His brains were not left behind at Dharmaraja :

Fabulous out of the mundane

by Sajitha Prematunge

When he asked me what I liked best about his book the best reason I could think of was his humour and subtle romance, the sort of romance you would only encounter in classics. He lived at a time when you didn't just grab the girl and French-kiss her but walked a safe few yards behind.

He claimed that most of the stories are true, including the romances. As the author's note of On Horseshoe Street indicates there are no earth shattering events and no great achievement, no self glorification, Tissa Devendra is a master at making something fabulous out of the apparently mundane.

Ever wondered what the world would be like by the time you turned a grandparent? Tissa Devendra, a grandfather of three now, had beaten me to the punch. One fine afternoon, thinking of what life would be in a few decades from then, Tissa Devendra decided to immortalize his past through his accounts of a bygone era. Reading his On horseshoe Street I was sad for a lost way of life I missed by a good few decades. Not even in the far limits of my imagination do I remember seeing anyone using a pestle and mortar. A graduate of the Universities of Colombo and Cambridge, Tissa Devendra, had a career of over 40 years in the public service and in the UN agencies. He served in most districts of the island and has been Chairman, Public Service Commission, Salaries Commission 2000 and National Council for Administration. He is the author of several other books, of which Tales from the Provinces was short-listed for the Gratiaen Prize in 1998. He is currently working on two new books; one a collection of articles of Kachcheris and Presidential Commissions, in an insider's perspective and another memoir much like Tales from the Provinces and On Horseshoe Street.

In spite of his success Tissa Devendra remembered his humble beginnings in an interview with Passionate Pen recently. He claimed, with modesty, that although they were educated in English, most of his experiences are of village life. "My father was a villager and an archaeologist." Tissa Devendra was semi retired when he started to write. What started with the publication of his first story - Sex Blood and Red Tape, in a newspaper, had gone a long way. He has exhibited a special interest in the culture, history and folklore of Sri Lanka and has authored such books as Sri Lanka: The Emerald Island. Princes Peasants and Clever Beats, which received an award from the National Book Development Council, and More Princes Peasants and Clever Beasts, are children's books that have been inspired by his grandchildren. "Some of the children's books in English are literal translations." explained Tissa Devendra. "I gave the characters names and rewrote the stories."

He can make something out of nothing or the apparently mundane, the sort of thing any other would let fade into the back of memory. His accounts of personal experiences in the outstation Kachcheris - memories and funny episodes - first appeared as newspaper articles and were later collected in a memoir - Tales from the Provinces. And its sequel - On Horseshoe Street - brims with humour, nostalgia and sharp observation. They have been so well received that their second editions had come out in less than a year. He claims that, although he is not raved about, he receives a lot of unsolicited praise at weddings and functions. "I feel I have struck a middle path."

Using one's own experiences is considered a bad trait of a writer, yet this writer seems to have no reserve about using his personal experience in his writing. He explained that he does not have the slightest desire to write fiction. "I am no fiction writer. I simply can't imagine myself in another person's shoes." According to him all the stories in On Horseshoe Street are 90% true, with a little bit of rounding off at the edges.

What could be more inspiring for a writer of memoirs than personal experience. Although he had all the stories at the back of his mind, something always had to yank it out of him.

He wistfully explained how the sight of a brother and a sister walking on either side of the road triggered in him the memory of the childhood escort duty that inspired him to write 'Walking Wathsala Home', one of the stories in On Horseshoe Street. Regarding Tales from the Provinces and On Horseshoe Street he said I thought life half a century ago would be an interesting topic. He claimed that he writes whenever the spirit moved him. "Then I just flog it to a publisher and keep my fingers crossed."

Writing in English Tissa Devendra has still managed to maintain his identity as a Sri Lankan. "I suppose my English is Sri Lankan and I write about my country." He believes that what makes a good writer is the ability to mix things together using good language. His stories are a blend of language and human emotions.

One obvious characteristic of On Horseshoe Street - for a citizen of post LTTE Sri Lanka - is its multi culture tolerant people. Tissa Devendra said that there was no big issue of multi ethnicity back in those good old days. "It was a peaceful era.

And it was the same all over the world, where Arabs rode camels and Yankees chased buffalo on horseback." But according to him Kandy in particular was a peaceful, interesting place, full of history. Tissa Devendra claimed that he specifically prefers not to read or write about war or the ethnic conflict. "Life is miserable enough without reading war stories."

The nostalgia that pervades the whole book (On Horseshoe Street) gives it a fairy tale like quality. Everything seems to be perfect in this world of childhood innocence; Tissa Devendra seems to have lived a charmed life. But as he explains it's a matter of perception. "I just see a brighter side of life."

Tissa Devendra, according to his own accounts of personal experiences, always did the proper thing. It makes you wonder if he was a always a goodie-two-shoe. But he never risks self glorification. In fact he ridicules himself, alluding to the family lore that he just might have left his brains at Dharmaraja, due to a fall, which I find hard to believe with what he has managed to achieve. The kind of humour and subtle romance he attains in the stories is rarely seen in other writers.