Caricature of life through poetry

Gratiaen Prize Winner 2007:

Q: Why do you think the Sri Lankan literature in English is slender and imprisoned within the context of island mentality and little known about it ahead of our loam? How do you describe this predicament? What are the short term and long term solutions that one can find to viaduct this communication gap?

A: I would disagree. I don’t think it is slender or imprisoned. I think people write within context of our reality so much to write about in the present context of violence. I do agree that it is not well-known enough outside. I do not know whether that has to do with what we write about or more practical things like publication, publicity etc.

Q: The concept of hybridity and cultural otherness are also linked to Literature. Can you explain the concepts? How do you think Sri Lankans would welcome the ideas of hybridity, cultural identity, otherness especially in the present context of acrimonious ethnic relationships?

A: I am not an expert of literature. My expertise, if at all, is on applied linguistics. Hybridity, I think, is given in the context of our world today. I do not think anybody is pure or literature. All people are hybrid in terms of race, attitudes, and multiple identities. Literature is the best way to express ‘hybridity ‘and ‘cultural otherness’.

Otherness is something which we have to accept whether we like it or not. I consider myself as hybrid. I am hybrid. I have always taken it as a resource and something to be proud of other than ‘otherness’. ‘otherness’ is something that how others perceive you. I think some Sri Lankans accept ‘otherness’ and some do not.

For those who accept it, well they are enriched. I think war is something totally different, it is political.

But accepting other people for what they are and not-stereotyping people about human relationships and I would separate the two. I think that there is no excuse; you have to accept people who are different from. Because that’s what makes life interesting that people are different. If all of us thought and looked and accepted everything, there would be no literature.

Q: How can Sri Lankan writers in general and especially who are dwelling on foreign soil, in particular, use English language and textualise a distinct Sri Lankan sensibility?

A: I have never lived abroad for a long period of time. So I really did not know. But some have done very successfully like Shyam Selvadurai. He has articulated it very well. You read ‘Funny Boy’; you don’t think this is somebody who lives abroad.

Q: “Nothing Prepares you”, your maiden collection of poems, has won the coveted Gratiaen Award. What is your view on the award and the contemporary Sri Lankan writing in English?

A: I think it is really a great thing and I would have said even before, I was a judge last year. I think the fact there were 57 entries this year would answer this question. If it was an award that has to be scorned and as people have done in media, then why have 57 young aspiring writers or established writers!

My view on the award is that is a very encouraging thing that has happened to the literary scene. Contemporary writing in English is at the present moment more flourishing than ever that I can remember. There are more publishers. There are more people aspiring to write. It seems to me that contemporary writing is alive and well. I like the work I read.

Q: “Nothing Prepares You” offers an anthology of poems that touches on diverse themes ranging from nostalgic memories of the past to prejudices such as colour-bar and how Asians are perceived by Westerners. Are those poems such as “Meeting in South London” born out of your personal experiences? How do you perceive Diasporic experience as a recurrent theme which depicts the issues confronting the Sri Lankans domiciled beyond shores and those Sri Lankans visit European destinations?

A: All my love poetry or most of them are born out of my personal experiences. As I said earlier, I have not lived abroad for long periods of time. I have been for two years, for three years etc. just for study. I haven’t really lived abroad in that sense. But I am sure my poetry depict only the issues those that were unpleasant.

But there were far more pleasant memories. I write about sad things, for example, about conflict etc. Among my few poems that talk about racism that I have experienced are “You’re Welcome’ and “Doppelganger”.

In “Doppelganger” I tried to say how I experienced racism here and there. So I have always felt like an outsider. So when you have experienced racism within your own country in forth grade, then when I went abroad, I got the same experience. So, where is my home? On account of my hybridity, my surname, as a child, I always tried to find out who I was and what race am I belonged to?

It took up time, it took some growing up to understand that you do not have to be either a Sinhalese or a Eurasian. You can be a good combination of both. My early poetry is an effort trying to come to terms with the identity issue. Because I had a very strong Buddhist heritage from my father’s mother and my father’s father was a Eurasian of Belgian, Dutch heritage.

So I had to negotiate with these two identities. In “You’re Welcome” and “Visiting Giants” I was stuck by more than racism. Some American tourists inquired whether I was from Africa. It is about Sri Lanka.

Q: In the poem “Decree Nisi” you have not only described the institution of marriage in Sri Lanka but also how state intervenes in private lives, please comment.

A:I think that marriage in a bureaucratic sense is an invasion into private Lives. But I think it is necessary. We all would go and do it because it is only the socially sanctioned way to relationships to go on in this country. But I think more young people are choosing to live together. But that I think is a very personal poem. I wrote it when I was going through the ‘decree Nisi’.

Q: Why do you utilise Japanese Haiku form of poetry in the anthology? Is there a special reason for it? The poem “Protecting Faith, September 2006’ is about how security measures have, to a certain extent, destroyed the sanctity of the Temple of the Tooth, do you think that Haiku style is the most effective form that can be used for this poem?

A: I used to teach Haiku to my students as a young Assistant Lecturer. I wanted to write something other than free verse. I wanted to see how I could compress myself into that form. Haiku is a form where there is one thought, one image. Actually, I meant to write about the beauty of nature but I hardly used it for the beauty of nature.

I have used Haiku to write about grotesque realities of war. I wrote one for my cousin who died in a land mine explosion with Nihal de Silva. She lost her family in the Tsunami and then re-married and she died with her new husband in that bomb blast. For me it was unbelievably sad. I want to articulate it in some way. So I wrote it in Haiku.

Q: The poem “Protecting faith “says that how security measures destroyed the sanctity of the Temple of the Tooth. Please comment.

A: I went to the Dalada Maligawa with a friend of mine. Irony struck me. We took the alms with both our hands to the entrance. Then there were soldiers and it had to be scanned. I was aware the necessity of it and at the same time, it in a way violates the sanctity. So that conflict stuck with me, and I just wrote it on the way back in my friend’s car.

Q: “Going Home” is one of the poems that belongs to the category of poems of recollection or of nostalgia. Here the main actor is time which has devoured everything sacred to you and bringing about a change, is it based on your personal experience? Please comment.

“I was trying to deal with the death of my father. Yes, it seems to me that home always meant signs of him. He used to come to the gate to welcome me. He was the one who planted the tree. Home meant my dad. I was very close to him. When he died, I just realized that nothing of him remains. “Talisman” is also about him. Every year on July 23rd I think about him. That is his death anniversary.”

Q: You have explored the theme fragility of relationships in the poem “I have today”. It is also about the uncertain nature of life. The central theme of the poem seems to be ‘to live in the present’. How did you manage to explore such a complex theme in few lines woven around a passionate moment of lovers?

A: Yes, I think if you have to seize the moment, love like everything else ceased, relationships change. In that change there is pain. That poem deals with my relationship which was uncertain and fragile and knew it would end. I wrote this poem for that relationship which was a very special relationship and tribute to the relationship I have today. Yes, I think we should live in the present all the time. I say that also as a Buddhist and as somebody who has loved and love again.

Q: Your style of poetry is lucid as well as rhythmic and I would rather say’ very much English’ compared to most of the Sri Lankan writings in English? What is the secret behind this elegant style and the economy of words in your poetry?

A: I do not know it has something to do with the fact that my first language is English. But my first language is Sri Lankan English. I certainly do not speak British English. It’s just the way I write. I think I write and then work on my poetry again.

Yes, there is, sometimes, an effort so as to what should be understood by people who are not Sri Lankan. I have a lot of friends who are non-Sri Lankan who live abroad. I have also shared my poetry with them. May be the unconscious desire to be understood beyond the shores of Sri Lanka contributed to this.

Q: The poem “Nothing prepares you” which is the titled poem of the collection, deals with the subject of pain especially the pain of “separation”, “Love” and “Loss”. “Love and loss shadow you Silently, like spies And collides suddenly, Violently Like migraine headache “The ‘love ‘is a recurrent theme in the collection. Please comment on.

“It is such a fundamental emotion and it has built within fundamental sadness and that inspires me.”

Q: Some people are of the view that we try to embrace any piece of literature, without considering its impact on our culture and cultural productions or cultural artifacts. What’s your view?

A: I think embracing or reading a book is very personal.

I do not hang up about our culture. I think culture is very fluid and dynamic. Culture is changing and any person who can’t accept that I feel very sorry for them.