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Obituaries in English newspapers

by Padma Edirisinghe

Initially I titled this piece, "Obituaries in English newspapers - their interesting aspect", but felt it was not only too long but sacrilegious too. For example one of these days the reader may come across my name not as a byline under some crazy caption but in the obituary columns if my children, brother to send it and fund it. And were someone to write in that he or she found the obituary interesting I may turn in my grave. Of course there can be no after effects as no one can see the turning act however much I turn and twist there.

Anyway braving criticism I decided to write a piece on the interesting side of obituaries that appear in English newspapers.

The stimulus was provided by the recent death of Dr. Riley Fernando whose sister is a friend of mine. In her appreciation of her brother she had made reference to the famous obituary inserted by him on the demise of Mr. D .E. M. O. Cracy (democracy), inserted after the UNP had lost the elections. The obituary that was later reproduced in the prestigious Readers Digest passed unnoticed for some time and I remember somebody writing in that in a multi-racial and rather Anglicised country like ours, that it was not strange that it could go unnoticed. The point I wish to make too is somewhat along these lines. A majority of those whose deaths are announced in the English newspapers belong to a rather socially selected group.

In the first place to get an obituary into a newspaper, one must have some financial standing cum social standing. Actually if a statistical analysis is to be made it may be even less than a decimal fraction of Lanka's dead population whose names have been publicised in the obituary columns.

Those living in remote villages though they have spent heroic lives battling with day-to-day problems never get that glitter of publicity on their final exit. I remember once noticing a white flag flying in a plummeted valley when on circuit to Badulla. When inquiry was made we were told that someone in the village had died and that was the optimum announcement. It was almost needless for somebody to carry the notice to the newspaper office probably a 50 miles away for the dead one was a nonentity outside the village.

Obituary notices are today made not only to inform far away kith and kin and friends of the bereavement but pardon me, for the publicity of the living too. Then the exact high positions they hold or the foreign countries they live in are given with meticulous care.

When members of the highest strata in Sri Lankan society pass away, generally no obituary notice appears as it becomes a news item with an arresting headline, if the one deceased is very famous the headline reads somewhat as follows, 'Sir John Kotelawala passes away'. But if on the other hand if the deceased is only an aspirant to fame and position the caption may "kindly" read somewhat as follows. "A famous musician passes away". 'A well-known artist makes his exit". In actual fact he or she may not be famous of well-known at all.

There are also curious captions like "Aunt of BCL staffer passes away". But we are straying away from paid obituaries and here the irony lies. The very affluent and powerful are spared the expense of obituary notices for the press does it free for them by way of eye catching news. But there are rare cases when personal obituary notices are inserted even about these deaths, especially when the name of grandchildren and great grandchildren need to be mentioned.

That brings us to another interesting aspect of obituaries i.e. the names and predominant races. Despite the exodus of Burghers to Down Under and other countries that a sizeable section of them remains here is testified by the obituary columns. There does not seem to be a single day that a Burgher male or female has died according to these notices. And invariably the grandchildren carry Eastern names as Vasana, Ramya and Chethana especially if the deceased has inter-married with a Sinhala or Tamil.

Their addresses are mostly urban - centred with a veering towards the suburbs of Colombo. Even in Anglicised Sinhala families the grandchildren carry "Aryan names" that show that names as Henry, Charles, Philip, Rose, Mary and Clara and Angela have become almost absolute. There is heavy Hindu influence on the names of today's grandchildren - Sasheekala, Suresh, Madhu, Radha, Krishnajee etc. Anything goes other than the authentic Sinhala names. A tragic factor to be noticed in the obituaries (other than the innate tragedy involved in the departure of a human) is the phrase "Died under tragic circumstances." After the Pettah bomb blast and the Dehiwala train blast, such obituaries appeared in scores. The victims were mostly those who could have lived another 40 to 50 years.

Another "Died under tragic circumstances" are the lonely elders whose children live abroad earning that all important dough. So the unattended old father or mother either falls down the staircase or into the fire or is hacked to pieces by heartless burglars or is run over by a speed - crazy vehicle when the decrepit and feeble old man or, woman totters to the grocery opposite to purchase his or her basic needs.

But the returned son and daughter tried to make amends by inserting an obituary notice where they serve their own ego too by marginally making reference to the country of their new residence say Canada or England or Australia.

By the way, the writer heard the latest procedure regarding the action of offspring living overseas on the death of a parent who not only brought them to this world but fed and educated them and made men and women out of helpless infants who would have died within an hour of their debut into the world if proper parental care was not provided.

The offspring does not bother even to return to the paradisal island for the parents' last rites, for the air ticket fare has escalated and the journey interferes with scheduled assignments etc. So money is paid in advance to a funeral parlour to stage the rites and even insert the obituary.

Prior info except the date is provided.What clever tricks of the human brain! What horrendous misuses of the magnificent human brain!

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