Reality through his eyes

Reviewed by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

Distance definitely does make the heart grow fonder. However, more often than not, the descriptions of Sri Lanka by expatriates are marred with the waning of the years. Nostalgia for the land left behind is one of the themes that pervades the whole collection, evident in poems like Leave Taking, Going Back and Tsunami, with other themes ranging from patriotism, war, guilt at being an expatriate, laced with Buddhist philosophy. Expatriates always tend to romanticise their homeland. But in spite of its palm covered beaches, blue-green seas and picturesque sunsets, here is a poet who sees his motherland for what it really is, the pros and the cons.

The poems included in this collection are highly ambiguous. Umbrella, for instance, (if I am not wrong) is about a couple, enjoying the bliss of cover under an umbrella on a beach. Except for subtle hints like `licking salt mist/from lips apart', nothing gives away the what the poem is all about. Asoka Weerasinghe seems to share Frost's sentiments that, in the case of poetry, most things are best left unsaid. The poet's high flown English, backed by his highly figurative language, makes the meaning of some of his poems difficult to grasp. The Outcast is a great poem on the social stratification, rich in imagery. In fact all his poems are rich in imagery. Most of the poems in the collection exhibit the poets fondness of rhyme.

Although he has been an expatriate for long, poems like Paththini proves that he is no stranger to Sri Lankan culture and poems like Mother proves that he is aware of sufferings of the common. In Paththini he deals with a theme that is ingrained in the typical Sri Lankan minds - superstition. The 170 lined poem - Visiting Sri Lanka 2003 - depicts the poets fondness of long poems. And affinities to classic professional poets like Yeats. Visiting Sri Lanka 2003 and the title poem - The Land of Serendipity - are examples for the poets fondness for rhyme. They are more like ballads, an account of what happened while he was in Sri Lanka on visits. It seems more like narrations than a poem in spite of their rhyme.

The poem Battaliya Girl exhibits the poet's boldness and frankness of sensual expression..."Her large breasts lift towards heaven/Squeezed through a decollete sized seven" and claims that they are invariably handy for attracting tourists who yearn for her `tanned nipples'! The reader cannot help but grant licence for such obscenities because of its poetic superiority. It invariably reminds of such classics as the Selalihini Sandeshaya. In fact his poems seem to have a lot of affinities with Sinhala verse and folk songs. His poem Tikiri-Liya is poetic experimentation at its height. Not only does it rhyme like the original Sinhala verse, but the poet has been capable of translating it without harming the original or risking the poetic originality of his own.

"Tikiri Tikiri Tikiri-Liya

The bosomed, lissome, maiden fair"

The next few poems Sinha, Summer 1987, They Were Innocent, Dungaalpitiya Fisher Folk, etc... are war poems. Sinha is one of the most passionate poems in the whole collection. It reflects the patriotism in his Taliban Trilogy. The language of this particular poem is extremely figurative and depicts his poetic expertise.

"It is because your grenade

Clutching fingers

Are entangled in my beard hurting me."

The poet refers to the articles carried in foreign newspapers incriminating Sri Lanka as a nation that violates human rights. The anger at the ridiculous accusations levelled at the Sinhala nation is well demonstrated in the next few lines. "this is when the lion-anger roars..." In fact, although an expatriate himself, his anger at the foreign nations poking fingers into the ethnic crisis is evident in the poem Gunned down at Midnight Mass. The irony of what took place, after the Official Language Act in the poem, Summer 1987 is most acute in the lines...

"For years fighting over a letter

Written with long syllabics"

Sri Lanka: Tsunami is an extremely moving poem, about how the poet felt upon hearing the devastation caused by the Tsunami. However Misinterpretation is the antithesis of the other poems, that focus on the guilt of being an expatriate. Here he evokes the hypocrisy of our inherent prejudice of the Suddas and our quite inadvertent inquiry of a newborn `is the infant fair?'.

Although he is somewhat guilty of romanticising Sri Lanka, as most expatriates, he also sees the dark side. In the longest poem of the collection - The Land of Serendipity - he speaks of how Sri Lankans have lost respect for life, to the point that they would be heartless enough to completely ignore a man dying on the middle of the road. However any Buddhist familiar with Buddhist doctrines may beg to differ with his claim `Sri Lankan monks/in Canada have forgotten/their vows of perpetual poverty'. Monks have taken no such vow to be perpetually poor. Instead they believe that they are in possession of something far richer. The Buddha's advice was always to follow the middle path.

The collection is well organised. The war poems are collected together while poems that refer to the Tsunami devastation are collected side by side. His works are distinctly Sri Lankan, with a deep meaning to the poems peppered with Sinhala similes, metaphors and images. And if I have quoted too extensively from the book, it is only because no better words could describe his poetic mastery.

A historical romance and much more...

Reviewed by Prof. Kamani JAYASEKERA

Prof. Chandrasiri Palliyaguru has always struck me as a person who was bold enough to think, feel and put in to word those vistas he had encountered. A person of slight built, but a giant of a personality. Unafraid to accept and admit truth with feet firmly on the ground, yet capable of wider imagination that reached far. Ever youthful was what echoed through my mind while glancing at the blurb on the cover page. The professor himself had with a boyish smile brought my attention to it....

Thus the all important question arose. Who was she? Or rather, who is she? Indeed love knows no boundaries of age. And the Goddess of Love, according to the Greeks was also the Goddess of Lust. And those Gods stood for forces so fundamental to mankind that the humans could not resist at any cost. That was the ancient West.

Prof. Palliyaguru's novel is placed in the East. In ancient Sri Lanka. Writing history is one thing. But producing a piece of creative writing on a historical canvas is entirely something else. To enliven and recreated a living, breathing atmosphere out of a by gone era has to be tackled with much responsibility. Especially when it is done by a university don of Prof. Palliyaguru's calibre. To many, the background is one and the story is another. Or else, the subject matter itself is twisted and turned to suit one's own flights of family. The real danger lies when there are attempts to manhandle history for propaganda. Be it moral or political, the unfairness of it all would be glaring. The difficulty lies at the point where one has to be faithful to facts yet give wing to creativity. Putting aside petty prejudices, yet bold enough to voice opinion.

On reading, the novel it is the attention given to detail that amazed me. The novelist's love of description. In this case each description demanding a wealth of background knowledge. Not only of history, but of culture and pulse as well. The ability to reach back in time and enter the heart and mind of a personality of another.

One must admit that the language used enhance the ancient flavour of the story. Though one may expect a heaviness of subject at the initial encounter with the worlds, it is simple. Simple as any romantic novel, while at the same time it retains its dignity.

The story unfolds through a series of notes written in the form of flashbacks by the protagonist. And the sole concentration seems to be on Her', 'She Who Ruled the City' according to the title of the novel. Nowhere is She given a name in her novel. Yet one is led to believe that the whole attempt is to understand if not justify a famous figure in the history of Sri Lanka. She is royalty. She is a Queen. He, an inexperienced poet who was even unsure of his own artistic talent. A chance encounter instigates their extraordinary relationship. The boy at the youthful age where he would be tempted to savour new excitement and the carnal pleasures the opposite sex could offer. She at an age where she could obtain the role of a resourceful tutor while retaining the alluring attraction through the magnetic femininity. A woman mature enough not to involve her heart too much in her endeavours. A state where deeper feelings and superficial magnetism could be kept in separate compartments.

But she is also a lot of other things. Educated, intelligent, bold, courageous, unconventional as well as headstrong. She also seems to be in love with Love. An attempt is made to understand her. A debate seems to form within the characters and incidents of the story. "What is Love? At one time one is led to wonder can one be sure of what love means. Is love lust? Or what percentage does lust include in love? The whole novel seems to be a dialogue on Love. And attempt to find a definition to the subject.

One may at times wonder if undue or uncalled for prominence is given to the romantic element. Yet again, what other mode could an author have used to put across such a debate? A thing that is understood and carried out in a very subjective manner.

Where, how and who is to set the standards and limitations of morality? Where does one draw the line? How wide should be the margin?

Can one judge and condemn solely on one's actions? Could there be hidden causes? Could her nature be the result of the humiliation and frustration felt at the rejection by her husband? The elderly king whose arousal was reached through the perversity of seeing her the sport of others? Was it a retaliation to the injustice of it all?

The youth is disillusioned on realising that he was only one among many of her pets. By the time he resolves to write down his experiences he is sick in mind, body and soul. She is the apex of the flashbacks, for even in escape, memories hound him like the avenging furies.

Can one even try to give a definition to the actions of a person whose insatiability of tasting life can never be met with? Even as her husband meets with a mysterious death she herself comes under suspicion. But being politics as it was, it makes her the Queen of the next King. And power does have its attractions.

Her philosophy seems to be that Love is not perpetual possession. It may be a possession, but only a temporary one. Living beings needed freedom. Freedom to posses as well as to reject. She out of all was not a being that could be caged. Thus, She Who Ruled that City becomes an interesting reading. As discussed above it is not only a historical romance. It is much more. The incidents presented in the novel come alive with the breath and life given by the author to the political, social, cultural background of our history. A time where many cross currents were active. And therefore we also feel the ancient capital now in its quiet ruins come to life with all its excitement and colour. The philosophy inter woven therefore adds to many other colourful shades on the tapestry.

(The reviewer is attached to the Department of Western Classical Culture and Christian Culture, University of Kelaniya.)

Sunday Parable :

Baboushka, the grandma of Christmas

By Sunanda MAHENDRA

If you visit a Eastern European country, during the Christmas time, there is a name you will never miss. The name is Baboushka, the Russian version of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, meaning grandmother. I recall the legend of Baboushka in varied forms. The character had been quite popular in old Russia before the revolution of 1917. It is said that Baboushka was known to people where she lived as an old woman who was living alone, and rarely received guests. She used to live in a big mansion-like-house where one of the main items she was engaged in was the cleaning of the house and doing the household chores looking after her prosperity. It so happened that on one cold evening, when she was scrubbing the floor, she heard that melodious voices of three wise men walking along the road that she could see from inside the house. She did not know who they were. She did not have an idea of the journey of the Three Wise men known later as Magi. But Baboushka who was enticed by the movement and voices, she came out to the house and watched them as they passed. She was so inquisitive that she wanted to know where they were going and why they were singing. Then each one of the Wise men said: "We are following a super star shone in the sky." "We want to see the birth of a Holy Child." "That Holy Child would be the super king and the spiritual leader to the world." Baboushka was at a loss to understand what they meant. But as soon as they said that they are on a journey to see a Holy Child, she wanted to know much more about it.

"Please come in and eat something and take away a gift to that Holy Child." She told them.

"We are in a hurry and we cannot afford to get late." they said. Then they bid farewell to her, and went on their way. When the three Wise men moved off, Baboushka regretted her decision of not following them to see the Holy Child. Later on she cleaned her house, and prepared a cake, and gathered a few trinkets from her possessions. She put the cake and the few trinkets into a basket and took it as she went out of her house. But she could not find and trace of the three Wise men. She seemed to have lost her way. But she recalled what they spoke about a super star in the sky. She looked up and saw the star. She followed the star and also asked the child and adults on her way. But she got a negative answer. "We did not see any Wise men along this way." Some of them said. But Baboushka kept on walking to see the Holy Child who was supposedly destined to become the king of the world. Some people say that she is still on her way in search of the three wise men and the Holy Child. As she had not found them she as a mark of remembrance is trying to share her inner bliss with people, especially the children. It is also said that on the eve of Epiphany of January 6, she also leaves trinkets as gifts to the good children in the hope that they will help her find the Holy Child, the baby Jesus. It is noted that the three Wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar are a vital part of the nativity scenes and birth of Christ re-enacted in churches on Christmas. They had travelled so far to see the Holy baby Jesus bringing him the gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh. It is also noted that the feminine protagonist of our legend, Baboushka, who had prepared a special cake for the occasion had been the founder cook of the Christmas cake. The gifts she had with her had been the Christmas gifts. Well-known collector and interpreter of Christmas legends Maria Hubert says that on Christmas eve, it is believed that you hear all the farm animals speaking to one another. The legend goes that they were all given the gift of speech when baby Jesus was born. The sounds made by the animals sound like words, for instance the owl says 'whoo-o-is-born'.

Then the Raven says 'Christ - Christ'. The goat asks 'Where?'. The sheep answers 'There'. As Hubert comments 'different animals have been given their part to play over the millennia and one can still find new ideas for the story today. The stork is one of the birds linked with the birth of baby Jesus. It is said that infant Jesus was lying in the manger in the stable in Bethlehem and all the beasts and birds of the world rushed to greet the baby - the future king of the world. A long legged stork with white feathers and a high crest also came to greet the baby. However, he was moved with compassion when he saw the baby in the bed of straw with no pillow under his head while he could sleep cosily with his feathers curled around him. So this kind-hearted stork knew that he possibly provide soft feathers for his pillow. Despite all the pain, he tugged and tore at the softest plumes on his breast that made the best pillow fir for the Holy Child laid his small head and smiled comfortably. Since then the stork is considered lucky omen. Ever since stork is considered a patron of babies everywhere.

A New Book on Psychotherapy

Reviewed by Dr. R. M. S. K. Ratnayaka

EMDR Sri Lankan Experience is a book on trauma management. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a recently developed psychotherapy procedure that has been reported to dramatically increase efficiency in the treatment of traumatic memories. EMDR is one of the most researched methods of psychotherapy used in the treatment of trauma and was discovered by Dr.

Francine Shapiro in 1987. EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring to an adaptive resolution. The author who was trained in EMDR at the Coatesville VA Philadelphia under the renowned Psychologist Dr Susan Rogers explains how EMDR can be used to treat Sri Lankan patients without any cultural barriers.

Sri Lanka, a country which is affected by an armed conflict and the Tsunami disaster has generated victims of trauma. These people suffer from Depression, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Somatoform Disorders and many have gone in to a vicious cycle of negative stress coping methods like alcohol abuse, domestic violence and social aggression.

An effective psychotherapy like EMDR would help to heal the psychological repercussions.

Book launch:

Mee Mama

Jayasena Jayakody's latest adolescent novel Mee Mama will be launched at Dayawansa Jayakody book Exhibition Hall, Ven. S. Mahinda Mawatha, Colombo 10 on Tuesday, December 23.

Jayasena Jayakody is an award-winning author who wrote Pichchamala, Amavessa and Gothama Geethaya

Mee Mawa is published by Dayawansa Jayakody book publishers, Colombo 10.

Nishmi; Sada Sulaga saha Mada Pawana

Nishmi; Sada Sulaga saha Mada Pawana, a book dedicated to the memory of a student leader S.M. Nishmi who was believed to have been killed some where between February 10-15, 1990 , will be launched on December 27 at 2.00 p.m. at the Art Gallery of the University of Peradeniya.

(RC)