Having lived in the United States for nearly two years in the early seventies as a graduate student while reading for my Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) at the University of California in Berkeley, we were not entirely new to what is often described as the richest and most advanced country in the world. I had developed a special liking to the City of Berkeley where the beautiful, and by far the oldest and largest of the ten major campuses of the University of California is located. At that time, I thought to myself that if ever I had to return to this great country on a more permanent basis, it would be to the very same Bay Area close to San Francisco. But 22 years later, although our Port of Entry was again San Francisco in California, our final destination this time around was South Carolina (SC) almost 3,000 miles away on the other side of the country.

Decision to Emigrate

It was in the mid eighties that my brother, a US citizen domiciled in California for over 30 years, filed an application for immigration on my behalf to get across to the US at some future date, if ever the necessity arose. At that time, I had no intention whatsoever of leaving the shores of our motherland on a permanent basis. It was done merely to provide a "safety valve" just in case I had to change my mind later. As most parents do, we considered education of our two children a top priority. It was at a time when the country was in turmoil in the late eighties when even schools were being closed indefinitely, that son Shehan had to be "packed off" abroad to continue his education. The difficulties parents often encounter when educating children abroad while living in Sri Lanka are well known. The unfortunate turn of events in Sri Lanka was what finally pushed me into taking such a drastic decision to emigrate at a late stage in life.

After all, the "safety valve" that was always available through my brother’s sponsorship was meant to be used just in such an eventuality. It was a decision taken in the interests of my own family.

One Family – Two Homes

However, in leaving the country in the nineties, I was careful not to "burn all the bridges" as most emigrants often do unwisely. I did not leave my UN job and did not dispose of the house that we built and lived in at Kirillapone for 20 years. I simply took long leave to mark our presence in the US as required. Once the family was well settled there, I went back to Sri Lanka and to the very same house where I continued to live alone with our old faithful "Amme" and her grown grandson as domestic helps. However, that type of life could not go on indefinitely and I had to take decisions. Making two or three trips back and forth and the upkeep of two homes in two different countries was proving to be too expensive. I finally took the plunge and opted for "early retirement" from UNICEF in 1998 to rejoin the family in South Carolina.

Employment

Although I had already "retired" twice over from two different agencies that I had worked for, namely the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations, it was too early to quit working altogether. I had absolutely no intention of going through the arduous process of qualifying to practice medicine in SC (each state has its own rules governing registration to practice) at such a late stage and age in life. However, finding suitable employment in my own specialised field of Public Health and Health Education was no problem at all. My medical background and the public health degree that I had from a prestigious US university together with the experience I had gained working for UN agencies - the WHO and UNICEF, were of much help. I was quite happy and contented when I joined the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) as the Health Education Consultant to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. It was much later in 2006 that I moved to the Division of Oral Health within the same state government agency where my extended professional career is now destined to end.

New Home

We soon discovered that the East Coast landscape, its people and their way of life were quite different to what we saw and experienced on the West Coast, and to which we had adapted ourselves very well two decades before. But for daughter Dilushi, it was totally a new experience having been born and raised in Sri Lanka up to that time. She too had by then entered the College of Charleston in SC for her higher education. With previous teaching experience in the US, my wife Mangala too had settled down well in her job as a Montessori teacher. I myself found no difficulty at all in starting a new life in a new job and new home at 1430 Mangum Street. Mangala’s older sister Shantha lived in the adjoining state of Georgia with her husband, Dr. Gamini Seneviratne. Their home in Columbus is a further two-hour drive from Atlanta, a total distance exceeding 300 miles from our own home. But that is not considered such a great distance in this country where the speed limit is a maximum of 70 MPH on an expressway. Another long lost cousin, Panini Wickramasinghe, who had originally left for the United Kingdom as a young apprentice in Marine Engineering, lived with his wife, Premala, just ten minutes away from our home in Columbia. Thus it was a family reunion of sorts, some ten thousand miles away from where we were born!

The Carolinas

The states of North and South Carolina are generally referred to in the US as the "Carolinas". Columbia is the capital of SC, a roughly triangular shaped state located between North Carolina and Georgia on the East Coast. Nicknamed the Palmetto State after the State Tree – Palmetto, it is 31,113 square miles in extent and has 187 miles of coastline where Charleston (a city that is steeped in history and a focal point during the American Revolution and the Civil War) is located. With a population of just four million, it is in sharp contrast to what we find in Sri Lanka where a population of nearly 20 million is cramped into a land space of some 25,000 square miles. With such a low density of population, in my daily ten-minute drive to work in Downtown Columbia along well paved streets in a city where practically every household owns at least two vehicles, I have been caught up in a traffic jam only once. That was during a snowstorm, something so rare in South Eastern US. In fact, traffic is so light and drivers are so disciplined and courteous, that one has to use the brakes in a car only at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, when making turns at intersections and of course in bringing the vehicle to a halt at journey’s end!

By and large, Columbia as a city is quiet and peaceful, being an unlikely target for terrorists (as big cities like New York and Los Angeles are), comparatively free of natural disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, wild fires, mudslides etc. with only the threat of an occasional hurricane to break the monotony!

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters can affect any country anywhere on the globe at any time. It is true that the rare 2004 tsunami disaster that devastated parts of Sri Lanka was as bad as the man-made disaster that hit the US on September 11, 2001. However, unlike our thrice-blessed land where natural disasters are not so common, the US has a plethora of it. On the West Coast, it is mainly earthquakes and wild fires. In the Plains and Mid Western states, it is the lurking danger of tornadoes. The East Coast is very much the scene of hurricanes during the season from July to October. However, we in SC have been fortunate in that the state has been relatively unaffected by any serious tropical storms, particularly during the last decade.

At a time when names like "Katrina" and "Ike" have become so familiar even to Sri Lankans, they may find the system of naming such tropical storms an interesting digression. Since 1953, tropical storms used to be named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. But they are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Although the original name lists featured only women’s names, it was only in 1979 that men’s names were introduced in naming tropical storms in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The names are arranged according to alphabetical order with alternating male and female names. As opposed to the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods, the use of short distinctive given names is convenient and important in exchanging detailed storm information among widely scattered stations, coastal bases and ships at sea. The list is repeated every six years, but if a hurricane has been particularly damaging, then that name is "retired" and replaced with another (for example, there will never again be a Katrina or Andrew).

Our Sri Lankan Friends

Although we have integrated very well with the mainstream and made many friends in the indigenous American population, there is always that tendency for birds of a feather to flock together. This has been the case in any state where there is a Sri Lankan community. Apart from the few relatives, we developed close friendships with many in the relatively small Sri Lankan community in the state of SC, as well as in neighbouring states such as North Carolina and Georgia where much more migrant Sri Lankans live.

The so-called "brain drain" that has affected most developing countries is clearly visible when looking at the small sample of Sri Lankans in SC. For economic reasons or otherwise, some of the best brains and most talented in Sri Lanka have headed in this direction seeking greener pastures. Fellow Carolinian, George Handy, who teaches chemistry at the University of South Carolina (USC) is a son of eminent Sri Lankan physician, late Dr. G.R. Handy. George’s wife, Indira, who too had graduated with a chemistry degree in Sri Lanka, is a daughter of former Federal Party MP and Family Physician, late Dr. E.M.V. Naganathan. Indira’s sister, Lakshmi, who was at one time Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Bonn in old West Germany, too lives in retirement in Columbia, SC.

Dr. Roshan Perera who obtained his doctorate in chemistry from USC while yet in his late twenties, is now a Research Professor at the University of Texas in Arlington (UTA) where incidentally my own son completed his MBA. Yamuna Abhayawardene is a Peradeniya Science graduate with perseverance and determination. She went to medical school in this country to qualify as a medical doctor after obtaining a Master’s degree in Microbiology from the USC. Andy (Ranjan) Sebastian is yet another Sri Lankan Ph D who worked for the well known multi-national chemicals and health care company Dupont before moving out of the state recently. His wife Mala (Fernando) who was Sri Lanka’s number one woman tennis player some years ago is also a wizard at the keyboards. Their beautiful home was the scene of many parties where I was able to exercise my own vocal cords in singing age-old Sinhala favourites like Sunil Shantha’s "olu pipeela", Ananda Samarakoon’s "ase madhura gee" and C.T. Fernando’s "ma bala kale"! Apart from a few other young students at the USC, Lokendra and Nilmani Seneviratne formed the tiny Sri Lankan community in Columbia.

Clemson being another university town about 150 miles west of Columbia has many more Sri Lankan residents. Research Professor in Agriculture Nihal Rajapaksa (and wife Sriyani) has largely been responsible for the heavy influx of Sri Lankan students to the area. Meth Gunasekara (an IT specialist whose wife too is Indira) is a descendant of the philanthropic Gunasekara family of Bentota that owned "Foamtreads". Older generation Sri Lankans will remember the name "Foamtreads" as the company that manufactured rubber slippers in competition with Bata, Sinwa and DSI, and also had those eye-catching advertisements – a mermaid in the river near the Bentota Bridge and a glittering sign at the Bambalapitiya Junction. It was very recently that Indira’s sister, Samudra, and husband Hiran Wijewardene who too lived in Greenville, moved out to Maryland. Together with Sanjeev and Sumangali Wijenayake, the group that came to be known as the "Greenville Crowd" formed our inner circle of friends in SC.

City of Atlanta

Atlanta, which is by far the largest city in South Eastern US, is only a three-hour drive from Columbia. The nearest Buddhist place of worship to our home being the Georgia Buddhist Vihara that is located there, Atlanta has throughout been one of our most frequent destinations on road trips. The fabulous city that hosted the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games is also where we have been taking our visiting friends, especially from Sri Lanka, on sightseeing. Their more or less "standard" itinerary invariably included the CNN Center, World of Coca Cola, Underground Market, Georgia Dome (home to the American Football Team Atlanta Braves), the gigantic new Georgia Aquarium, and the Olympic Centennial Park. Whenever I see anything "Sri Lankan" in this far off land, it gives me some innate pleasure. The attractive package of Lion Lager (and Lion Stout) on the shelves in a liquor store is one such sight. Dilmah tea in a grocery store is another. Each time I visit the famous International Farmers Market in Atlanta, it is with pride that I gaze at the huge Sri Lanka national flag hanging side by side with over 100 other national flags inside the high-roofed building.

Home-Coming

In spite of all the horror stories about the war and the skyrocketing cost of living etc., we have steadfastly maintained our determination to go back "for good" to our homeland some day. After all, we had already lived through two insurrections in the South, a raging war in the North and East, and destructive suicide bombings in Colombo. During the last decade, nothing has prevented us from enjoying that annual vacation in Sri Lanka each December. The homing instinct being strong, it is with some queer excitement that we actually look forward to the dawn of that long-awaited day when we make that "permanent" move. If our children were mainly responsible for our unusually long sojourn in the Carolinas, it would not be wrong to say that it is our grandchildren who made it so easy for us to make this decision to go back. Little Prashan and Anisha are the latest additions to our family following Shehan’s marriage to Prasadani in 2002. They are in Sri Lanka because it is where Shehan is currently based.

Retirement

Unlike in Sri Lanka where it is mandatory for all vehicles to carry a number plate in front and at the back, in the US, the vehicle registration number is carried only in the rear of the vehicle. However, in a country where personal freedom is cherished, honoured and assured, some vehicle owners display a personal message in front, at the place where the "number plate" should usually be. I have seen some retirees in SC (who obviously want the whole world to know that they have retired), displaying a plate with the words "I AM A RETIREE" printed in a horizontal line in the centre. At the four corners of the rectangle, written diagonally across in smaller letters are four brief statements - "NO HURRY", "NO WORRY", "NO BOSS", "NO MONEY".

Humour apart, as I make my own preparations for yet another "retirement" (definitely the final!) from yet another agency, there is no need at all for me to ponder on how I would use this enforced holiday. I have heard some retirees grumbling about boredom, not knowing what to do with time hanging on their hands. With a few hobbies, a wide variety of other interests, and two little grandchildren to keep me company, I hope to make good use of my time in retirement. Being able to call myself a real "RETIREE" at long last, would be an added bonus.

Thank You, Brother!

In concluding this piece, I wish to record here my sincere gratitude, appreciation and thanks to my dear brother Ananda and his wife Indrani for giving us the opportunity to savour the wonderful experience of life in the Carolinas.