Adam's Peak Read Online Free PDF

without it.
    As he sat pondering this, Aunty Mary emerged from the kitchen with a cup of tea.
    â€œI thought you might like this since you are working.”
    He turned and sighed. His aunt’s attentions embarrassed him—the cooking, the laundry, the cups of tea. He planned to move out, of course. Buy a house closer to the city, ship his belongings from Canada. But for now, for Aunty Mary, he was still a child. He took the cup and thanked her.
    â€œHow are your pupils doing?” she said.
    â€œOh, most of them are fine.” He paused. “I just finished reading the new kid’s essay. Seems he supports the Tigers.”
    â€œAiyo.” Aunty shook her head. “These Tigers only care about making trouble. You must explain to him.”
    Rudy looked down at the half-page on which his comments would be written. “There’s nothing I can explain to him that he does-n’t already know, Aunty. He believes that violence is the only option left for his cause.”
    Aunty frowned. “And why is a young man so worried about a cause like this? He has more important things to think about, no?”
    Feeling oddly compelled to defend his student, Rudy shrugged and sipped his tea. “Kanda identifies himself mainly as a Tamil. He thinks his language and culture will be best served in an independent country.”
    â€œHe is full of strange ideas then,” Aunty said. “What’s most important is our family, no? We should worry about those people, whether they are healthy and living a good life. Language and culture will look after themselves, isn’t it.”
    Rudy opened his mouth then shrugged again. “You may be right.”
    â€œDo you think this Kanda is involved with the Tigers?”
    â€œI doubt it. But who knows? The Tigers employ kids a hell of a lot younger than him.”

    â€œAh, yes.” Aunty shook her head. “They give machine guns to children. It’s a sin.”
    Rudy gulped down most of his tea and stared at the back page of Kanda’s essay. In the brief silence, the ticking of Grandpa’s old clock and the thrum of the electric fan were strangely loud.
    Then Aunty sighed. “I think our government is putting itself out on the murunga branch.”
    Rudy looked up, surprised. His aunt never discussed politics. “What do you mean?”
    â€œAh, it’s an old expression. When someone is feeling very proud of himself, we say he is sitting on the murunga branch.” She pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of her dress and shook it out. “As you know, the murunga is a very tall tree. It also has very brittle branches. You can climb high up in this tree, but then the branch breaks ...” Her voice trailed off.
    â€œAnd how does that relate to the government?”
    Aunty wiped her forehead and cheekbones. “The government is feeling very proud these days. They believe that capturing Jaffna will put an end to all this fighting. But I think these Tigers will make sure the army’s murunga branch comes crashing back to the ground.”
    â€œYou and Kanda agree on that much,” he said with a wry smile. “And Dad. What does he say? ‘The Tamil man and the Sinhalese man will never get along. It’s not in their nature.’ Or some rubbish like that?”
    His aunt stuffed the handkerchief back in her pocket. “Ah, no. You’re right. We must be positive, isn’t it. It’s Easter.” And on that, she turned and went back to the kitchen.
    Rudy picked up his pen and composed his comments.
    Kanda: Your essay is quite well organized and the prose is clear and engaging. There are some problems with grammar and punctuation, as marked, but they don’t seriously detract from the success of your paper. The essay has a strong, attention-grabbing thesis, and you offer plenty of good evidence in support of it. The major way in which the paper could be improved would be to give some