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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Book reviews Searchlight on Sri Lankan society Title: Build a Bridge by Aditha Dissanayake "The image of the smiling, tolerant and compassionate Sri Lankan has been "damaged"...violence is no longer an occasional happening. It has become a part of our lives. It has also desensitised us to the horror of killings, murder and bloodshed." Writes Gnana Moonesinge in the prologue to her collection of five short stories titled "Build a Bridge". True to her words, here is how Private Mohan in the opening story answers his Atchie's question "Do you have to go to war?" "Do you think they are calling us to sit in our bunkers? Certainly we have to go to war. We fight and the children of the rich and of the politicians go to universities either here or abroad. They are the fortunate ones. They have everything. They study, they get jobs, they get married and they live happily ever after!...they organise musical evenings for the entertainment of the soldiers, and they even collect used clothes to distribute to the families of the soldiers...they do all this in the course of one evening in the year! For the rest of the time we are left on our own to fight and survive or perish!" Private Mohan's exclamation is surely a hard hit on the conscience of most readers of this review. That's Gnana Moonesinghe for you. All five stories, as Editor Sinha Ratnatunga of the Sunday Times states "turns the searchlight on Sri Lankan society". Moonesinghe captures the thought process of "those whose station in life is "at the bottom of the ladder" with remarkable clarity. Thus Kumar in the last story, "In the Nick of Time" finds himself frustrated because the relief as well as the joy of having successfully graduated from university evaporates when he receives no responses for any of his applications. "The refrain of when will I get a job was slowly being overtaken by will I ever get a job! This however was not an unusual phenomenon, as all young men and women in the developing countries go through this phase, unless they belong to the top echelons of society - in which case everything is smooth and there is no waiting period between graduation and job placement". The story ends with Kumar's wife Savitri who momentarily wishes for independence and liberation deciding to stay with her family emphasising the meaning of the lines Moonesinghe quotes from Emily Dickinson's poem on "Hope"; "Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul/And sings the tune without the words,/And never stops at all..." Each story is centred round one or the other of the violent conflicts that engulfed our country during the last two decades. "Maya my daughter, Maya the Heroine" focuses on the Tamil community in Jaffna while in "Sudath the Rebel" Moonesinghe writes of the insurgency in the South when "humanity forgot humaneness". "A book must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen within us" said Kafka. The stories in "Build a Bridge" have not the sharpness to break the frozen sea but they come close to thawing the ice. At a time when most have become immune to the pain and suffering around them, this is surely saying a lot. The story of Yasodara's lament by Ranga Chandrarathne With the rendering of the Yasodaravata into English by Prof. Ranjini Obeysekera, a long-felt need for the 'Yasodaravata' or 'The Story of Yasodara' in English was fulfilled. Yasodaravata is a folk poem, which has often been sung and recited in temples on Poya days and in houses especially on the occasion of a funeral to drive home the truth that death is inevitable. This collection of poems has been in the oral tradition for centuries and might have been subjected to alteration on numerous instances before being codified in written form on Palm-leaves. Therefore, it is no wonder that the authoress found several versions in circulation and has tried to avoid repetition. It is also clear that the oral version of the Yasodaravata was composed during the "Kandy" period according to Sinhala literary history. The other works of laments such as the Kuveni Halla and the Vessantara Kavya were also composed during this era. As the temple has been the nucleus of education for centuries, the body of knowledge was in the hands of the Bhikkus and any layman who wants to learn how to read and write, invariably, has to go to the temple. The Yasodaravata together with other laments would have been recited in temples and taught to laymen. Though Yasodara's figure is not cast prominently in Theravada literature and in the biography of Siddhartha, her shadowy figure continuously fascinated the imagination of Buddhists over centuries. Many retelling of the story of Yasodara in both prose and poetry by Bhikkus as well as laymen are proof of this fascination. In the biography of the Gautama Buddha, Yasodara plays a minor role. She is his beloved queen who has been his wife throughout their existence in the endless cycle of samsara. However, Siddhartha leaves his wife when he renounced his princely life in search of the Truth. Being a lament by a woman at the loss, and departure of her husband leaving a newborn child, the folk poet expresses the intense feelings of a woman, which are the universal feelings of all generations. At the end of the poem Yasodara accepts her fate. It is this reason that Yasodaravata has been a funeral lament for ages and serves as a consoling instrument to drive home the truth of the impermanency of life. The authoress has dedicated the book to the memory of the late Bandula Jayawardene who has suggested the authoress to render this important work in the Buddhist folklore that has been recited in temples and homes, into English to facilitate the students and the general public who could not access the work in Sinhala. She has tried to stick to the Sinhala original and written in simple diction in keeping with the original rhythm. Godage International Publishes (Pvt) Ltd has published the book priced at Rs. 300. Finding success through Feng-Shui Title: Jeevitaya Jaya Geneemata Feng-Shui Feng-Shui is an ancient Chinese science where all the five elements on the earth are categorized and which teaches their implications on positive and negative energy. The energy is called "Chi" and it can have either Yin (without action) or Yang (with action). Feng-Shui is not a spiritual practice, which creates miracles. It does not bring overnight success and does not change a man's life immediately. Feng-Shui works according to the quality of energies that surrounds any living or work space. It can create favourable energy around your home and offices so that when bad luck strikes, reduces the loss making things easier to bear. It also increases good fortune. Feng-Shui is not a magic formula but it could improve one third of your destiny. This book on the ancient Chinese science of cosmic power by Thilangani Herath gives an overview of Feng-shui for the Sinhala readers. This is the second book Thilangani has written on the subject. A certified practitioner and consultant of the world-renowned Lilian Too Institute of Feng-Shui in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Herath provides a practical guide for anyone interested in Feng-Shui. She gives an overview of the science and describes how it can be applied on individuals, families and business establishments. (RC) |
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