Perumal Subrumanian.

Dressed in a traditional lunghi and a simple shirt, Perumal Subrumanian looks more like a Sri Lankan peasant than a global voyager. But appearances are deceptive in Andimunai.

One night in 2002 Subrumanian boarded a 12-metre trawler packed with 57 people and endured a month-long passage to Europe. The boat was met by smugglers off the coast of Italy and all those on board were taken ashore.

Subrumanian had his heart set on England. He lay low for a month before catching a series of trains to the north of France. There Subrumanian, a Hindu Tamil, used Sri Lankan contacts to find someone to get him across the English Channel. Months after leaving his fishing village, he was smuggled into Britain jammed in a box with a new motorcycle.

Ten more Sri Lankans were packed on the same truck. "With a bike plus me it was pretty cramped in there," he said. He rented a house with six others in Oxford and found a £3-an-hour job as a kitchen hand in a pub.

He stayed in Britain for five years, sending money home when he could. He applied for asylum but was rejected, and was deported in 2007. After two years back in his home town Subrumanian is ready for another asylum attempt, maybe for Australia. "If I get the chance I'm going."


The Sydney Morning Herald