Dothak Kavi speaks for all mankind

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Dothak Kavi an anthology of Sinhala poems

Author: Ariyawansa Ranaweera

Reviewed by M. B.

Mathmaluwe

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It is said in communication, when prose is its medium and it is felt as inadequate often, it is poetry that is resorted to in its refinements and fine nuances, poetry excels prose; but there can be instances in certain circumstances, when language whether spoken or written, still falls short, yet other media of communication, commonly covered by the collective term ‘the Arts’ painting, sculpture, music and dancing etc. —- can be used and no wonder it is said one picture is better than a thousand words! So efficient are some of these extended forms of communication. True, man’s commonest and most taxed medium of communication is language, but it is often found to be distressingly deficient and inadequate in its own defined natural function, compared to some of the other media of communication mentioned above.

But such shortfalls of expression are felt often when it comes to voicing thoughts, emotions, sentiments, concepts of an intimate, profound and personal nature in all their subtleties and fine nuancer. This problem may not however, be so serious when dealing with scientific, technological or legal literature.

One reason why the author’s poetry has not received the notice it deserves, is that he has been writing all his poetry in Sinhala though, he has received a measure of recognition and even acclaim, from the Sinhala readers, judging by the several Awards he has received from their Cultural organisations. As far as this writer knows he is little known among the bilingual readership. To them it will certainly, be a surprise that he has to his credit no less than twelve published poetical works.

He has also brought out an anthology, quite representative of these works, titled, “Dothak Kavi”, a handful of poems largely from which poem have been culled for detailed discussion in this review of his book.

Before taking up a few individual poems for detailed discussion if one were to make an overall survey of his poetry, and single out a striking feature in it, it is its abundant humanism that stands out.

His poetry speaks for all mankind, its intimate joys and sorrows, its aspirations and hopes. Some of his most impassioned compositions spring from his portrayal of man’s relationship in the family and in the domestic scene. The collection is strewn with compositions dwelling long and tenderly upon the warm and sacred bond of mutual love and respect between lovers, married or otherwise: he brings out in all its varied dimensions the universal need for it and its fundamental and timeless mystery - a relationship that precludes any explanation or unravelling and more often than not, remaining outside the domain of language. Here is an instance aptly titled, “Anthima Aayachanaya” (The Last Requet):

“No, no, it does not matter,

You have many things, I know

Keeping you busy: but some day,

If at all, you have the time

Take them from wherever they have lain,

Wipe off the dust, and one by one,

Read my poems written for you.” (P. 225)

Love between man and woman, great as it is, yet has its limits; but it is in the wider context of human relations, extensive and variegated as it is, that the author’s poetry amply enhances the Perennial brotherhood of man-kind. Here is how he voices his love for his neighbour. Having wished him all the good things in life, he ends up by saying:

“May all the birds, all the world over,

Gather around your home and sing,

In all their united voices,

All the melodies ever composed,

And waft it to you, diffused in the perfumes

Of all the flowers known”.

“Allapu Gedera” (Next-door Neighbour)

As is often said, the poet is a person of fully awakened senses like a delicate reed quivering at every passing breeze, and the author is one such, judging by the whole gamut and reach of his poetry. One feature of it is that his poems are generally short and carrying one single thought. It is seldom a poem that runs into more than one page with some of them limited to five or six lines and a whole poem of less than ten words which can yet convey a hunting thought.

There are in this Anthology, poems some of which are eight words arranged in six lines! There are others where words and lines are arranged in the shape of a lamp-post, titled reasonably too, “Pahan Tambe”, (Lamp Post) and another, in the shape of a sliding earth-bank titled, “Ivura” (earth-bank) Irrespective of poetic their antics, the literary consensus of that century was that Cummings wrote great poetry. I dare say, so has Ariyawansa Ranaweera in this Century!

To us of the last few generations, so pathetically caught up in the treadmill of Time’s increasing tyranny, its turmoil can be quite enervating. Imaging what solace it would be to reach the haven which the author visualises in his poem,” Kala Vimukthiya” (Release from Time)

“River flow on untrammelled,

Never looking over their shoulders in fear;

The wind blows lazily, between resting and moving,

Listening to the orchestra of bird-music.”

These lines are quoted here advisedly, to stress the point that much of his poetry is thought-provoking, meditative and given to leisurely contemplation. How to savour his poetry is not doubt, implicit in a little poem where the legend says on being asked by a long-lost friend what he had been doing these many years, he says he was writing poetry and goes on to say:

“Do not read these lines in haste,

When every sound is silenced,

Lighting a lamp in your room,

Read my poetry, alone, in its mellow light.”

“Visi Vasarakata Pasu” (Twenty Years Later)

One would say, it exactly captures the poet’s mood.

Before taking the reader to the main thrust of this paper namely, the authors, surprising genius for making the maximum of a minimum of words, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to another aspect of an important part of his poetry much of it, his love poetry. This is done mainly, because it shows clear evidence that consciously or not, the poet has been strongly influenced by classical Chinese poetry and to the best of it at that. Obviously, he has read widely of this poetry seven Japanese Poetry chiefly, “Haiku’ and much of this poetry addressed to a woman by her lover. There is clear evidence that he is an unrepentant admirer of the greatest of the Chinese poets such as Li Fu Jen, Tu Fu and Li Po.

As could be noticed in his poetry, the warm and delicate relationship between husband and wife is recorded with understanding and tenderness its joys, sorrows and anxieties and more than all, its many nameless bonds and wordless understanding of the responsibilities of the family and the children. Here is what it is like in the poem, “Birindata”

To Wife):

“Having hastily dressed, before I step out, she hands me

The neatly packed lunch; all the while,

Observing me with the corner of her eye,

Says, ‘Don’t forget the baby’s worm mixture

When you come.”

Any comment on his poetry would not be complete without some reference to his modes of writing particularly, with his economy with words. One can be continually surprised at his veritable wizardry in giving voice to sentiments, emotions, feelings that remain for the most part inarticulate in the deep recesses of the human mind. His method is often suggestion and innuendo, more than direct statement.

For instance, he creates a situation on an evening in the last fading light of the day, birds come in groups seeking cosy resting places for the night on convenient branches; of them two birds perch huddled to each other nibbling and picking nits perhaps not there; a husband watching this points it out to his wife and all they do is to look at each other silently, but of course knowingly:

“Strange, how we two were looking

At each other involuntarily.”

“Demalitthai Demalitthi”. (P. 98)

Here are few more suggestive verbal usages:

“Lines between your eyes, like a trident”

“My eyes sealed on you”

“dry rubber leaves with their ‘sara-sara’ rustle”

Your still-wet, smooth, instep”

His poetry is as such a triumph over the inherent inadequacies of language when it comes to articulating the subtle, voiceless perplexities that arise in the human mind and heart.

Taking a sweeping survey of his poetry it becomes clear that it is not meant to lead the reader to dream-world; on the other hand, we find him with his feet firmly-planted on earth and speaking of very mundane matters of the day-to-day problems of life, its problems of heart and mind.Take the short poem, “Avanhala” (The Pub)- the keeper announces that it is time to close giving the strong irrevocable message that there is an end to their noisy carousal and that all good things must end: they have to leave the pleasant camaraderie the warmth and the bright lights of the pub and step out into the cold, inhospitable, dark night outside and, more than all, reminding the boozers of the realities and complex problems of home and family life.

Gentlemen, it is time to close the pub;

The glitter of the neon lights, over....

Take your last drink, prepare

To step out into the dark!” (P.188)

All the time his poetry is related to the realities of life. This is important for another reason for it shows here for the first time that

the author and his poetry makes a clear and unmistakable break away from the last vestige of the influence of the deeply moribund Colombo School of poetry which had been holding all Sinhala poetry under its evil spell. Let me explain.

The departure he makes from the Colombo School tradition is certain but that is not all; he also makes a clear break-away from those poets who thought they had dissociated themselves from the norms and forms of the Colombo poets but were in fact still under its influence except for their veneer of external sophistication.

They were really the rear-guard, flamboyant, paying lip-service to change of the Colombo School itself that was just taking the corner poets such as Amarasekera, Gunasinghe, Manavasinghe et al.

This repeated reminding by him of the realities, the responsibilities of life, is one clear dimension of his poetry.

Here is how it surfaces again in another poem, “Perahuruva” (Rehearsal). The child engaged in his carefree, playful diversions, is informed of the approaching days of regular school, and the serious regimens of study routines:

“Stop your singing now,

The hour has arrived for you,

To attend school....” (P. 95)

It is time to make a comment on the techniques, methodologies and poetic devices used by the author: if there are two modes of communication, innuendo/suggestion and direct statement, his choice is the first: Little is said but much is suggested.

The main feature of his poetry is that he opens vistas for the reader to explore for himself, to allow his imagination to share in the creative venture. There is little explicit, yet so much is implicit.One striking device in his poetry is his genius for creating graphic imagery: time and again, the reader is led to witness scenes and figures astonishingly fresh and realistic, haunting and leaving lasting impressions. The little poem, named appropriately, (Strip-tease), creates an exciting scene in the reader’s mind:

“Rubber trees, in league with the breeze,

Divest themselves of their leaves, one by one,

Is it to tempt the rains to visit ?”

And again,

This alley was marked, by our foot-prints,

Where we two, holding hands, trod on.”

Annoy her:

“My own image, I see

In the mirror of your eye.”

Taking a last overall look at the author’s poetry there runs through it all one cannot miss noticing a thin yet, persistent streak of pessimism pervading his poetry, from end to end may be it is the note of fatalism with which Buddhism has coloured all our thinking., seeking solace in the thought that what will be, will be.

Here is one last poem that voices this sentiment, “Ma Oya Dakinna Gos” (Having Gone to see Maoya).

In his old age, he visits one of his childhood haunts, a place where he had sported and frolicked upon in his carefree childhood and, now he reminisces and goes into reveries. Now everything has changed except the river itself which flows in the same former silent and dignified manner. He says:

“No, no let us keep on flowing

Silently, bearing up everything:

It cannot be for much longer,

For, the confluence with the sea is at hand.” (P. 190)

AR’s poetry shows influence of Chinese poetry. He has read them widely and that those poetic devices and forms of statement have entered his sub-conscious mind and they keep on surfacing when he himself evokes similar situations and close echoes are heard.

Plankton decline across oceans as waters warm

Phytoplankton in its myriad varieties is essential for life in the oceans

The amount of phytoplankton - tiny marine plants - in the top layers of the oceans has declined markedly over the last century, research suggests.

Writing in the journal Nature, scientists say the decline appears to be linked to rising water temperatures.

They made their finding by looking at records of the transparency of sea water, which is affected by the plants.The decline - about 1% per year - could be ecologically significant as plankton sit at the base of marine food chains.

This is the first study to attempt a comprehensive global look at plankton changes over such a long time scale.

"What we think is happening is that the oceans are becoming more stratified as the water warms," said research leader Daniel Boyce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"The plants need sunlight from above and nutrients from below; and as it becomes more stratified, that limits the availability of nutrients," he told BBC News.Phytoplankton are typically eaten by zooplankton - tiny marine animals - which themselves are prey for small fish and other animals.

The first reliable system for measuring the transparency of sea water was developed by astronomer and Jesuit priest Pietro Angelo Secchi.

Asked by the Pope in 1865 to measure the clarity of water in the Mediterranean Sea for the Papal navy, he conceived and developed the "Secchi disk", which must be one of the simplest instruments ever deployed; it is simply lowered into the sea until its white colour disappears from view.

Phytoplankton... produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries"

Various substances in the water can affect its transparency; but one of the main ones is the concentration of chlorophyll, the green pigment that is key to photosynthesis in plants at sea and on land.

The long-term but patchy record provided by Secchi disk measurements around the world has been augmented by shipboard analysis of water samples, and more recently by satellite measurements of ocean colour.

The final tally included 445,237 data points from Secchi disks spanning the period 1899-2008.

"This study took three years, and we spent lots of time going through the data checking that there wasn't any 'garbage' in there," said Mr Boyce.

"The data is good in the northern hemisphere and it gets better in recent times, but it's more patchy in the southern hemisphere - the Southern Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and so on."

The higher quality data available since 1950 has allowed the team to calculate that since that time, the world has seen a phytoplankton decline of about 40%.

Ocean cycling

The decline is seen in most parts of the world, one marked exception being the Indian Ocean.

There are also phytoplankton increases in coastal zones where fertiliser run-off from agricultural land is increasing nutrient supplies.

However, the pattern is far from steady. As well as the long-term downward trend, there are strong variations spanning a few years or a few decades. Father Secchi's simple disk has been used for more than 100 years

Many of these variations are correlated with natural cycles of temperature seen in the oceans, including the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation.

The warmer ends of these cycles co-incide with a reduction in plankton growth, while abundance is higher in the colder phase.

Carl-Gustaf Lundin, head of the marine programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), suggested there could be other factors involved - notably the huge expansion in open-ocean fishing that has taken place over the century."Logically you would expect that as fishing has gone up, the amount of zooplankton would have risen - and that should have led to a decline in phytoplankton," he told BBC News.

"So there's something about fishing that hasn't been factored into this analysis."

The method of dividing oceans into grids that the Dalhousie researchers used, he said, did not permit scrutiny of areas where this might be particularly important, such as the upwelling in the Eastern Pacific that supports the Peruvian anchovy fishery - the biggest fishery on the planet.

Absorbing facts

If the trend is real, it could also act to accelerate warming, the team noted.

Photosynthesis by phytoplankton removes carbon dioxide from the air and produces oxygen.

In several parts of the world, notably the Southern Ocean, scientists have already noted that the waters appear to be absorbing less CO2 - although this is principally thought to be because of changes to wind patterns - and leaving more CO2 in the air should logically lead to greater warming. -BBC

[ New on the shelf]

Gnanakoshaya

Popular science writer and astronomer Anura C. Perera has released his book Gnanakoshaya which encompasses universal knowledge in such a wide spectrum of subjects of the zodiac, planetary system and alignment of planets, solar and lunar eclipses, Sri Lankas’ royal dynasty, geographical and historical information and UN Organisation.

Since the world is made smaller and more manageable, acquisition of knowledge has become more important. Therefore, the knowledge one could assimilate himself from Gnanakoshaya is several times greater than what could be absorbed from books, magazines, periodicals etc.

The book is prefaced by Prof. Carlo Fonseka.

Daiva Mahimaya

R. P. Wijesinghe’s latest book Daiva Mahimaya will be launched at Dayawansa Jayakody Book Exhibition Hall, Ven S. Mahinda Mawatha, Colombo 10 on August 17 at 10 a.m.

Daiva Mahimaya, is the authentic Sinhala translation of Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield

The books written by the award-winning author include “Peralikara Pasala, Helidarawwa, Venus Saha Adonis, Nagarajage Lokaya, Laba Upan Heti, Veera Bhumi, Dimur, Mole Gedara, Gora, Casterbridge Nagaradhipathi, Upekshava, Podi Duva, Parithyagaya and Sebala Katha Saha Senevi Pushkin.

“Daiva Mahimaya” is a Dayawansa Jayakody publication.