Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan (7) always stays alone and confines to a brown plastic chair with flower work. The chair is bigger than she. She wears a pristine white pleated frock, which is the school uniform with light Blue and white stripe tie. A light blue silk ribbon holds her straight hair into a ponytail, and she wears a pair of artificial white stone ear studs. She does not mingle with anybody. She seldom talks or plays. She stays quiet.
“My father used to tell me a lot of nice bed time stories, before I go to sleep everyday. We used to sing a lot of beautiful songs together in Tamil. Now, nobody either tells me any story or sings with me. I feel very lonely as my father is not with me” laments Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan while tears fill her both eyes.
Her father got injured during the last phase of the war in Vanni, North of Sri Lanka in April 2009 and was admitted to hospital. But, Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan has not seen her father afterwards. She moved from Bharathipuram in Vanni to Jaffna Peninsula along with the rest of her family members, and is living here in a small apartment.
“I pray three times a day, and ask God to send my father safely to me wherever he is now. I am neither able to study nor sleep without my father. His wonderful memories stay intact. Please bring my father back to me. I want my father. Nobody can replace him. I have a younger sister, she too needs our father” laments Bonsika Vadivel Vasanthan. There is seemingly no end to her search.