Blog Archives

Loser pays for the bananas ” a short story from “Rainbows in Braille” – A collection of short stories – By Elmo Jayawardena The month of Madin changed to Bak. Flame trees burst out in blood red flowers like carnival flares. These seasonal blossoms sprout in thousands vastly outnumbering the scanty green leaves. The trees look as if they are covered with a Bolshevik flag. The shedding petals, aged and burnt, make a maroon carpet of the ground below. Such happens when the Flame tree flowers bloom in the month of Bak, which is April in the common Gregorian calendar. April days are clear and crisp with cloudless skies. A pre-monsoonal dryness is everywhere. It is a time when nature remains undisturbed, painting the landscape in technicolour before the rains come crashing down.          In the villages where nothing much happens, everyone anxiously awaits the Aluth Avurud-dha which falls in ...