About a corner store in Sri Lanka in the sixties and seventies.
What is this story about?
Itis about my village corner store in Sri Lanka when I was growing up.
Where was this corner store?
Itwas at the corner between Mudiyansegewatta and Kohalwila roads in my home village of Dalugama, Kelaniya, about eleven kilometres from the heart of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
Why was it called Ruhunu Siri Stores?
The shopkeeper was from the south of Sri Lanka, where most traders came from. Southerners of my old country are proud of their region. Ruhunu is the ancient name for southern Sri Lanka. The owner, a man in his mid-thirties, named the store Ruhunu-Siri stores, honouring his ancestral region. Siri means light in Lankan. Ruhunu Siri means southern light in English.
What was sold in the shop?
Everything a small general store sold in small quantities of household groceries. The popular grocery items were rice, bread, sugar, flour, chillies, salt, and dried fish. He sold coconut oil and kerosene oil. Toffees and lozenges were favourites for kids. Everything essential for the families in the neighbourhood was sold in his store. On one side of the store was a tea stall where hot cups of plain or milk tea were served to customers.
What was the name of the shop owner?
The neighbours called him Mudalali. Mudalali is the equivalent of a business owner in Lankan. Some called him Ruhunu Siri Mudalali in the third person.
Tell us about the people in the shop on a typical day.
Mudalali’s elder brother assisted him in the business. Many in the neighbourhood gathered in the shop to buy groceries, have snacks or tea or for small talk.
What was the owner like?
The owner, Mudalali, was a kind man. He dressed in simple attire, a white vest and a sarong, often folded to his knees. Soon after he set up shop, he was accepted as a local. The shop became part of the village’s landmark. Mudalali was an all-rounder. He weighed merchandise, took cash and gave out the balance. He maintained a ledger for those villagers who bought on credit. Every month on payday, the villagers settled their accounts with him. If a customer wanted tea, typically a tradesman or a casual worker, Mudalali made it himself. He was efficient, quick to action and serve his customers.
Tell us more about your experiences at the corner store.
Iwent to the Ruhunu Siri store to buy groceries for my mother — mostly sugar, bread and coconut oil. I bought sugar at 67 cents a pound, bread at 30 cents a pound and coconut oil. Everything was wrapped in recycled newspapers. Coconut oil was poured into an empty bottle taken from my home. With the spare balance, I bought a few lozenges for one cent each for me and my siblings.
What was your favourite thing you bought from the store?
When I was a bit bigger, I would buy a tin of fish on my way from school. That was my treat if I had a bit of spare money. At home, I mix the fish and its juice, over my rice, before gulping my rice plate. At 65 cents a tin, it was an expensive habit for a kid.
Did you have surprises at the store?
One day, when I was at his shop, Mudalali stopped serving me, got up from his cashier’s chair, and came out to the road, yelling at someone. He tied his sarong to his knees and approached a man trying to fly past his shop on his bicycle. Mudalali stopped the man’s bicycle, pulled him out of it and threw the bicycle up in the air. Accusing him of cheating and not paying his credit, Mudalali beat him on the road. I was stunned. I had never seen Mudalali confronting anyone angrily like that before. Underneath, he was a brave man to stand up for a cheater.
It was a surprise; nothing like the kind soul he was.
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