Profiling Sri Lanka for posterity
Sri Lanka A guide to the resplendent island
Author: Siri Ipalawatte
A Sarasavi Publication
Reviewed by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa
“Janani Janma Bhumischa Swarsadapi Gariyasi”
‘One must honour one's mother and one's motherland, more than heaven
itself.
National Motto of the Nepal Kingdom
To feel the fullness of one's true humanity, one must stand steadily
on the sacred soil of one's own motherland.
The warmth of your native land nourishes you. The very air you
breathe, in the land of your birth, suffuses your whole being with a
fresh and ever-renewing verse and vitality.
One may travel far and wide and may roam the earth, leaving the
soul-soothing coziness of one's mother country behind. But, if he has
imbibed the ethereal spirit of that chosen country, it will remain in
the inner recesses of his being, indelibly for ever.
Such a fervent diasporic patriot will invariably harbour a keener
ardour for the land of his birth, then a person who continued to live in
his home country for scores of years. Such an entrenched resident is so
familiar with the land of his birth that he is not enchanted by its
allure.
On the other hand, the traveller, constantly refers to the memory of
his native land. These cherished images sharpen his yearning for the
land in which he was born.
That kind of person, at times to covert his yearnings into writing.
If such a writer gets tempted to embelish his impressions of his
country, that too is understandable.
But, to my utter surprise, I came upon a work of a diasporic Sri
Lankan, who profiles the island comprehensively with a sober, scholarly
restraint and academic logicality.
Adoration
In the first instance, this work emerges from his undiminished
adoration of his mother country. But he never allows illogical emotional
effusiveness to take the upper hand.
The outcome is a responsible, carefully crafted work of scholarly
depth.
The book bears the title Sri Lanka – A guide to the resplendent
island.
The author, Dr. Siri Ipalawatte, has garnered a multiplicity of
academic distinctions, from prestigious institutions – both here and
abroad. To my mind, the tone of the work, seems that of a owner of a
rare treasure-trove, who displays it to his intimate friends, speaking
in a hashed, awe-filled accents.
The contents reflect an exceptionally deployed planning skill.
The frontispiece is a map of Sri Lanka indicating significant sites.
Clarity
The text of the book is distinguished by its clarity of expression.
The reader will be especially grateful to the author for the telling
detail provided, enabling an authritative view to be established.
The lavish illustrative matter enhances the effectiveness of the
text. The tabulated information is exceptionally user-friendly.
Tables indicating the details of mountains, rivers and waterfalls for
instance, are a vivid example of the ready information the work
provides.
Each section of the book is, in a way, a little book by itself. The
author traces the history of the land, highlighting certain areas, that
conventional historical books may not generally dwell upon.
In a few pithy and succinct passages, the author gives an impressive
resume of the early history of the land. This kind of remarkable
approach to the subject matter is the dominant characteristic of this
work.
The author describes the work as “A guide.”
It could very well be that the author long familiar with the needs of
people abroad who wish to be kept informed about Sri Lanka crafted the
book primarily with the foreign reader in mind.
But, my considered view of the matter is that Dr. Siri Ipalawatta's
work is quite an effective vade mecum even for local people, when they
travel about in the country as domestic tourists, bent on pilgrimage or
pleasure-tours.
Over and above such guidance, this is 'must’ reading for most Sri
Lankans, as they are getting alarmingly alienated from their indigenous
heritage, in the slip-stream of developments.
The work is so thorough that the another if he so wishes can
challenge anyone to show some issue he has not focussed upon.
The format of the book is an easy-to-use print version.
Though the book is modest in size, its deluxe information, supplied
with an appealing combination of apt text-and-image, can very well claim
the stature of a minor coffeetable publication.
After my in-depth perusal of this pragmatic and aesthetically
satisfying guide book, I have a suggestion for the author.
He could select some of the more important sections of the book and
print them as separate well-illustrated publications. Some readers may
value such a series.
We must invite this kind of diaspora member to visit the mother
country more often and to produce further works, in terms of what they
yearn for in their inheritance, when it is viewed from a diasporic and
of course, nostalgic perspective. |