Narrative of Grief and Escape dan kunci jawaban [Updated]

Kajanthini Selvrasa never imagined that on the very day she planned to be married in Sri Lanka she would be dealing with two deaths, and then the news of her grieving mother and father might not be free to return with her to Canada, for they lost their passport.

“You have two deaths in your family and this is how you are treated,” the exhausted Selvrasa, who lost her aunt and grandmother, who were killed in her family’s home in Colombo.

Selvrasa, 23, of Mississauga and her fiancé, Benjamin Yogarajah, 28, of North York, had traveled with her parents to Sri Langka for their wedding on the 29th of December. Her parents, Sri Langka nationals who have lived in Toronto as landed immigrants for more than a decade, lost all their identification when the waves hit her grandmother’s home.

The Canadian high commission in Colombo told them they must reapply for the documents before they can come back.

“I know they have a lot to deal with,” said Yogarajah to Selvrasa.

“Yeah…” replied the hopeless Selvrasa.

Selvrasa’s grandmother, Rasanayagam Algaratnam, her aunt, Jayarannee Puvipal, and Puvipal’s husband and their three children were inside Algaratnam’s house when the surging water advanced on the home.

Puvipal’s husband scooped up one of their three children and ran, while a neighbour carried a second to safety. But, a 9-year-old remained with Algaratnam and Puvipal, who were searching for the family’s passports when the water reached them. The boy was pushed by the water’s force to the ceiling, where he clung, frightened and bleeding, as the women were engulfed.

Their bodies were recovered, but only after thieves had stripped puvipal’s battered body of the wedding jewellery.

1. What is the former nationality of Selvrasa's parents
a. India
b. Sri Lanka
c. Canada
d. Singapore

2. Who is Benjamin Yogarajah?
a.  Selvrasa's son
b.  Selvrasa's husband
c.  Selvrasa's father
d.  Selvrasa's fiance

3. Selvrasa's family was in ____ when the surging water reach them.
a. the hotel
b. the restaurant
c. Yogarajah's house
d. Algaratnam's house

4. "... while a neighbour carried a second to safety." (line 28-29). What does 'a second' refer to?
a. Puvipal's child
b. Puvipal's husband
c. Puvipal's neighbour
d. Algaratnam

5. According to the text above, who is dead in the disaster?
a. Selvrasa and her husband
b. Algaratnam and Yogarajah
c. Puvipal and Algaratnam
d. Selvrasa and Puvipal

Muhammad Ahkam Arifin Muhammad Ahkam Arifin is a Fulbright PhD student at Washington State University, US. He earned a master`s degree in TESOL from the University of Edinburgh & Applied Linguistics from the University of Melbourne.

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