Tell me a story...

by Punyakante WIJENAIKE

'Please tell me a story...' has been the running theme of my life.

Punyakante Wijenaike

As a child I could not eat nor go to sleep without a story. Kind aunts and staff of our household obliged with many stories. Historical ones with Kings and Queens, Jataka stories about the many lives of the Buddha, of Saradiel the highway man who robbed the rich to give to the poor, of Mahadena mutta the wise man and Andare the joker.

In contrast my mother read me fairy stories from the west. That was the foundation laid from childhood. From listening to stories I began to invent them. I created stories for my siblings, then for my children and finally for my grandchildren.

Writing stories took over from listening and relating them. Like a singer who sang that a day was not complete without a song so it became for me that a day was not complete without a story.

I read many books and I am still reading. But apart from reading the inspiration to write comes from life itself.

Today, as I look around, there is plenty of action going on. Newspaper headlines, radio, television, internet are all sources of information. Apart from those the observation of people and events are fast moving and quick. Of course the headlines of today mostly related to disasters.

MOTHER OF THREE RAPED.

GANG STEALS TEMPLE TILL.

MOBILE PHONE ROBBER ARRESTED.

SUICIDE ATTEMPT BY SWALLING NAIL VARNISH SUCCEEDS DESPITE

ATTEMPT TO SAVE LIFE BY GIVING NAIL POLISH REMOVER.

DEAD BODY RECOVERED ON HIGHWAY.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN INDICATION OF THE END OF THE WORLD.

But it becomes a problem when inspiration fails to create a story out of any of those headlines.

One has to make a decision whether to write tragedy or a comedy.

The end of the world can come without climate change to a poor woman in a border village who once crept up to a gunman and begged release from life...

'You killed my entire family, the father of my children, our children and even our newborn baby son. I was drawing water at the well when you shot them dead. There being no further need of life alone, shoot me too, now.'

Love stories or deeply moving human experiences of young life today are always inspiring. Science fiction can be handled only by those who know the subject.

But maybe I can touch on the recent war in our country?

The war ended with victory for the nation. But I often think of the soldiers who fought this war, who made it possible for the rest of us to welcome a New Year in peace?

A soldier's personal life story, the way his entire life has changed after the war? TO QUOTE from a story I am writing:

'But now I must make myself believe it is all over. I want to enjoy the peace and harmony we fought so long and hard for. Turn my mind to family, work and progress. I need to tell my younger brothers and sisters that never again must we repeat mistakes of the past. Never again must there be barriers of race, religion and language.

Someone or some event must inspire me to create a story. In May 1987 'Operation Liberation' was launched by the then President of Sri Lanka. To Quote:

'He remembered rising that day in a state of excitement, a state of purpose. Being involved in the war, he was no longer afraid of death. Instead he felt his life was about to begin because, at last, he was obeying his conscience. For overnight the wttr against the enemy had ceased. The Army, Navy and Air Force had been compelled to retreat into

barracks again. India had stepped in dropping food parcels for those in the north. A direct challenge. And now he was to stand as guard of honour for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

His sense of justice, like his name, Yukthi, burned within him. He felt the injustice, the insult that was being heaped upon his country. But unlike the common man he could not join the riots, in protest. He was a member of the forces. But he was no longer a fighting machine either. He was a human being swayed by his own emotions...

Wijitha Rohana Wijayamuni, the naval rating who attempted a blow on Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi received a Presidential pardon and was released from prison on 4th April 1990.

In my novel titled AMULET for which I won the Gratiaen Award in 1994

Shyamali the heroine of the story discovers the truth about her husband.

Quote: 'Alone in the attic I discovered this diary kept by his sister. In it I find the twisted mind of my husband... I believed I had given up clinging to the protection of the Amulet. Yet my trembling hand reach out for it again. Because when it lies, once more, warm between my breasts I feel I am protected and safe against whatever or whoever is coming up the twisted stairway of this house be it man or.. .demon.