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| Sunday, 15 December 2002 |
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Trilogy of triangular dilemma Trilogy Quipped an acquaintance on the title of a book, ie. "The guide to a successful marriage". That contains no doubt very instructional material, but it stalls the floodgates of novels, teledramas and films". How come, I asked naively. "Because most of the abovementioned literary and artistic creations are nourished on ruined marriages and broken love affairs. Have you ever read a novel or watched a film theme around a marriage or love affair running like a well-oiled machine? No, the fuel has to be supplied by chaos, by sorrow, by frustrations, by disillusionment, by remorse, by anger - in short by all the negative mental factors". I neither agreed nor disagreed. But this dialogue seeped into my memory while reading the trilogy of novels penned by Eileen Siriwardena. Human drama of the calibre of which this trilogy is made of i.e. the eternal triangular dilemma between a man, a woman and the other one (a male or a female) has been enacted over epochs of human history in every clime and time transcending all geographical barriers and at all social levels. At the lowest social level the dilemma is made short shrift manually and quickly. One hardly comes across in this society a female indulging in deep retrospective ruminations that tend towards the philosophical as the main female heroine Pushpa does in the trilogy. Pushpa belongs to the upper class or upper middle class, moves about from her childhood with top professional strata and spends a good part of her life in England. Hence her sandwiched state between two men, one her husband and the other, her former lover is dealt with esoterically in keeping with her status. However the society Eileen Siriwardena the well-known award-winning novelist deals with, is a sequestered society in that despite its upper or upper middle class character it is a society steeped in a deeply Buddhistic religious ethos and is not a depraved society. (the book "From nobodies to Somebodies" by Kumari Jayawardena traces cleverly the transition of our upper class from a foreign-flavoured entity to a more locally-oriented entity. That our upper class owes its antecedents to imperialism and has no deep roots going beyond is a fact acknowledged by many a sociologist) That kind of society where the main characters make their quotations from Buddhist stanzas and not from the Bard or G.B. Shaw or Hemingway find its first focus on our literary scenario more or less by this author. But even this religious background does not prevent men and women from messing up their lives, though the mess exhibits a civilized restraint. In short nobody manhandles another, even the verbal assaults display a polish of its own. Characters as that of Saadhu (formely Lalith) who turns preacher cum meditation guide plus social reformer while a mistress walks in and out of the backdoor of his hermitage gives a peep into the depravities that can occur under the shroud of holiness. Incidentally it is the first of this trilogy ie. White flowers for the dead (English version of Ahasin Polowata), that was made into a film by Dr. Lester James Peries and went on to win the best Third World Film at the Cairo International Film Festival. It can also be considered the best out of the trilogy for the portrayal of the main character, Dr. Sarath has been crafted so delicately. Dr. Sarathchandra writing a blurb on this book states. "The slow-moving emotional drama of the hero's emotional life is set against the various domestic complications of his family members. This provides a true picture of the uprooted lives of our upper middle class" Dr. Lester Peries finds a unique cinematic challenge in the book, for the narrative brings the dead wife of the protagonist back to life "through its interlocking memories, through the prison of his subconscious mind. It's like a mosaic of images, scenes, incidents, from a past buried through guilt. 'The second book "On perilous seas' is narrated in the first person unfolding itself via the interior monologue of the story teller who is the sister of the Dead, who makes a sacrifice of her genuine love to retrieve her brother-in-law. What follows in this book and the next "Another dawn was breaking" are a dramatic saga of the repercussions of this decision dominated by the narrator's bouts of repentance as well as the emotional traumas she undergoes. It rises itself at one instance into a dramatic crisis that interlocks three lives (making one wonder what happens next) but the crisis subsides, as was mentioned due to the social background of high professionalism and religious restraint. This same plot could be degenerated into a third class literary production by lesser hands but Eileen Siriwardena with her expertise has done it with style and her own professional approach. Incidentally she is one of the very few educationalists in our country who has blossomed out to creative writing making use of her retirement to invest it in the literary enrichment of the country through both Sinhala and English. All the three books in the trilogy had been written by her earlier in Sinhala.
Pastoral melodies : Song of Lanka and Sunil Gee "There is a noted dissimilarity between begging and getting help. While what should be done is to draw only the mere necessities from external riches to fashion a music mode of our own, we also have among us, the cringing and the unashamed, who reiterate that we have no might to devise something out of the ordinary and still claim certain foreign modes of music as our own." - Sunil Santha. "Song of Lanka" and "Sunil Gee" were offspring of Sunil Santha, at a time when the soft-demeanoured music visionary was carving a new chapter in the history of Sinhala music, blending local folk with western and indian schools in an era when the term "composer" merely stood for no other than the man who fitted Sinhala words into Indian tunes. "Song of Lanka" put his best-loved pastoral melodies "Mage Sudu Olu Male", "Lanka-Lanka", "Mihikatha Nalawala" and "Vesak Mihira" into western polyphonic harmonisation, which he explained was "to help everyone of my Motherland to appreciate the message of our music." The third edition of the book is now released priced at Rs. 90. "Sunil Gee" brings a wisp of past pastoral enchantment to contemporary local children, now bred more on a hybridity of techno-music and loosely-arranged lyrics, the amazing lilt and the untainted beauty Sunil captured from nature and the innocence of the child world through the extremely lyrical "hela basa". The fourth edition, priced at Rs. 80, is approved for libraries by the Ministry of Higher Education. Both books are published by Deelaka Art Printers, Nugegoda.
Stimulating work on civil procedure of Sri Lanka Law Relating To Civil Procedure. Volume I by Kalinga Indratissa Kalinga Indratissa, a busy practitioner of the law and a lecturer at the Sri Lanka Law College has done an excellent job in presenting to students and lawyers a slim and easy to read but very authoritative book on Civil Procedure which is very comprehensive and extensive in coverage. Delving deep into his legal acumen, Kalinga has presented all the valuable points of Civil Procedure replete with the most current case laws supplemented by provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. A hallmark of this easy to read book is the arrangement of chapters and the ready availability of information. The book begins with a general introduction to the history of Civil Procedure in Sri Lanka and dwells on the background that necessitated the need for Civil Procedure. The chapters follow very systematically in a well laid out manner and cover all the major aspects and salient points of Civil Procedure beginning with the initial position where an action could be instituted and includes the limitations of the Civil Procedure Code and continues up to judgement, decree and amendment of decree. All legal provisions relating to the law are covered. Every point is comprehensively explained in a lucid manner with word economy. It is simple and easy to understand. It must be noted that the last publication on Civil Procedure was written way back in 1971. Since then much development has taken place in Civil Procedure and many don't have access to the current trends and practices of Civil Procedure. In fact, many are lost in the chaos created and stumped in their progress of the law. Kalinga's timely book on the subject fills the void very neatly indeed. It is current, contemporary and stimulates the reader into greater vistas of learning. Kalinga has dedicated this book to Sarath N. Silva, PC, the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. He has also thanked K.M.M.B. Kulatunga PC former Solicitor General and Judge of the Supreme Court K.C. Kamalasabayson PC and many others. A special word of thanks is reserved for Ms. Lasanthi Daskoni and a team of lawyers who were helpful in the production of the book. Finally he appreciates the tolerance on the part of his wife Samanthee and his two daughters Dinendri and Rashmini who were instrumental in creating the proper ambience and atmosphere to pen his thoughts on paper. Mahes Salgado |
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