Mega Buzz

A gathering of literary souls

Ranjan Amarasinghe

LITERATURE:As an invitee to the Mega Buzz literary event, organized by the British Council recently, celebrating the first anniversary of the Book Buzz series and the 2nd anniversary of write clique, net, naturally I expected a fun filled evening.

As I accurately perceived the exuberance of youth took the centre stage, sparkling a lively rhythm of mirth, who mingled with some of our distinguished authors, writing in English, who graced the occasion, displaying their positive outlook in ample measure, donning, colourful attire and more importantly the irresistible fragrance of humility befitting to their accrued wisdom.

The welcome address was made by the Director of British Council Tony O'Brien, whose commitment to the fruition of these duel events, was highly appreciated by the responsive audience, though it was muted with a tinge of sadness as it was announced that his tenure of office would come to an end in near future, for most of the audience present were accustomed to enjoy his welcome address which was a regular feature at the Book Buzz series in the past which never failed to offer them comic relief as it was always interwoven with good natured banter and witticism.

It was followed by reading of some excerpts from Romesh Gunasekera's novel "The Match " which was very absorbing. It was read by Prasad Perera. Incidentally Romesh is an internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan writer.

Then followed a selection of poems by Vivimarie Vanderpoortem read by the author, which was indeed a moving experience as her high voltage emotional outpouring mesmerized the audience with feelings of melancholy, mirth etc, which she performed with crystal clear modulation.

Her poem "Death of a Cartoonist" had had a stabbing and tangible effect on the perceptive audience who could without much effort empathize with her "heart-wrenching" pain, as she was able to convey her message instantly to the audience by evoking a vortex of powerful images in their minds.

The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly write clique net re-launch by its web-editor Delton Weerasinghe who took the onerous task of enlightening the large gathering of writers who contribute their poems, short stories, plays, prose and reviews to this web-site which was initiated by British Council, Sri Lanka, with the primary objective of promoting original writing in English in Sri Lanka.

It was disclosed that this data-base has expanded over fifteen countries comprising UK, USA, Canada, India, New Zealand etc.

The audience was then entertained by the dramatization of a radio play written by Mike Masilliamani and directed by Tracy Holsingher. It was performed superbly by Sean Amarasekera who kept the "New Generation" pell bound from the beginnings to the end of the play.

Another poem titled "For wolfie" by Marissa Johnpillai was read by Marissa Jansz which was undoubtedly a stimulating and thought provoking piece, culmination of which was greeted with a thunderous applause by the responsive audience.

The grand finale of the evening, as far as creative writing segment was concerned, was an excerpt from "Thicker Than Blood" the 2005 Gratiaen Award winning play by Delton Weerasinghe dramatized by Rosmery Parakrama and Mohomed Adamally.

The narration of the play had an electrifying effect, upon the audience, as the two character players performed their entrusted roles to perfection, depicting the engulfing conflict which threatened menacingly to cause a major crisis in their lives.

After the question and answer session in which ironically audience participation was minimal they were invited to partake some refreshments.

All in all it was a pleasant evening, though your truly being a vouched Bohemian writer would have been more impressed if some spirits were present or served, rather than butter cakes and iced coffee, which dampened the atmosphere somewhat, for true writers would have lingered longer engaged in spirited and literary conversation if they were served with a brew that really cheers their taste-buds and uplift their morale or morals which should have served an important purpose.

Besides, it would have been a noble or redeeming gesture, honouring the great writers of all nationalities from perennial age to the present, who had kept the precedent intact, throughout the annals of history, even when they were very often bitten by adversity's venom pursuing their eternal strive of seeking varied and true human encounters as an effective antidote to get rid of either their inhibitions or their suicidal boredom which was naturally aggravated by their chosen path of solitary confinement.

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