Reviewing the escapades of Chekhov in Sri Lanka

By Thulasi MUTHTHULINGAM

Russia - and the rest of the world, is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of one of the greatest playwrights/writers Anton Chekhov.

The Russians are celebrating the anniversary from January of this year till the January of next, by visiting all the countries Chekhov visited (and he visited many), handing over plaques and memorials in his honour.

Ministers Susil Premajayantha and Wimal Weerawansa with the Russian Ambassador Vladimir Mikhaylov and the Russian actress Elena Drapeko at the unveiling of the plaque at Galle Face Hotel, Colombo.

Delegations have visited Sri Lanka twice now, with the last one unveiling a plaque on December 6 at the Galle Face Hotel. The plaque was unveiled by Russian parliamentarian and artist of the Russian Federation, actress Elena Drapeko.

The Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Vladimir Mikhaylov as well as Ministers Susil Premajayantha, Wimal Weerawansa and G. L. Pieris were in attendance.

This year is also the 120th anniversary of Chekhov's visit to Sri Lanka, which he visited at the age of 30 in 1890. Chekhov's first major foray abroad, the main focus of his trip was the Sakhalin island, a penal colony of Russia where its convicts were sent.

He wanted to see for himself the condition of the convicts and was so appalled by their circumstances and how they were treated, that he called it hell on earth. And then, to recuperate from the horror of it, he travelled to Sri Lanka, which he famously referred to as "Paradise on Earth."

One of the world's acknowledged literary giants, Chekhov is a source of national pride for Russia and much has been written about his life and works. His biography from birth to death has been written in three great volumes but the fascination with him and all that he did, wrote and said in life is still not over.

Next year, another biography of his is scheduled for release. The biographer, academic orientalist and writer, Dr. Kapustin Dmitri has been researching his subject for six years.

According to him, though three volumes have been written to cover Chekhov's life, not much has been written about his first trip abroad, his one and only foray around the Asian region.

So Dr. Kapustin's focus is on his first lengthy journey out of Russia, which he reminisced fondly about for the rest of his life and always hoped to re-enact.

Unfortunately he died at the relatively young age of 44 of tuberculosis and so never fulfilled his dream.

According to Dr. Kapustin, Chekhov spent eight months travelling arduously, first to Sakhalin and then to other destinations in Asia.

He had originally planned to visit 11 countries altogether including China, Japan and India but cholera was rampant in Asia at the time and so he had to content himself with only four of the destinations on his list; Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Port Said in Egypt. It was always a well documented fact that he had visited Sri Lanka as he had enthused widely about the place to his friends in letters and conversations as well as taken three mongooses back with him.

However, only recently, the logbook of the ship he travelled in, the St. Petersburg was found which recorded the ship's docking in Colombo for three days and two nights.

Within this short time, Chekhov managed to travel to Kandy and recorded his first sight of snake charmers and mongoose"Here in paradise, I travelled more than 100km by train. I visited palm forests and bronzed women" says a phrase in one of his letters. Chekhov married the actress Olga Knipper rather late in life.

Until then, he had been quite the footloose bachelor who enjoyed various liaisons but remained wary of commitment, even writing to a friend who pressured him to marry, that he would do so only with a woman who agreed to live away from him; "....give me a wife who like the moon won't appear in my sky everyday."

Even within his short stay, he found the time to enjoy alliances with the 'bronzed women' of Sri Lanka.

According to Dr. Kapustin, the women of the Asian subcontinent were all erroneously referred to as 'Hindi women' at that time and though Chekhov did not have any legitimate children to make his boast to, he might have had an illegitimate daughter in Russia.

A section of the audience at the unveiling

"In my research in Sri Lanka in the archives and newspapers, while writing this biography I also came across a newspaper cutting which claimed that Chekhov had a son in Sri Lanka who lived to the age of 97," says Dr. Kapustin though he couldn't independently verify this claim and since it was only a cutting in the archives, could not be sure which newspaper it was and when it dated from.

Chekhov's short story Gusev was started in Sri Lanka (we know because he noted at the beginning of his Manuscript: Colombo 24 November) and finished it while sailing.

The story is about a soldier stationed in the East and who dies on his travels, having his body thrown aboard by his mates, into the sea. Elements of Chekhov's own travels in the East creep in.

Though Chekhov travelled widely afterwards, to other parts of Russia as well as Europe, he never came this way again. According to Dr. Kapustin, he dreamt several times of visiting Japan and Sri Lanka and wrote in several letters to friends, "After I finish this book I will visit..." but it was not to be.

Chekhov had a habit of preserving all his bills, tickets and letters which has made it easy for biographers to track every aspect of his life according to Dr. Kapustin.

However, after his death, his possessions were split and so tracking the documents can be rather arduous. Nevertheless this habit of Chekhov's has undeniably made the biographer's task easier; "I am sure I can find his train ticket to Kandy if I take the trouble to look for it," says Dr. Kapustin.

"There is even a bill from Queen's Hotel Kandy, where Chekhov enjoyed a meal and wine with a friend."

UNESCO has declared 2010 the Year of Chekhov, noting the fact that he has been published in 112 languages, according to Dr. Kapustin.

"As a playwright, he is equivalent to Shakespeare. His works are very well known in many countries and his plays are produced extensively too. I recently saw a production of the Seagull (play by Chekhov) performed by Kelaniya University students.

They had of course 'Sinhalaised' it a bit but the fact that a play written for a Russian audience more than a 100 years ago could be reproduced in contemporary Sri Lanka says a lot about his mass appeal," notes Dr. Kapustin.

Dr. Kapustin's book which he has spent six years researching and writing and which focuses on Chekhov's travels to the East will be released next year.