Contributions in honour of a journalist

Professor Sunanda Mahendra

JOURNALIST: The veteran Sinhala journalist Wimalasiri Perera of Boralasgamuva is remembered not only as the founder editor of the Sinhala film weekly Sarasaviya and the chief editor of the Sunday national newspaper Silumina for sometime, but also as a poet, investigative reporter cum feature writer, and a short-story writer.

Spending his whole career in the official chambers of Lake House, he pioneered several new journalistic penchants believed to be of trend-setting value, and help elevate the standards of journals, he so edited with contributions from varying types of writers making them quite popular among the Sinhala readers.

It is recorded that under the able editorship of Wimalasiri, the film weekly Sarasaviya had been elevated to a circulation of 100,000 copies, which is believed as a significant record for a Sinhala weekly. He was also the pioneer editor of the monthly Sinhala journal Navayugaya, which later became a fortnightly with various interesting reading material drawn from national and international sources of information.

popular newspapers

If I remember correct, he made this periodical one of the most popular newspapers in the country with a common readership for all ages ranging from the student at the school level to the general elderly reader of the teacher level.

A maxi size book packed with essays, poems, stories and editorials of Wimalasiri Perera plus some other essays written in his honour by some of his admirers, mostly journalists, who were closer to him, film journalist A. D. Ranjit Kumara has brought out a felicitation volume [Boralasgamuve Wimalasiri Perera Purochana, Fast Publishers 2006, 592 pages] As a felicitation volume, the difference here is that apart from the short essays of reminiscences by his son, wife, friends and well wishers, who have admired most of his humane aspects, this volume contains more of Wimalasiri’s own contributions, which could be categorised into poems he had created from time to time and published in various periodicals, short stories he had written to Silumina and other periodicals and short story type of alternative creative narratives drawn and recreated from historical and folklore sources and real life narratives or happenings in the social context together with short pen sketch type of biographies of eminent people in the field of arts and culture who mattered at the time of his editorship.

distant past

I remember these material that decorated the pages in the not so distant past, as some of the most readable and resourceful features appearing in newspaper pages. Photographs of his visits abroad undergoing one of his main training period in London in the Fleet Street [he was a Commonwealth scholarship holder in journalism] are included as important mementos.

As a journalist, Wimalasiri Perera has shown an immense admiration for brief historical investigations as necessary reading material for his readers and these include rare episodes drawn from the lives of kings like Buddhadasa famed for his medical treatments, Mahanaga, who was a great king in the southern region, Elara who had a bell hung at his palace premises for the use of his subjects when they are in trouble, Pandukabhaya famed for the building up of a fortress to protect his only daughter from the evil eyes of suitors, Dutugemunu declared as the saviour of the nation and the finder of ten great giants, who were skilled in warfare, Sirisangabo the pious king of Attangalla, who sacrificed his life for a worthy cause giving away his soul, the last days of the king Sri Wikramarajasinghe, the last king of the country and many more of such sketches.

The lives of Buddhist monks like reverend Moratota Dhammakhanda, who were well versed in Tripitaka or the three canons of the Buddha’s doctrine, and was capable of reciting from any given moment of the text, are brought to the forefront as a reminder of the greatness in erudition.

giants

He makes the reader-friendly and fondly remember with episodes from the lives of giants like Nandimitra, Suranimala, Gotaimbara, Dambuluyodaya, then spanning to legendary characters like Rama and Sita drawn from the textual material as well as from folklore sources.

He takes the reader to such places as Kotte Sri Jayawardhanapura and Senkadagalapura or Kandy, Sigiriya etc helping the reader to find more by himself. He also shows a liking to find the origins of places and of place names and gives brief but interesting insights to each of these items.

Writing about the place name now known as Kotuva or Colombo Fort [kolamba kotuva and Pitakotuva] writer Wimalasiri says that as the main area of the central city was surrounded by a ruling king during the time of the advent of the Portuguese to the country, resulting in the making of a boundary around the place was fortified, which means made into a fortress there by deriving the name kotuva or squared or protected area.

Perhaps this may be one of the views held popularly, but the scholars of the time may have had a difference of opinion as well. Most of the short stories written by Wimalasiri are quite short and running to not more than two pages and mostly trick ending and packed in suspense.

He may have not titled them as accepted short stories, instead as ‘rasakatha’ or delightful narratives. His close association with poets and writers like Meemana Prematilaka, Martin Wickramasinghe, Ven. Yakkaduve Pragnarama, Sri Chandraratana Manavasinghe, Hemapala Munidasa is recorded sensitively enabling the reader to gauge the intensity, in which he admired them and derived inspiration from their respective contributions and varying aesthetic senses.

political polemics

Though there are no direct references to partial politics and political polemics, journalist Wimalasiri Perera draws attention to such aspects as the turning points and trends in the moulding of the nation by recreating some episodes from the lives of such persons as Sir D. B. Jayatilake, who pioneered a sense of national conscience on matters pertaining to religious and social upheaval, and literary revival, Arthur V. Dias, who pioneered the nation wide Jak seed planting project [kos viyaparaya and he was named kos mama or uncle jak ] as a must to alleviate an impending hunger, Ven. S. Mahinda, the Tibetan monk who ushered in a poetic movement of nationalism, Valisinghe Harischandra, and Anagarika Dharmapala, remembered as national heroes for their clamour for national liberation and Arthur de Silva the scholar, administrator and statesman who was behind many a socio cultural event at the turn of the century.

The editor of this volume, Ranjit Kumara should be commended for rummaging these rare essays written by Wimalasiri Perera and tying them into a single volume. Perhaps due to the shortage of newsprint or the lack of knowledge in research techniques, there looks certain shortcoming for an index and a brief biography [inclusive of the date of birth and death] ought to have been a necessity in a venture of this manner.

The present day Sinhala journalists could at least learn a few brilliant lessons from their senior member of the tribe.

[email protected]

..................................

<< Artscope Main Page