Page 10 - Ganesh Arunasalam

Appa touched so many people's lives and in so many different ways. I've been wondering about that for a few years. What makes Appa... Appa. A certain combination of experiences, and interactions, nature and nurture — and love — produce certain qualities in someone. For me, Appa was a special human being.
Appa relished the idea of spending time in his homeland. He wanted to give back, and host returning family, including some of his grandnephews and nieces for the very first time. Sharing his many stories, his thottam and home with everyone who visited was his dream which he had begun to do. That was his passion and his legacy.
Appa had an immense capacity for empathy.
And it was only after I moved to Sri Lanka that I began to discover things about Appa. His stories.
From him, but also from his friends. The way they talk about Appa gives you an inkling of what he gave up — Appa was a kind of kingmaker — working behind the scenes, campaigning for them, supporting them.
And his friends became my friends. He connected me to so many people that was in some way a missing link to a greater puzzle. And in turn I introduced him to filmmakers, journalists, and photographers. And they inevitably talked politics over a glass of wine at the Jaffna house.
Appa encouraged me to follow my passion. And we made films together. He was sometimes my cameraman, often my sound recordist. Always my fixer.
And he did these things with enthusiasm and he would relish the minutiae. We had fun. He'd often call me up in the mornings because he'd seen or heard something about the latest political developments and would want to talk about what that meant for the film.
9
Mama and chiththappa to my cousins, I grew up hearing that he was like a father to them all.
If you knew Appa, politics was in his blood. That was his passion.