More short stories from the award winner
 

by Prof.Sunanda Mahendra

'The Cross Connections and other stories' is the title of the latest collection of short stories by the award winning short story writer Kamani Jayasekara [Godage 2005]. She was the recipient of the State literary award for the best English short story for her collection of stories 'A Dog's Life' in 2002.

Being a bilingual writer she has so much to express and she does it in the manner she is used to say without paying much heed to either the conventional rules or the more modernisms propagated these days by a group of trendsetters in the name of post modernism, for she has both an experience for a rounded story and a structure of its own to the point that a reader may feel that she has written most of the day to day experiences of middle class family patterns where for the most part one may find a sensitive protagonist who looks at things in a different manner, may it be a serious issue or a trivial one.

Perhaps she is apologetic about what she expresses which causes her to say in her preface the following, 'Dear reader, please do not believe that all experiences in the stories are out of my personal diary. If it was really so, my life would have been rich and spicy indeed.

If some one is driven to think so I have no complaints. I take it as a complaint as according to Plato and Muses are magnets that attract iron rings of which the reader is the last'. As she further states, she has a 'cathartic effect in her writing'

All these go to say that Kamani Jayasekara as a writer has her own way of _expression, her own creative forms of writing, which we should take note of.

Out of the 15 short stories included in this collection, I felt that the title story 'cross connections' is a rare specimen which examines the grim and seamy side of the breeding of domestic pets like dogs and the 'kind hearted humans' who so involved in their life in order to make a better pedigreed creatures for their own sake.

As a reader, I felt that the story touches on two layers, the upper narrative layer of the middle class social values are imbibed, and the second layer, the degree to which the humans are bent on erasing off their isolation with pets, and sustain a certain gravity of security for themselves.

The creative spark of Jayasekara is kindled mostly in her nostalgic moments with the ancestral house or with events from the past such as a revisit to a place gone earlier.

She goes down the memory lane bringing experiences of the past fusing with those in the present attempting to make a poetic experience rather than a conventional story with a plot. Stories such as 'A Flash of Reality' [p19-23], A Candle in the Wind [p.39-43] and 'Spice in Life' [p58-62] are examples belonging to this calibre of narratives.

A number of stories revolve round the experiences in the university campus life where the student teacher relations are highlighted [Holy Bliss p52-57], the occasional academic and other events like the freshers being introduced to their respective faculty streams [The Inside Stories p24-28] and memorable qualities of specified tutors and lecturers [Songs Unsung 32-38] are retold in creative terms, some in the form of stream of conscience and others in the form of simple straight narratives.

The writer Jayasekara touches on sensitive subject areas such as disillusionment, frustration, isolation and the minor frailties in day to life with a certain tinge of irony and humour. Some stories are studies in innerness where an ideology is examined analytically or in a dialogue form notable for the power of _expression down the centuries [A Very Long Story p.62-63].

The story titled 'Tsunami' [p71] is an attempt to link the thought streams between the devastations in the historic past and those in the present.

A conversation between a wife and a husband, the television coverage, events from real life, political uprisings, ethnic issues, religious feelings, superstitions, man and animal interactions bringing to the fore tales in Jatakas and Aesop's and other aspects are intermixed depicting the hopelessness and frustrations faced by victims of tsunami in a picturesque montage.

The author Jayasekara makes us think once again that the role of the writer is the very basic human _expression regardless of barriers for she works with sometimes improbable situations and fantastic motifs like the type in some fables. She seems to be conscious of what she tries to express however trivial the experience is.

I would hope that the publishers and authors should pay more heed to their texts in proof reading for howlers may cause unnecessary interpretation to the reader.

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Poet on a journey of introspection

Ogha Tharanaya
Author: Sunanda Mahendra
Fast Publishing (Pvt) Ltd., Colombo 10.
112 pages. Price Rs. 150

What is a poem ? Definitions are many. Yet reading a new poem, one might have to put away the old, familiar definitions at times; it is the nature of poem.

The poems in Ogha Tharanaya - Sunanda Mahendra's new collection of poems-this is his fourth book of poetry-should be read in this light. Certainly they need a new definition. As found very often in present day poetry, one would not find any political or aesthetic agenda in them. Rather, the poems of Ogha Tharanaya seem peculiarly personal.

Through the poems he seeks himself. The poet seems to have found a friend in poem to bear his heart out; to cleanse himself. He is on a journey of introspection; he travels to dark, deep corners of his memory and his conscience.

This journey relieves and comforts him. The Wordsworthian definition of poetry - that poem is spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions - would fit in here not completely; the emotions which the 19th century English Romantic poet spoke of are spontaneous; thereby they are raw; like rough cut diamonds.

Whereas, the poet in Ogha Tharanaya deals with emotions, life experiences which have been nurtured in him. they have been pondered over, weighed, analyzed and sorted out. Moreover, They are studded with precious materials he has picked up from years of living and learning.

Very often, you find in the poems that the poet is in search of some outlet through which he could receive life with equanimity; though it be an acceptance not without a tinge of melancholy, and an undertone of confession at times. This tone seems to comfort him. 'Mataka Pota' (the book of remembrances- p. 83) reverberates this underlying tone.

He says: 'I searched; read many books. But I could not find the solace I needed. Then, when I turned the Big Book of Time which is in my memory, I was comforted'. It is the shadow of this selfsame search cast over many poems in this collection. A mood of resignation and repentance overpowers the other sentiments projected. It is not the repentance similar in anyway to that of any dogma, but a kind of nihilism which reigns in his innermost self.

Precious things

Going round the world he collects - not precious things - but trifles. A blade of grass, a reed, some sands and stones. Before he reaches his destination, he loses the pouch with the trifles in it.

- Pesa - (The Pouch - p. 82) A short but powerful poem, conveying the meaninglessness of materialistic life the poet had been pursuing. He is sorrowful because he realizes that it was knowing very well the meaninglessness he pursued it.The Tide (p. 50)

"The tide is rough. He is overcome by fear and self-doubt, he feels lonely and helpless. His strong attachments make things difficult for him. "Will they die ? Will they perish within their own lives ?" He feels as if his near and dear ones are around somewhere hidden, watching him till he crosses the flood waters.

Kitala

Nostalgic memories of his son who is away from him are conveyed in this poem. He draws similarities between his young son and the bird walking in the marshland. "Son, you are a kitala' tells my heart", he says.

The marshland is a dumping ground for the waste brought by the people. Kitala, unconcerned, walks on it, the only beautiful object the poet can see on the marsh. He says: Kitalo, you are young. You do not get stuck in the mud ..... the marsh is ugly ... but you are beautiful ... and all alone ... you won't hear what I say ...."

Just like Kitala moving about in the dirt, unaffected by it, his son being still young walks in the dirty marsh of the grownups, not hearing what they say, not affected by what they do. His anxiety "will you be spoiled by this adult world?" is conveyed in a subtle manner.

The influence of Buddhist teachings echo in most of the poems. In fact, he has taken liberty to borrow the contents as well as the themes of some Buddhist Suttas for his work. The title of the book, 'Ogha Taranaya' itself is that of a Sutta in Samjukta Nikaya.

Sri Sumangala Dictionary gives two meanings to the word Ogha; the first, flood waters, the second the four defilements namely; Kama, Bhava, Ditti, Avijja, which make the being travel in samsara, 'Tharanaya' means crossing-go across to the other side of a river, a barrier.

How could he avoid the flood waters .. How could he wait without being mired in four defilements ... How could he swim across .... these are the metaphorical questions which echo in his poetic renderings here.

" ...... Bondages have narrowed his world. He wonders what the other people who are free of bondages would think of him. - Bandhanaya (Bondage - p. 33)

In these many poems you find a poet who is in dialogue with himself ... He looks inward ... and talks to himself.... being true to himself.

Writing a foreword to 'Ogha Tharanaya' W. A. Abeysinghe says:

"The poem is the best medium for a creative writer to have a dialogue with himself. There is no other friend for him than a poem with whom he can talk without inhibitions .... to talk about both sins and good deeds he has committed and to cleanse himself," which I too endorse.

'Ogha Tharanaya' is the poet's journey through life, hand in hand with his innerself. A self exploration. Yet, they cannot be by any means categorized as personal and narrow yarns or confessions.

He reminds us of the universality of innermost human feelings, and tells that any creative writer is in constant struggle with his inner being in order to make sense of them, and thereby to make sense of the world.

Malini Govinnage

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