Life is so, so mysterious!!! I had a childhood friend in Sri Lanka named "Molly Thanjaraayar". Her family and my family were so intertwined that we came to think of one another as cousins - her Dad my Uncle, her Mum my Aunty.
Molly and I tried to keep touch over the years. She married and her husband was sent (her coming as well) to Bahrain and the former Trucial States where he worked as an engineer.
One day I received a letter (snail mail in those days!) that she and her husband and daughter would be moving to Melbourne, Australia, and she gave me the address. I wrote, but the letter came back - "no such person at this address". I was lost....didn't know what to do.
That was around 1990. I felt so saddened that we would lose touch forever. I knew Molly's Dad had passed away, but SOMEHOW (and it very well could have been my imagination!) - I believed her mother was accepted as a Tamil refugee in Toronto. That was all I could remember. I would look into it when I had more time.
Finally, sometime in 2003 my husband and I would establish a Bed & Breakfast and one room would be dedicated to Molly's late Dad "Uncle Thanjaraayar". I created a website, etc. I had more free time on my hands than previously, so I was DETERMINED to find Molly's Mum (and thru her Molly and her sister Menaka). I didn't know where to start, but it was 2003 the Internet was UP and ALIVE - I looked up the white pages in the entire Toronto area for the surname "Thanjaraayar". I sent out 36 letters asking if they might be related to Aunty or Molly or have any idea how to find them. The letters went out to ALL the suburbs of Toronto: Mississauga, Scarborough, Markham, Ajax, Pickering. The folks here at the local post office were really surprised when I ordered 36 stamps for Canada and mailed them all. It was a momentous occasion in their lives. They'd never seen that before.
Then I waited and waited. One by one the letters came back "no such person at this address", "no such address" (you get the picture). And each letter that was returned was like a knife to my soul. I cried one day in utter despair telling my husband (who comforted me) how hopeless this all seemed. In that letter I had also included my phone number and email address. About 30 letters came back unopened.
One day I received an email from a person in Toronto named "Kami" (Kamini). She wrote so sweetly: "My mother was a Thanjaraayar and alas, I am not the RIGHT Thanjaraayar, but the love you have for this family so moved me that I will pray for you day and night to find them. Every time I felt at my lowest point, somehow Kami would email me and encourage me not to give up faith. She was quite sure I would find "my family". We began to write back and forth on other issues as well - Kami and her husband were longing to have a child and thus far had not. I and my husband were longing to adopt a child but always obstacles loomed in the way. We began to encourage one another on this issue - I prayed with all my might that Kami and her husband would have children and she prayed that I would find "my family" and that we would be able to adopt our daughter.
ONE MORNING at around 6:00 a.m. our time - the phone rang - it was Molly, calling from Australia (but not Melbourne.....Sydney, instead!). Miracles happen - their daughter had the flu and could not sleep the previous night.....she (the daughter) didn't even know why, but with high fever began to search the Internet and put her Grandfather's name in - and UP POPPED our Bed & Breakfast with contact numbers and all. The voice at the other end of the line (Molly) asked "Do you know who this is?" - I KNEW!!!!
More surprises would come. My information about Molly's Mum living as a refugee in Canada was very wrong. In fact - Molly's sister, Menaka (whom I NEVER thought of looking for in Toronto as I had no idea they'd migrated there) lived in nearby Toronto. And yet another surprise - Uncle Thanjaraayar's nephew Tony who was also quite close to my family, as well as his wife.....had ALSO migrated to Toronto!
In the weeks that ensued many phone conversations took place and it felt so wonderful to finally be in touch with a family who had been so much a part of my life growing up.
But there were even more surprises - my new friend Kami (she and I have kept up a friendship over 8 years now!!) was finally expecting a child (or, as we USED to say in antiquated terms in Sri Lanka "term of confinement".....I swear! That's how we called being pregnant). AND we were able to adopt our lovely daughter and we were able to meet Molly, her sister Menaka (& their lovely family), and Cousin Tony (and their lovely family), and Aunty (who spends half the year in Australia/half in Canada). We were able to know Molly's daughter with much more clarity and fondness - oh, how we wished we could've attended her wedding!! In 2011 - our daughter would meet Molly's daughter, husband and two sweet daughters in London!
AND - the friendship with Kami??? We are still great, great friends. She and her husband now have TWO beautiful children. We try to see them as well every time we are in Toronto area. We still call or email one another frequently.
Imagine this labyrinth of a journey!! I had only set out to reunite with friend Molly, but look at the richness we gained along the way!!! Life is precious and beautiful....sometimes (I know I've been writing a lot about the DARK side of humanity lately) we need to remember how BEAUTIFUL it CAN be.
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