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| Wednesday, 10 March 2004 |
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A novel of celebration Twins of Sri Lanka "Twins of Sri Lanka" is a story of courage, fortitude and resoluteness of two people, a girl and a boy of tender age who under tragic circumstances lose their parents and who, therefore, take to the road in search of love, care and shelter. The boy, the protagonist of the story, Sarath, is of Sinhalese ethnicity whilst the girl, Mala, Tamil, and because of this difference of the two, they encounter unspeakable difficulties en route as they travel in search of their relations in the south of the country. Entire world of theirs is fighting a war precisely on the ground of those ethnic differences between the people. But the twain (Sarath and Mala) find love between themselves: sibling love. They care and protect each other. With the strength of that love they continue their journey. "Twins of Sri Lanka" is written with great care for detail and being true and faithful to the feelings and sentiments of the youth. It speaks of the fears and anxieties that shroud them. It speaks of the concern that they have for the downtrodden and oppressed, and of the war that can engulf all. It speaks of the dread and fear for a holocaust. It portrays too faithfully of the bearings of young teenagers of today: desire for knowledge, love for each other and, care and respect for the fellow people. Vastness There is a certain Chekhovian vastness about Twins of Sri Lanka. The cry of humanity reverberates through it. The book is written in a forceful language. It speaks to the hearts and minds of the young reader. At times the language is highly poetical. Like my young daughter who after reading the book said, "Something happened to me when I read the book. Like Mala (one of the two protagonists of the story) I feel I too want to make a difference." It must be said too that, considering the prevailing situation in the country, the book is highly topical. Questions It brings to the focus, a number of questions that young people of Sri Lanka today should be asking. At a time when, at least in some quarters, the ethnic divide has become institutionalised and the young people are being force-fed with slogans of hatred and xenophobia, it is important that the books of the calibre of "Twins of Sri Lanka" ask those basic questions that concern us so very profoundly. Twins of Sri Lanka seeks to free the young readers from age-old shackles of ethnocentric and xenophobic thinking and opens up their hearts and minds for a new fellowship. Conflict Despite that all, Twins of Sri Lanka is not a book of the ethnic conflict of Sri Lanka. It is not a book of the gores of war. It is a book, a novel, of celebration: celebration of wisdom, fortitude and courage of the youth of Sri Lanka. As a youth novel, particularly as one such to emerge in Sri Lanka, "Twins of Sri Lanka" is a literary tour de force, a book that must be read in particular by every young man and woman of Sri Lanka. - Edward Wimalatunge **** Back **** |
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