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Thus was the yearning for conservation in Christine Wilson. The author of The Bitter Berry, The mountain Road, I am the Wings, Reach for the Stars, Surgeon of the Wilderness and Growing up and other stories, Christine Wilson, daughter of renowned writer and surgeon Dr. R.L. Spittle, had said "You've come to a different person, therefore you will get a different interview." Well I definitely did. Q: You had accompanied your father on his excursions to the Veddha country, how was it? A: It felt wonderful. This was one of the most primitive people of the world. I had never been to the Veddha country before and hadn't a clue what to expect. My father insisted that I wear khaki trousers, a top and woollen socks under boots! to ward off the ticks and we had our helpers carry my Hermese typewriter. Tikiri, the son of Thisahami, led the way. We covered 73 miles on foot during a monsoon. We were ultimately reduced to one tin of condensed milk and very little bit of sugar, which we shared with the Veddhas. But there was quarrels. Finally two days and four rivers across we reached our destination. When we got to the Veddha country all their brethren weddas clustered around calling me sudu hoora, meaning 'white brother'. I was the first 'civilized' woman they've met. They asked me if I was a boy or a girl because I was so skinny. They also called me 'nana' which is the word far of affection. Q: Did the experience influence your writing? A: Oh yes, all along the way. I was twenty two when I was allowed to go in to the deep jungle for the first time. I asked my father why he had to wait so long to make up his mind. He said that my mind has to be more mature. Because we would have to encounter a lot of hardships and dangers along the way. There were dangerous wild animals like wild elephants, wild bears and crocodiles. Q: Why do you think your father was attracted to the Veddhas? A: Because they haven't been discovered before. He was the first to come across them. He was a real traveller. My father would often go to my mother's wardrobe and pick out the odd clothes to be given to the Veddhas. He was a lonely person and preferred quiet places and simple people of the jungle. Q: How did your father's friendship with Thisahami form? A: Well, they never became friends. One day my father was seated at a campfire when a figure stepped out of the forest. My father enquired from the other Veddhas who he was and they said that he's the one who's referred to as the 'minimaruwa' which at once took my fathers fancy. Thisahami asked my father 'you are the doctor man'. Later they put up a notice for him to be captured and he vanished without a trace for 15 years. Q: In your first novel The Bitter Berry you wrote about the coffee plantations of Ceylon in the 19th century, why? A: I thought it was a great story worth writing about. There was this virgin land where the British came and planted coffee. They brought tea and coffee and plantations to Ceylon. Q: How was 'The Bitter Berry' A: Everybody liked it. It was based on facts. I acquired all the historical facts from the museum library and then put all the facts together to weave the novel. Q: You spent some time in Kenya, why did you come back to Sri Lanka? A: Because I love Sri Lanka and wherever I go it'll always be my country. Q: You've also written about Sri Lankan cuisine! Secrets of Eastern Cooking. Can you cook? A: Oh yes! Lumprice, seeni sambol, love cake, anything. But I think painting was more important to me than writing. I do oil painting, water and pastel too. While I was in Kenya I also learned to paint on porcelain which proved to be extremely difficult. I also taught myself shorthand and type writing during the war. Q: What made you write Christine Wilson: Memoir? A: I thought it was time to get on with life and thought it very necessary to write this. It was just pushing itself to come out. I took writing very seriously, I studied character a lot. Q: You had a very talented and famous father, do you feel that you are still living in his shadow? A: I don't think so, the others have put the shadow there not me. We had our disagreements, about writing for example. I had my own way of writing and he had his. His room was upstairs and mine was down. I used to send him my manuscripts, and he would send it back to me with a red pencil marking, with a note 'rubbish' attached. The rouse would go on for days. But I deeply respected his writing. Q: Did his writings influence you? A: Yes. The subjects he wrote on were marvellous, his discoveries so unusual. Q: Did you become a writer because of him? A: Oh no. Ever since I was three I told stories. I started writing at the age of six. But I did learn to write because of my parents. We would sit in the veranda and have this Q and A type of story telling session. They tell me stories and then my mother would say "now you tell us a story" and I would say "I don't know how" Then she would start "Once upon a time there was this king and queen, what happened to them?" she would ask and I would weave the story around it. Q: Are you a conservationist? A: Oh yes, very much so. When I miss my husband, who passed away recently, I stare at the garden. I love all animals and plants - it's my whole life. *** Would you like to see your words in print? If you are a talented amateur poet or prose writer with a taste for quality literature, please email your authentic and original poems and short stories to [email protected] or post them to Passionate Pen, Sunday Observer, Associated Newspapers Ceylon Limited, Number 35, D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10 to be featured on our new page Passionate Pen. They may be written under any title, in any style and consist of 1,500 words or less. You can also look forward to outstanding interviews with leading personalities in the field of literature, in our quest to improve our readers' knowledge of quality literature. |
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