' Waiting' –An emotional landscape captured in retrospect and pictured with significant symbolisms

By Dilshan BOANGE

The word ‘I’, its monosyllabic virtue of singularity which seems to be the most impactful expression to denote the individual in his solitariness, is an opening I find rather compelling in a prose narrative. This impression of ‘I’ as a potent opening word for a story struck me as captivating in Booker prize winning author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s short story “Expiation” (from the collection of stories titled “East into Upper East”). And it is with this same compelling word ‘I’, that even in its singularity can ‘mean the world’ to anyone.

Dr. Siri Galhenage

The work of short fiction “Waiting” by Dr. Siri Galhenage crafts his text from the first person narrative spoken by the character who is presented in the story as the ‘son of Senerath Dissanayake.’ The touching story recounted by a man who obviously had a very impressionable experience in bonding with an eminent and revered figure in his village, which is recalled at the poignant moment of attending a funeral, begins with a line that bespeaks of the sadness and pensive solitariness of the narrator who says to the reader –“I was probably the last to leave the cemetery.”

The narrator’s psyche

The psyche presented by the author (Dr.SG) of the narrator who becomes a vista that provides a view on several themes (such as loneliness and isolation, generation gap, social mobility) seems one that is trying to deal with an episode of his past that clearly had moved him in many ways and shaped his outlooks and world of experience. The fact that the deceased school teacher Mrs. Harriet Gamlath was a revered educationist and a socially ‘upper rung’ figure in the community makes the centrally focused character a person who is looked up to and the chance to associate with becomes a privilege and very much an opportunity to develop newer learning experiences from a social vantage that cannot be got through school text book lessons. In fact the narrator says he thought the chance to associate with her and be entertained at her house locally dubbed –‘Guru gedara’, would be beneficial to him. The line from the story that speaks of this sentiment is –“I began to appreciate and feel benefited by my acquaintance with this lady whom I came to realize was of great ‘social worth’.” This line could be indicative of a sentiment related to the narrator’s conceptions of his own ‘social image’ within the community. After all if you are ‘judged by the company you keep’, then the young Dissanayake had much to gain in the eyes of society as well. Being entertained by a person the caliber of Harriet Gamlath would be very much an ‘image booster’. And on another level the idea of ‘social worth’ could be interpreted as being potent in valuable knowledge that is very markedly of a social dimension (which could possibly be read as the wider idea of historical and cultural angles as well) in the likes of what can be learnt from an old storyteller in a community who is a repository of folk history and cultural information whose orally transmitted knowledge is very much an educative process.

Mutually beneficial association

What is notable is that the space for this beneficial association was very much a two way path. Mrs. Gamlath’s need for human companionship to fill her dismally desolate world which was receding in its social vibrancy in her old age, was greatly benefited by the patient ear and caring heart that was found in the narrator. This association shows how persons from two generations developed propinquity when mutually beneficial factors come into effect. And what can also be noted is that it was the void in Mrs. Gamlath’s life that allowed young Dissanayake an entry point to develop an association, for the text does not necessarily say that on the social scale the narrator and Mrs.Gamlath would be positioned as ‘family friends’.

Funeral orations and social values

As a cultural product the text can be appreciated for being a narrative that gives descriptivism of rituals and (social) practices which illustrates certain Sinhala funeral customs. The juncture where the local politico also indicates his desire to mark his presence with a mini funeral oration of his own (but is politely ‘dissuaded’ by the family elder on account of the deceased’s wish to keep things to a minimum) is telling of the contemporary milieu and how glorifying eulogies by politicos can be viewed. Some may feel highly elevated when such figures offer to ‘speak a few words’ at a funeral, whereas others may tend to shy away from such prospects on account of various ‘social values’. It is very telling of perspectives on such matters as what ‘value’ is added by such ‘figures’? And can also be a statement of perspectives related to social calibers and class.

Cultural insights into funeral rites

One of the notable cultural insights that this short story by Dr.SG can provide to an overseas reader of Montage is the detailed descriptions is provides of funeral rites according to Sinhala Buddhist ritualism. The step by step process description of the last rites being performed can be educative to those who seek cultural knowledge through the medium of fiction. The true to life details of the –mala batha the gathering of friends and relatives at the house where the funeral had been which marks a ceremonial end to the wake (and perhaps to an extent the mourning as well) and is sometimes seen as the last meal of rice offered in the name of the deceased to those who are close to the family, can be seen as depictive of the contemporary Social and cultural milieu, which again can be a window to understand Sri Lankan customs and ways. Developing on the discussion line of the depictions of Sinhala customs and rituals connected with death and funeral rites, I would like to mention another angle related to the custom of the mala batha which may be of some cultural knowledge value. Many today are of the notion that the mala batha is a Sinhala Buddhist ritual very much generic in its practice. However the fact is that according to Kandyan customs there is no mala batha offered to friends and relatives who return to the house where the funeral wake had been. And after the place where the cortege had been kept, is washed with saffron mixed water, a simple par taking of tea and biscuits as refreshments may follow, but not a meal of rice.

The funeral pyre and the last rite ritualism, the image of the ‘guru gedara’ and even the image of Harriet Gamlath herself can be seen as symbols that capture a socio-cultural landscape that Dr.SG as the author has woven into the text thus making it a narrative that presents a notable set of symbolisms. And the fact that the very poignant and personally moved tone of the narrator is very clear makes the text unfold what can be said to be an emotional landscape. After all nostalgia is one of the most prominent elements that can be discerned from the tones of the narrator’s voice.

Dialogue structure

One aspect that may seem as having room for improvement in my opinion is the dialogue structure of the text. The somewhat formal wordings of some dialogues between the narrator and Harriet Gamlath do not appear to be all that natural and more of less present a prosaic quality. If one my suggest that the tonal difference between the narrative’s prose and a spoken dialogue between characters if made more visible in a true to life form may present a greater immediacy to the narrative’s lifelikeness.

The other side of migrant writing

Dr.SG has touched on a theme that I believe has very thought provoking substance in relation to the literary genre known as ‘Migrant writing’. Though the narrator by no means tells a story that fits into the category of a piece of Migrant writing, the story provides perspective on what affectations overseas migrations cause to family, especially elderly parents. Present day trends in overseas migrations may create a whole generation of the like of Harriet Gamlath who may not be fortunate enough to have the material comforts that the revered educationist did not lack. In this context Dr.SG has touched on the ‘other side’ of Migrant writing. The story of those who are left, and left ‘waiting’.

The ending certainly gives one the feeling that the narrator views the past as a handful of memories that are rekindled somewhat in silent sadness at the sight of an image, a symbol (Guru gedara) that had meant much to the writer in forming a moving and impressionistic episode in his life as a young man. And then of course there is that saddening end where the writer has sought to evoke through the narrator’s voice; an element that borders on myth and urban legend –the vanished pet dog whose ghostly presence is rumoured to keep watch, in dutiful loyalty.

A dutifulness that even the children of Mrs. Gamalth’s did not treat as sacrosanct.