The ‘White’ Nana – by  Gloria Meltzer source:- Chewton Chat February 2023 December 2022. Colombo airport. Departure. We draw up outside the departure section. Remove my inflated suitcase from the car, said case bulging with local artefacts, teas handpicked in the Kandyan hills, gifts from the family – my deceased son’s Sri Lankan family, and prop it on one of the trolleys lined up outside the entrance doors. Only the traveller with a passport and a current ticket is permitted entry to the airport. My young Australian-Sri Lankan grandsons hover like flies around me, none of us wanting to utter that final goodbye. Raised in Sri Lanka they refer to me as ‘their White nana’. White nana visits them every year. Covid interrupted this cycle. This my first legally permitted visit in three years. My beautiful Sinhalese daughter-in-law, my son’s widow, brought them to Australia to visit me last year. As ...

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