Janaki spins magic for children

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

Clad in white, she emerged from the audience .... like an angel. With her soft lilting voice, the beauty with brains kept the noisy audience spellbound. The children, lost in a fairyland when reading her tales, got to spend a day with their favourite literary icon.

To mark that special day, she had chosen a venue which is shut out for the world, a place which rehabilitates teenagers who were abused, raped and assaulted by adults. Every one wanted to get closer to her and have a photo opportunity to make the meeting memorable.

It was the Ranmuthugala Home for Young Offenders in Kadawatha that Janaki Sooriyarachchi, who is loved by thousands of children, selected to launch her 195th book 'Chootige Saappu Sawariya' (Chooti's shopping tour) to give the message to over 120 girls, her chief guests at the event, that they were not alone. Launching her books at simple ceremonies, to the enjoyment of children of remote schools, is her passion. Janaki takes children to a fairyland through her stories while teaching them moral values and influencing them to read more books.

Glancing through her books, the first big question that came to my mind was how such an array of story ideas, different from each other, were born in one human mind. Her simple answer was, "Each one is different from the other and every one has his/her own talents. It's just a matter of loving what you do and thinking in different ways. I am not special".

It is easy to get the final nod for an interview with anybody, but not with Janaki, who prefers to lead a silent crusade so that at least one child would pick up the habit of reading."I think every child has her or his talents. Every one is unique. The need is to give them a chance to grow while guiding them in the correct path", the girl who never wanted to become 'any one' in future, but read whatever she could read and dreamt a lot to chase away her loneliness in a family full of boys, said.Having chased butterflies that fluttered in the sky ....watched 'tiny bulbs' - fireflies that sparkled at night, stared at stars that decorated the sky thinking that they would fall and make her garden beautiful...listened to birds chirping and water gushing in the nearby waterfall... played with raindrops that made a pool in which paper boats were sailed, the little girl lived in her world of stories which she had woven based on what she had seen in her environs.

Her ancesteral house on a hilltop surrounded by paddy fields and a rubber estate and the 'Puhul Ella' waterfall on the other side in the beautiful hamlet called Puhulwella was a fairyland for little Jankai, who tried to explore nature as the mischievous games - climbing trees, hide-and-seek and fighting - played by her big 'bros' were too hard for her. She spent most of her time in the huge garden, full of flowers and shady trees, which was home for many varieties of birds, butterflies and other creatures.

Pleasure of reading

In her younger age, with no skills yet to pen down her thoughts, she only imagined and murmured songs written in her mind. Sitting on her grandmother's lap, listening to fairy tales and folk stories, the little girl was inspired to read more books and find out more about the heroic characters in the stories told by her achchi.

"Reading is a pleasure, but needs to be cultivated in children by parents. Books that suit the child's age and preferences and not books preferred by parents should be given to children. My Achchi amma's way of telling stories inspired me to read more books", Janaki said.

The little girl lived in her world of imagination and wrote her first book - Api denna - a story on how she and her dolls went to fairyland - when she was barely eight. Today, that 'tiny author', enjoys the experience of releasing her 195th book, and has also entered history by launching Sri Lanka's first digital audio story book - Twinklinka.According to this versatile young literary icon, a good children's book is “a sweet that is wrapped with many good lessons” to influence children to lead better lives. "We all want our children to be good human beings in future. Books are the best tool for this and the books that we give children need to be good books that teach them love, good habits and responsibilities. It is easy to advise them through books rather than in words.

When they like the story, they will read it again and the message will register in their minds", she said.Born to a family with no links to the literary field, Janaki thinks that the small girl who explored the world as a nature detective and enjoyed a free childhood is still alive in her.

"That small girl writes all these books", she chuckles.

Though Janaki says she was just another ordinary child, listening to her one realises that she is an extraordinary person with many talents. The little girl learnt to read when she was barely two and in her curiosity to draw letters and things, she made the walls of her house a drawing board. Her parents never took the budding artist to task.

"I was not a popular student at Visakha Vidyalaya, which I entered after passing the grade five scholarship examination. No one knew I had these talents; only my best friend knew that I can write and draw", said Janaki, who ended up as a banker after passing her banking exams. She later quit her job as she wanted to devote more time to writing books for children.

e-mails from children

The idea of launching the e-book - Twinklinka - was born in her after receiving many e-mails from children who loved her books the world over. "I saw on news that Sri Lanka is facing floods. Are you all right? Take care", she received many such e-mails. e-mails inquiring about her well-being, sending good wishes and asking for her books, poured into her 'Inbox' everyday.

This encouraged her to go hi-tech. "Technology is fast developing and children are a part of it. We need to go with modern technology to convey messages to children", she said.Over 15 of her books have been translated into different languages including French, German, Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic.

She has already created a name for herself internationally after the digital library of the University of Maryland selected to publish her book as its 'book of the day' out of thousands of children's books. It gave her an opportunity to reach children around the world and also gave her the idea of launching Sri Lanka's first e-book site, tikiri.com. Another milestone is a famous Indian literature website ranking three of her books - Emirosy, Fimbo and Dafadilya - among its top ten books for two consecutive years.

Janaki, who does her own illustrations for her books, won the State Literary Award-2007 (Children's Literature-English), Bunka Awards -2005 (Japan - Sri Lanka Cultural Foundation), State Literary Award-2004 (Children's Literature-Sinhala) and State Literary Award-2004 (Children's Literature-English) from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Music and lyrics

Apart from illustrations, she also handles the music and lyrics for her children's song books. Her passion for exploring various fields, inspired her to study different subjects including child psychology, architecture, history, classical music and dancing, music composing, Sinhala poetry, computers, web designing, wood carving, sculpture, landscaping and palmistry. Believe it or not, this story-teller has time to cook her favourite dishes, do gardening, flower arrangements, beauty culture, dress making, embroidery, dress designing, pottery and fabric painting.

A little known fact is she is a Visharada in Bharatha Natyam (Bhathkande Sangith Vidyapathi- Lucknow) and held her Arangethram, classical solo performance too.

Janaki is also an undergraduate of the Bhathkande Sangith Vidyapith in Luknow.

"I like whatever I do and do it with love. They keep me busy and I enjoy them. Time is not a barrier to brush up one's talents, if one is dedicated to what one does.

As children, they need help from their parents to bring out their skills. They need to be given freedom to think", Janaki, who held her first outstation book launch for children in five schools in Samanpitiya, Polonnaruwe said.

Janaki said her greatest joy was seeing a child who couldn't afford books reading her book. " They are very poor and some have never seen books. I am happy when they read my books. I have many little friends who send me letters, call and e-mail me", she said.Her books are loved by all children. She had book launches in Kebithigollewa (during the conflict), Villachchiya, Jaffna, Ampara and Thanamalwila. Two of her books are in Tamil - Thandul and Thamil, and Sem musuru (Big Ant).Janaki's only wish is to write more books for children, to make reading a fascination for them.