The honesty of humble folk
She would have gone back to her post-graduate studies in South Carolina, America, with a heavy heart not least because she was leaving her father and mother behind after her holiday in Sri Lanka.
Muditha Dias from Boralesgamuwa was unhappy because she had lost her wallet, presumed stolen, with a lot of cash, but more importantly, with credit cards as well as driving licences on Christmas Day.
Supervisor S.A.A. Sooriyarachchi (below and pumper Pushpa Kumara (above). Pix by Mangala Weerasekara
Muditha and her father, Shirley Dias, had gone outstation from their home in Boralesgamuwa on December 25. Having driven to the home of relatives, Muditha had stayed back while her father took the car to the town to buy some medication. It was on his return that they both realised that her wallet was missing from near the hand-brake where she had left it at the start of the journey.
It was a distraught duo who returned home to Boralesgamuwa, with hopes of finding the wallet hitting rock bottom and the days passing by with Muditha’s departure drawing close. Having completed her undergraduate studies at the Science Faculty of the University of Colombo, she was studying for a doctorate in chemistry in South Carolina.
On the fourth day after losing her wallet, a relative had called her home with information that her wallet had been found. With both Muditha and her father not being at home, it was mother Nelum who met two strange men on their home’s doorstep, directed by their relative.
With the time being wound back to around 5.30 a.m. on December 25, what flowed forth from the lips of the two men left her not only amazed but also thankful for the intrinsic honesty of humble folk.
The two men were Supervisor S.A.A. Sooriyarachchi, 32, and Pumper Pushpa Kumara, 27, from the Nawinna Petrogas petrol station not too far away from the Diases home at Boralesgamuwa.
Sooriyarachchi and Kumara had been roaming the streets of Boralesgamuwa on a motorcycle for more than an hour before meeting a man who directed them to a house up an incline owned by a person who “had a relative abroad”.
The night shift on December 24-from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on December 25-had fallen on Kumara and two others. Being Christmas Eve, it was a busy night, says Kumara whose hometown is Passara, Badulla. Manning Pump 1, he was attending to about three cars around 5.30 a.m. the next morning, when he trampled something on the ground.
“It was a mahatha (bulging) brown purse,” says Kumara, who did not go through its contents, but put a rubber band around it and handed it over to Sir (Sooriyarachchi) when he came on duty at 6 a.m.,” says Kumara.
As was customary, Sooriyarachchi put it into an envelope and in the locker, certain that the owner would claim it, as many had done in 
the past.
“As there was no claimant even after three days, I called Kumara and we looked at the contents of the purse,” says Sooriyarachchi. In addition to the credit cards, both local and foreign, there were dollars and also local rupees. They sighed in relief when the driving licence pinpointed an address in Boralesgamuwa which led them to a nearly-frustrating search.
The realisation where Muditha had lost her wallet dawned on her and her father when they returned home to find it “intact” with her mother, after it had been handed over by Sooriyarachchi and Kumara.
“We were moved beyond words,” says Nelum with emotion, lauding the honesty of Kumara and Sooriyarachchi.
When Muditha stopped at the petrol station that morning before going outstation, her wallet had been near the handbrake and a piece of rag with which the windscreen etc is cleaned had been there as well. “My husband having paid for the petrol with money from his wallet had taken the rag out of the car to wipe a petrol spill near the tank,” says Nelum, adding that Muditha’s wallet had fallen on the ground then when the cloth was taken.
Muditha has now left for South Carolina without a worry about her wallet, smiles Nelum, of course not before meeting both Kumara and Sooriyarachchi at the Nawinna Petrogas to thank them profusely and shower gifts on them.