A southern tortured soul cries out loudly
Tortured Island
Author: Malinga H. Gunaratne
Sarvodaya Vishva Lekha Publishers
INDEED I felt honoured when I was asked to write a review about
Malinga H. Gunaratna's latest book Tortured Island.
Then my second thought was, how to write critically about this highly
controversial and political book as I am a German: A foreigner should
not get involved in and write-even constructive criticism - about
politics in Sri Lanka as foreigners doing so could still be declared a
"persona non grata" and kicked out of the country.
However, as a foreigner living here for the last 11 years I have
every right to gather information to understand my second motherland.
And Tortured Island is a precious piece of work adding to my attempts
of cognizance of what is going on in Sri Lanka, of what has happened so
far, of the feelings of the people. Malinga H. Gunaratne is one of such
people, a true son of the southern soil without question.
Curiously I started to read the last chapter to find out the
conclusion of the author's 205 pages effort to deal with the history,
the recent past and present of his beloved motherland.
The headline "It is not the end" does not disclose whether he is
optimistic or pessimistic about Sri Lanka's future. Actually it is a
synopsis of the hard-hitting chapters of the book.
However, to me the final lines of the book sound conciliatory and
hopeful, because the author has chosen a poem of W. S. Senior - the
second poem of the famous English poet in this book - to conclude this
publication:
The Call of Lanka
But most shall he sing of Lanka
In the brave new days that come
When the races all have blended
And the voice of strife is dumb
When we leap to a single bugle
March to a single drum
Hard hitting
Now my fingers were racing over the headlines of contents. Where to
start? The headlines of the 17 chapters are already appetizers.
Eventually I was not prepared for what I read although I have read
Malinga H. Gunaratne's other book "For a Sovereign State" some time
back, which was not as hard hitting, but this book is a full knock out
blow.
This outspoken man from the South narrates important, dramatic parts
of his colourful life, discloses his opinions and confronts the reader
with his way of thinking.
He reveals his very own, sometimes dangerous harrowing experience in
an exciting and understanding way. He does not mince even one of his
words and he does not miss any punch.
In "Tortured Island" he verbally wallops politicians, clergy,
culture, friends and enemies of the "sovereign" State, I wonder whether
he has spared anybody?
Atrocious times
Having been an editor of a leading German daily by myself I recognize
the stature of Malinga H. Gunaratne as a no holds barred author.
I admire the fact that he is a steadfast and devoted Sri Lankan who
cares for the well-being of his beloved motherland. In his book he is
expressing his inner feelings, he is exposing his tortured soul to the
gentle reader.
Naturally I was keen to read the chapters about the LTTE and JVP.
About the first ones, because I want to get to know more different
points of view to really understand the sense of this brutal, inhuman
war with its present fragile ceasefire.
The latter ones, because my husband himself was a victim of the
southern insurgents as well and has plenty of experience. Reading what
has happened is quite different to listening what has happened.
Now I do understand much better the atrocious times my husband went
through after he survived three attempts of his life and finally lost
almost everything after his ancestral estate bungalow was mercilessly
burnt down, his estate devastated, his life shattered for some time. A
horrible past - beyond human imagination.
Chapter 12 attends to an important, might be even vital, ingredient
of Sri Lankan culture and tradition: Astrologers, Soothsayers,
Witchcraft, Mumbo-Jambo, Hocus-pocus. Auspicious times and horoscopes
are fragments of the daily life in Sri Lanka.
Astrology was an admired art centuries back. It is true that there
are a lot-not all-of money oriented fraudsters and hocus-pocus clowns
among those who predict the future. But isn't it true too that belief
can move mountains?
And it is so that many people, almost an entire nation can't do
without "magic", if it is a part of their ancient valued culture, I feel
one has to respect it, if one cannot accept it. Ridiculing does not make
matters better. Even in Germany more and more people feel attached to
astrologers and soothsayers by the day.
When it comes to the religion again public disparagement is not the
way to criticize the actions and antics of various clergymen and their
lackeys.
More public sensibility and intensive personal dialogues with the
people in question might be a more fruitful way of changing the
attitudes and creating more awareness, might be a way to find a common
path of understanding.
These two examples show without any doubt the frustration and
disappointment of the author about the current situation - they reflect
the loss of values and moral and to which extent the country has come
down today in comparison with the rich history of days gone by.
What makes this book so controversial also is that the author voices
his views and impressions so blatantly and frankly. He ventilates
countrywide, what many think and talk about in close circles, but don't
dare say loudly.
Unfortunately in Sri Lanka voicing his or her political view openly
is life threatening. Still people are murdered in cold blood if they
practise their freedom of expression with words, not with bullets.
Sharp words
This very interesting book is a subjective, very personal testimony
written with great passion by the author in the best of interests of his
motherland.
After reading it is crystal clear to me that Malinga H. Gunaratne
could not any longer watch helplessly and with anger what is happening
around him.
Instead of being silent he chose his most powerful tool, his sharp
words to write this book. I am sure "Tortured Island" will encourage
many heated and, most important, fruitful discussions.
As a foreigner I got to know much more about Sri Lanka. Yes, the
current situation and how it came that far I understand better now. But
after finishing this book I have in fact much more questions to ask than
before.
With great curiosity, I am looking forward to the next book.
In chapter 7 the sub headline reads "Patriotism is the refuge of the
scoundrel". My Oxford Dictionary, however, explains a patriot as "a
person who loves her or his country, especially one who is ready to
defend it against an enemy: a true patriot".
For me Malinga H. Gunaratne is a true patriot, because that is what
he is verbally doing from the bottom of his southern heart, defending,
even more, trying to save the tortured island of Sri Lanka.
I certainly do agree with the headline of the last chapter: It is not
the end.
-Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme
The writer, German born Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme, has been living in
rural Weligama for the last 11 years. She has worked for the Frenczy
Press Agency in Munich and later became an editor of one of Germany's
leading daily newspapers "Neue Ruhr/Rhein Zeitung", WAZ Group Essen.
She is a member of the English Writers' Cooperative of Sri Lanka.
Today she works as a bilingual freelance journalist publishing in German
and English. Since 2001 she is working fulltime for the Jayawickreme
Foundation, a charity, which helps the poor and needy in Weligama.
Four Kandyan Families launch tomorrow
VIJITHA YAPA Publications will launch the company's 100th publication
Four Kandyan Families in Kandy tomorrow (July 23).
Written by Sunil J. Madugalle, a teacher of history and political
science, the book is a genealogical study within the historical
background and the geographical spread of the Kandyan Kingdom.
It contains a social history cum genealogy of four Kandyan families
of the upper nobility; the Ehelepolas of Matale, the Madugalles of
Dumbara, and the Katugahas and Rambukpothas of Uva. The latter three are
intimately connected to the author, whereas the Ehelepolas appear to
have been selected independently for comparative purposes.
The launch will take place at the Governor's Secretariat and
Governor's Residence, Palace Square, Kandy at 4 p.m. on July 23. The
chief guest is M.C. Gopallawa, Governor of the Central Province.
In the book, Madugalle covers the three fundamentals of family
histories, the traditional demand that a story must revolve around a
hero or heroine that it needs a well-known historical event to rally
round the common lore that has been passed down to generations and
thirdly that the story should contain doses of folk and family-lore.
Sunil J. Madugalle was born in 1942 into a dignified Kandyan
Sinhalese family and educated at Trinity College, Kandy.
He obtained his B.A. (Arts) degree from the University of Ceylon
Peradeniya and was later handpicked to join the academic staff of
Trinity College.
He is the co-founder of the twice international-award winning Trinity
College National drum and Dance Troupe and was the initiator and manager
of Sri Lanka's first ever and only collaborative project launched by a
school in association with a state department, the Manikdena
Archaeological Reserve and Arboretum Development Project in Dambulla.
In 1989 he was invited by the then President of Sri Lanka to pen his
first literary work on the life and times of Raja, the Sri Dalada
Maligawa Tusker, Sri Lanka's one and only pachyderm declared a national
treasure. In his retirement he is engaged in the studies of history of
the Kandyan Kingdom in Sri Lanka. |