Caring for values among expatriates

This collection of 21 short stories in Thamil titled Yaavarum Kealir (All are my Relatives), is Yogeswari Ganeshalingam's second book.

Earlier, she brought out a book titled Naavalar Valiyil Thamil Arignarkal (Thamil Scholars in the Naavalar Tradition) She presents some aspects of life led by former Sri Lankans presently living in foreign climes.

She had visited some of these countries and obtained first-hand information of the pattern of living there and she implicitly draws the distinction between the two kind of living - the one in Yaalpaanam and the other in such countries like Canada, Australia, the U.K. and other European countries.

Without much analysis, I wish to tell the non-Thamil readers what some of her stories are about in this week's column. Understandably, I cannot retell the synopsis of all these stories in such a limited space. As an indicator of what the author is mainly interested in telling these stories, I shall give the main points in the first five stories.

The first five stories

The title story is interesting. A man gone to Canada with his wife and living with their son over there suddenly realizes that he could not adjust himself to the western way of life and with nostalgia returns alone to his native land in Yaalpaanam only to find that nobody recognizes him as people of his generation had all emigrated and entirely new faces were now haunting his familiar faces.

Although he wishes to say that the new faces could also be his relatives of some sort and that all countries are his own country, in actuality, he decides to return to Canada.

Chirappar Viduthi (The Shroff's Home) talks about a son living in London who feels relieved that his aged parents wish to live amongst other native people in Yaalpaanam in an elder's home refurbished from their ancestral mansion. The son first brought his parents to live in a flat in Colombo, when trouble started in the north.

They led an unhappy closed life in the flats, whereas they wanted to mix with their own friends and the familiar neighbourhood. The son later came down to Sri Lanka and repaired and cleaned the house which was neglected during the parents' absence and made it a home for the homeless maintained by him and his friends in London.

Ambaalin Angehaaram (The Approval of the Goddess) - is about the story of a youth, Seelan, who escaped death from the armed forces in Yaalpaanam and went to Switzerland having paid huge sums to a local agency. He now returns to his native land after 10 years having earned a lot of money and settling all his debts.

He brought with him his own money and money collected from his friends in Switzerland to contribute to the renovation of a temple of the Goddess. The amount was one million rupees, but he gives half of this amount to the parents of his best friend who was killed by the armed forces to be given as a dowry to the sister of his friend, and begs the Goddess to forgive him.

Pattal Thaan Thetiyum (Only Experience can Teach) - is about an ageing Lankan living in Australia for 30 years. His son Murali was four years when he came to Australia and now he is more than 30 years. He is a typical Australian. This man Sundaram, son of a farmer left his parents in Sri Lanka to lead a comfortable life in Australia.

He did not have any family bond with his parents who brought him up. Now Sundaram's own son wants to emigrate to the U.S. to better his prospects leaving his parents alone in Australia. It's only then that Sundaram realizes that just as he was selfish, his own son is also selfish.

Sugamaana Sonthangal (Comfortable Realtionship) is about the meeting of two women from Yaalpaanam - one a poor woman now become sophisticated having worked in Germany and living in London with her mother and the other her neighbour in Yaalpaanam, a rich woman now living in London with her husband who wishes to get back to his native land.

They meet at a London shopping complex and surprise each other. The idea suggested is that in foreign climes life is comfortable than living in Yaalpaanam.

The key points

The belated realization that the spouse is dear to a woman born in Yaalpaanam; an illiterate woman is puzzled when her granddaughter in Australia had dyed her hair red as her own daughter's hair was naturally not black; the belated realization that getting the son married to some one who would love her would have been better than getting him married to a girl who is above her own status; the loneliness of an old woman in a strange land with different life-style and the eventual positive attitude in teaching the young ones with hymns and thus driving away the loneliness; the changes in approaches to marriage and the inevitability of parents falling in line with the children's likes and dislikes.

In another story the experiences of two women in Canada are shown in regard to bringing up their children. One woman is conservative and believes in traditional values, the other is adaptable to western way of living.

While the children of the former do well in studies the children of the other bring in their lovers home, much to the dislike of the mother.

Their respective lovers are Black and Guyanese.

Changes in attitudes

If these stories show the emigration of middle and lower middle class and poor people to foreign countries out of fear of living in their own land, even though they might not have been educated or sophisticated, the stories also show their quick transition to inevitable adaptation to an entirely new way of life.

Some traditionally rooted in their own soil find it difficult to live in the west and have nostalgic feelings, but soon they realize that the old way of life has changed in their own native land too. The loneliness of the aged in such countries, the entire shocking experiences with the younger generation that is more western than Sri Lankan are some of the problems that the writer implicitly exposes.

The locale in some stories is Yaalpaanam. The rich elder brother and the poor younger brother without any bond of relationship is the theme in one story. The loss of family life and love of a popular doctor who earns fabulously but tiring himself all day is yet another story.

The relief that one has a home in Yaalpaanam to go back even if you are driven away from Colombo is the idea in another story. A housemaid returns from Abhu Dhabi having been ill-treated by the master and decides not to go again for a job abroad. But after sometime she decides to go again to another country as a housemaid as her stay in Yaalpaanam is much more dangerous in a war situation.

One other story is about a domestic servant in an affluent family. ( The writer could have used the word "Thirappu" instead of "Thurappu" and "Muttam" instead of "Muththam"). She is neglected and she remained a spinster. As a surprise at the end she openly and willingly goes with the driver in the house to look after his child that is without a mother.

A mother living in Colombo after the troubles in Yaalpaanam wishes to go back there but her memory of losing her son and money in the bank during a bank robbery haunts her. It is the substance of another story.

The precarious situation of a labourer without any money unable to buy bread for his hungry child in a pouring rain as bread was not available at a belated hour whereas he first buys imported butter to his master's child. That is another story. In a different story the lack of empathy from the masters of a domestic servant is described.

Another is a story of a woman who works in Singapore and looks after her family for more than two years. But none of them had thought about her personal life of getting her married. And the last story is about the affluent living of a not so educated man behaving like a gentleman. He works abroad. In reality he is engaged in anti-social activities and is arrested by the police when he came to Sri Lanka.

Attention needed

These stories are simple and fine observations of some aspects of life of the Thamil people. I would have preferred the writer paying more attention to the craft of short story writing and being specific on the relevant theme rather than jumping from one factor to the other. However, these stories reveal the personality of the writer: her idealism and care for good values.

A Thamil Honours graduate from Peradeniya University and later with a master's degree, Yogeswari's first story appeared in a collection called Vinnum Mannum (The Heaven and the Earth) published by the undergraduates some 40 years ago. She taught at Yaalpaanam College (Jaffna College) and later at the University of Yaalpaanam.

Having lived in Thamilnadu in India for sometime, she returned to Sri Lanka some three years ago. What she records in this collection is her impressions of the changes that are taking place within the Thamil community and her fervent wishes to re-establish the inherent values.

She is married to an engineer, who is himself is a researcher on Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. They have three children and grandchildren. The book is available from her. Contact telephone Number: 2362242.

Contact: [email protected] or 2587617

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