Morbidly fascinated

The fascination with death is said to extend far back into human history and throughout time, people have been obsessed with death and all things related to death and afterlife. So, perhaps it was a sign that out of the various attractions in Kandy, we would choose to go see a prison, famous for hangings. Yes, a sign that humans still have a morbid fascination with death.

Attending funerals, I always find myself walking along the paths reading out tomb stones and catch myself thinking, who were these people?  How did they die? Do the relatives visit these graves? But these were the thoughts I kept to myself, I mean how odd is it to admit you read tomb stones and like visiting cemeteries.

But the visit to Kandy made me realize I was not alone in this strange fascination. The crowds at Bogambara prison even managed to shock me, a person who has always been fascinated with death, person who preferred Shakespeare tragedies over comedies.

The long line in front of Bogambara Prison was unexpected and as I recall it circled around the prison. People stood in line for hours to be let in; carrying crying children and infants they even braved the heat and hunger. Once let in they would push and shove trying to be among the first to catch a glimpse inside the notorious prison with prison guards barking out orders about formation and crowding, this time to those who are free but have chosen to visit a prison. 
While we spoke to a prison guard a member of clergy approaches, he taps the guard on the shoulder and asks, “Which way are the gallows?” and the guard replies, “Go straight ahead and you will see it”. This was perhaps the question of the day with people wandering around looking for the line to see the gallows.

Groups of youngsters posing for pictures behind bars, perhaps for their facebook profile pictures, in the same cell where a prisoner had inscribed ‘the value of freedom is only felt once lost’ felt a bit disrespectful. Do they not understand the prisoners in here were not able to walk off like they could? That the emotions they show for a picture was in fact the reality for another human being?
The cells were dark, the toilets anything but modern and clean. The amount of time a death row inmate is let out? A measly 20 minutes a day. Over all the noise a prison guard says, “All Prisoners are human beings,” and I wonder if anyone heard him as instead they ask him more questions regarding death row and the number of people hanged in Bogambara.

Another attraction within the prison was the place the body of Ehelepola Kumarihami was recovered after she was drowned in the Kandy Lake on the orders of Sri Wickrama Rajasinha. While people flocked to see the place I wondered if anyone thought of the pain she suffered by being separated from her husband, having to see her sons brutally executed, and suffering a similar fate herself along with her daughters.

Call me a kill joy, but to me it felt like a place of reverence. A place that needed to be explored, but with respect to those who lived and died within those walls, a place one should walk in silence. They had wronged others while some perhaps may have been wronged. Despite this, those walls echo the pains and sufferings of humans just like us. While it is perfectly fine to be fascinated, have we become numb to the feelings and sufferings of others? It appeared to be so as people laughed and chatted when they met friends, ate and drank food these prisoners would have never received. Given a choice, I would have silently walked, taking time to understand life within those walls and let the silent echoes of those long gone speak to me. Because even though the gates opened and we were allowed to leave, some who walked in never did.