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because of the ambiguity of guilt in terms of the overarching civil war in Sri Lanka, it
becomes similarly difficult to pick sides for moral grounding. Neither the government
nor the insurgents are capable of generating significant moral support or respect from the
reader. With the ubiquity of fear, desperation and exhaustion, the moral characters
emerge in the shadows of fragile life but also in the shadows of the crimes all around
them. Like their surroundings the most ‘moral’ characters are ambiguous – often evoking
condemnation before admiration, and judgment before tentative approval. Students are
challenged when asked to identify the moral characters. No one fits comfortably into the
mold of goodness. It is cautiously, unconfidently, that a student suggests the doctor drug
addict as the character closest to a moral ideal in terms of his self-sacrifice, his
commitment to save people, and his decided position to suspend all political judgments.
Gamini is Sarath’s brother. Gamini is the drug addict doctor who fell in love with
his brother’s wife, who existed second to his older brother’s eternal firsts. Sarath and
Anil come to his hospital in an effort to save a truck driver. In the process of collecting
evidence Sarath and Anil find a man crucified to the tarmac road in a barbaric war ritual
against the innocent. Uncertain who is responsible, they drive him to the hospital where
Sarath’s brother works in the Emergency Services. The tension between brothers is
palpable. Sarath seemingly on the moral high ground with his coveted government
position, and Gamini roused from a stupor of exhaustion and drugs. However, in the face
of crisis, and when working with patients Gamini’s mind becomes electric, his acumen
indefatigable, and his searing conviction of life becomes admirable. “Eventually he felt
himself on a boat of demons and himself to be the only clearheaded and sane person
there.” (224) Gamini remains separate from the world around him but it is within this
Convention