Hello, yes.

What time are you going?

Five o’clock. Shanti is coming to help me to dress.

Now I have three ladies here. They are interviewing me from morning. Two are from Sri Lanka, one from Pakistan. They are doing some project and they are just interviewing me.

Okay, okay. I will take care of it.

So, tomorrow, you will pick up the food and come?

Yeah, yeah.

Can we take a photo of you holding this?

Yeah, you can.

Can you hold it?

‘Theen um paal’, which is a country of milk and honey. Kalmunai, at that time, it was. When we went. Food was so cheap. And the Muslims, they have the yogurt, and the thayir. They made very good yogurt. The thayir. And we played bridge. My husband and my family, both. You know the game bridge, it’s an international game. Bridge is not just a card game. It’s an international game. So we played bridge. MP for Pothuville, Majid, comes there. The district judge, Joganathan, comes there. MPs. So many other MPs. And I play my… and we cook. I had three servants. So they do the cooking. And they enjoy our food. The Muslims, our Jaffna curries, they enjoy it. They spend the whole day and they have lunch. The friends, the food. Very enjoyable time in every way.

My husband was a field officer. So I go to all the places with him. Went from Kalmunai, we go to Arugam Bay, Amparai, everywhere. Everywhere. You know, I forget now the names. Valaichchenai, Batticaloa, Valaichchenai, the university is still there. What is that place the tourists go? The famous place. I forget now. I forget that name. We had a very easy time. But when we came to Canada, we were stuck.

Nice natural light.

She’s taking pictures from all angles.

I know. You’re a star.

I want to capture audio of her. Like doing other things,

I see.

…to supplement the interview, and capture her as a person engaging more. And then also it would be lovely to get more photos with her.

I always put eyebrow pencil. Today nothing, no point, nothing. So if you come another day, maybe I will, do a little makeup.

You look great.

Ah ok.

I could have put on a pottu.

Do you wan’t me to get it?

[Speaking in Tamil] In the washroom there is a small pottu. No, here. No, below that. A small one.

That small Pottu is good enough. No, it’s on top. It’s on top.

So it was good. We had a good life in Sri Lanka. It was good.

What made you decide that you were going to leave? Did your brothers tell you it’s time to come to Canada? What was the decision?

Why I left Sri Lanka?

Yeah?

Luckily we were not harmed. We did not lose anything in Kalmunai. But the fights were going on and life was at a risk always. So my brothers insisted that I should come here. 85% of the Tamils moved here because that was the time when all the refugees were here. The other countries did

not have so many refugees. And there were only about, maybe only 10 Sri Lankans here at that time, who came long, long ago. They asked the federal government and the provincial government to help them to build a, to have a building for the refugees who were coming from Sri Lanka. And the neighbours were protesting. Very high protest because they did not want a high-rise building to come in front of them, naturally. Because the Tamils wanted this building, we asked them, “Can we name it Tamil Co-op?” But that doesn’t mean that it is only for Tamils. That does not mean it is only for Tamils.

Do you walk around the co-op or do you usually stay in the apartment now?

No, no, no, no. I walk. I go to the office when I want to do something also. Just now I spoke to the office, yeah? I go to the gym to play carrom.

See, I want to interview you or watch you do those things around the co-op as well. We also need to take photos.

Yeah.

But you all didn’t even have a drink.

I will… you know what, I will go get a drink.

What I do outside?

[Speaking Tamil] Yeah, like, I wanted to… while you are doing stuff, I wanted to take your photo. While you are talking. We can do it outside. Do you understand? My Tamil is no good…

You talk Tamil?

Yeah!

Are you also a Tamil?

Yeah, I am Tamil. I am from Sri Lanka.

Oh, you are from Sri Lanka?

My parents are from Sri Lanka.

Thank you.

Yes, I am also a Tamil.

Oh, you’re also a Tamil.

Ah, ok.

Yeah.

But not very fluent in Tamil?

No, that is why I brought Nedra along with me!

You know, there is no water, no sugar.

It’s very good.

No water, no sugar. Concentrated Guava juice from Costco. From Costco.

It’s really good.

Very nice.

What was it like when you first came? What was it… What did it look like? Was it… What was the weather like? How did you…? What were your first few days  like when you were here?

In Canada, the first few days?

Yeah.

Only two weeks I stayed with my brother. Then I said you have to get an apartment. At that time you could get a job but not an apartment. You could not get an apartment. I was working through agency. My husband also was working through agency. Only two weeks I stayed with my brother. Then moved there. And… From there we got our permanent jobs. My husband also joined CIBC. I joined CIB, and worked there and…

What was…

And the weather. Everything was new to us. Not only the weather, even cleaning the house. There we have servants. I was not used to cleaning. The weather, the culture, the dress, everything was different. But luckily my brothers, they taught me.

You know aththivaram podurathu? Groundbreaking ceremony I was here. From that time I was involved. From the groundbreaking ceremony. Then there was a company called Lantana just in Queen Street. So they invited us and they gave us training. How to… how to interview these people. So from the bank, after work we used to come to Queen Street and get the training from them. And then, about ten of us interviewed all these people who were to come here. We had a public meeting. We interviewed them. And then we moved in 1988.

So the only… only good thing for us for all that work, that work that we did was we could choose which floor we want. So I chose the eighth floor. Which floor we want. That’s all. So it was all voluntary social work that we did. We were not paid for that. It was all voluntary work. All voluntary work. And all the professionals here, the Tamils. We had doctors, lawyers, principals, teachers. They came from not only Sri Lanka.

They came from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia. And they could not get apartments. Apartments were not available. So they all… So the Tamil Co-op helped them. The community, to stay here on subsidised rent and make their down payments. They were all professionals. Most of them living here. So that is how the Tamil Co-op helped. Even this morning, one Mrs. Kanageshwari Nandaraja, she was a graduate teacher from Sri Lanka. She came here. She could not get her… She was living here with two sons, and sometimes the sons have to walk to school. They did not have enough money. What… they come here and what do they do? They would not give them jobs. Then one day she told those interview people, “You all are ignoring the brown skinned people, that even though we are qualified and we are efficient, you don’t want to give them jobs.”

I was the first secretary. I was the first secretary here. And then I was on the board for so many years. Then I was the president. I was the treasurer. But for the last few years, I didn’t go for elections. I have gone through lots of lives in so many places. No regrets. That’s why I still thank God for all the opportunities that were given to me. All the opportunities were given to me.