhere.