DRAFT 3

Kannan lives in a peaceful village in Sri Lanka. During that time, he was just a mere teenager. He led a simple life. Every day, after Kannan return from school, he would help his parents. He was brought up and taken care by both of his parents. One day, when he was looking at how the leaves and branches swayed in the breeze, He wished that he would lead a peaceful life forever. However, what he wished for might not be happening.

In 1948, when Sri lanka had gained independence, the government had introduced the Ceylon citizenship act. These act had made a lot of Indian tamils to be stateless, including Kannan’s family. These had made Kannan’s family to suffer as they did not have basic rights such as education, jobs and also housing. His family had lived in poverty for quite a long time. Both of his parents had to work in tea plantations and did not have enough money to support the family.

Kannan’s family had gone through a hard time while he was growing up. His family had lived in poverty ever since he was a child. One day, he heard that a militant group was formed. It was called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). The Tamil Tigers wanted an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka by using force against the Sri Lankan government. Kannan wanted to join the Tamil Tigers. His intention was to have revenge on the Sinhalese for what they had done to his family. Before that, he needed to ask for his parents permission and advice. Just as his parents were resting from a hard day’s work, Kannan came to them to talk about the decision that he was going to make.

“Ma, have you heard the news? About the Tamil Tigers?” asked Kannan.

“Yes, a friend of mine told me about that, why?” She responded.

Kannan replied, “I will just go straight to the point, I wish to join them”

There was a long pause. Neither one had spoken a word. Kannan’s mom shook her head. Suddenly, tears were running down her cheeks. Kannan knew that her mom had refused to let him go. Kannan took off without saying a word. Kannan’s family did not know where Kannan had gone to, but her mom knew that her son had left to join the Tamil Tigers.

Since then, Kannan’s parents had not heard about their son. Lots of riot broke out during 1981 to 1983 between the government force and the Tamil tigers. Kannan had fought for the Tamil Tigers for a very long time. Unfortunately, Kannan found out that his parents were killed due to an explosion. Kannan had become more angrier as he thought that the government force were responsible for his parents death.

During the July 1983 riot, Kannan’s close friend was shot. When he was dying, Kannan was by his side. His close friend later admitted that he was the one who had thrown a hand grenade and killed Kannan’s parents, but it was accidental. Just as his close friends drew out his last breath, Kannan was shot in the back. In his last seconds, his only wish was that the war would end and he could see his parents again.